Workflow

When it comes to change, I do best when I adjust gradually.  I need time to think things through and then act (not the other way around).  Since I first delved into digital photography, my workflow (the way I “develop” my pictures) has slowly evolved into something that is a little more efficient.  When I first started (with a Panasonic Lumix FZ5), I would copy photos over with the USB cable from the camera, not thinking about organization, file names and so on.  This created a mess quite quickly (which still hasn’t been totally cleaned up).  I then used a Roxio photo program to organize and edit photos, and though not ideal, was cheaper than alternatives. 

Over time, I did lots of research on photo editing programs and finally purchased Photoshop Elements (4?).  This was a huge leap in efficient workflow as I could organize captured photos and edit them in the same program.  At the time, I was shooting JPEG, so I didn’t need anything more complicated than Elements.

Then I invested in a DSLR (Nikon D80).  I shot JPEG for some time before making the leap to RAW format, which, for some reason, scared the pants off me.  It took a lot of practice and experimenting to be comfortable working with RAW files.  At the same time I jumped to shooting RAW, I bought Lightroom 2 (LR2).  Now, you may think that I learned to use LR2 to its fullest potential.  Nope!  I would download my RAW photos into an updated version of Elements first, because I was quite comfortable with the Elements organizer and its ease of use (or so I thought).  Then, I would sort through the photos, deleting the less than desirable.  When photos were tagged and organized, I would click on a photo, open the edit menu and use the “edit in Lightroom” function.  I would wait patiently for LR to open, import the photo into LR, and then begin editing the photo and finally exporting it as a JPEG.  On top of that, to upload photos to Flickr, I would also have a Flickr uploader open, bring the photos into the uploader, and then upload them.  Crazy, right?  And the time wasted, wow.

Well, along comes Lightroom 3 (I upgraded recently) and this year’s summer vacation.  I shoot lots (and I mean, lots) of photos during vacations, and even though I have numerous memory cards, I still fill them all up.  Last summer, I used my dad’s computer to download pictures for part of our vacation so I could re-use memory cards.  This summer, I am using my laptop and LR3.  I finally made the leap to using just one program for organizing and editing photos.  I have been learning how to import photos in LR directly, skipping Elements altogether.  So now I use one program for organizing and editing, without the time wasted on using several different programs for my workflow.  And to top it all off, you can send photos directly to Flickr from LR3.  How cool is that?!  Less time at the computer, more time taking pictures!