Fed Up Processing RAW Files

[ianrmontague]

Hi all,
I currently shoot in RAW, but i'm getting fed up off the processing times it takes to process my shots if i'm out shooting for a day, which could result in 100+ photo's.
I know the benefits of shooting in RAW compared to JPEGs, but i'm considering to just shooting in JPEGs, i know there is the option of RAW + JPEG but its still the process times for RAW.
So i was wondering / asking has anyone just gone to shooting JPEGs and tweaking slightly in post processing, if so was it worth doing and pleased with the results, or is there a quick way in Lightroom to batch process RAW files? and then slightly tweaking each individual RAW file if needed.
Advice will be really appreciated from anyone.

Many Thanks
Ian

[planetc]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Nat shoots jpeg without issues. If you are getting it right in camera then you'll probably get away with it, but anything borderline won't recover as well. I apply a basic tweak preset on import that gives me a starting point for a quick share with friends and family, but in all honesty I tend to process everything eventually because you get far better results treating everything individually. I'll shoot between 1000 and 1500 frames in a days flyball competition, import with the preset to sharpen a little and increase the contrast and will run a pass through all to reject the crap which takes out between a third and half of them straight away. If you have 100 good usable shots you can process similar ones with the same settings as a quick fix but it's still worth revisiting them all individually at a later date.

[ianrmontague]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Cheers Paul for answering,
thanks for sharing how you apply a basic tweak (sharpen / contrast) on import, then eventually processing all photo's.
Maybe it's me but i tend to look at the photo's and start processing, then something comes up and i have to stop or i get fed up then stop processing, then i find i start getting a back log.

Here is a jpeg i took yesterday of my dog, with a slight tweak in lightoom which took less then a couple of minutes to do.

Phoebe Having a Sniff by Ian Montague, on Flickr

Your comments will be appreciated and helpfull

Cheers Ian

[planetc]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Little to complain about with that imo. The time I feel it makes the most difference is when you are looking to recover detail in the highlights or shadows, raw gives greater scope. If you haven't watched Anthony Morgantis tutorials then I can highly recommend them. Basic processing doesn't take long at all using similar techniques, certainly no longer than I might spend if I were working with a jpeg. I'll spend longer if I'm trying to fix a problem, but that would be the case with a jpeg too, and likely without as many successes. You'll find a preset set up that suits you and gives results similar or better than camera generated jpegs if you play a little, then you at least have the option to process more deeply, retaining the additional flexibility of raw.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

I'm a recent convert to LR and my process is:

1. Import pictures, including generate smart preview. Get a beer/coffee and wait for it to finish.
2. Select all imported photos and press 3 - sets the rating to 3.
3. Quickly view all pictures and set anything that's not "good" enough to work on to a rating of 0 - hit the 0 key. Sometimes I set stuff I want to work on to 4, stuff I may want to keep to 2 and garbage to 0.
4. Delete all 0 photos.
5. Review each photo, crop as appropriate and apply a preset that sets highlights to -100, shadows to +100, clarity to 30 and vibrance and saturation to 10.
6. If the result looks crap, set the rating to 0.
7. Delete any 0 rated photos.
8. Then work though them all in turn. By hand. Laboriously.

But it seems to work ok, although I agree, it can be a lot of work.

[ianrmontague]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

I shall google Anthony Morgantis tutorials and have a look at them, thanks for that.
I'm going to have a play and try and find a preset to suit me when importing into lightroom. Like you mentioned i think it's the trying to recover highlights / shadows and rectifying problems that's doing my head in.
I believe yesterday shooting in JPEG i was more alert at getting it right in camera as i know i didnt have much flexibility if i got it wrong in processing. It made me relise that i was getting more reliant on software to correct issues, where shooting JPEG it made me think a bit more about the settings etc.
Thanks for the advice again

Cheers Ian

[ianrmontague]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Cheers Andy for sharing your workflow, i might give that a go as a starter and see how i go. Can i ask what does the smart preview do as cant say ive used or tried this in lightroom (i like the sound of getting a beer while waiting though

Thanks Ian

[planetc]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Don't touch the shadows or highlights until you have set the black and the white. If you watch Anthony Morgantis basic process it'll give you a starting point, but I have found it best not to touch the shadows and highlights at all until after I set the upper and lower levels. Full reduction of highlights and recovery of shadows gives some things, like dog fur for example, a very odd unnatural effect. I only move those two as much as I need to give me what I saw when I hit the shutter.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Basically the smart preview allows you to edit an image without the underlying raw file being there, on a removable disk for example. Then when the raw file is available, any edits you make are applied to the newly available raw file. As I don't work this way as a rule, I'm debating with myself it's use as a general approach... Beer works though.

Raw though is non-negotiable for me. A few years ago I took some shots at a family wedding. The wedding was outdoors and I shot them on the fluorescent WB setting. If I'd shot JPEG i'd have been well and truly knackered but as it was, all I had to do was find a flesh tone and select the "set WB" dropped in aperture and all was good. So it's raw for me every time.

I got the core of my workflow from an Anthony Morgantis video on Youtube. It goes, set highlights to -100, shadows to +100 and then with the alt key held down (talking Mac here) move the Whites slider to the right until you start to see some white/coloured areas on the black background. Then do the same with the blacks slider moving to the left looking for some black/coloured area on a white background. This really is easier to understand if you have LR and actually do it than if you read my explanation. This basically does what you do with the levels settings in PSE/Photoshop.

I sometimes find that at this point it looks a bit noisy so it's back to the import, apply noise reduction then repeat the steps above before applying sharpening and masking. Clarity/saturation/vibrance are always applied before sharpening and masking.

It's a piece of cake

[planetc]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

I started off following the shadows and highlights first theory, but I shifted it around because of the weird looking fur, it can bring too much detail out in some cases.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

I started off following the shadows and highlights first theory, but I shifted it around because of the weird looking fur, it can bring too much detail out in some cases.

That it can do. Also, it doesn't work at all for white birds against a blue sky. That turns out horribly.

[Tigger]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

another Anthony Morgantis fan here and I've seen all of his videos and they got me going in the right direction - I enjoy the processing side of photography, but I also used to spend hours in a darkroom. I don't find it long to process and like most will look through a shoot flagging the ones that need looking at...

Something I have recently started doing is setting up a basic editing flow where adjusting the basic panel, lens correction & detail, then copying this, that gives me a starting point with the next image and will paste it, or just batch paste a load that are all similar - Fine adjustments are then made on the photo... You will always have some that need extra attention either P/S or another editor but by pasting & batch processing it cuts time doing the boring stuff freeing you for the more interesting processing

[Quentin]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

As others have said it all depends what you want from your photos. Personally I abandoned RAW some years ago and find that most of my photos are quite satisfactory for my purposes in JPEG with the limited editing possible, but only where really necessary. It saves a lot of time for my hobby and for the occasional commissioned assignment.
Quentin

[Parsen66]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

Personally I really believe it depends on the type of pictures you have shot. Recently I spend a full day with Dave Stallard shooting cars around Silverstone. I mentioned to him that his images really appeal to me in how they look. He advised the settings he uses for jpegs. I shot over 1400 pictures and to process all of them would have taken a dogs age. Having said that, I shot RAW on one card and jpeg on the other, just in case.
When I shoot my usual subjects its RAW all the way as there will be shadows and highlights to tweak and for me RAW only gives you that flexibility. No matter what format I choose on the day , before processing begins in earnest I always tick the lens correction and CA and then select all and sync those settings before going in any deeper.

[gregsmith]

Re: Fed Up Processing RAW Files

I'm not a professional photographer and use my camera mainly for holidays, family & friends, clubs and events I go to, etc. I've been taking everything as JPEGs up to now and do very little post-processing, although I have Photoshop CS6. If I'm not sure about a shot, I will try several different settings and discard those I'm not happy with. Generally, I've been pretty happy with the results. In this month's magazine is an article about ND filters in which says that RAW gives a greater dynamic range than JPEG, so now I've started taking photos in RAW. I have no idea, yet, if I can import them into iPhoto or what processing I will have to do before I can share them with my friends and family.