Ahhh Editing and Workflow

Seedpod Heartfelt Opening

What the heck do I do with all the images I have and how the heck do I go through them? Editing is crucial to creating a cohesive body of work. I include the amateur to the pro-no one is exempt. I load my images in Lightroom. For my personal and portrait work, this is the easiest route for me. I organize by date, which somehow my brain remembers when I was where photographing what. I suggest you ask yourself how to best organize for your brain. In Lightroom, you have an option to create catalogues or mini portfolios. I tend to create a new one or go right to an ongoing one, simply dragging and dropping the images. I premise this all by saying I have already set up a template for my metadata and keyword upon downloading. This makes my editing time significantly faster. I evaluate my images first by quickly going through the images-ranking as I go. Once at the end of the roll, I filter to only see those images I ranked. Again, I go through evaluating  each technical aspect of an image from composition to visual meaning to useage. Once I get down to the keepers, I process through Lightroom's Develop module. I set the correct White Balance (WB) using the dropper. Although I do have a series of steps, I experiment with all the options provided in the development tool until I feel I have reached a printing point. Often I will go into Photoshop (CS3 for BW and CS5 for color) to create layers using a combo of curve adjustments, gradient tool, and the history brush. My goal is to create visual depth with light and shadow and reveal or dim texture. I am for the preservation of my pixels and have non-destructive development techniques. This is very significant for me as I am a photographer, not a digital artist. Once I cross over into destructive techniques, I create a (beautiful or not) piece of digital art. I have some friends who are amazing digital artists. For me, I find my place is in photography-both within the capturing of a scene and through the process of printing.

Just a side note: I use CS3 for printing all my black and white images because I use a Quad tone Profile that has had some issues with compatibility in CS5. Otherwise, I use Lightroom to print my color work even if I do make adjustments in Photoshop. Believe it or not that is my work flow process. Some images take hours while others perhaps just one hour of processing. I will also add that as I begin to put a cohesive body of work together I print on a variety of papers to find the 'right' one. I do use luster or enhanced matte paper for proofing.

Next article: Preparing to make a photographic print....some old school rules applied to the digital work flow

The Printing Process in My Studio

The act of photographing is step one; processing is step two; printing is step three; producing a work of mastery is step four.

I have been going from image to "Processing" in Photoshop to proofing to... ahhhh... the final achievement with a print. I find this tedious time on the computer requires as much breathing (if not more) than during the actual capture process. Some images are easy requiring a curve adjustment here, and gradient there; those other images that I fall in love with for concept, but require some tricks of the trade and tweaking. Here's where technical stuff and experimenting really require your attention. Blessed with the undo button, I am always testing the limits of the image. How far can I push? Where did I need to focus attention to really get the viewers attention? How do I manipulate, without "changing" (i.e.. manipulation beyond a visual limit that redefines the image as non-traditional.) the image? How can I adjust for the viewers perception? It can all be very scientific incorporating how the brain perceives, processing information from the eye to the brain. Understanding tonalities, gradations of values, contrast are all crucial elements in understanding and producing a photographic print.

For me, the simpler the better. I miss the hours of dim light in the darkroom. Even the smells. My favorite part of the darkroom printing is emerging into daylight to examine test strips and then examine the actual print. All very metaphorical. Now in my own digital darkroom, I am surrounded by power chords, firewire's, USB's, and boxes of paper (of various size and type). I have a special daylight bulb I examine under. The process is the similar to my days as a student in the darkroom. I hope I still maintain my creative risks as I did in the beginning of my photography while the maturity of Mastery is evident in my prints. Of course, I have taken the time to learn with Photoshop pro's, printing workshops, and friends.