Lightroom Workflow

Everyone who uses Lightroom has a workflow. Even if you don't have a workflow, that is your workflow. However you choose to use the program is what defines your own workflow. It's a lot like having a signature burger at Harvey's, however you like it is exactly what makes it yours.

I've been using Lightroom (LR) for about a year now and it has really changed the way I edit. There are so many things I do differently because of it. To illustrate the difference, I'll show you a version of my old workflow, and then show you a progression to today's and you can decide which is better.



September 2007 - May 2008 photography workflow
1. Shoot RAW + JPEG (usually in AP)
2. Download pictures to computer from CF using Windows Exploder, categorized by year and then by event name (i.e. C:\Photos\Fourth Year\Flipcup tournament 12)
3. Flip through JPEGS in Windows Photo Preview, (i tried bridge for a while, but didn't enjoy the bloat of it) until I find one that I like.
4. Put good photos into a subfolder called "good ones" (i.e. Flipcup tourenament12\good ones)
5. Open good photo in Photoshop, process with camera raw and adjustment layers
6. Save PSD and JPEG in a subfolder called "processed" (i.e. Flipcup tournament 12\good ones\processed)

May 2008 - December 2008
1. Shoot RAW (usually AP)
2. Import images into LR, automatically attaching tags and backing up photos to an external hard drive
3. Peruse though photos flagging the good photos, slowly limiting the photos down to the best picks.
4. Export to desired medium (usually JPEG for web)



Jan. 09 - now
1. Shoot RAW (AP or M if flash is used, Mirror Lockup if for landscape art, bracketed exposure)
2. Import to LR - tagged, custom named, backed up, organganized by base folder, then by year, then by date shot (i.e. C:\photos\Fifth Year\2009\4-8-2009\mme_IMG6947.CR2), the folder then get renamed in LR once the photos are imported to add context (i.e. C:\photos\Fifth Year\2009\4-8-2009 - Shorline Sunset\mme_IMG6947.CR2)
3. Color code pictures if from different events (two locations shot on same day, or contain different subjects like robotics teams)
4. At the same time as color coding, attach a one star rating to any photo that is in focus and balance white points
5. Filter photos by one star and complete cropping and basic lighting modifications (exposure, recovery, fill, blacks). Photos that are correctly lit and composed get two stars
6. Filter photos by two stars, the number of photos should be dropping by now to a more manageable number. Start completing more sophisticated editing — edit the tone curve, change color balances, convert to grayscale. Attach three stars to surviving photos.
7. Filter by three stars. Apply a four star rating to only the strongest photographs. Complete finishing techniques such as vignetting, split toning or sharpening.
8. Usually by now I only have a few photographs in the 4 star category, say 60 or less. A final and very brutal selection process continues to find any photographs that are worthy of portfolio status. If any exist, apply a five star rating.
9. Export to JPEG for web, or TIFF for printing. All of my common output settings are set up into presets. The exported photos are automatically placed in subfolders for the output type (i.e. (i.e. C:\photos\Fifth Year\2009\4-8-2009 - Shorline Sunset\facebook\mme_IMG6947.JPEG)

A variant of this workflow uses a step of editing photos in Photoshop if I want to do any hardcore alterations, such as retouching a portrait or creating a panorama. I usually do this around step 7. Using LR, This is a really easy step — just select the photo, right click and choose edit in Photoshop. The photo is opened in Photoshop automatically and when you click save in Photoshop the photo is automatically imported to LR again. Pretty painless as long as you have the RAM to back it up.



As you can see, my workflow has mutated and largely become more formalized as I go along. I'm sure that in a year it will have changed again. As long as it seems to take to go through that nine step process it doesn't often take very long if you don't have a lot of photos shot. However, in the case that you cover a sports even and end up with 2000 photos after three days of shooting... it is the only way (I'm looking at you, robotics!). However if you are only editing a set of 50 photos or less... the process becomes more like 2 rounds of edits, separating the gems from the trash.

Using this new method, I can do far more sophisticated changes to my photos at a really fast rate. I shoot, find the best, and batch process them for a client's needs. Very nifty. The one caveat to using LR is that it eats RAM like crazy. Well, I have 1gb ram running Vista and LR 2.3 and it is barely palatable. Minimum ram to would say to run Vista and LR is 2.0gb, especially is you want to incorporate local adjustments in LR (which you will notice I have purposely not included in my workflow....)

This is just my workflow and the steps I use to edit, the signature 'Mike' burger, if you will. For those who do it differently, feel free to drop me a line (email or in the comments) telling me what your signature workflow looks like