My photographic workflow

in photography •  6 years ago 

patrick-perkins-350622-unsplash.jpg


I've been searching a lot for an optimal workflow as an enthusiast photographer. Browsing over I found tons of different articles and advices that is why I decided to write a +1 :)
For sure what I learn reading all the articles is that no one got exactly same gear than you… Not even same goals as photographer. No I don't have the last DSLR with 48Mpix. No I don't have unlimited money to rent a off-site server for 5Tb
So I focused one the key elements to achieve. For me it was :

1 - Secure my photos = Backup

Being a mix of travel photography / family photography I need to secure the perenity of my images. Do I need high availability ? Mmmm I don't have client deadlines or other constraint so no top priority.
One important point is that a proper backup is not redundancy like RAID on a NAS. If your NAS get stolen / hacked / burned / name it… even if you have 5 HDD inside… it will not do the job. So at least one copy at home and one copy offsite is a basic to call it backup.

2 - Being able to publish quickly on social media (mainly Instagram)

That means mainly preparing and color correcting pics. Getting them online as fast as possible.

3 - Share quickly with family and friends

It's very important for me to share easily pictures I took but also to be able to choose what I will share with who. Meaning maintaining different circles of friends and family.

4 - Handle Raw and JPG (link to point 2 and 3)

Yes X100T Jpg and Film Simulation is FANTASTIC! But I also like to be able to tweak a RAW and secure that I can recover an under-exposed part of a picture.
I would say I shoot 80% of the time RAW. I shoot JPG only when mainly I know that it's only family pics where I want to be able to share super quickly pictures with my friends.

5 - Travel Proof

I need to be able to cull quickly my pictures on a relativly small screen and need the point 1 to work as much as possible when on the go.


Added to those points I have a couple of constraints. Yes let's call it constraints. It's mainly my gear (or my lack of infinite finance you take it how you want). I call them constraints being a little bit provocative… but if you think about it I would love to take pictures with my eyes and share them just by thinking about it! But so far it's still Sci-Fi.
Back to our constraints !

a - Shooting mainly with Fuji X100T
Yes I have to admit I should not call it a constraint… it's a camera I litteraly love but still, it brings some constraints!
Need to empty SD Card cause Wifi transfert is not an option = too too slow Fuji!

b - Working on old (very old) Macbook Pro
Here again it bring some slowlness but also a SD reader ! :) I think here for me the main thing out of having a computer vs a tablet or even phone to edit is the necessity for me to have Photoshop.

c - Synology NAS@Home
Fantastic tool bringing redundancy and flexibility but also limitation link to network.

d - Photoshop need to edit and color grade.
As mentionned in point b I tested other software to edit/color grade and was not convinced.

e - Automation required cause my brain is already full of over things to think about.
Last but not least : I'm not very - "structured" - when it comes to backing up. So the constraint here is to secure that this workflow will be sustainable by itself. What does it means? I should not been forced to push a button every single day to backup from A to B or to index this particular thing in the flow…


Mixing all of that I tried to design my "dream" workflow that will serve my photographic hobby.
Who says pictures are better than words…? Let's look below for my current workflow.
1*Rtrf46ClGW8-Ijtr8iC6nQ.png


Once again this is made for MY way of taking pictures, with MY gear and MY budget.

But I hope that it can help some to reflect around their workflow, grab some ideas and why not share some of their ideas.

If you want to have a look at what is the outcome of this workflow you can jump HERE on my Instagram and please share your ideas/critics

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Thanks for commenting and keeping track of plagiarism.
I'm not sure which picture you are referring to. The first one comes from @unsplash without need to give credit.
The second one is my creation,