Post Shoot Workflow

This is a combined version of my three-part entry describing my workflow following the Norhteast Grand Prix where I shot the American Le Mans Series race. Due to the length of this entry, it is broken down into three parts. Part 1 will deal with importing images into Aperture. I will address setting up a Project, adding preset Metadata and sorting / ranking images.

In Part 2, I will discuss some of the basic steps I use in processing or adjusting images intended for distribution. This will address Aperture's adjustment panel and using the basic adjustment tools.

In the final installment, Part 3, I will discuss applying keywords and the logical sequence I use to create a consistent and efficient process. To wrap things up, we'll talk about exporting images.

Part One:

This workflow is based on a recent two-day shoot at the American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.As many of you are aware, between new technologies, improved work habits and the need to be organized, our workflow is continually evolving. We shoot more, we store more... and we store differently.

Recent additions and changes to my own needs have had an impact on how I manage my images during and immediately after a shoot. As a motorsports shooter, my needs might vary from yours, though at the end of the day, I think we're all in a similar situation.

The variables I face are typically a question of time... time as in deadlines. Sometimes there is someone who needs an image right away. And of course, clients want images / web galleries as soon as possible since fresh content is an important element of a race team's promotional efforts.

I thought for this journal entry, I'd walk you through a weekend of shooting and how I handle the images from start to finish. Of course, this is going to incorporate importing, file naming, sorting, ranking, post-processing and adjustments, keyword application and finally, transmitting.

My choice of software for managing my workflow is Apple's pro application, Aperture 2.My software choice is Aperture. Many of you might be using Lightroom and others may be using a "suite" of different applications made up through personal choice. While the implementation of my workflow might be specific to Aperture, I think the actual flow and process can be managed through other software packages. Aperture users will probably benefit from many of my shortcuts, though.

I start with importing my card(s) into my Aperture Library. I use two Lexar Firewire 800 card readers and have a 1TB LaCie portable Firewrire 800 external drive connected to my MacBook Pro. I choose a Managed Library.

First, in Aperture, under File / New Project - I create a new Project and name it after the event. In this case, Lime Rock. All cards for the weekend will be imported into the Lime Rock Project.

We're now ready to import.

Import Screen ready to import to ProjectUsing the Aperture Import pane, I select the the first card reader. In the Import Dialogue panel I choose;

Store Files: In the Aperture Library (managed)
Do not import duplicates: checked
Version Name: Custom Name with Index
Name Text: Thaw_
Apply to Master filenames box is checked.
Time Adjustment: None - My cameras are set to the Eastern US time. Since Lakeville, Connecticut and Lime Rock Park are also in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, I have no need to adjust the file times for this particular event.

Save time by setting up Presets for your constant Metadata like copyright and contact information.What the section above does is rename my files as Thaw_xxxxx.jpg and applies that name to the Master files. It stores it in the Aperture Library in the Lime Rock (event) Project.

In the bottom section of the Import Dialogue panel, we can decide what Metadata we want to add during the import process.

I have a Preset created that adds all my contact and copyright information. So, first, I select the Thawley preset. Then, I have a custom Metadata view created, also named Thawley. When I select that, my contact and copyright information remain, and I'm presented with a Caption window and a Keyword window.

Here I will add 2009 Northeast Grand Prix in the caption window and some "constant" keywords in the keyword window. In this case, I know every image will need the keywords American Le Mans and Lime Rock Park.

I'm now confident that all my images will be imported with my file numbering convention, my copyright and contact information, a generic caption and a couple of constant keywords.

All we need to do now is click on Import All.

I repeat this with the second card and card reader.

Once Aperture informs me the cards are imported I eject them from the readers. I do not delete the files at this time. I will reformat in the camera when I'm ready to use them the next time. That's my habit. You may choose something different... but whatever you do, make it a habit and do it the same EVERY TIME!

Now I have that set of images in Aperture. If I have the time, I begin going through them. For me, editing as soon as possible is more effective. I know what I just shot and I know what I'm looking for... good, bad or otherwise.

When I see an image that is good, I don't do anything... I'm going to keep it, but it doesn't need a rating.Using the grid view of thumbnails and with the filter pull-down dialogue set to Unrated or better, I will select the first thumbnail in the grid. I will hit the F key and bring it to a full window view. If the image is a complete miss, out of focus, over-exposed ... or otherwise a totally useless image, I'll hit Control Key + 9. This will mark the image with an X to denote it as a reject. You can just use the 9 key.... but by using Control Key + 9, you advance to the next image automatically. Since our sort filter is set to Unrated or greater, the rejected images will also leave the screen once they're marked as such.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but just to be clear, I do not delete files until the weekend project is complete. This is done by revealing all the X images in the Aperture browser, selecting all and using a hard delete. It's just faster and cleaner to do this way.

Aperture in full screen mode.Getting back to our sort and editing, when I see an image that is good, I don't give it any sort of rank... I'm going to keep it, but it doesn't need a rating. If it's an image I really like, I'll hit the 3 key giving the image 3 Stars. I can always demote it to a 2 star if I become ambivalent about it.

At this point, I'm still in full frame and using the arrow keys to navigate back and forth. I'm also using the Z key to zoom in and check the sharpness. You can use the loupe too... but for me, the Z is just as quick. (Tip: If you click your cursor arrow in the area you want to see, it will be centered on the screen when you hit Z).

When I give an image 3 stars, that means I like it. Since I shoot sports, I am shooting in 3-5 frame bursts. So... I'm going to go back and forth between images narrowing it down to the one I like the most. I won't delete the others, just mark the one I like.

Based on the time I have available, I might go ahead and do some adjustments to that image right then and there. I like doing this because everything is fresh in my mind... I know how I want the image to look. And chances are, there are going to be more images going forward that may have the same adjustments necessary. So, once I've got an image adjusted, I can use Aperture's "lift and stamp" tool to apply those adjustments to subsequent images. Even if they're not spot on, I can re-tweak them as I go.

Part Two:

Number one question I get is; "How can I get my images to 'pop' like yours?"As we begin Part 2, I'm going to break in the workflow timeline here to talk about adjustments. If there is a single question I get asked the most it's "How can I get my images to 'pop' like yours?"

To me, I see what I see. I don't really see 'pop'... it's become second nature. But if others see it, that's great. So, I don't know if what I'm about to describe will give you 'pop,' but this is how I approach the Adjustment tools.

It's the post-processing part of our workflow where Aperture or Lightroom go head-to-head with Photoshop. That's not to imply they're as powerful as Photoshop. They are not. However, they do manage 99% of the adjustments that "most" photographers do (or even know how to do) in Photoshop. I don't want to debate the pros/cons of using Photoshop, but for me, most traditional types of post processing requires only a small segment of Photoshop's capabilities.

It's the post-processing part of our workflow where Aperture or Lightroom go head-to-head with Photoshop. That's not to imply they're as powerful as Photoshop. They are not.I describe the switch as merely an adjustment in your mental muscles. All three programs have similar tools that will make similar (if not the same) adjustments. For the most part, the difference lies in each tools "feedback." Brightness, contrast, saturation, levels, sharpening... they're all the same function, it's simply a matter of YOU finding the feel in each and developing your mental muscles to find your comfort level in attaining the "look" you want from your post processing. For years, I had my post processing down pat in Photoshop. Today, for the life of me, I can't duplicate my Aperture "look" in Photoshop. This is the part you need to give yourself time and experiment.

The wonderful part of all of this is that Aperture is a non-destructive tool. In other words, your Master file remains EXACTLY as it came out of the camera. Any of the adjustments we make in next section will create a Version of the image. A Version is nothing more than a small text file listing all the adjustments we made. When we click on the thumbnail of that Version, Aperture applies the changes listed and we see our adjusted image. If we don't like it a few months from now, we can just do another Version.. and another, and another. We're not even using additional hard drive space by creating a Version. It's roughly an 8K file consisting of text instructions. So experiment and have fun.

Again, I stay in the full screen view. I'll hit the H key to bring up the Adjustment Panel overlay.Again, I stay in the full screen view. I'll hit the H key to bring up the Adjustment Panel overlay.

The Adjustment panel is a group of tools separated into "bricks." Each brick addresses an adjustment group with a few tools in each. Aperture allows you to add or delete bricks to the panel. In the top right corner, there is a + sign where there are other tools. These may not be used as frequently, but can be added to the panel.

You will also notice that some of the bricks have a small arrow next to their title. This a reveal arrow and when clicked will open up advanced functions of a particular tool. Open or close them as you need to. And, keep in mind, you can slide the adjustment panel around to different areas on the screen. Put it where it's comfortable for you.

The Adjustment panel is a group of tools separated into "bricks." Each brick addresses an adjustment group with a few tools in each.Lastly, each brick has a rotated arrow on the right side of the panel. This is Aperture's "undo" tool. By click on the rotated arrow, you can remove any adjustments you've made with that tool. You can also "globally" remove ALL adjustments by clicking on the rotated arrow that is stored in the pull down menu marked with a sprocket icon in the upper right corner of the Adjustment panel.

One final note; Aperture knows the difference between RAW and JPEG automatically. While the browser is always displaying JPEG images, if the Master file is RAW you'll automatically see the RAW adjustment brick become available in the Adjustment panel. What you see on-screen is Apertures default conversion to a jpeg preview. I shoot in jpeg, so we'll not discuss RAW today.

First thing we see is a histogram and two Auto adjustments. Feel free to give those a try and see what you get. Sometimes, you get lucky and they make a nice improvement. You can always undo them.

Next we have the White Balance brick. You can use the eye dropper to click on a neutral grey area to adjust the white balance. Then you can use the two temperature sliders to tweak it a little more. Obviously, this is all trial and error and only you will know if you have it the way you like.

Aperture's Exposure brick has become much more useful for me than the Levels tool. I find I don't work the levels like I used to do in Photoshop. I primarily rely on the Exposure brick using the Exposure slider and the Brightness tool. In an average situation, I'm going to bump the Brightness down a bit and push the Exposure up. If there are highlights that are slightly hot or blown, I'll bump the Recovery slider... but ever so gently. It tends to dull things.. so be careful.

Next I'll drop down to the Enhance brick. Here I'll maybe work the Contrast slider up or down a bit. With mid day shooting, I find things get a bit too contrasty, bumping the contrast down can help soften that up. The next slider is the Detail slider. This is an important tool. Bring it up 25% to 50% of the way. This acts a little bit like sharpening... but very fine. Don't worry, you're not going to get an crunchy over-sharpened nastiness. It's a good tool.

Saturation tends to bring in reds where you don't want them. It can also make your greens (like grass) a little too electric looking.Also in the Enhance brick you'll see the Saturation slider and the Vibrancy slider. These two can manage your saturation in tandem. Saturation tends to bring in reds where you don't want them. It can also make your greens (like grass) a little too electric looking. The Vibrancy is better to use in those instances. Use it with moderation though. I've found that if you've got some reds that getting closed up in your detail areas, back the saturation slider down a bit... same with flesh tones that look sunburned. Pull down the saturation and watch to see if some of the red clears out.

The next brick is your Levels adjustments. You can choose from Luminance, RGB or Red, Green and Blue individually. As I said earlier... I'm using this less and less these days. And when I do use it, I only use it for the Luminance. In that mode it is very similar to Photoshop.

The Highlight and Shadow brick is next. DO NOT overlook this section. It can be used VERY effectively... in moderation. As you know, I shoot cars. If I get a little too much shadow around the inside of a wheel well and around the tire... bumping up the Shadow slider a touch will help separate the tire and the wheel well. If I've got a driver's face buried inside the shadows of his helmet, I can carefully pull it out a bit and bring back the driver's eyes.

The Highlight slider is much better than the Recovery tool for bringing down hot spots. Push the slider up and watch the area you're trying to adjust... if it starts to grey out on you, back up a bit. Now, clicking on the "reveal" arrow at the top of the Highlight and Shadow brick you'll see Advanced and another reveal arrow. Open that up and you'll see a few more adjustments. Using the High Tonal Width slider, move it to the right and what the highlights you're adjusting. They should come back to a natural color. Try a little back and forth with this slider and the highlight slider until you see what you're trying to attain.

Again.... USE IN MODERATION.

I'm not going to get into the COLOR brick here. It's simple enough to use... but I'm not sure there's an "average" use to describe. And, I rarely find the need to use it.

Aperture's Noise adjustment brick is a bit of an odd one. It's hard to see changes, but I can tell you, it does reduce fine noise. If I use it at all, I push the top slider up about half way. For real noise reduction, I use Noise Ninja.

Aperture is a non-destructive tool. Your Master file remains EXACTLY as it came out of the camera.Aperture's Edge Sharpening tool is BRILLIANT. It does a terrific job. You'll need to play around with the settings to suit your taste... but keep in mind, each camera is different. You can create presets and it's a nice idea to do one for each camera you have. Just checking the box will give you a very nice subtle amount of sharpening. So, you may want to start there.

If you find a setting you like, click on the little sprocket icon to the right and save it as a preset. Name it something you'll remember.

I have a mild setting pre-set for my Leica. It is:

Intensity: 0.85

Edges: 0.27

Falloff: 0.69

The last brick in the Aperture adjustment overlay is the Vignette tool. For me, this is a personal favorite. It's a one click process, inasmuch as the default settings are usually just right. It is going to darken the corners of the image ever-so-slightly. If the image is dark, you may want to back it down a bit. For the most part, though, it's just right.

There is also a Spot, Clone and Repair tool, a Red Eye tool, Cropping tool, Rotate tool and Straightening tool. These can be accessed under the + icon at the top of the Adjustment panel.

The Spot, Clone and Repair tool is great for getting rid of sensor dust. Red Eye tool works extremely well. The Cropping tool works just like all the others you've ever used and has a panel that provides preset aspect ratios.

The Rotate tool is for rotating Portrait or Landscape orientation. You can hit the R key and it will turn your cursor into a rotated arrow. Just click it on the image thumbnail and it will turn it 90 degrees. (Tip: Some tools turn your cursor into a purpose specific tool pointer... such as crop, spot or rotation, to revert the cursor back to a standard pointer at any time, just hit the A key.)

The Straighten tool is a dream to use. A grid will appear over your image simultaneous with your movement. Use the grid to align with a horizontal horizon or vertical plane in your image. The Straighten tool is a dream to use. When you access the tool it turns your mouse cursor into two back-to-back vertical pointing arrows. Position it to the left of right side of your image, click down and drag your mouse either up and down. A grid will appear over your image simultaneous with your movement. Use the grid to align with a horizontal horizon or vertical plane in your image.

Those are my adjustments. You should experiment. There's a monochrome conversion and other things to play with and don't forget, you can add or delete any of the bricks to change the default layout. The other thing to remember is you can always undo your changes individually using the little rotated arrow on the right of each tool or globally using the Remove all adjustments command under the sprocket icon in the top-right corner of the Adjustment panel.

Finally, there is never any reason to "save" your work in Aperture. It is always saved and updated in real-time.

Part Three:

In racing you might shoot for 10 laps or so at one location. Hence, you can end up with a lot of similar shots of the same car.To begin (and finish) Part 3, let's fast forward to the end of the weekend. I've shot approximately 5000 images. I've rejected roughly half of them either due to being complete misses or redundant to other images. In racing you might shoot for 10 laps or so at one location. Hence, you can end up with a lot of similar shots of the same car. Lime Rock is a very short track, so the cars were coming by quite often.

Of the 2500 images I've kept, I will end up with 600-750 with a 3 star rank. This was accomplished by sorting and processing any time I had free-time to commit to editing. That's usually between session, after dinner, before bed, etc. From Lime Rock we drove to Bradley International Saturday after the race and flew out Sunday morning at 6AM. Editing continued on the flight between Harftord and Atlanta, in the Delta's Crown Room at Atlanta airport and on the flight between Atlanta and Fort Myers.

Aperture saves each memory card download by sequence and date. So you can look at one particular card or shooting session at a time. Tip: To keep the screen manageable, you can use Aperture's file filter (next to the sort dialogue in the grid view browser panel) to view files by import session. Aperture saves each memory card download by sequence and date. So you can look at one particular card or shooting session at a time. I like this feature as it will allow me to only have 500 or so thumbnails on the screen at once. It's a little less overwhelming.It's also a simple way to bookmark where you've left off when you take a break or get pulled away.

I spent another two or three hours Sunday afternoon finalizing the sort, rank and processing edits. The final step was to filter for all 3-star images and revisit each one. For this I, make sure I have the images sorted by Image Date, then scale the thumbnails up to their largest size. Now I can look at them in the sequence they were shot and can see shots that are similar to each other. Though they might be of a different car, they're going to be a similar shot from the same corner or section of the track. For my final edit, I want to select the best one or two.

If I highlight four images and hit the F key for full window, all four images will share the full screen.To do this, I'll compare two or three at once. If I highlight four images and hit the F key for full window, all four images will share the full screen. I will give them a closer look and decide which ones will get a 5 star rank. I'll repeat this step until I'm down to about 150 images with 5 star rankings. What I'm looking for is quality and a variety of cars while considering the location and style of the shot. Of course there will be head shots, pit shots and atmosphere images included too.

Next, I need to do the ugly job of adding key words. I'd love to tell you Aperture makes this easy. It doesn't. I does make it less ugly... but it's tedious...time-consuming and necessary. You have to become disciplined and do this. The sooner you do it, the easier it will be.

I've found a keyword method that works for racing events. Hopefully, you can think through my method and come up with a work-around for your type of shooting.

I'd love to tell you Aperture makes keywording easy. It doesn't. I does make it less ugly... but it's tedious...time-consuming and necessary.Using a thumbnail grid view, sorted to display all of my 3-star images, I will start with the first image and select ALL images that feature the same car. Once I have them all selected, I will hit Shift + Command + B - this will bring up the Metadata Batch Change dialogue box. I am presented with a window for Caption and Keywords and the option to Append or Replace. Remember when I imported my files? Remember I added American Le Mans and Lime Rock Park as keywords? Well, since I don't want to lose those, I choose the option to Append.

I can now type in keywords that apply to the set of images I have selected and they will be applied to them all. Typically, I am going to add the team name, the car type, the sponsor and the class they were running in.

Lastly, I will take the 150 5-star images and using the Aperture to Photoshelter plug-in transmit full size versions to my e-commerce site at Photoshelter.I will repeat those steps until I've added keywords to all the car images. While making those selections, I might have included some head shots of drivers or pit stop shots... even pre-race photos. So, I'll go back through and select images that have a common denominator... pit stops, pre-race etc. and add the keyword; pit stop, pre-race. Or maybe there are atmosphere shots that include flags, or pretty grid girls... maybe VIPs. Again, you can just go in and append those few images individually. Like I said, Aperture does make it a bit easier if you plan ahead and think it through.

Finally, I will sort/filter for each team I need to upload galleries for. I'll sort that team, pick out 25-30 images and using an Export filter in Aperture and use the appropriate plug-in to transmit the images pre-sized. Aperture's export feature allows me to pick a size, add a watermark and transmit all in one step. The size images are never created or stored on your computer. They're generated, transmitted and gone.

Learn your software. Knowing the ins-and-outs of the software gives you leverage.Lastly, I will take the 150 5-star images and using the Aperture to Photoshelter plug-in transmit full size versions to my e-commerce site at Photoshelter.

When that is complete, I'll transfer a copy of the Lime Rock Project to the 2009 Motorsports library that resides on an external drive on my desktop and I'm done.

I can't stress enough the importance of downloading, editing and processing your images as soon as you can. For me, getting started during the event also serves as a reference to how the weekend is going. I can see what I've shot, how I'm shooting... or even how the light looks in that part of the country. It's a huge advantage we have when shooting digital. We have instant feedback to our work. We can see where we are and how we're doing... and we can adjust as necessary. Don't give up that advantage.

Accessing a tool or changing the screen, rearranging your desktop, searching for a set of images.... you name it, there are several ways to accomplish it.Learn your software. Knowing the ins-and-outs of the software gives you leverage. For me, Aperture is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I'm not looking all over my hard drive trying to find a specific image... opening folders or playing hide and go-seek. I'm not opening a program to import another to sort and yet another to process. I'm managing my files from cradle to grave (so-to-speak.)

One of the key factors incorporated into Aperture is choice of method. Nearly everything you do in Aperture can be done two or three different ways. Accessing a tool or changing the screen, rearranging your desktop, searching for a set of images.... you name it, there are several ways to accomplish it. This where YOU take control. Learn these methods properly and you now have the control to design your workflow and use Aperture the way you want it to work. I like to think of it as a language. When you become fluent in that language, you are now in control. Learn the program and design a workflow that works the way you work.... not the other way around.

Learn the program and design a workflow that works the way you work.... not the other way around.Developing a good workflow and good workflow habits is key to your efficiency. I'm not encouraging you to rush things.. on the contrary. A good workflow and good habits allow you the luxury of looking through all of your images and giving each proper consideration.

I have a hunch we'll be seeing a new version of Aperture in the coming months. Be sure and check back here. I'll continually report on how my workflow is evolving and make you aware of any changes in the pipeline.

If you haven't seen it, here's a brief slideshow from the shoot at Lime Rock.