What Lightroom workflow do you use?

[fullkoll]

I just bought George Jardine´s new tutorial about the Develop module in LR 4 and it is made in a very gentle and friendly way, but I am a bit puzzled by his workflow - or should I say lack of workflow, IMHO at least.

"There are no rules - trust your eyes!" Well, hmmmm.......

Other tutorials I have seen, tells you to go from top to bottom. He doesn´t! He also seems to use the tone curve more than other tutorials I have seen and the part about the detail panel (sharpening and noise reduction) really confuses me. :shock:



As I seem to remember GJ used to work for Adobe developing LR, but Adobe´s Julianne Cost for example, has a different approach to the workflow in her tutorials.


Even if you haven´t seen GJ´s tutorial - what workflow do you experts use, prefer and recommend?

 

[johnbeardy]

I've not looked much at George's latest stuff or Julianne's, but in my view you are comparing two of the best collections of video tutorials - far more informative than much of the better-known whizz-bangery (which will remain nameless).

I do tend to work from the top down, quite rigidly, do many basic adjustments by dragging the histogram, use the tone curve less often than George, but certainly take the same "There are no rules - trust your eyes!" line. Where I think I agree with him is in thinking people don't do that nearly enough, and get lost in the unfamiliar software. So they drag sliders around without first deciding where they are going, ending up adjusting pictures by trial and error - or in the worst cases adjusting to the numbers. Instead it's good to encourage people to stick firmly to the visual purpose and think aloud about what they are seeking to do to the picture. For example, say "It looks like this picture's highlights should be less bright so more detail is visible in them, but I also want the very brightest ones to be almost white" and you're a short step away from understanding which sliders to drag or how to pull the histogram or the tone curve. A matter of keeping your eyes on the prize and letting the workflow look after itself?

John

 

[Victoria Bampton]

FWIW, Eric Chan (who wrote the new controls) posted a fair bit on the beta forums. He was recommending usually working from the top down, and just using the tone curve for fine tuning rather than 'heavy lifting' as he put it.

 

[fullkoll]

Thanks for your answers John and Viktoria!

I must emphasize that I really like George´s tutorials and the same goes for Julianne´s, but there is a difference in the order they work. And especially I find George´s frequent use of the tone curve a bit strange.

Compared to one "of the better-known whizz-bangery" I bought for LR3, both George and Julianne have made some darn good tutorials, but as usual you have to select what works for you. I have also found that there is no strict rule for developing a good photo and that the eyes always play an important role! I sometimes even use the tone curve to make some small adjustments :grin:

 

[johnbeardy]

For avoidance of doubt the "better-known" names have never contributed to this forum or perhaps anywhere outside their dollar-walled garden!

During LR3 there was someone else who pushed a technique that relied much more on the tone curve. My gut feeling was that it was a bad case of bringing over Photoshop techniques, and that his tone curve techniques appeared to work so well because he had first screwed up the picture - or at least failed to use the basic tools properly.

John

 

[ernie]

I agree with what has been said, esp. about it being visual. One thing strikes me as a little odd though. To me one of the first things one should have as a starting point is the camera calibration(vivid,landscape,standard, etc.). But that is buried way down at the bottom of everything. I set that as part of my develop preset that I apply on import to everything I do. But it just seems to me that for new users it would be more intuitive to have it at the top so they could set their starting point and then work their way down the panel.

 

[OldFrank]

I like to start by exploring the extreme light and dark areas using the Exposure Slider to get an idea of what is actually present in the photo. Often saves me a lot work trying include a highlight or shadow that doesn't exist.

 

[gregDT]

I agree with what has been said, esp. about it being visual. One thing strikes me as a little odd though. To me one of the first things one should have as a starting point is the camera calibration(vivid,landscape,standard, etc.). But that is buried way down at the bottom of everything. I set that as part of my develop preset that I apply on import to everything I do. But it just seems to me that for new users it would be more intuitive to have it at the top so they could set their starting point and then work their way down the panel.

I agree the calibration is always my first adjustment. I do try to set it on import but often I'll have images on a card that would benefit from different settings i.e. interior portrait, exterior scenic. I always seem to have to drop down to the calibration settings and then back up to the basic panel.

For me crop is always the first tool I use after calibration. If for no other reason than it means I don't find myself working to correct a section of the image only to crop it out at the end of the workflow. After than i pretty much follow the setting down the right hand column in the order they are laid out.

 

[thotto]

For my recent photos, showing architecture or machinery, I first go to Lens Corrections which is rather to the bottom of the develop menu. Then I crop, and then I work top-down until sharpening and noise reduction