Alright,
So I harp on and share a lot about what I shoot but I’ve never written about what happens to the file after it’s shot and before it get to you dear blog reader (or in other cases the client). So I’m going to break down my entire workflow for you using the two files from yesterday’s post, PREPARE TO BE INTERESTED:
- Shoot the image
- Copy Job Folder Template (Option + Drag on my Mac). Saves me trying to create this folder hierarchy over and over again.
- Download CF Card into “1 – Origs” in the job folder (see image below)
- Rename all captures “YYMMDD_JOBNAME_FILE#”, same filename as the Job Folder and ensures they sort by year as I’m planning on doing this for a while and don’t want 8 August’s competing for front of the pack.
- Review files in Bridge. I rate anything I’d show the client with 1 Star and keep cutting them down until I don’t have any duplicates. I never want to hand two variations of the same shot to the client unless it’s a portrait and landscape version (better to be able to adapt to certain magazine spreads). I want to make sure they don’t spend time thinking “oh well in that one _____ is 3″ to the right…I don’t know Bill. Which one do you think is better?”, as the professional I should be making the call on what shot is superior.
- Fix any minor discrepancies in Camera RAW (saturation, contrast, cropping, treatment etc.)
- Serious comps and panoramas et al get processed through Photoshop, .psd’s are saved in the “2 – Retouch” folder
- Process out all the files into the “3 – Final” folder. This ensures if a client calls a year from now asking for another copy of the DVD I know EXACTLY what I sent them the first time. No fuss, no muss.
That ladies and gentlemen, is my workflow. Probably revise it over the years to fit my needs but for now this suits me just fine.