MJ from The Young Republic tickles the keys
Today marked a formidable check off my list of things to do: post photos from past Lounge Acts. There were over 1400, and though I feel okay about the process of selecting and correcting, it’s not ideal.
The current process?
– Store everything in folders organized by date
– Open all photos from a particular folder in Preview
– Select and drag images that look promising to Photoshop
– Review at large resolution, close out duds, and for the good ones…
– Correct levels if needed, and use an action to resize, sharpen, add logo, save for web
It leaves lots to be desired, but it’s what works for me. I’m curious what process works for other folks sorting through a pile of digital photos.
6 responses to “checked off”
I am just another random admirer and read your blog religiously. I seem to find the same burden when it comes to cataloging photos. I do find that importing everything into iPhoto or something that lets you see multiple photos at a glance to help. I don’t know about 1,400 photos at a time though Chris. Also I assume you have a Mac because of your little statement about using an action to resize, sharpen and add logo and save for web. Then again. You can do that in Photoshop anyways. But yeah, iPhoto FTW.
🙂
When I was on a PC, I used Picasa for photo management and review and then after “holding” my selects, I’d move to Photoshop.
Unfotunately, Picasa isn’t available on a Mac (yet) and iPhoto doesn’t come close to it. Picasa is a bazillion times faster.
So what I’ve been doing is just using Finder in multi-column mode to see potentials (if I have to look at all of them, I’ll begrudgingly do so in iPhoto) and then move to Adobe Lightroom (for basic RAW adjustments/fine tuning — not sure if I can use it as a photo catalog just yet) and then into Photoshop for resizing.
Adobe Lightroom isn’t too bad and worth looking into since it’s free and beta at the moment.
I’m curious about Aperture of course but just can’t quite put the money down for it — it’s a shame there isn’t a trial version.
I actually love Canon’s Digital Photo Professional that shipped with my (shiny new) EOS 350D… It makes light work of dealing with raw images – and I must have processed some 1,000 images in the last week without any complaint.
My current process is:
– Review all images and “flag” (or checkmark) the images I think are beyond saving.
– Delete flagged images
– Pass through the rest of the images, correcting the white balance, contrast, gamma and brightness as I go.
– Select all images and then bulk convert to JPEG whilst resizing down to 1720×1152.
– Double check that the outcome is shiny and matches my intension.
– Delete source images.
– Rinse, and repeat if necessary.
– I go through an extra post-processing step at this point if I’m wanting to post photos to the web.
Canon’s photo software automatically does all the time/date foldering goodness for you.
For a bundled piece of software, it’s surprisingly good and actually gets updated quite frequently. (Finally, software that matches the hardware’s in terms of capability!)
I hear good things about Aperture, but yet to get my hands on a copy (and unsure if the camera will sit right with my Mac – I’ve never tried it!)
Thanks Crioknight for the kind words.
And Naz, you’re not missing too much with Aperture. I tried it for a while and it seemed to make iPhoto seem fast. And alas, I’ve heard so many good things about Picassa, but I don’t spend too much time in PC land.
I need to revisit Lightroom. My initial impressions were good, but it just didn’t stick. I’d not thought about it for fine tuning.
As for Canon’s software Martti, that is one piece of software I’ve never used, and I’m sure it came on the install CD.
Always good to hear what other folks are doing, it’s daunting sometimes.
Photoshop actions. That’s what I was thinking about the other day to do the same things you’re talking about. I need to just get off my duff and do it. It’ll save me much time. Much.
I love Chris’s photography. I am looking to talk to him about purchasing an image. Does anyone know of a way to get in contact with him besides his leave your email link. Its a very quick job and I think this image is perfect. DOes anyone have a phone number..
Sorry to use your blog for this kind of comment, but Im desperate.