Category Archives: Software

Field Work and Home Work

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Most of us prefer to be out in the field with our camera taking photographs. We enjoy the creative side of our craft. And so, we would sooner be out and about taking photos than behind a computer doing the post-processing.

However, without this computer work at home, we would never be able to share our photographs with others. The post-processing is just as important as capturing the photos, even if it is not quite so glamorous.

There are plenty of tools to help ease our pain and even make this part of the process go faster. And once we get our work flow down, it goes pretty quickly. So time spent trying to master this process is well worth the effort and time.

The next time you find yourself complaining about too much time behind the computer, try to find some ways to expedite the process. Think of new ways of doing the routine tasks. With some creativity you can speed up this process and get behind the viewfinder sooner rather than later.

I have to get going now because I have some more home work to do before my photo shoot tomorrow afternoon!

Fast Workflow

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Digital workflow is a common conversation these days. How do you take your digital photos in your camera and get them to some usable form? Workflow is the process you use to process and edit your digital photos. What software do you use? What process do you follow? Is it easy or complicated? Is it fast or cumbersome?

My workflow has improved with time and experience. I switched to using Adobe Lightroom and it is definitely better for me. I can now process, manage, edit, print, and create web galleries with great ease. I almost feel like a trapeze artist who “performs astonishing feats with great ease.”

My process is to upload the digital files from my camera into Lightroom. In the process I rename the files to reflect the date of the shoot and a unique sequence number. This way I will never have two files with the same name. If I do two shoots in a day, I simply start the file naming sequence where the first shoot left off. Once the files are in Lightroom I can pick the keepers very easily. Then I can edit the photographs as needed. The next step is either to create a web gallery or export photographs to be printed. Either way, Lightroom makes it easy to do.

My workflow is smooth these days and I have Lightroom to thank for much of this. You can give it a try yourself with a free 30-day trial. Try it and see if your workflow can become smoother and faster.

Keeping Track

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Photographs, finances, and equipment all need to be kept in good order. Keeping track of these items is imperative. Digital images can be lost on computer hard drives and finances can go astray if you don’t keep track of them. If you want to venture into the world of photography, you will require an instant approval same day loans, because today’s photographers require quality and efficient equipment, so do not expect too much.

I like to use spread sheets for keeping track of all sorts of things. I even have a spread sheet to keep track of my favorite chocolate milk! Don’t believe me? Next time you see me with my laptop, just ask me and I will show it to you. But lately I have discovered the value of some other sofware programs to keep track of things. Adobe Lightroom 2 is a great programs for keeping track of my digital images. I can also crop, edit, and print my photos with this software, but it also does an excellent job of keeping track of and sorting digital images. You can even add photos to collections.

Financially I have used Quicken in the past, but I am now switching over to Quickbooks so I can track customers, vendors, inventory, and much more. There will be a learning curve to be sure, but I think it is well worth the struggle.

How do you keep track of things?

Team Portraits

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I enjoy photographing many different subjects but sports is one of my favorites. Action photos present a great challenge to capture the exact moment of a play, hopefully with the ball in the frame and perhaps some dust flying.

Player and team portraits help the memories of a special season stay alive and are important for every team and player. Moms especially like to have these keepsakes each season. 8″ x 10″ prints, memory mates incorporating an individual portrait and a team photo together, magnets, and trading cards are available for players and their families.

Capturing the initial photograph is a very important and often overlooked part of the process. A good start requires a quality photograph from the get go. Proper exposure, precise focus, appropriate white balance, and composition are all components of a good starting point.

I then like to use Photoshop to create a frame around which the photograph is placed. Some creative text can also spruce up an otherwise static photo. Take a look at this example and let me know what you think. Is this a good way to remember a special season?

LVBA Team 15u 2009 Team Web

My Workflow

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I love digital photography. In fact, I enjoy all aspects of the digital process. It reminds me of the days I spent in college behind the camera’s viewfinder on an assignment, in the darkroom developing the film and printing my enlargements, and mounting the photos on matte boards.

Lightroom is my software of choice for most of my workflow procedures. My good friend and photo colleague, Dick McCreight, was the one who showed me firsthand the power of Lightroom. It doesn’t hurt that it is also easy to use, too.

Once back from a photo shoot, I hook up my card reader to my laptop and upoad the photos. I rename the files with the date of the shoot & a sequential number for each photograph. This provides a unique filename for each one. I also make sure to add the metadata with my information on the upload.

Then in Lightroom I go through the photos and tag the keepers. I don’t worry about tagging the rejects; just the keepers, because I will only be working with the keepers. I also tag any photos I think might need some editing with a red colored tag. Once my keepers have been established, I go back through them and mark the ones I want to put up on my website with a green tag. At this point I try to remember to create a collection of these photos. Then I go into the Web module and create the web page gallery. All that’s left to do is upload the gallery to my website.

When I receive print orders, the process continues with me using the Print module to crop and then export the file to send to my photo lab. I have also started creating photo books, so in this case I will create another collection of the photos I want included in the book and then export them for the printer.

I am learning to streamline the process and I enjoy each step along the way. It is so enjoyable to see the photograph I made come to life step by step!

What is your workflow? Are there some tips you have to share? Leave a comment so we can all learn together how to perfect our workflow strategies.

The Versatility of Lightroom

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I enjoy using Adobe Lightroom for my workflow. I use this software to download my photos to my laptop and external hard drive. Then, once this is done, I can sort through the photos to find the keepers that I might want to post on an online gallery or print. The Develop Module then allows me to tweak the photograph in a variety of ways. The white balance can be changed, the exposure can be adjusted, and tools like the local adjustment brush and graduated filter can be used. Once I finish the develop adjustments, I can create a slideshow or go to the Web Module and create a gallery to post on my website.

As you can see Lightroom is very versatile. It is easy to use and it serves as the software I use for nearly all of my workflow. Creating web galleries and slideshows is a breeze. Rating photos and creating collections to use for creating books or printing specific photos is easy, too. You can sort photos by how they were flagged, ranked, or even by the metadata that was captured when the photo was made.

If you haven’t tried Lightroom yet give it a try. You can download a free 30-day trial to see just how versatile this software is to use. Check it out at: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/

Lightroom

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I cut my teeth on film photography. Time spent in the darkroom was enjoyable for me. It just seemed like magic as a sheet of paper was placed into a tray of developer and the image slowly appeared. I enjoyed the entire process. I even created a makeshift darkroom in my apartment where I could develop my film and therefore save some time in the darkroom at Temple University. That was then, and now we enjoy digital photography.

The darkroom has been replaced with Lightroom. For those of you who don’t know, Lightroom is an Adobe software package that allows us to catalog, edit, print, create slideshows and web galleries. Yes, it is all done in the light! No longer do we need a darkroom to process our photographs.

I was introduced to Lightroom by my good friend and colleague, Dick McCreight. At first, I wasn’t too keen on purchasing another software package. But when I saw Dick moving around so easily and quickly in Lightroom, I sat up straighter to take a closer look. Then, when Dick showed me all the powerful features of Lightroom I was sold. I decided to download the free 30-day trial and the rest is history.

I now use Lightroom after every event I photograph. Web galleries are created for my website in Lightroom and the process is quick and easy. Just like in the old darkroom, I can crop, dodge, and burn an image. I also catalog my photographs in Lightroom, keeping track of my best photos and creating a variety of collections to use for slideshows or print orders. Lightroom has become my favorite photo software!

If you haven’t tried Lightroom yet, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

Picasa

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Photography software abounds. Everywhere you go you can find a new piece of software to enhance photos or display them on  your website. I have been using Lightroom since last summer and I love it! Lightroom allows me to process RAW files or JPGs. I can dodge or burn a photo and even add a graduated filter. The really nice thing is the way I can organize and catalog my photos for easy retrieval the next time I want to access and work on the photographs. It is very easy to use and yet very powerful. I do use Lightroom to post photos to my website galleries, but am always looking for new creative ways to do this. Enter Picasa! I came across this software last night and so far I am impressed. I had heard of this software before but I think back then it was only available for the MAC. Last night I used it for the first time and it appears to be very nice and usuable software. I really like the templates that are available for Picasa.

What photo software are you using?