AKELIAN PRODUCTIONS

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this document is to provide a better understanding of digital photography workflow, concepts and some options. It covers a basic setup of a digital workflow for studio and location still photo shoots.

CONCEPT

The concept of the digital workflow is usually a simple one to grasp, but putting it to practice successfully requires an understanding of the workings of each component of the system. Everything from the capture equipment on to the archiving hardware can have an impact on the efficiency of the workflow, thus it is important to be knowledgeable of the options each component gives you. Simply put, you need to read the manuals of each piece of hardware and know how they operate; otherwise you will spend more time figuring out what to do than doing it. This is especially important if time is a factor, for example when shooting on location.

A good digital workflow can make or break a project that is why it’s important to get an efficient working methodology with everyone on the production team. A lot of the steps associated with traditional film photography have been replaced with new ones for digital photography. The photographer still shoots the images but the burden of delivering those images to the client in a final useable form also falls on his shoulders.
The steps that need to be taken when shooting digitally are as follows: capture, transfer/view/critique files, final review/approval, process files, retouch/post-production, output, delivery and archive.

BASIC UNDERSTANDING

The digital photography workflow can be made up of any number of steps depending on the needs of the individual clients but they will more than likely contain the following steps:

1) RAW Image Capture - Shooting the digital file of the image the client has hired you for.

2) Transfer/View/Critique - Transferring the files you just shot to the workstation/laptop and making an immediate copy of them on an external storage device (usually a hard drive, can be a fileserver etc.)
After transferring the files, you view them to make sure the image was captured the way it was supposed to be and that exposure, density, cropping etc… are approved. This step is done during the shoot with or without the client, basically to make sure you’re getting the shots that you want.

3) Final Review/Approval - This step is different than the above because it involves the client. Either the photographer, the producer or the digital technician sits down with client and reviews the images. It is at this point that images are approved by the client and selected for processing.

4) Processing - Depending on the project and client needs, this step can be done while the client is waiting or throughout different parts during the shoot. After the client has made their picks of the images they reviewed in step #3, the RAW files that you captured in step #1 need to be processed into either TIFF or PSD files for retouching (if needed).

5) Retouching/Post-production - Depending on the project/client needs, this can involve anything from basic cleanup and sizing, to full fledged special effects retouching services. Some studios either have someone on staff, hire freelance retouchers or send the work out to a service bureau to get the retouching done. Obviously, it can be more profitable for the photographer/studio to have the work done in-house (by staff/or freelance contractor) and then marking up the cost to the client. This cost can also be built into your standard pricing model as a digital capture fee per image or file.

6) Output - Some clients require printed proofs or contact sheets of the images. After the images have been retouched, proofs can be output to any number of devices; usually just an inkjet is enough. The proof can also be output before any retouching has been done to give the client something to look at when they leave the studio, to decide on images later on or to show their colleagues/bosses etc…

7) Delivery - After client has reviewed the images and the appropriate processing/retouching has been done to their specifications, the final images are delivered to them via FTP or disc.

8) Archiving - Archiving is done after the job is completed. Ideally, you want to archive everything twice. One copy stays on-site/in studio and the second is kept offsite for safekeeping. The easiest method for archiving is to do it on external hard drives. You can also burn DVD discs of all the job files but sometimes the archival quality of the media can be questionable.

Keep in mind that there is no one way of doing things that will work for every photographer/studio. It will take a few tries to get to an efficient workflow and different methods will work for different people and situations.

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