Exercise 1: Your own workflow - 1

Although it is suggested that this exercise be a portrait shoot, I decided to do something else whilst still maintaining the  principal purpose of understanding my workflow by "taking a number of images, all in a concentrated period of time, and which will need to be edited in order to select one or two". 


My chosen subject was 'canal boats', which is appropriate as I live in a canalside location.


As required, I planned my workflow in advance, as follows.


1. Choose a subject and location. This was done as above.


2. Set time period and number of shots required. I thought that 30 minutes would be appropriate for taking 20 shots.


3. Decide on equipment. The Canon 50D was a given ( as it was a digital camera) and I chose my Tamron 18mm to 270mm lens for maximum flexibility.


4. Choose mode/white balance/exposure. Aperture Priority mode seemed most appropriate and f/11 to give sufficient depth of field. Although setting the white balance isn't as critical when using Raw as it can be adjusted while processing, I chose the 'cloudy' setting.


5. Take photographs. Check histogram, sharpness and composition after each shot. Adjust exposure compensation as appropriate. After a couple of shots, I decided on an exposure compensation setting of - 1/3. I re-took two shots because I was unhappy with the composition. 


6. Back home, check shots in camera and delete any which are obviously sub-standard. I deleted the two shots identified during the shoot.


7. Download remaining shots onto computer, into an appropriate named folder in Lightroom. 22 photographs were downloaded from the memory card.


8. Review downloaded shots. First pass to be keep/discard. Then star rating for the 'keeps'. 6 of the 22 were discarded in this process, leaving 16 shots to rate. 9 of these were given 1 star and 7 two stars. Of these 7, 4 were upgraded to 3 star. 


9. Choose 2 best shots from highest rated. Being left with four photographs and having to choose two, I decided that I would process each in Lightroom and Photoshop before picking the final two. Having done this, the shots I have chosen are shown below.




The first, because of the colour and the composition.

The second because of the interesting shape of the brasswork and the reflection of the building and sky.

Assessment of Exercise


The workflow used wasn't much different from my normal method although writing it down beforehand did help to highlight certain points, like the need to continually assess shots during a shoot. Having a limited time-frame was also a challenge, although it helped to focus the mind!


One of the problems I have with checking, not particularly the histogram, but the sharpness of a shot in camera is that I wear reading glasses and need these to see the display clearly. Of course, I could put on my glasses each time but this is not ideal.


A learning point for me relates to the final judgement of the, in this case, 3-star photographs. It is clear to me that the final decision should be made once the photographs are finally processed via Lightroom/CS5 and not before. Apart from any cropping required, this is particularly relevant as I shoot in Raw and processing is essential to achieve the final result.