Digital Workflow

 

The workflow in digital photography is faster, easier, and less expensive than working with traditional film. In digital photography you are able to see results immediately after exposure and make corrections on the fly, without film, chemicals or labs. You can choose any speed, color balance, or tone curve for each frame you expose, without changing film. And your images can be stored on reusable memory cards or hard drives, and then transmitted anywhere in the world. Here's the productive five-step workflow in digital photography:

 

1.  Transfer

At the end of a photo shoot, your cameraπs memory may be filled with images or you may have one or more memory cards filled with images. Your first step is to transfer all of the images to your "digital workstation" – your computer. You can download photos directly from your camera into the computer, or from the memory card into the computer via a card reader.

 

2.  Organize

With the images safely transferred into your computer, you can begin sorting and organizing them. In old-fashioned film photography, you would use a light table to choose your best photos. Then you would file them physically somehow. By comparison, in modern digital photography your light table is an image-cataloging program, which makes it easy to create and organize folders for your images. You use such photo-album software to view your images as "thumbnails" on the computer screen, just as if you were looking at negatives or transparencies on a light table. You can sort your images into folders for editing or archiving. Examples of such programs are Apple iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop Album, Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album, FotoStation, Photools Imatch, Camera Bits Photo Mechanic, and iView MediaPro.

 

3.  Edit

Editing ranges from adjusting light or color in a photo to creating composite photos. The best-known editing tool is Photoshop. Another is PhotoStudio. Some edits you might make:

 

• Adding special effects such as a blur or brush strokes
• Adjusting contrast, lightness, or color balance
• Compensating for lighting imbalance
• Converting color to black-and-white or sepia
• Creating composite images
• Dodging and burning
• Retouching, removing distracting objects, and healing blemishes
• Sharpening an image

 

4.  Output

Once your image is perfect, you can put it to use:

 

• If the photo is intended for the World Wide Web, e-mail, CD or DVD, keep it digital in a standard graphic format such as JPEG. Then you can copy it, upload it, or mail it.
• If you intend to print your photo, use your printer to make proofs or final prints. If desired, you can send your digital files to a commercial photo lab to be printed.

 

5.  Archive

After you are finished working with your images, archive them. That means saving them, preferably storing them on optical media such as CDs or DVDs.