FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: WORKFLOW & KIT PART 2

After any shoot I upload to my computer ASAP - I now use a Sandisk card reader and it takes next to no time and so I do it once I get home, if it's after a wedding I'll pour myself a glass of wine and let it do it's thing in the background.

I'm trying to get my post processing time down but since discovering Lightroom and getting switched on to Photo Mechanic it's significantly faster than it used to be. Using both of these I managed to get images back to clients within 2 weeks despite working full time as well (though I did do some stupid hours and spent many nights in front of the computer screen.)

Firstly I'll use Photo Mechanic to select the images I want in the final edit, it's simple and really fast. Emma Case did a fantastic tutorial about it and that's what convinced me to give it a go. You can get a free trial and I promise you at the end of it you'll be waving your credit card in glee. 

This programme has cut down my culling time form about 3 hours in Lightroom waiting for previews to load etc to about 30 minutes of intense clicking AND my couples get more shots!

I also believe Photo Mechanic has the power to do exposure, white balance adjustments and the like but I feel Lightroom is a much better tool for these.

I create a separate folder for these RAW files and then import that into my Lightroom library. It's here that I do image adjustment and creative editing.

It used to be that I used Lightroom for image adjustment, though as I mentioned, the goal is to get as much right in camera as possible to save time later, there's always something that could benefit with a little tweak. I'd then export everything and open it in batches in Photoshop, running actions over everything and it took forever. Lightroom 4 practically does away with the need for Photoshop at all - it  has a whole new set of sliders vs LR3 and even effectively does Photoshop staples like dodging, burning and even a cheeky bit of teeth whitening. 

I rely heavily on two particular sets of presets that i think have been a wise investment - and I'll come on those and why in a second. Firstly, there is no preset or action in the world which will make a bad photo look good unless it's going to swap it out with something and stamp little pink unicorns all over it. You need to see the light, connect with you subject, channel emotion and then use whichever digital editing tool you have to out your own stamp on things. Over the years I've spent an absolute fortune on Photoshop related bits and bobs like the good hobbyist I was, and always only used them for a short time with the exception of the two below Lightroom Presets. I'm trying to move my work into a slightly more natural image and these two help me do it effortlessly.

There's lots of debate about whether with a bit of skill and ingenuity you could create these yourself but  I firmly believe that life's too short to mess around when someone has already done that for you.

VSCO film - I've talked about this before, it's ace and Andria Lindquist does a much better job than I at talking through in this walkthrough.

Red Leaf Film Emulsion presets - Simple, natural and a light touch and especially good for natural light.

I try to work through everything in one sitting for consistency, give it a day and do whatever the photo version of proof reading is by creating a gallery I can scroll through to check that I'm happy with everything before exporting a high res and a low res version from Photoshop into destination files which will eventually be copied to USB for my clients.

The final stage is upload - as I use Showit for my main website, each client also get's their own online gallery and an online proofing gallery which houses the high res photos and also doubles up as external storage. Both of these have their own upload servers so I set and leave it to do it's thing.


All of this means I can do everything I need to do in a day and a half's work maximum provided I don't get too distracted by cat stroking or chocolate eating, both of which are major time sucks for me!

Next time - blogging, reading and training.

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: WORKFLOW AND KIT

A while back I did a 'For Photographers' post reviewing VSCO Film 01 (or just VSCO film as it was back then) and talking about how it had taken hours off my workflow and had really opened up Lightroom to me. It got some really good feedback about that, so here, finally, is a proper sequence of posts for photographers.

Realistically, those who are just starting out or serious hobbyists will probably find this the most useful, but I guess it's always handy to peek into the ways of working of someone else.

Shooting

let's start with the most important first. I try and get as much as I can right in camera, exposing for shadow and I have almost always shot manually after I found Aperture priority on my first DSLR wasn't getting me the look I wanted.

I only like to work with what I can carry, especially as I get to most weddings on the train.

I work with Nikon and my camera is a D700 and I carry a back up with me to each and every event I shoot.

I love to work with fast primes and have the 35mm 1.4 and the 50mm 1.4 (Canon offer a 1.2 for both of these which is the spec equivalent and same price bracket as the 35mm 1.4 - I don't know why Nikon don't do it but heyho) but there's times in which having a fast zoom is necessary - there's been so many times when I've been stuck in one spot during a ceremony and want a range of frames. My weapon of choice is the 24-70 2.8. It's fantastic for a primary shooter, but when I have assisted others I've often wished I had the 70-200 as it's a bit too wide for shooting from the back of a ceremony.

I believe in keeping it simple - the more time you spend playing with things the less time you spend looking at the world around you and waiting for the perfect moment to capture.

My wishlist includes the 85mm 1.4 and I'm toying with the idea of investing in the above mentioned 70-200 2.8 but I do think I'd only use it in big venues, and I do like a nice wide frame.

It's worth mentioning a little about film at this point too. I absolutely adore shooting with film, love that soft pretty look and could go on and on about how much I adore the work of the likes of Feather and Stone, Elizabeth Messina etc but for me, right now, digital is my work horse. Chiefly because of cost - if I was to shoot most of my work on film I'd have to charge around 50% more to cover the cost of buying the film and the post processing but it is something I'd like to seriously consider in the future.

When I do shoot film I use a medium format Pentax and my film of choice is Kodak Portra. I also have a number of toy cameras that I bring out at will.

Next time  - my digital workflow

2 0 1 3 P R I C I N G

A little sneak peek from my pricing brochure.

 For the full thing get in touch 

 And for more of my work check out my portfolio 

S H E R R Y & K E V I N { M A R R I E D}

Sherry and Kevin organised their whole wedding in 6 weeks - they held it on a drizzly day in January at Cannizarro House in Wimbledon. Sherry's amazing makeup was by Kaz Fernando - doesn't she look amazing?

Here's a few shots from the day...

R E C E N T P R E S S

I love seeing my work in print, and while it's always hugely exciting to be featured on blogs it's super amazing to be printed in a national magazine that you can pick up in a corner shop.

Jenny and Joe's cute wedding in Dulwich was featured in January's Perfect Wedding magazine. Below are some scans of the pages (sorry, they're a bit low res whilst I'm waiting for the PDFs to come through)

You can see their full wedding blogged here :)

L U C I N D A & N I C K { M A R R I E D}

Lucinda and Nick had a beautiful autumnal wedding with an Alice in Wonderland theme. Lucinda is one of the most gorgeous brides I've ever seen, and those Gucci shoes...

The Dairy at Waddesdon Manor - their venue was perfect - cosy inside and with amazing food. Just the tonic for the January blues...