Workflow Using Lightroom 3 - part 2

Okay, if you read the previous post (part 1) you know that we have imported our photos, backed them up on an external hard drive, did preliminary ratings, and are now ready to begin to edit in Lightroom 3. I will now share the workflow that I use to get to the finished product. I must say that I have not always been consistent on this process. In fact, part of the purpose for writing these posts is that I will remind myself of my workflow and commit it to (subconscious) memory in the same way that my fingers have learned how to increase shutter speed and change aperture settings without really thinking about it. In addition, there is no perfect way to do post processing. By this time next year I may change my methods considerably. The biggest point is this...

I have a method. It's almost like having a budget. Sometimes you stray from your budget, but without one you would constantly be straying. Think of a post-processing methodology in the same way.

Let's use this photo as an example. It is decidedly not one of my best images. I was drizzling rain, foggy, and cold. But we were determined to see the sights of coastal Oregon on this day and we went out to take some photos.

So here it is...Let's see what we can do with it.

White Balance - I first look at white balance to see if what I shot looks right for the scene. The eyedropper tool is a great place to start. If the color temperature does not look right, simply hover over a white or gray area of the scene to see if the color temperature needs to be changed. If so, click on it to adjust. Though this is not a practical part of your workflow, it is not a bad idea to slide the color temperature slider from one extreme to the other to see the effect of color temperature on your image. Again, not part of workflow, but a good exercise in seeing the extremes of color temperature. Once you see these extremes in your image you are more likely to recognize them in future images. Based on the color of her jacket and hat, I think the white balance on this one is correct as shot.

Exposure - Next I will look at exposure and tweak this where needed. Thanks to the Manual DSLR Project I typically nail the exposure I am looking for, although the image may be purposefully under- or over-exposed. If adjustments are needed, however, they may be made here. More times than not I will add a bit of fill light to bring out detail in a properly exposed image. In this case, we will leave the exposure as shot.

Sharpening - I have made it a habit to NOT apply sharpening at this step. Rather, I use sharpening presets when I export. I learned the hard way that if you sharpen a little here and sharpen a little on export you can get some really cruddy looking images. For that reason, I make it a point to turn down the sharpening here, which I have done for this image.

Composition/Layout - Next I look at the composition and layout. Do I need to straighten the scene or crop? If so, this is when I do this. I should note that I rarely crop in this step except to straighten or to remove a distracting element. I usually wait until I upload into my ROES program to send them to my printer. On this image, I will do neither.

Noise Reduction or Grain - Here I may choose to add noise reduction or grain to the image, depending on the image and its future use. I have done neither to this image.

Creative Tweaking - We are almost at the last step in the process. This is where I add any creative effects to the photo. Here is a short list of (many) possibilities:

• Develop Presets (my favorite) 
• Saturation or Color Tools
• Vignettes
• Spot removal
• Graduated Filter Application

On this image I added a preset called Boost by Sarah-Ji Presets. Once I did this I realized that it might look a little better if I crop the image and then add the preset. So a couple of Command Zs later, a crop and the application of the Boost preset, here's what we have.

Again, not one of my favorites, but it's a decent photo to portray what we were doing on this rainy day in Oregon.

To recap, here is my post-processing workflow:

1. White Balance
2. Exposure
3. Sharpening
4. Composition/Layout
5. Noise Reduction/Grain
6. Creative Tweaking

The perfect workflow? No!!! A good guide for my work? I think so. So weigh in... Let me hear about your workflow in Lightroom. Look for part 3 to learn about how I export files from Lightroom.

From the Great White North (Alabama)... MK

What makes a pro a pro?

In the short time that I have been following photographers on their blogs and on Twitter, I have learned that there seems to be a categorization related to photographers. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I would like to speak to some of these categories:

Amateur – This is the category in which I find myself considering that I do not make my living from photography. I have, out of need for a particular illustration, had a few photos published in books that I wrote. My employer has used some of my photos in publications. For the most part, however, my photography has been for personal enjoyment. One should note that the skill level in this category varies widely from beginner to expert. I suppose I fall somewhere in between the two.

Professional – Most of the photographers that I run into online tend to be in this category. Some are photography “rock stars” with names like Chase Jarvis, Scott Bourne, Derrick Story, David Ziser, and Tamara Lackey. Others are perhaps equally talented but perhaps less well known. These are people that you have never heard of, but who do beautiful work and make a good living for their families. Still others may have less (or more) skill, but seem to just get by.

Then there is another group. These are the ones who buy a “good camera”. They take a few shots on Automatic mode. (Yes, with the pop-up flash firing on the shots they take from the nosebleed section at the football game.) Someone tells them that they take good pictures. “Look at this portrait that a professional photographer took. The background is all blurry,” they might say. “But the telephone pole lined up just behind Little Johnny’s head is just as clear as the little squirt himself”. You probably know where I am going with this.

So the photographer decides that it is time to go pro. After all, he has a good camera. What else does he need?

I experienced the work of one of these pros recently. I was very nice when the person was shooting the event and, in fact, did not shoot myself since a professional had been hired. I don’t want to be the “Uncle Bob” in this story.

Then I saw the photos. The composition was poor. One group shot chopped off the heads of several; one was chopped at the level of the eyes. I understand artistic creativity, but let’s get real. The images were over processed to the point of being ridiculous. There is one shot where two of us have blue noses. I’m not kidding! Blue noses! Okay. I’m exaggerating. It might be more of a teal color. Maybe aqua. What??

But you know what? There are some pretty good pictures too. One is of a really cute pose of a child. I would have probably approached it differently and opened the aperture to really focus on the subject and let the background blur. But it’s still a good photo. A few good ones and a few bad ones.

Why do I consider these photos to be less than professional? Lack of consistency. They should all be good. Do we all have throw aways where eyes are closed or the lighting wasn’t just right or whatever? Sure. But the customer should never see these. These should NOT be in the album. But when that is all you have…

I would include a copy of some of the botched photos, but will not due to copyright issues. Neither will I include one of my shots on this post since it’s a post about what not to do. Until next time I’ll just assure you that I am not exaggerating about the quality of these shots.

And by the way…the next time someone tells you that you take good pictures because you have a good camera. Set your ISO to 3200. Aperture to the biggest setting that the lens will allow, and the shutter speed on maybe 1 second. Hand it to them and ask them to take your photo. You think maybe Scott Bourne is right when he says that the camera may not be the most important component in the photo? I think so. What does Scott say? “90% of all cameras are better than…”

So do I want to be a pro? Not until I am the best amateur photographer you know. And I'm still working on that. All the best...