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

Lensbaby Pics in the Snow

Okay, so I've been snowed in since Monday and there are only so many ways you can organize your sock drawer...But, I'm not griping. We have plenty of food, water, electricity, heat, etc. Much better than the blizzard of '93. So much better. No complaints. It's all good.

Yes, it's Wednesday and the roads are not yet clear. I just got a text that the college where I work is closed again tomorrow. So I have had a good deal of time to do things around the house. I found a rather large piece of plastic in our workshop today and we "sledded" down a slight hill in our yard. Here's the problem. There's not much of a hill in our yard. Oh well. It just made us more creative. I did post videos on my Smugmug site. I must warn you though. They are not very interesting. Mostly just a little sad. I'm fairly certain we would rock if we had an adequate hill. The one of me is after I got bored with jumping on the plastic with my knees so I tried to do it standing up...surfing style. How do you think that went...

Speaking of creative, I also had time today to go outside with my Lensbaby and take a couple of shots. Since the look I was going after was to break a few rules, I added some effects in Lightroom. I know that this is not a style that everyone likes, but I kind of like them. Hope you enjoy...

In the meantime, let it snow...(It is again, by the way). Imagine what would happen if we got a real snow like the Northeast is getting. We would all just go to the Caribbean for the winter. Sounds like a plan to me.

On another note I've added a new domain name: www.manualDSLR.com that points to this blog.
Best...MK

Workflow Using Lightroom 3 - part 1

We are 288 days into the Manual DSLR Project and I am feeling pretty good about my ability to use my D300 in manual mode. The adjustments are becoming more natural. Muscle memory is taking over and it is almost like the camera is becoming an extension of my body. Okay, that sounds a little weird, but you know what I mean. I am no longer having to think about "increase shutter speed" or whatever. In the true spirit of Nike... I "just do it". Mission accomplished? Yes. To some extent at least.

Like any self-improvement project, overall improvement is the goal. And since I have been shooting more I have fine tuned my editing workflow as well. This process started when I watched a Chase Jarvis video outlining his workflow. Suffice it to say that I am not Chase Jarvis, nor do I have have his budget. So I adapted my own workflow based on my needs and resources. We will take a few minutes to talk about that today.

Once I have images on a card, I use a CF card reader to plug the card directly into a USB port on my MacBook. There is already an external hard drive hooked up to the computer with a Firewire 400 connection. I open Lightroom 3 and tell it to copy the files on the card to my hard drive. In addition, I have it to send a duplicate to a folder on my external hard drive.


Once all the files are imported, I go through my first weeding process. Since I have it set to automatically eject my card after import, am free to remove the card and set it aside. I will format it in the camera later.

I now move from the Library module to the Develop module in Lightroom. I now go through a quick rating of the images. If they are usable, I mark them with a 3. If they are no good at all and I plan to delete them, I do not rate them. If they are part of an HDR series of bracketed shots, I mark them with a 1. While this is different from most rating systems, it works for me. It it is a marginal image that I might use in a pinch, I'll mark it with a 2.

I can now filter for 3 stars for higher and begin to select the best images by upgrading them to a 4 or 5 as appropriate. Once I have the photos that I am going to post process, I will begin to tweak them as needed. More about that in part 2 of this post.

For now here is a photo of our cat, Zeke, who was kind enough to model for me as he took in the sun through the library window. If you look closely in his eye you can see a reflection of me taking the shot. (See photo below).

This image was shot in Aperture priority at f5.6, ISO 400, 1/6 second. After I took a few of these at slow shutter speeds I changed to ISO 1600 to shoot the rest. Again, while this project is about learning manual mode, it does not stop me from using whatever set of tools I feel necessary to get the shot. In this case, a jittery cat calls for Aperture priority.

Hope you enjoy. Look for part 2 coming soon.

All the best...Mike

My Favorite Photos of 2010 - Number 1 - My Dad

Here it is! I have been posting my ten favorite photos of 2010 and we've come to my favorite. Although I took some good trips this year and got some cool photos, my favorite is little more than a snapshot. It was unplanned with all natural lighting and I just happened to have my camera in my hand.

I had spent the day at my parents' house helping to replace a roof on a workshop that was damaged in a storm. At the end of the day I was at my truck preparing to leave when I noticed one of their kittens playing on a tree that had been downed in the same storm. The tree had been cut but not yet removed from their front yard. As I took that photo I noticed that my dad had walked up to the edge of the carport where the evening sun washed across his face, though he was still very much in the shadows. He was watching the kitten so I turned the lens from the kitten to him. Here is the result.

This photo shows a kind, gentle, hard-working man who dropped out of high school to fight in World War II then returned to complete high school after the war. He retired several years ago but remains very active. At age 84 he and my mom raise cattle, grow a gigantic garden that benefits half of the community and remain very active. You might say that I am prejudiced in selecting this as my favorite of the year. And you would be correct.

I hope you enjoy! MK

My Favorite Photos of 2010 - Number 2 - North Head Lighthouse & Cove

Continuing with my top ten favorite images of 2010, here is number 2. This one was taken at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington. I hope you enjoy!

Best...MK