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UPDATED WORKFLOW
Now that I’ve had the camera several months, and learned a few tricks from "Real World Adobe Camera Raw", here’s my modified workflow [new comments in brackets]:
MY WORKFLOW
1. To keep all the pictures in a single year small enough to fit in a single iPhoto library that fits on a single DVD+R disc, I will *only* import JPEGs into iPhoto. I will not import Raw files. [Since iPhoto still doesn’t support the *ist DS, there’s still no compelling need to have Raw photos in iPhoto. Even if it did support the Pentax, it would quickly soak up gigabytes of disk space unnecessarily.]
2. I download the Raw files from my Pentax *ist DS into a directory structure on my external Firewire disk that stores 100 sequentially numbered Raw files in each directory. Since each Pentax Raw file is about 10 MB, I can put 400 Raw images on each DVD+R disc. [After downloading the photos, I now apply a copyright to the metadata of each image. This forces the creation of sidecar XMP files which I now back up along with my original Raw files. This means I can now restore my ACR settings along with my photos should my hard disk ever crash or should I ever edit them on a different computer. Unfortunately, Elements will not back up thumbnails or image rotation information. 🙁 ]
3. I use PSE’s Adobe Raw Converter plugin to tweak each Raw file (the "auto" settings are a blessing, and it’s great that I can override them if I want to–but I don’t have to) and then export to a high quality, full resolution JPEG (about 1-2 MB each). [ Sometimes I batch change similar Raw files, but this doesn’t seem to work all that well. I probably need to do more testing, because I’m not totally sure how the copying of Raw settings work; if the first photo has a white balance of Auto and I copy that to another Raw image, does it copy the fact that it’s Auto or does it copy what the Auto setting was set to?]
4. I import those JPEGs into iPhoto 5.
My main changes have been the use of sidecar XMP files and batch changes to Raw data, thanks to ideas from the "Real World ACR" book. I found out about that book based on recommendations here–I forgot who it was (or were), but Thanks Very Much! It’s a gem of a book.
I must be getting more comfortable with ACR, since I seem to rely less and less on the Auto settings as time goes by. White balance is an area that I’ve been experimenting a lot with lately. For outdoor shots, the Pentax’s "as shot" values are usually spot-on. For difficult lighting, like fluorescent, ACR Auto generally has a better white balance. Other times I set it manually. I’ve seen a few "white balance police" on dpreview.com lately, who insist that every photo have perfect white balance; I’ve thought about putting together a blog or something on this topic. White balance certainly has its uses, but white-balancing a sunset picture seems counterintuitive to me! Sometimes you want white balance to be "off" to convey feeling or emotion. It’s very subjective.
Anyway, ACR has helped me a lot, and I’d’ve upgraded to Elements 3.0 for that reason alone!
Now that I’ve had the camera several months, and learned a few tricks from "Real World Adobe Camera Raw", here’s my modified workflow [new comments in brackets]:
MY WORKFLOW
1. To keep all the pictures in a single year small enough to fit in a single iPhoto library that fits on a single DVD+R disc, I will *only* import JPEGs into iPhoto. I will not import Raw files. [Since iPhoto still doesn’t support the *ist DS, there’s still no compelling need to have Raw photos in iPhoto. Even if it did support the Pentax, it would quickly soak up gigabytes of disk space unnecessarily.]
2. I download the Raw files from my Pentax *ist DS into a directory structure on my external Firewire disk that stores 100 sequentially numbered Raw files in each directory. Since each Pentax Raw file is about 10 MB, I can put 400 Raw images on each DVD+R disc. [After downloading the photos, I now apply a copyright to the metadata of each image. This forces the creation of sidecar XMP files which I now back up along with my original Raw files. This means I can now restore my ACR settings along with my photos should my hard disk ever crash or should I ever edit them on a different computer. Unfortunately, Elements will not back up thumbnails or image rotation information. 🙁 ]
3. I use PSE’s Adobe Raw Converter plugin to tweak each Raw file (the "auto" settings are a blessing, and it’s great that I can override them if I want to–but I don’t have to) and then export to a high quality, full resolution JPEG (about 1-2 MB each). [ Sometimes I batch change similar Raw files, but this doesn’t seem to work all that well. I probably need to do more testing, because I’m not totally sure how the copying of Raw settings work; if the first photo has a white balance of Auto and I copy that to another Raw image, does it copy the fact that it’s Auto or does it copy what the Auto setting was set to?]
4. I import those JPEGs into iPhoto 5.
My main changes have been the use of sidecar XMP files and batch changes to Raw data, thanks to ideas from the "Real World ACR" book. I found out about that book based on recommendations here–I forgot who it was (or were), but Thanks Very Much! It’s a gem of a book.
I must be getting more comfortable with ACR, since I seem to rely less and less on the Auto settings as time goes by. White balance is an area that I’ve been experimenting a lot with lately. For outdoor shots, the Pentax’s "as shot" values are usually spot-on. For difficult lighting, like fluorescent, ACR Auto generally has a better white balance. Other times I set it manually. I’ve seen a few "white balance police" on dpreview.com lately, who insist that every photo have perfect white balance; I’ve thought about putting together a blog or something on this topic. White balance certainly has its uses, but white-balancing a sunset picture seems counterintuitive to me! Sometimes you want white balance to be "off" to convey feeling or emotion. It’s very subjective.
Anyway, ACR has helped me a lot, and I’d’ve upgraded to Elements 3.0 for that reason alone!
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