Your digital workflow..

[lytefunk]

Hey, what kind of post processing do you guys do after getting a photo from your cam? Is it the same for web viewing and printing?


I'll start first with mine, currently using a minolta 7hi, set at sharpen 'soft', saturation +1, contrast -1, ev -0.3, adobe RGB (from some sites, since they were saying the colours were too natural AKA not vivid enough)

Once on photoshop, it runs through a default workflow of
USM 350% 0.4 1
Fade luminosity 100%
USM 15% 60 0
Fade luminosity 100%
levels to expand dynamic range by shifting white and black point to cut-offs in the histogram if neccessary
curves using a S-curve for contrast increase
and brightness and contrast if neccessary

from here, if its for print, i convert to my printers profile or sRGB (depending on self print or developer)

if its for web,
reduce to 600x450
put in watermark
put in border



So what do you guys think?
Reason I'm asking being that I was playing around with photoshop and the auto-color command actually gives me nice colours without that loooong workflow above

Any idea on how to improve it?

Some samples of the photos can be found at my gallery below..

[Prismatic]

Just wondering, if you understand what does the process do in each step. If you do, and you are happy with the results, then it won't really matter what workflow you use. If you are just following a recommended workflow that you read about from elsewhere, maybe you should consider coming up with your own workflow. You see, not all workflows work for everyone, and the results may not be to your liking.

[ninkus]

Don't mind a noob asking.
But what's USM? I've seen this term used a couple of times already.

[SniperD]

Originally Posted by ninkus Don't mind a noob asking. But what's USM? I've seen this term used a couple of times already.

in Photoshop under Filters -> Sharpen -> there's a UNSHARPEN MASK. for short, it's USM

in Canon, it's a term for its UltraSonic Motordrive (USM) in the lens

[lytefunk]

I wouldn't say i understand all the exact steps, but those steps mentioned above with the numbers are already tweaked to somewhat suit my likings..


The main question here is, how about you guys? what kind of workflow do you use?


And also, like i mentioned, when i used auto-color, the effects, though different, wasn't that bad too

so how can I incorporate that into my workflow?

any ideas?

[AReality]

The digital workflow for my pictures are all different.
Coz all pictures are different.
There's no standard workflow...
But normally, I'll

Adjust whitebalance
Adjust exposure, and/or curve to suit the photo.
Upz the shadow detail if there's a need.
Adjust saturation.
Adjust USM according to the ISO setting.
Save as final developed image.

To display on web,
resize it.
Border will be managed by HTML.

[weg]

Originally Posted by AReality The digital workflow for my pictures are all different. Coz all pictures are different. There's no standard workflow... But normally, I'll Adjust whitebalance Adjust exposure, and/or curve to suit the photo. Upz the shadow detail if there's a need. Adjust saturation. Adjust USM according to the ISO setting. Save as final developed image. To display on web, resize it. Border will be managed by HTML.

waah very similar to mine hehe...
to end the process, archive the RAW files according to dates. jpeg previews (same name as RAW) are used for searching/fast preview purposes.

[khairi]

Originally Posted by AReality The digital workflow for my pictures are all different. Coz all pictures are different. There's no standard workflow... But normally, I'll Adjust whitebalance Adjust exposure, and/or curve to suit the photo. Upz the shadow detail if there's a need. Adjust saturation. Adjust USM according to the ISO setting. Save as final developed image. To display on web, resize it. Border will be managed by HTML.

what do you mean by "Adjust USM according to the ISO setting"? please advice.

[lytefunk]

Hmm thats interesting =)

How do you up the shadow detail??

And also, what kind of USM settings do you use, generally i mean, like any guidelines??

Originally Posted by AReality The digital workflow for my pictures are all different. Coz all pictures are different. There's no standard workflow... But normally, I'll Adjust whitebalance Adjust exposure, and/or curve to suit the photo. Upz the shadow detail if there's a need. Adjust saturation. Adjust USM according to the ISO setting. Save as final developed image. To display on web, resize it. Border will be managed by HTML.

[AReality]

Originally Posted by khairi what do you mean by "Adjust USM according to the ISO setting"? please advice.

Sometimes I USM too much, the noise starts showing more than it should.
Esp with ISO800 or higher... I try not to USM.

[AReality]

Originally Posted by lytefunk Hmm thats interesting =) How do you up the shadow detail?? And also, what kind of USM settings do you use, generally i mean, like any guidelines??

JPG -> Photoshop CS has a shadow adjustment.
RAW -> Capture One also has a shadow adjustment.

[HelmetBox]

auto everything

[kelster]

heh...since we're on this topic...how you guys generally adjust the white balance huh?...via Color Mixer?...Hue Saturation?...

and how much to adjust?...looking at the whitest part of the pic and adjust it till it appears white?...mainly "Arh-Gar-Ration"??...

heh...paiseh...kindof new to this whitebalence adjustment thingy...normally i would just open up the levels adjust and use the droppers to set the darkest and the brightest part of the pic...usually the whitebalance will be shifted to my liking...heh

[HelmetBox]

Originally Posted by kelster heh...since we're on this topic...how you guys generally adjust the white balance huh?...via Color Mixer?...Hue Saturation?... and how much to adjust?...looking at the whitest part of the pic and adjust it till it appears white?...mainly "Arh-Gar-Ration"??... heh...paiseh...kindof new to this whitebalence adjustment thingy...normally i would just open up the levels adjust and use the droppers to set the darkest and the brightest part of the pic...usually the whitebalance will be shifted to my liking...heh

shoot in RAW?

[kelster]

heh...rite...thats 1 way lor...but the time it took for me to write the pic i took into my CF card really's a pain in my a** lah...the pic cycling rate is a lil too slow for my comfort lor...heh...

[HelmetBox]

Originally Posted by kelster heh...rite...thats 1 way lor...but the time it took for me to write the pic i took into my CF card really's a pain in my a** lah...the pic cycling rate is a lil too slow for my comfort lor...heh...

well, you gain back the time during post processing if you custom balanced your colors correctly and used as datum

[Zerstorer]

Originally Posted by lytefunk levels to expand dynamic range by shifting white and black point to cut-offs in the histogram if neccessary

In this step you are actually compressing the dynamic range.

[kelster]

Originally Posted by HelmetBox well, you gain back the time during post processing if you custom balanced your colors correctly and used as datum

hmm...talking abt this...the custom balanced colors are in-camera rite?...what do you actually look out for when tuning the colors huh?...cos sometimes...i myself couldn't make out if the colors are shifted or not...is this a mainly individual preference thingy??

[HelmetBox]

Originally Posted by kelster hmm...talking abt this...the custom balanced colors are in-camera rite?...what do you actually look out for when tuning the colors huh?...cos sometimes...i myself couldn't make out if the colors are shifted or not...is this a mainly individual preference thingy??

take a white card or gray card. fill your frame. shoot it. Set it as custom white balance.

anyway you don't always want white to look white. Situation dependant. If in doubt, take Raw go home and edit as you like.

[kelster]

Rite...thnx dude...