john m flores
All-Pro
Thought that I'd share my typical Lightroom workflow. What's yours?
My Workflow #1-Import
My Workflow #1-Import by john m flores, on Flickr
200 photos here from an afternoon spent in Times Square. I rarely delete photos while shooting (takes time), so this is pretty much the output of a couple of hours wandering around in the rain. Look closely and you'll see that I'll often take a handful of shots of what I think is an interesting subject, playing with composition, exposure, timing, etc...
My Workflow #2-First Pass
My Workflow #2-First Pass by john m flores, on Flickr
I quickly go through the photos, deleting test shots, those obviously out of focus, and those that just aren't that interesting. I usually won't do any developing yet, but if there's a shot that has potential but isn't quite there yet, I might do a little editing to see if there really is potential there or I'm imagining things. Those that make the grade are given 1 star in Lightroom. Sometimes I look at a shot and I'm like "woah, that's definitely a fave!" so I'll give it two stars. Sometimes I look at a shot that's really nice but I've messed it up somehow–poor focus, poor exposure that I can't fix, timing just off, subject's eyes closed, etc... and I'm like "Damn damn damn. Gotta remember to do this different next time!" I'm left with 97 photos worth looking at again, with many of them multiple shots of the same subject.
My Workflow #3-Selects
My Workflow #3-Selects by john m flores, on Flickr
Here I hone in the mildly interesting and really interesting shots. If I've taken multiple shots of the same subject in rapid succession, then I'll choose the best of the litter. I'll begin to start editing and cropping here and it's very often at this state that a style or theme emerges. In this particular case I started thinking about a series of square crops. I'm left with 26 photos.
My Workflow #4-Final Cut
My Workflow #4-Final Cut by john m flores, on Flickr
This is often the hardest step because it means leaving some good photos behind, but this is the most important step. In this set I had multiple interesting takes on a statue but decided that just one would make the cut. Conversely, I chose two versions of the flag because they were very different. There were other shots that were nice but I thought that they were cliche or not within the mood or theme of the rest. I do final editing here so that the photos feel like a set not a mish mash. I give these photos 3 stars in Lightroom. I'm left with 8. These are the ones that see the light of day.
Postscript
Months down the road I often find myself looking at my photos marked 3 stars in Lightroom. Those that a personally or professionally important to me or I think have stood the test of time (vs. a momentary infatuation with a shot) get bumped up to 4 stars. Those that I think are among my best of the year are bumped up to 5 stars.
That's how I do it. How about you?
My Workflow #1-Import
My Workflow #1-Import by john m flores, on Flickr
200 photos here from an afternoon spent in Times Square. I rarely delete photos while shooting (takes time), so this is pretty much the output of a couple of hours wandering around in the rain. Look closely and you'll see that I'll often take a handful of shots of what I think is an interesting subject, playing with composition, exposure, timing, etc...
My Workflow #2-First Pass
My Workflow #2-First Pass by john m flores, on Flickr
I quickly go through the photos, deleting test shots, those obviously out of focus, and those that just aren't that interesting. I usually won't do any developing yet, but if there's a shot that has potential but isn't quite there yet, I might do a little editing to see if there really is potential there or I'm imagining things. Those that make the grade are given 1 star in Lightroom. Sometimes I look at a shot and I'm like "woah, that's definitely a fave!" so I'll give it two stars. Sometimes I look at a shot that's really nice but I've messed it up somehow–poor focus, poor exposure that I can't fix, timing just off, subject's eyes closed, etc... and I'm like "Damn damn damn. Gotta remember to do this different next time!" I'm left with 97 photos worth looking at again, with many of them multiple shots of the same subject.
My Workflow #3-Selects
My Workflow #3-Selects by john m flores, on Flickr
Here I hone in the mildly interesting and really interesting shots. If I've taken multiple shots of the same subject in rapid succession, then I'll choose the best of the litter. I'll begin to start editing and cropping here and it's very often at this state that a style or theme emerges. In this particular case I started thinking about a series of square crops. I'm left with 26 photos.
My Workflow #4-Final Cut
My Workflow #4-Final Cut by john m flores, on Flickr
This is often the hardest step because it means leaving some good photos behind, but this is the most important step. In this set I had multiple interesting takes on a statue but decided that just one would make the cut. Conversely, I chose two versions of the flag because they were very different. There were other shots that were nice but I thought that they were cliche or not within the mood or theme of the rest. I do final editing here so that the photos feel like a set not a mish mash. I give these photos 3 stars in Lightroom. I'm left with 8. These are the ones that see the light of day.
Postscript
Months down the road I often find myself looking at my photos marked 3 stars in Lightroom. Those that a personally or professionally important to me or I think have stood the test of time (vs. a momentary infatuation with a shot) get bumped up to 4 stars. Those that I think are among my best of the year are bumped up to 5 stars.
That's how I do it. How about you?