My Landscape Photography Workflow

I have had a few folks ask about my workflow and I know when I was first starting out I felt disorganized and researched the workflow of other photographers. So I thought I would share mine. My workflow still needs some fine tuning, but it is working for me at the moment.

First, I shoot in RAW. For those not familiar, RAW format is a file format available on most DLSRs, mirrorless, and some higher end point-n-shoot cameras. With RAW, all of the data collected on the camera sensor is saved to the file. Most people are used to their pictures being JPG (“J-peg”) file format. Most cameras (and phones) save their images in JPG files. The camera processes the data that comes off the sensor and compresses the data to create the file. When I say process the image, the camera will apply a white balance correction and potentially slightly boost the saturation of the colors to make them pop a little. All of this is fine for your typical snapshot or social media post, but as an artist, I want more control over the look of the image. I don’t want the camera making decisions for me about what the image will look like.

By shooting in RAW I have to process the images on my computer after shooting, and this is where the concept of a workflow comes in. My workflow actually starts before I even head out to shoot. My workflow is laid out below by stage.

Preparation

Before leaving the house, I make sure my batteries are charged and I have memory cards in my camera(s). If I have a planned outing, say a dawn sunrise shoot, I will do all the prep work the night before. I check the weather and assure I have the needed clothing and gear for the conditions I will be shooting in. I’ll check Google maps, my weather app, the Photographer’s Ephemeris, and other planning resources to assure I can take the best advantage of the location and conditions I will find in the field.

In the Field

If I don’t already have a planned subject and composition in mind, I will spend time looking for interesting subjects and effective compositions. Even the most beautiful scene in the world does not necessarily make a successful image. Once I have my subject and composition, I’ll setup my tripod and camera, then fine tune the composition. I often have to remind myself that my feet can move and I can pick up and shift the tripod and camera over a few inches or even a few feet to refine the composition. Photography is a reductive art form. The artist removes things from the image by changing composition and position. In this way, photographer is more like a stone or wood carver than a painter. Painters create additive art, applying paint to a blank canvas until the vision is realized.

It continues to be an area of focus for me to slow down and look at the background and around all of the edges of the frame to assure there are no distractions sneaking in to steal the viewer’s eye away from my intended subject. I have come home countless times with what I thought was a good image, only to find that there are elements in the frame I had not seen that distract from my vision for the image. So in terms of workflow, I have added a step to specifically inspect the frame for such intruders, and move the camera and recompose to eliminate them.

In terms of camera settings and actually making the image capture, I try to “expose to the right” without blowing out the highlights. To do this, I take a couple of test shots and look at the histogram on the back of my camera. If you have not worked with exposure histograms, check out my blog post, Be Ready to Take Advantage of the Weather, where I provide a little background on making proper exposures. Exposing to the right (slightly over exposing the image) allows the camera sensor to capture more detail in the shadows and since I am shooting in RAW and will process the image when I get back, I can adjust the exposure back down to an ideal level later, as long as I have not over exposed the highlights some much as to lose all detail, so called “blowing out the highlights”.

I should also note that both camera bodies I shoot with (Nikon D7100 and D750) have two memory card slots. I use two high speed SD cards (currently Lexar Pro 64GB 1000X cards) in each camera and set the camera to write the RAW files to both cards. This gives me a backup copy from the moment I press the shutter. I have never had a card fail (it is only a matter of time), but if it did, I would still have my images that in some cases I worked very hard to get. At the end of the shoot, I’ll pack up my camera and other gear in my backpack and head home.

Transferring Images from Camera to Computer

I remove the memory card from slot #1 in the camera and insert it into the card reader in my computer. I then use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC to import (copy) the files to my PC hard drive. I also have a network attached storage (NAS) server and use file syncing software to make a copy of all files of my computer on the NAS. So as Lightroom is copying the files and adding them to my Lightroom Catalog, my PC is also making a copy of the image files on my NAS. More on backups and archives later. Once the card has been emptied and Lightroom has imported them into the catalog, I can begin to process the images. I should note that I initially started by keeping my RAW files in their original Nikon RAW file format, NEF. Recently, after reading several articles on the topic, I have elected to have Lightroom convert the NEF files into DNG format during the copying process. So at this point, I still have the RAW images on two memory cards as well as now a DNG version on my PC hard drive and once the synchronization to the NAS is complete, I will have a copy there as well.

Image Processing

Adobe Lightroom Classic CC

First step is tagging the images. This is the best and easiest time to add the keywords and other tags to the image. You will thank yourself later when you want to try to find a specific image. I will apply keywords starting with tags that are relevant for all the images from this shoot, typically the name of the place, then move on to tag groups of images with common elements (sunrise, sunset, lake, river, ocean, beach, bird, mammal, reptile, etc.). Lastly, I’ll tag specific images with any remaining relevant tags, such as the species of bird or type of mammal. My next step is to do a first pass review of the images and give them star ratings. At this stage, I’m just giving 1, 2, or 3 stars. A three star image is one that I really like and I think has real potential. I’ll give two stars to images that I like, but am not immediately in love with. I rarely tag something with one star, I’ll use this to note an image that I want to come back to later and see if I can make something from it. Many images will not get a star rating. Also, if an image is clearly bad (blurred, out of focus, or unrecoverable over or under exposed, I will delete it. If it is junk, why take up disk space with it. I will begin the adjustment phase of the process by filtering the image list to just the 3 star images and pick one and go into the Develop module of Lightroom.

I do nearly all my image adjustments/processing in Lightroom. Only rarely moving over to Photoshop for very specific tasks. I won’t go into full detail on my Lightroom processing workflow here. I’ll save that for a future post. Briefly, I will set white balance, adjust the crop (if needed), adjust exposure, set white point and black point (if the image in fact has pure white and/or pure black). I’ll then move on to remove any dust or water spots from the image, apply the lens profile to remove any chromatic aberration and any lens distortion. Finally, I’ll add some sharpening and address any noise.

One of the great things about Lightroom is that all adjustments are non-destructive. This means that everything you do to an image does NOT actually change the RAW file itself. Your changes are stored in the Lightroom Catalog and are applied when you view the image. I will often make virtual copies of an image which simply saves a second set of adjustments for the same image. This way I can experiment with different crops, B&W vs. color, or more artistic manipulations, knowing I can always go back to the original image and start again.

Final Image: Print or Post

My final images end up either online (on this site, Instagram, or Facebook) or as a print. If it is an image that will be printed, I then move to the Print module within Lightroom. If the image follows one of my standard aspect ratios and print sizes, I will use one of my presets for page layout and paper. I print nearly exclusively on Canson-Infinity papers. My go to paper is Canson® Infinity Rag Photographique 310gsm. I love this paper. It provides an exceptionally smooth matte finish while still delivering deep blacks and fine detail.

If an image is destined for life online, I will export it as a JPG, resized so the long edge is 2,000 pixels and I add my copyright watermark to the lower right corner.

Archiving and Offsite Backup

As I noted above, I maintain two copies of the original RAW file, one on my PC hard drive, the other on my NAS. Although this is a good start to avoid the disaster of losing one or more images, it does not address the loss of my house. Last year, I began backing up to the cloud as well. There are a number of options from Google Drive, iCloud, and Microsoft OneDrive, to Adobe CC, Carbonite, and Backblaze, to name a few. I encourage everyone to keep an off-site backup, and with the ease and affordability of cloud services, there is no better option. Each service has it pros and cons, depending on your needs. I recommend using one that will make the backups automatically to avoid having to remember to perform the backup yourself.

So there you have it. My workflow, start to finish. I welcome your questions and suggestions in the comments below.

Looking Back, Moving Forward, and Hope

It is that time of year when we reflect on the year behind, the highs and lows. The collage of images above show some of this year’s highlights from CFP. The paragraphs that follow touch on the highs and lows of 2018, as well as my hopes, and goals for 2019

HIGHS

It has been a great year for me personally. We had a grand family reunion around my niece’s wedding, which included a trip to the UK and a wonderful family holiday. My adult and soon to be adult children all racked up significant accomplishments and I could not be more proud of each of them. As some know, photography is not my full-time profession (yet). I work in the tech sector in product marketing and it has been a good year for my company and for me professionally.

LOWS

In terms of lows on the year, thankfully, there have been few. We weathered hurricanes Florence and Michael with little damage, aside from some yard clean up and putting back a shutter that was blown off. Probably the biggest downer of the year for me was my lack of progress in my photography. I had little time for either the creative or business side of things. I had planned to exhibit at a few art fairs this year and that was just not in the cards. I only had a few additions to the portfolio, driven mainly by a lack of time in the field. If I am not out shooting images don’t get made.

HOPE

Triangle Land Conservancy year end flier

If you follow me on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), it will be no surprise that I am an environmentalist. It has been a tough slog this year with the change in policies in Washington, favoring short-term business interests over long-term sustainability. But among all of the bad news of continued global warming, renewed whaling by Japan, and pro fossil fuel politics, there is reason for hope. I need look no further than my backyard.

I have been a supporter of Triangle Land Conservancy for many years. TLC works to conserve and monitor natural areas and agricultural lands around the Raleigh-Durham area. The past year has seen some notable achievements by TLC as noted in their year-end mailer to the right. The observant of you who know my work will recognize Dawn on Rocky River as the background image of the flier. Check out the Image Story to learn how this image came about.

I am hopeful that there are more people who care about having clean water to drink, clean air to breath, and a sustainable future for their children than there are individuals that focus solely on short-term profits and power. I encourage you to find your local land conservancy and support them and their work. Caring for the natural areas around and within our cities not only provides a more enjoyable and livable community, it also helps protect our water supply by using natural filtration and riparian buffers to reduce runoff and increase ground water.

GOALS

I am generally not one to make New Year’s resolutions. I prefer to set a few attainable goals. As I look forward into 2019, I will make a renewed effort to exhibit my work at local art fairs. I am also beginning to plan my first major project. It will be a collection of images that tell the story of water and the human relationship with it. As the plan comes together and the images and final product come into focus, I will share it hear in my blog. Thank you all for you continued support and interest in my work.

Best Wishes and a Happy New Year to All.

Landscape Photography and Multi-Tasking Do Not Mix: Pick One Activity at a Time

I spent yesterday afternoon with three fellow nature lovers counting birds for the 2018 Christmas Bird Count. We walked over five miles and chalked up a total of 38 species and close to 400 individual birds. The #CBC is one of the longest running and largest citizen science projects in the world. Each year between Dec 14 and Jan 5 groups of birders fan out across the country to survey the bird population within defined areas called circles. Each circle is counted the same day every year to add scientific rigor to the data collected. If you enjoy birding and have not participated in a CBC, I encourage you to do so. You will meet great people and spend half a day outside in a natural setting.

So why am I writing about birding on a photography blog you might ask. Well, yesterday was a lousy day for birding. We had fog combined with on and off misty rain. Birds are less active and IDing the birds you do encounter can be quite challenging. Visibility is limited and birds are dark subjects against the bright background of fog. I would have preferred to have spent the afternoon photographing foggy landscapes. The conditions were perfect. As I have noted before, the fog cleans up cluttered backgrounds and helps isolate your subjects.

But we had a job to do. The birds needed to be counted, so I left my camera at home and came armed with just my binoculars. As I pasted potential composition after potential composition, rather than complaining, I took note of these locations and I know right where I will go on the next foggy day.

So, back to the subject of the post, Landscape Photography and Multi-Tasking Do Not Mix. If I had brought my camera and tried to make a few images as we walked along, two things would have happened. First, my companions would have quickly gotten frustrated with me constantly falling behind and not focusing on the task at hand. Second, the images I would have brought home would undoubtedly have disappointed me. I would have rushed. The compositions would be off, the backgrounds and edges of the frames would have unwanted distractions, and overall image quality would have been sub par.

The same thing happens if I try to shoot while on a family hike or other adventure. I have never come home with a keeper when out with non-photographers. Even when they say that it is “OK“ and they understand I will travel at a different pace and stop for extended periods of time. I don’t allow myself to completely focus on the moment and the image I want to make. I think this is why most landscape photographers tend to work alone.

I am often encouraged by friends and family to bring my camera along on outings. After early frustration with the experience and lack of results noted above, I stopped taking my camera on such outings. Upon reflection on yesterday’s experience, I think will I approach outings with friends and family a little different. I will treat them as opportunistic scouting trips. If I see a potential composition, snap a quick cell phone pick and note the location (turn your location services on before taking the pick and it will geo tag it). Now, I can return to the location with the sole intent of creating images and not worry about anyone else.