Raw Workflow

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anyone had posted a useable workflow for the RAW process from camera into computer, organize,image adjust and then store??

I use Nikon D70S. I have Photoshop Elements, Camera RAW 3.2, Nikon View, Rawhooter and probably a couple more, trouble is I don't know how to use the mongrels! I can use the Photoshop Elements and Rawshooter to adjust the images but don't know how to import them properly, retag and then set them up in folders. I'm basically a 'bum' when it comes to computers.

Thanks for your help.

Hooroo,

Bruce

Tim Grey has written extensively on this. www.timgrey.com

Oh sure, don't even BOTHER posting this at "home"!

Hi Richard,

I was touching base in 'that' direction tomorrow morning!

Good to see you keeping an eye on me.

Thanx Marty for your input.

Bruce

Haha! Wouldn't want to stray too far from the fold eh? ;-)

The most recent issue of Under Water Photography magazine has a whole section w/ 5 different "pros" digital workflow - it's worth a read: www.uwpmag.com

Cheers

James

Thanks for the tip Marty and James. I am a photoshop newbie too

Hi fellas,

Thanks for the replies. I had already read the articles in the UWP mag and when I spoke with Alex he told me that some of the article had been removed to fit into the magazine. He graciously sent me the whole article to read. I thought that someone might be able to actually give a tutorial on the actual process of the editing side of things for us newbies so we could avoid mistakes and shorten our learning curves. Again, thanks for your help.

Bruce

A tutorial! Hee hee, you wish....

Well this is what I do Bruce - and it works for me: shoot all pics as RAW; then import into a folder on my laptop D drive named specifically for the event.

I then go through them using Rawshooter Premium, mark up the Trashbins one and the 1,2,3 shots. Ditch the Trashbin. Depending on how many are left, I then clean-up the 1s and 2s with Rawshooter and output them back into a folder named with the specific event name plus 'edited" (eg, Sipadan Day 1 edited). I will usually output as a JPG so I can linger over them but they load quickly (With Rawshooter its easy to go back and re-output with the same settings to, eg a TIFF for sale or printing).

I then import all the keepers (the 1-3s) into Photoshop Album which I index and catalogue (I have about 12,000 like this). I then burn the new lot on to CD or DVD; then copy the CD or DVD on to an external hard disk - and remove the orginals from my D drive. So I then have two "off-line" copies of each RAW file plus a thumbnail on my laptop.

It sounds a bit fiddly maybe, but it works well and it is pretty quick.

Hi Tim and thanks,

Correct me if I am wrong. When you say that you fix them In Rawshooter, do you only fix the exposure and white balance or do you correct for everything else as well. I think that I can remember a couple of the other guys saying that they fix the exposure and white balance in their RAW convertors and then final adjustments are made in Photoshop. Does this sound right or have I miss understood?? Wouldn't bloody surprise me if I had! I can be quite stupid without really having to try!!!

Hooroo my friends,

Bruce

Hi Bruce

Sorry for the delay. I've just had two excellent days diving in Benuken National Park

I've found with Rawshooter Premium that you can do more than just white balance and tweek the exposure: cropping is also available. I usually find that this is enough and so tend not to flip it into Photoshop - although I guess I could if I wanted to. Maybe its a hangover from film photography, but I really try hard to get it right in the camera and tweaking to a minimum.

But you are right - and you have correctly understood the advice - it depends on what your RAW editor is capable of doing as to whether you use Photoshop as well. When I used Rawshooter Essentials (which was free) I white balanced and colour tweaked in RE then used Photoshop for the rest. But now with Rawshooter Premium I find I don't need Photoshop nearly as much.

Hope this helps. I guess at the end of the day you have to play around with a few different programs and see what works best for you.

Hi Tim,

Now it,s my turn to apologise for the lack of a speedy reply. I have been having REAL problems with my computer and it seems as if it is headed for an overhaul.

Not to worry, if we take it slowly, we can get results. Luckily I have a seperate computer for my pictures and the tweaking side of things. I have been playing with the P/S Elements and been getting reasonable results, but I am sure trying hard to get a hold of the R/S 'premium' to play with. Enjoy your trip!!

Hooroo my friend,

Bruce

Rats! If the visibility and the currents don't get you. that nice Mr Gates may bush-whack you at some stage......