Faster editing suggestions - please!

[GeorgeBe]

Hi - am looking for suggestions to speed up my workflow for editing photos.

I am an amateur taking pictures of my family using my Olympus OMD EM1 and iPhone.

I have built up a backlog of photos to be edited from the OMD EM1 in Lightroom, having very little personal time available to spend editing.

The photos end up in online galleries to share with the family, on my Apple TV screensaver, as prints by Metro and Loxley on our wall, and as greeting cards for our families.

Am looking for suggestions to minimise the time spent editing.

Here is my current workflow:

Put SD card into Mac.

Import direct to LR (tried Photomechanic but didn't really save any time for me).

During import, I add caption and general blanket LR settings (e.g 'Camera Natural' profile, mild contrast boost).

In LR, select items to keep.

Editing the selected items;

Go back to last image edited (marked with color label), and hand edit.

Hand edits include: cropping, exposure settings, white balance, occasional colour settings, occasional perspective correction, skin blemish removal, sharpening, noise reduction.

I update the position of the last image edited by moving the colour label.

This process does not work on LR CC on the iPad - the colour labels are not visible in LR CC. I am going to try using Keywords as an alternative.

The process is also not sustainable for me, I don't have time to sit down in front of the Mac when I am home for more than 20 mins at a time.

Am thinking really I could import just the jpegs, do the crops in LR mobile or Photos and just forget the finer edits.

Suggestions please!

[JohanElzenga]

Do you ever synchronize edits over similar images? You do not mention that, but that is the biggest time saver of all.

[dj_paige]

Have you tried the new Auto feature in Lightroom?

[Tony_See]

A mobile solution might help if you are not in front of your home-office PC, but whether you have ANY time is unknown I suppose.

I'd second Johan's response above: syncing a group of images if possible with your edits mentioned ("Hand edits include: cropping, exposure settings, white balance, occasional colour settings, occasional perspective correction, skin blemish removal, sharpening, noise reduction.") would be efficient.

Do you have a mobile editing solution?

[GeorgeBe]

Hi - yes I sync edits where appropriate.

Yes, I have used auto tone however this often requires adjustment after application. This doesn’t cover some of the other editing aspects. I don’t believe this is a new feature.

For mobile editing, yes I have CC on iPad.

[dj_paige]

GeorgeBe  wrote

Hi - yes I sync edits where appropriate.

Yes, I have used auto tone however this often requires adjustment after application. This doesn’t cover some of the other editing aspects. I don’t believe this is a new feature.

For mobile editing, yes I have CC on iPad.

The button itself is not new, but the way it operates was changed by Adobe recently in Lightroom 7 (I don't remember the exact version where it changed) and so yes, the performance of the Auto button is new.

But if you want photos that require NO or very minimal adjustments, I doubt there really is such a way to do that.

[GeorgeBe]

Ok thanks - I will revisit the auto tone.

[Todd Shaner]

GeorgeBe  wrote

The process is also not sustainable for me, I don't have time to sit down in front of the Mac when I am home for more than 20 mins at a time.

Am thinking really I could import just the jpegs, do the crops in LR mobile or Photos and just forget the finer edits.

I think you answered your own question. Camera manufacturers keep improving in-camera processing technology since it is one of the "features" they can market.   In-camera image processing has progressed to the point that JPEG output is pretty darn good. Is it good enough for your usages?

"The photos end up in online galleries to share with the family, on my Apple TV screensaver, as prints by Metro and Loxley on our wall, and as greeting cards for our families."

Test it for yourself by importing both raw + JPEG and then compare the processed raw files with all edits to the JPEGs with just crop applied and perhaps the 'Auto' setting. You may be surprised with the results! For more critical applications shoot raw + JPEG and use the raw files only when the JPEG images aren't fully correctable (highlight clipping, etc.).

[GeorgeBe]

Thanks - I will do the raw vs jpeg comparison, that is a good idea.

[DdeGannes]

Just to offer a few pointers if you are going to compare jpeg rendition from your camera and the rendition of the raw file data by Lightroom and any other third party raw converter.

They will be different, because they use different processing engines and profiles for rendering colour and tones which are computed and developed by different "humans" who have a slightly different "taste". None are accurate or clinically correct and they are all attempting to produce an appealing rendition.

The only applications that have the tools necessary for producing the results you get from your Camera are the Camera Firmware and the Raw processing application provided by your camera manufacturer.

Try using a file produced from a scene that has items that you can view in the same setting when you are viewing  the results from the various applications.

TestFile | Flickr

The link above is to a single file that I compared with differing raw processing applications available at the time June 2009, from Lightroom, Bibble Pro, SilkyPix, Olympus View (camera maker's application) One rendition from each of the applications at default settings and two extra from Lightroom with some special adjustments. The individual files have the info as to how they were rendered.