Photographic workflow is a massive subject and is probably the hardest thing for new photographers to get right as they take more and more images, and as they get deeper into post-processing those files. It is so easy to shot in rapid-fire these days, and there’s no added cost to creating more photographic files, so getting the whole workflow thing nailed is very important.

Fortunately there are some really great pieces of software such as Adobe Lightroom (Windows or Mac) and Apple Aperture (Mac only) out there that help to make life easier and workflow faster.

I get asked about this all the time so I thought I would share my workflow here. By no means would I ever say that this is the best or most efficient workflow; rather, it’s just what I do. It work well very me and it is actually possible to go through hundreds of images pretty quickly.

1. Download all files from memory cards to the computer using Breeze Downloader Pro. The software automatically applies metdata including my name, address, copyright info, and a few keywords about me. It also creates date based folders on my computer that fits into my existing storage hierarchy, and it renames every file so that I will never ever have images with duplicate file names. Note that this is a real possibility as most cameras only go as high as 10,000 images before reusing old file names.
2. Import all the images into Lightroom. I automatically apply a preset with a few develop settings that I’ve found to be a good starting point for my images. The applied preset is specific to the camera that was used to make the images.
3. First pass review of the images. I mark all the bad ones (out of focus, massively over or underexposed, or just plain ugly or boring images) for deletion, and also mark some of the very best as “Picks”.
4. Second pass review. Very similar to the first pass, only this time I do some minor image adjustments (Cropping, White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast) to see if marginal images can be improved or if I should just delete them. At this point I also use the color flags in Lightroom to mark images for upload to my various websites, online galleries, and stock agencies. I also use the Lightroom Stacking feature to group images that were shot in a set for processing as HDR or Panoramic images later.
5. Add additional metadata to all the remaining images. Includes generic keywords for all images about the shoot, the location, the weather conditions, and anything else that might apply to every image in the folder. I also apply specific keywords to individual images about the subject matter, people, and places involved so that I can easily find the images later.
6. Add a Title and a Caption to every image. For the images marked earlier as “Picks” or with color flags these titles and captions will be very specific with lots of detail. For the other images the title and caption will be very generic, and may be identical for many images.
7. Every image that will be uploaded or printed will then get additional processing. Final edits to Cropping, White Balance, Exposure, Sharpening, Saturation, and Vignetting. At this point I will also remove dust spots and do any local editing to smaller areas of some images. I will also play with some images to see if they look better in Black and White or with some added special effects. I don’t do a lot of this, but Lightroom makes it extremely fast and easy, and most of the time edits to one image can be very quickly and easily applied to a whole series of images that were shot under the same conditions.
8. At this point I will process any images that will be merged as HDR or as Panoramic images. I do lots of both of these, but I use automated tools to do most of the work that make this process very simple. These processes can be time consuming, but for the most part I set them up in batches and walk away while the computer does the work. Any merged HDR or Pano images will also need another pass of editing similar to step 7 to finalize them.
9. Upload to my online galleries. Post to Twitter, Facebook, or my Blog. Upload images to stock agencies for sale.
10. Backup everything. This is automated and happens overnight.
11. Backup everything in 3 more places. This is automated and happens gradually over the following two weeks.

That’s just about it. This probably sounds like a lot of work, but honestly Lightroom makes it fast and easy. I can go through a batch of 100 images in under an hour. And it scales up easily too. I’ve done 1000 images in under two hours before. There are always individual images that that may need additional work, or images that I really like that I may go back to and revisit from time to time, but this is the main part of my workflow.

What do you think? How is your workflow different? What do you see here that I could improve?

As I have previously mentioned, the Canon EOS 7D looks like a pretty amazing camera. It has an impressive list of features and there are a few things that it brings to the table that have me really excited.

However, amazing as it is, the 7D is still missing several features from my ideal camera, and even more from my list of must-haves for my next camera. Here are a few of the main reasons why I don’t plan to buy the Canon 7D:

1. Autofocus at f/8: Most consumer cameras will only autofocus with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or larger (remember that the smaller the f-stop, the larger the aperture). This may not sound like a big deal since most professional lenses are f/2.8, and even consumer lenses typically range from f/3.5 to f/5.6. However, super zooms are often at f/4 or f/5.6, and if you add a teleconverter to the lens you will lose 1 or 2 stops further. My most used lens is the Canon 100-400mm f/4-5.6 L. It is a fantastic lens under most conditions but simply adding a 1.4x teleconverter takes it up to a maximum aperture of f/8 when fully racked out and so I lose autofocus with most cameras. (Sure, some will argue that this lens is not a good candidate for teleconverters anyway, but sometimes you need all the focal length you can get and the trade-off in image quality is worth the extra zoom). Professional cameras often extend the allowable autofocus range to f/8. If the 7D had this one feature it would be a very strong contender to be my next camera.
2. Integral Battery Grip: I don’t often need more than one battery, even for a full day of shooting, and I’m very happy to carry a spare battery in my pocket. But the really nice thing about having a battery grip on your camera is that it provides an extra set of shooting controls (including a shutter release, main dial, AE lock/FE lock and AF point selection) designed to make vertical shooting easier and more comfortable). You can buy add-on battery grips for most cameras however they are not always the perfect solution. Inadequate weather sealing is one potential drawback, and they also do not always have all of the controls that would be included on an integral grip. One feature in particular that I want in my battery grip is the inclusion of an AF-ON button, but add-on grips typically don’t include one. The 7D doesn’t have an integral grip, and the Canon BG-E7 battery grip designed for the 7D doesn’t include an AF-ON button.
3. Not Enough Megapixels: I already mentioned this in my previous article about the 7D, but it’s worth mentioning here too… Lately lots of people have been crying for the camera companies to stop chasing megapixels and focus more on reduced image noise. Not me. I want both! I shoot lots of birds and wildlife which can often be very small in the frame, and more megapixels would mean that I could crop my images tighter in post, yet still have a large file for multi-purpose use. I was expecting this camera to be at least 21 megapixels, which would be comparable to the Canon 5D Mark II. I really hope the next professional camera from Canon gets back to the winning ways of more and more megapixels.
4. Single Memory Card Slot: I’m a backup freak and the most vulnerable point in any photography storage system is at the time of capture. If a camera has only one memory card slot, then, by definition, at the time of capture there is only one copy of each image that has been created. The simple addition of a second card slot would ensure that there are always at least two copies of every image. This would be a relatively inexpensive feature to add and I’m extremely disappointed that Canon missed this one on the 7D.
5. Exposure Bracketing: Most Canon cameras provide a simple method to create a 3-stop auto-exposure bracket. In traditional film photography bracketing was used almost exclusively to ensure that you got the correct exposure. In digital that’s no longer really necessary because you can easily see the image on the LCD and decide whether you got it or not. Today bracketing is used more for HDR photography than anything else. For this reason it is often desirable to have (many) more than 3 images in the bracket. Personally I prefer 5 shots in one stop increments, so I have to shoot 2 brackets of 3 shots each in order to get all the exposures I need. Nikon cameras and Canon’s professional cameras allow much more control over bracketing. It is such a simple thing to provide (a software change only), so I’m stunned that Canon did not include this feature in the 7D. HDR photography is the hottest and most exciting thing in the photo world today (just do a quick search of HDR on Flickr to see what I mean) and Canon really missed the boat here.

I’m really excited by the possibilities that the Canon EOS 7D opens up, especially with the new autofocus system and with the built-in wireless flash controller. But Canon missed a few features that could have taken this camera from “exciting” to “damn near perfect”. I’m not saying that I will never buy this camera, but for now I’m planning to hold out for the next release in the 1D series (1D mark IV ??). Hopefully it comes sooner than later!!