How to Create a Digital Photographic Workflow

Working with printers, photographers and graphic artists for over 30 years has given me a great appreciation of workflow. Workflow principles can be applied to almost every part of your life. Workflow is really the understanding of every element needed to create something and planning for and executing the process of creation. Cooking is a great example of a practical workflow. If I want to cook chili, I first have to acquire the ingredients, prepare them for cooking, cook them with a specific process and then serve the chili for dinner. Every workflow is unique. Photographers will have many workflows. The workflow is dependent on the subject, the media and distribution of the finished project. In this article I will try to get you to think about workflow and explain the basic elements of photographic workflows.

* Note: there are university-level classes on this subject and this article is meant as an overview.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Digital Cameras
• Photo Editing Software

1. 
   Planning

   Plan for every part of the project, which is the first step in any workflow. What is it I am going to create? For this article I will use “Photographing my Flower Garden” as an example of a photographic project. What is the end product? If I want pictures for the web, resolution is not as important. If I plan to print, then I need to know the target resolution and required color profile of the output device. I also need to know the file format requirements for the final media, which could be a cell phone, coffee table book or DVD.
   
   Scout the location. What time of day is the best to photograph the garden? Visualize the photograph you want to take and the tones you want in the end product. Use the zone system and a filter to remove the colors so you can think about tones. Next think about the color of the blooms. A blood red tulip may require full sun to make the color pop out. The delicate pink of Mountain Laurel requires indirect sunlight. Break down your project into all the required components. Will I need a close up lens, tripod or other special equipment? Do I need an assistant? The final step of planning requires gathering all the equipment and materials and in this case following the weather forecasts.

2. 
   Pre-Production

   Focus on preproduction. You have scouted the location as part of planning. During scouting is the time when you want to begin visualizing your images. Preproduction is where you finalize your visualization. You may have to assemble umbrellas or light diffusers. Identify tripod positions. Set up your camera for bracketing and white balance. Depending on the output, you may want to make corrections for white balance and decide if you want to make these adjustments during shooting or create a color profile during postproduction. Preproduction encompasses all the things that you want to accomplish prior to shooting.

3. 
   Recording the Image

   Record the image. You may begin in the morning to capture the dew and indirect sunlight. You may need the noon sun to get the maximum amount of light on dark blooms and to highlight textures. This will become apparent to you during the visualization process. You will want to bracket your exposures. You may also want to shoot in burst mode if it is a windy day. I am always amazed at how much plants move.

4. 
   Post Production

   Begin postproduction, which involves uploading your images to the computer and the editing of the images for cropping, color, contrast or any other image defects. If you have done the first steps correctly, the photo-editing step may not be required. Another element of postproduction is to prepare the images for production. You may say, “hey I already shot these; they have been produced.” Capturing the images is one thing, but if you want to share images on the Internet you may need to convert them to a different format. Printing images will require conversion to the CMYK color space, and if you are publishing your images in a book you will need a page makeup program for layout and text addition. These are all elements of postproduction.

5. 
   Production

   Enter into production or distribution, which is the final step of the workflow. Here you will actually print your images on your output device or send them to a commercial printer in PDF format for them to print. You may create a CD or DVD of your images and send them to the web or a mobile device. Since resolution and format are the keys to photographic reproduction, you can see how important planning is to this process. If the final target is a coffee table book, you may require different equipment then if you are shooting for cell phone distribution. Resolution and output size must be understood during the planning phase so you wind up in the production phase with the right file format in the correct size with enough resolution for the output size.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep in mind that all workflows are unique and you should devise a workflow that is right for your project.
• Photographers need multiple workflows to address a wide variety of format and resolution requirements.

[christmaszorro2]

on 11/15/2009 Cool article and 5 star writing!