While doing some soul searching on my photography habits & workflow, I realized that I've developed some questionable habits over time. Thought I'd share my PP workflow and some thoughts for input and feedback:
I've started to notice that many of my PP steps are similar (with the exception of images that need extreme PP), so I was wondering if there was a systematic way to streamline it so that the majority of the tweaks can be made in-camera, so I can make the SOOC jpgs *pop* or get close enough so I can make do with minor tweaks in "Photos for Mac".
Apologies for the long-winded post Comments and input welcome!
- Shoot in RAW+JPG on my D7100, or D3300
- Thought: My default Picture Control setting is Standard, with sharpness adjusted to 7. However, I generally find my SOOC jpgs lacking *pop*. Is there a systematic way to tune the Picture Control settings, besides trying the other defaults (Neutral, Vivid, etc.)
- Import photos into "Photos for Mac" library, and mark the "keepers"
- For each keeper in "Photos for Mac":
- Use a plug-in to open and adjust the RAW version within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Adobe Camera Raw). I use it mainly for defringing, and minor tweaks for exposure, detail, noise reduction.
- Next, I "develop" the adjusted RAW into a JPG, still within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Photoshop). While this mode allows for major edits, I don't use it very much.
- Send the edited JPG back to "Photos for Mac", which I use to adjust exposure, white balance, etc. to make the final images *pop*
I've started to notice that many of my PP steps are similar (with the exception of images that need extreme PP), so I was wondering if there was a systematic way to streamline it so that the majority of the tweaks can be made in-camera, so I can make the SOOC jpgs *pop* or get close enough so I can make do with minor tweaks in "Photos for Mac".
Apologies for the long-winded post Comments and input welcome!