Workflow - from camera to working image

I've been asked to run through workflow. As I've been accustomed to working to deadlines for assignments and clients, the ability to minimise workflow is vastly beneficial. So here's a brief insight into how you could be minimising your workflow.

The underlying principle is very simple: be able to get an image off the camera with the correct colour - process it if necessary (but not for photojournalism) - get the image out, get paid and move onto the next assignment/project.

So let's take each step in turn. First we have to get the image off the camera. A fast card reader and also a set of fast memory cards will be very useful. I'm not terribly brand loyal when it comes to cards, and have a collection of high speed cards from Lexar and Sandisk. I find it best to transfer all files to a folder named after the assignment on my desktop as my working folder.

This is the beginning of getting the images out. The next part is making sure I know where my images will be going - if it's for print, then I need to select the paper, the printer and the size I will be printing prior to any processing. Why? Because I can adjust my colourspace to accommodate for the final results. Colour management is very important in the workflow process and shouldn't be neglected. I select the correct profiles for the work and begin processing. This may simply be resizing the image to some more advanced work. But here's the trick to reduce workflow - get the image right in-camera. This really does cut down the amount of work needed, and images can roll off as straight RAW to TIFF conversions with a watermark action in Photoshop if need be.

Now I've alluded that I don't process for photojournalism - and this is a strict code I adhere to. Yes, digital photography should embrace the editing element, after all, that's one reason why it's become so popular over film - but for journalism you simply cannot take the risk of publishing an image that may have been falsified. Therefore publications and editors I've worked for would like the images as shot. This again means that getting the right image in-camera is vital.

Processing should deserve a few posts with examples, so I won't go into detail suffice to say that this is usually where most time is lost in workflow. Therefore I do the following before each assignment:

-clean the sensor and test for dust spots with the aperture closed as far as it goes over a brightly lit piece of white paper
-make sure I have a grey/white card with me if I'm covering indoor events so I can customise a WB. Outdoors I will use auto WB as lighting will change, but indoors, lighting tends to stay static.

If all images have a dust spot or the wrong white balance (WB), then every image needs to be recovered. And this is a pain for workflow. Imagine that each image takes an extra 5 minutes to correct - that's an hour lost for every 12 images. That one hour could be used to go and cover another assignment.

And that's really it from a simple summary. I'll make sure to go into more specific parts of this whole workflow process which one post can't possibly do justice. Again, if any questions arise, please leave a comment.