Your Camera & Your Computer

Note: I publish articles like this fairly often because many of my students are still using platforms and storage units that are not always conducive to a speedy workflow. But, whatever system you prefer, you need to have something that is relatively easy to use and that connects your image storage with your image creating processes quickly and efficiently. The last article talked about storage requirements. This one is a bit more about how the applications you use work with each other.

Your Camera & Your Computer

by William Lulow

Well, I just helped a student set up her computer so that she could deal with the increasing number of digital files she was creating after learning how to do some good photographs with her new camera. These days, I always emphasize that the interaction between your creative talents, your camera (even if you are still shooting film) and your computer takes some thought and care when you are first setting everything up.

Shooting digital files takes a fast enough computer to handle the workload. I have described basic requirements in other blog articles, so you can refer to them if you need an update, but the way I work involves three basic computer programs (with the addition of several others from time to time) and a certain amount of computer savvy to make everything work properly. The technical term for it is DIGITAL WORKFLOW. It involves having a reliable method for downloading your images, storing them someplace where you can access them quickly and easily and then being able to run the entire process repeatedly. The better set up you are from the beginning, the easier the process will be every time you shoot an assignment.

First: Everything I shoot is considered an “assignment” whether or not I am getting paid for it. I treat every, single shoot exactly the same way.

Second: All assignments get their own special name and are entered into the “tree” structure on my hard drive.

Third: I never keep any data on my computer’s main hard drive except the programs and other information I need to run everything.

Fourth: All images are kept separately on SOLID STATE HARD DRIVES and are stored chronologically on them. The key to never losing your images is REDUNDANCY!

Fifth: After the images I shoot are successfully downloaded, they are backed up on another hard drive so that I have duplication of all original images.

Sixth: When all images are downloaded and backed up, I ERASE the entire SDHC or Compact Flash Card in the camera. You never want images lingering about on the various cards you use to record your images.

Seventh: Every time I shoot a new “assignment” it gets a new number in the folder in which it is stored.

A typical hard drive “tree” might look something like this:

     PHOTOGRAPHS2022

               FOLDER: ABC Advertising JAN

               FOLDER: ABC Corporation Event FEB

               FOLDER: Shots of Central Park MAR

                         FOLDER: Edits

                                 FOLDER: Finals

All of these folders contain images that have been downloaded and edited. The trick is always to protect all your ORIGINAL images and save the ones you edit with different names or numbers. That way, you can always come back to all your original files should you ever want to start over and edit them differently.

So here you have a formula for creating a workflow that can save you a lot of time when it comes to sorting and editing the thousands of digital images you will inevitably create.   

Another thing I do while I am working, is to place all three Adobe Systems programs I use on my computer’s TASK BAR, so that they are open all the time and I can use each one as the need arises.

I use Adobe Bridge to download all images. Some people swear by Adobe Lightroom, but I find Bridge a bit easier to use.Bridge opens Adobe Photoshop automatically, whenever you double-click on an image which signifies that you wish to edit the image.      

This is a snapshot of a typical page in Adobe Bridge:

These images, as you can see are all numbered in sequence. The red marks indicate the client’s choices for images to be edited. When an image is selected, I double-click on it and it opens in Photoshop automatically. When I am finished editing, retouching and cropping, I create a new folder and give the image a new name but with the same number. So that might be something like “Friedman,Rachel_0024EditA”, or something similar. You always have to ensure that your originals remain intact and that the ones you have edited and/or retouched are clearly labelled. This all aids the storage and retrieval system greatly and makes your workflow easy and consistent.       In the days of traditional photography, one would set up the lighting, take a Polaroid test shot to make sure the lighting and exposures were right and then proceed to do the shoot. After that, one would have to process the film, wait for it to dry and then go about making contact sheets so all the images could be previewed. Sometimes this entailed marking up those sheets to make selections which would then be printed in the darkroom. The whole procedure would often take several hours. Today, it all happens just about instantly. I often work with clients hovering over me as I make selections, crop, edit and save the images in new folders that make their retrieval fairly simple. They can be sized, retouched, re-cropped and made ready for transmittal to the client in a matter of minutes. 

Part of offering professional photographic services means you have to know how to do all of this quickly and easily.