Today’s workflow topic is one of the most variable, fluid and changing of all the parts of the whole thing. Editing. Editing can take seconds or days, depending on the effort given to the original capture and the final output. As this post is only a few hundred words long and hundreds of thousands have been written on the topic of editing digital photographs - I’ll keep it basic. I’ll also point toward some resources that have been valuable to me.
Also, with it being Thursday and all - I threw in some Flickr shots that were processed using Scott Kelby’s Seven Point System (yip, it’s such a great process, there’s a Flickr group for it - see the Resources section for me).
My Editing Flow
After importing my photos I perform picture-wide edits in Lightroom. Exposure, contrast, clarity, global saturation, basic cropping and B&W conversion are just a few of the things I’ll update directly in Lightroom. I’ll then select additional photos that need the same adjustments and will click the Sync button, transferring the settings to all the photos immediately.
After those changes are made, I’ll identify that top rated photos and open them in Photoshop. I’ll then make any additional adjustments that only Photoshop can handle. That includes masking, local adjustments, more serious tonal changes, double processing, etc. I won’t go into all the details of what happens in Photoshop - there is so much to do I can’t even hope to scratch the surface. Look for future posts for information on specific techniques, or check out the resources below.
Also, I’ve considered using NIK’s new product, Viveza for local adjustments. I’ve mentioned it previously, but it’s simple user interface and elegant ability to make selections and adjustments to just parts of a photo are truly amazing. PhotoWalkPro.com recently did a great review/thorough explanation of the product. Check out the posts on it here and here. The only downside is that it is $250 - so pulling the trigger is a little tough.
After making Photoshop adjustments, I save the photo as a .psd. Lightroom displays it just as it does the DNG files, allowing me to export it, print it, etc.
Editing Resources
Some of the following resources are free and some are paid. I’d highly recommend each one, though, as they’ve taught me a ton. If you’re interested in more free options, you can search learn photoshop in Google and find even more options.
Scott Kelby’s Seven Point System, by Scott Kelby
The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers, by Scott Kelby
National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) at PhotoshopUser.com.
Seven Point System Before and After - From Flickr
Click on an image for a larger view/more information in Flickr.
