Saturday, January 9, 2010

RAW Workflow- Software and Plug-Ins

Folks ask... Whats your RAW workflow?

First, except for sports and casual shots, I shoot full RAW (no sRAW, etc.). I want ALL the information I can get out of a digital file.  Yes, the RAW files are bigger and you need more harddrive space but if you are serious about your photography, RAW is the only way to go! Simply put - RAW ROCKS! 

Reminder: Always try to get the BEST possible exposure in camera! The fewer adjustments you have to make in the computer, the better, IMHO.

My workflow is as follows:

(1) Import RAW images into Adobe Lightroom
(2) Make any necessary adjustments like exposure, WB, and picture style in Lightroom. I do not denoise or sharpen in LR.
(3) I denoise EVERY image using Nik Software's, Dfine.
(4) I make further adjustments using Nik's, Viveza 2 (Great software!)
(5) If need be, I make further tweaks/enhancements using Nik's ColorEfex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, OnOne's Photo Tools Pro, FocalPoint 2 and/or Photoshop CS4.
(6) I always sharpen LAST. I use Nik's Sharpener Pro.
(7) I print from Lightroom.

Lightroom 3.0 is expected to have many improved features like Denoising and Sharpening. Perhaps my workflow will change with Lightroom 3.0?

1 comment:

  1. I was using Aperture but now slowly learning lightroom by using the free beta 3 version. So far, lightroom does not seem so bad and is easier to use than Aperture....

    ReplyDelete