Workflow Hangups

[xMWayne]

Love going out and shooting. Hate having to cull photos.

Love editing. Hate editing *all* of the images I've flagged (I don't actually edit them all, but do hate the feeling that I should, eventually one day)

Love posting. Hate editing the metadata. 

 

The metadata is the part that bogs me down the most. Any tips or suggestions! What's the step that you dread the most? 

Also - I'm curious if it matters these days what RAW importer you use? Photo Mechanic Ingest? Sony RAW Viewer? I import directly to C1, but open to changing my workflow to maybe get over my metadata hump.

[RoGina]

It depends, but for events I use Photo Mechanic and edit in Lightroom. For portraits I use Capture One. As far posting with/without  metadata, I made different export presets for that. 

[LensBrew]

I import all my images through photomechanics, this gets the metadata out of the way. I edit in lightroom and capture one, depending on the assignment. Presets are handy for group of images. It takes time to create ones you like for specific type of work, but they are worth the effort.

Try this workflow if it helps:

- rate images that you like from 3 to 5 stars.

- apply presets to all (3 stars are done)

- do some minor tweaks here and there (4 stars are done)

- do great work of 5 stars.

-post.

With proper culling, assuming you start with 500 images, you should end with 25-3stars, 10-4stars, 1- or 2-5stars. This is only a suggestion, see if it can help ease your process.

- 

[CarolineJensen]

Metadata can be so hard! For me, it is just remembering to do it and using the spray can in Lightroom to apply the same keywords to all relevant images. The new AI integrations for editing programs is great too. I like that I can put in 'pink flower' and all images will be shown. It is very helpful! 

[-AJB-]

If you’re using Lightroom, metadata presets will save you time, as well as labeling your selects for easy sorting. If you have several images with the same exposure, lighting, etc., you can sync any edits you made to one image with all the other similar images with a click. For critical colour accuracy work,  I use an x-rite color checker. Lightroom builds a profile from the image featuring this device and you can apply it to any similar image. Speeds up the colour correction process — which can be time consuming.

[jb]

What are you struggling with specifically?  Removing metadata?  I use Lightroom for most culling, editing and exporting.  You can create export templates and choose what (if any) metadata to include in the exported images.  Takes time to initially setup.  But then it's a simple click to export according to whatever parameters you've set.

Culling is an art onto itself.  Of course it depends on you own habits and subjects.  It takes practice and discipline to quickly see a "pick" versus a "reject".  But you do need to become comfortable rejecting images.  Do you really want or need 10 or 20 nearly identical images from a burst or variations on a portrait?  Once you've made your pick, stand by your decision.  Hit the delete key.