From Digital Camera to Assignment (Streamlined Workflow)

Winter Quarter 2022, Kalamazoo College

Richard Koenig, Professor

 

 

Copy Your Images

 

á               Create a folder on the desktop—label with todayÕs date

á               Insert your SD card into the back of the iMac

á               Open the icon for the SD card and look for the image files

á               View the contents as a list

á               Select and drag your recent (100 or so) photographs into the folder with todayÕs date

á               Let those copy over and then dismount your SD card (by dragging the icon to the trash)

á               WeÕll now use Adobe Bridge to select and organize your images

 

 

Make your first cut of images: I call them ÒSelectsÓ

 

á               Open Adobe Bridge

á               At this stage, make sure youÕre in the ÒEssentialsÓ mode of Bridge—upper right tab

á               Look for ÒDesktopÓ (to the left) and then the folder with todayÕs date (in the middle area)

á               Spend some time going through these images, looking for effective examples

á               Label each one of these effective ÒselectsÓ with one star

Click on the file once to highlight and then click command+one

á               Select 36 pictures for a typical assignment

á               You can keep track of how many youÕre selected by looking at the tab marked with one star (toward the lower left)

 

 

Select your next cut of images: I call them my ÒHeroesÓ

 

á               Look over these selects several times—over a period of time if possible (more than one sitting, ideally)

á               Select six, eight, or ten prints that you want to hand in for a given assignment

á               To do this, highlight the stronger images and label with two stars

á               When you have the desired number of heroes, look at them separately—click on 2-star tab (left area)

 

 

Optimize the heroes

 

á               Double click on a hero—it will open in Photoshop

á               Menu bar, Filter, Camera Raw Filter (see separate handout if necessary: Òopt_cam_rawÓ)

Lens Correction check boxes (raw format)

Shadows, highlights, contrast, saturation

Tool Box for Graduated Filter and perhaps the Adjustment Brush

Hit okay to get back to Photoshop

á               Crop—retaining aspect ratio if possible (hold down shift while grabbing corner handle to move)

á               Spot Healing Brush Tool (to get rid of dust marks on your sensor)

á               If I vignette the image, I do it at this point, after the crop and spotting (back to Camera Raw Filter)

á               Size for printing

Menu bar, image, image size

Make longest dimension 10.5 inches at 300 PPI

á               Save as a TIFF

á               Place these TIFFs on a drive or in DropboxÉ

ÉSo you can take to, or access from, the Center for New Media

 

 

Center for New Media

 

á               Make a high-quality contact sheet of your heroes using Photoshop

Menu bar, file, automate, contact sheet II—set rows and columns

á               Look closely at this contact sheet to decide if you need to lighten or otherwise tweak the images prior to making your final prints

á               Print your heroes following KathrynÕs workflow

á               Take those prints to critique and later hand in to me in an envelope

 

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