Original subtitles

Right then, so I've talked through the workflow

side of how I operate but I thought

it'd be really handy just to kind of

do a shortened demo of the exact process

that I work through from returning from a

wedding through to the point at which I'm

probably deliver this the preview images to the

couple.

Now there'd be no point in me just

doing that process for a real wedding because

it takes me four hours to colour wedding

and much longer so instead I enlisted the

help of my two children Betsy and Buddy

on the weekend and we just went and

took a few photos down the park.

Now this is exactly why I find family

photography far more stressful than wedding photography.

If you've got kids I'm sure you'll be

able to resonate.

The photos aren't perfect, there are mistakes in

there but it isn't about the photos this

is purely about the process and the systems

that I have in place to make sure

that everything's backed up and secure, efficient and

just the stages that I work through coming

back from a wedding.

So let's get stuck in.

We'll switch to screen recording a second but

just a couple of things.

So first up as I've already mentioned the

shoot on dual cards so we have one

of the cards here in the Peli case

and the first thing we're going to do

is just get these put onto my storage

system which is the Drobo.

So let's get this plugged in and backed

up.

Okay so just cancel that for now.

So normally I would just copy the entire

root part of the catalogue but I know

I've got other things in here so I

know from already just having had a quick

look that this folder here is the first

card.

I'm going to copy that into the Drobo.

Lightroom Ready RAWs again we'll work through folder

structure at some point in the course if

we haven't done it already but here's another

example of it.

So we're on Drobo, Lightroom Ready RAWs, 2021

weddings and we're just going to make a

new folder and you can see that they're

in numerical order so the next one is

29 and we'll call this Betsy and Buddy.

Let's just not pretend they got married to

each other and we're going to paste that

in there.

Now this would take a little longer than

a minute if I was dealing with 7

or 8 thousand images.

I might speed this bit up.

Okay so that's the first card done.

Let's just eject that.

Let's take that card out and again you'll

see that they're labelled up so that is

card number one and I have card number

two and just obvious things like I only

shoot on huge cards so I don't have

to swap out cards whilst I'm shooting.

They're also numbered so card one, card two

and once I've backed it up it stays

on the desk so I know I've backed

it up.

So let's put card number two in and

we're going to do exactly the same thing.

We're going to take that folder and again

I know that from having checked it's this

one here but usually I would take the

entire root folder of that card and we're

going to go down to the Drobo again

Lightroom Ready Raws 2021, Weddings, Betsy and Buddy

and then because it's the same name I'm

just going to create another one here, another

folder that says card two and I'm going

to paste them into that folder there.

Now I know plenty of photographers that would

use Photo Mechanic to ingest every card.

I used to do that back in the

day but I've just never had an issue

since not using that so I tend to

just literally copy them across manually kind of

through through using my Mac.

We will use Photo Mechanic in a second

though, that's the next stage so let's just

speed this little bit up and get these

backed up.

Okay so card two is now completely done

and backed up and we have two folders

within the Betsy and Buddy folder of my

weddings library.

So let's take that card out.

It's important to say as well that before

anything else has happened that the other cards,

the backup cards, are still in the cameras,

in their bodies, in the boot of my

car.

I've kept them separate throughout all the stages

until I've backed everything up.

So before we do anything else, before we

get into culling this is really important and

what we're going to do is back up

this folder to another drive.

I use a Lassie drive, again they're so

reasonably priced there's no excuse for not doing

this for me and all we're going to

do here is we're going to copy that

entire folder.

I'm going to drop it into the backup

Lassie that has just appeared on my screen

there and you can see now we've already

got previous weddings in there so paste item

and again that's just going to give us

another backup of all of those images.

So at this point technically I have four

copies of every single image from this shoot

and until these two hard drives are separated

I won't do anything to those cards.

They won't be formatted, they will be left

until I know that this Lassie drive is

off-site, it's back at my house which

is 10 minutes up the road.

So if you work at home you really

need to think about what happens to these

images if your office is in the house.

What happens if you get broken into and

somebody raids your office?

Well you stick it in the boot of

your car.

Well if it's in the boot of your

car and they steal your car keys and

take your car what happens to those images?

You really do have to think of worst

-case scenarios as grim as that might be

but I think you have a responsibility to

your clients to think like that and to

make sure that everything's as safe and secure

as possible.

This is generally the point of the backup

process where you just go and make a

cup of tea, maybe a couple of poached

eggs on avo and toast, a bit of

sourdough, a bit of sriracha sauce on there,

you know kick back, watch a bit of

breakfast news.

It's all vital information.

You've had avo on toast have you?

Amy has just reliably informed me that she's

just had avo on toast.

A diet of champions.

So once this is done we're in a

position where we have every single file from

these cards on the main station which is

my Drobo.

For you that might be just an external

drive that you plug in.

We then have that folder backed up completely

to a Lassie external drive which I'm going

to take off-site.

Again just to recap if you work from

home it might be that you need to

think about you know having an online backup

system in place but obviously if you're dealing

with thousands of images that can be quite

bandwidth extensive.

It might be tricky to do that.

It might be that you have a friend

who lives around the corner you go and

give them the hard drive and you stick

it in there you know stick it in

their porch whatever.

I would advise against having it in the

boot of your car that sits on your

driveway.

I don't know you need to get creative

with how you're going to do that and

how you're going to make sure they're secure

but I'm just making you aware of the

potential troubles that might arise.

Okay so they are now all backed up.

We've got them on the Drobo we've got

them in the external Lassie so I'm going

to eject that hard drive just the external

one.

That will now go back home with me

and stay at my house and the cards

can now go back in the Peli case

and I know that they are done backed

up and they can be reformatted before the

next shoot.

Okay next stage culling.

So I use Photo Mechanic.

I just always have.

I prefer it to Lightroom because I like

just that it's a separate task that sits

away from Lightroom.

I don't have to bring all the images

into Lightroom I can just keep it completely

separate.

So like Photo Mechanic is open I'm going

to do command N that's going to open

up a new tab and we're just going

to navigate to those folders now.

So we're going to go to image dumps

2021 weddings.

Dropped an absolute clangor there already.

I've put all of my images in Lightroom

ready raws.

Score by error.

So I'm just going to move that across

to image dumps.

There we go.

Oh dear.

Right I wouldn't normally do that but I

did.

So we're in image dumps 2021 weddings Betsy

and Buddy and let's open up the first

card.

So we double click on it.

Now before we start going through culling just

want to say a things.

First and foremost don't judge me.

I do take lots of bad photos.

Please also understand that it's a Sunday morning

and I'm trying to take photos of my

children who probably only wanted to cooperate for

around about a minute and a half.

After that they lost all patience and we

ended up falling out.

So family photographers out there I'm sure you'll

be able to relate to that.

Just on a side note I actually think

or when I look back at pictures of

my kids and I think about photos I've

taken of them.

The best ones are just always the shots

and the images that are just taken in

the moment when they're doing something that's just

ordinary.

You know I can think of Betsy brushing

her teeth once.

It was brilliant.

One of my favorite photos.

The moment you get children in front of

a camera and you ask them to go

and stand there and pose.

Whole different ballgame.

Even more so when it's your children.

So right double click on the first image.

Here we go.

You can see we're off to a winner

and again I'm just going to remind you

this isn't about the images for me.

This is more about the process of backup,

culling, getting a preview out and just the

processes that go into that workflow in that

system.

So I'm not going to spend too long

talking about images.

In fact I'm just going to tell you

what happens and then we'll whiz through it

and speed it up a little bit.

So this would generally happen on a Monday

morning.

I'd back everything up from the wedding.

I'd sit down and I'd start the culling

process and if you've never used Photomechanic before

this is just our preview window and you

can see the thumbnails that are coming up

along the bottom pane there.

We'll just make this a little bit bigger

and I'm just going to scroll through them

and every time I hit the 1 key

you'll see here it assigns a color label.

Kind of like a purple.

Bright purple.

One of the world's worst colors there.

To that image I'm going to press 0

because I don't want that image.

But every time I see an image that

I'm going to keep I'm going to hit

the 1 key.

If I don't want to keep it I'm

just going to move across to the next

image and then I'll show you how that

works when we get to the end of

the card.

So let's start culling.

I'm going to do quite a loose cull.

I'm literally going to put images in that

I like.

Sometimes there might be repeat images.

I'll do a second cull in Lightroom later

on but for now it's just a case

of putting the ones that grab me straight

away.

I see they do get along sometimes.

In fact not very often but they do.

That was totally unprompted.

After that you can clearly see it all

went downhill.

Okay so we're at the end of that

card so we'll close down the preview tab

and here now you can see when we

scroll through that some of those images have

been assigned a color class and all we're

going to do is we're going to hit

this icon in the top right hand corner

which is going to remove or hide all

of the images that have got no color

class assigned.

So basically the images that aren't good enough

are going to be hidden and all we'll

be left with are the ones that we've

given a color class to.

And there we have it.

So these are the images that I'm going

to keep.

I'm going to do command A which is

going to select all.

I'm going to do command Y which is

our copy options.

I'm just going to work through what we

do here.

So normally I would apply metadata and I'm

just filling the couple's name, the location and

a bit of copyright information.

We are going to choose move photos.

So I know the word delete is quite

scary in this option.

However what we're doing is we're taking those

images and we're moving them to a new

location.

So what that allows us to do in

say six, seven months time is to look

at that folder, the original image dumps folder

and know that all of the images in

that folder are technically the rejected images.

They're images that we didn't keep.

Whereas the Lightroom Ready Raws folder which I'm

going to move them to in a second,

I know are all of the master raw

files that we have kept from that wedding.

So please don't be alarmed by the fact

it says delete originals.

It's not going to technically delete the image.

All it's doing is taking the raw file

out of one location and it's moving it

to another.

So we're going to rename the images.

I did a shoot on the sofa the

other day so hence why it's called that

and we're going to put Betsy and Buddy.

Set sequence, we're going to reset that to

be 01 and you can see now it's

going to rename those images to be Betsy

and Buddy 01.cr3. Now we're going to

choose the folder that we want it to

go to and this is again where it

ties into the moving of the images.

We're going to go to Drobo, Lightroom Ready

Raws, 2021, Weddings and here we go again.

This is the folder that I'd originally saved

the dumps to but I didn't and again

we're going to put 29, Betsy and Buddy.

So this folder here is all of the

raws I've chosen to make the cut from

all of my weddings this year and here's

the new folder.

We're going to open that and we are

going to move those images.

Okay and I've moved out of that window

because this is the image dumps folder that

we're looking at and it's taken those images

out of that folder and if I show

you now quickly it has moved them into

this one here which is in Lightroom Ready

Raws, Betsy and Buddy.

So that's the first card done.

Let's open up the second one so we

go back into image dumps, 2021, Weddings, Betsy

and Buddy and we're going to go into

card 2.

We're going to open up card 2 and

again I'm just going to very quickly whiz

through these images and I'll join you at

the end of the call.

You'll notice she likes to show off quite

a bit.

Also as well if I choose a couple

of images that I like and then I

decide that I don't like one I'll just

go back and I'll press the 0 key

and I'll just unmark it.

She really didn't want to do the shoot.

There you go man behind the camera.

It's very rare that I get a shot

of me actually.

I can go in.

Thanks buddy.

And there we have it.

We are at the end of that call

so again you can see that the color

class has been assigned and we're just going

to mark the top right.

We're going to hide the color class none.

So they're the images we're left with.

We do command A which is going to

select them all.

Command Y which is going to move them

and again we've got move photos, delete originals

selected.

I would usually apply metadata and just go

and change some of the data in that

but I'm not going to on these images.

We're going to rename them but I'm not

going to change the sequence number now because

it knows that the last one was 16

so it's going to carry on from 17.

Again folders the same and we're just going

to hit move.

Okay and there we have it.

That is the culling stage complete.

So photo mechanic is now done.

We'll close these down.

We'll close photo mechanic down.

Job done.

Culling finished.

So the next stage is Lightroom and we're

going to look at editing these.

So it's going to Lightroom and we're going

to import.

Now a common mistake here is that people

copy them or move them and actually we

want to add them.

We just want to add the photos to

the catalog without moving them across from their

original folders.

We just want them to stay where they

are but to be added to the catalog.

So that's the first thing to look for

when you're in Lightroom is to make sure

that add which is up here is selected.

We're going to go to Drobo, Lightroom Ready

Raws 2021, weddings and we're going to go

to Betsy and Buddy.

Build previews.

We're going to build minimal smart previews.

We're going to build those because smart previews

is going to allow us to have an

online backup of our images.

Now I've already covered this in the workflow

bit but just to recap my catalog for

Lightroom sits in Dropbox.

So if I go into Dropbox, Sam Docker

2021 catalogs, wedding catalog you can see my

catalog is in here.

So this is where it sits.

It sits within Dropbox.

So once these images are in and smart

previews have been built, if I was to,

touch wood this doesn't happen, experience catastrophic failure

of all hard drives, I would be able

to fire up my laptop, open up Dropbox,

access that Lightroom catalog without Lightroom needing to

see a single one of those raw files

and I would still be able to export

them at 2600 pixels wide on the long

edge which isn't super high-res but it's

better than complete and utter loss of all

original raws.

So at least I have something there as

a very worst-case last you know last

ditch backup.

So minimal smart previews, develop settings.

I'm in Lightroom and I'm starting to look

at these images, it's already got my preset

applied to those images and we're going to

import those into the catalog.

Again if you're dealing with you know 7,

8, 900 images this can take 20-30

minutes maybe but again it's time to go

and get your second cup of tea before

you start to look at getting a preview

out to your couple.

Okay so smart previews have been built for

those 38 images, we'll just tick OK.

Now I'm not going to edit all of

these images again we'll cover a bit more

in editing during the obviously editing section of

the course.

Again this is just purely about workflow so

I'm going to just select by, I'm going

to go through the process I would generally

go through again if it was a wedding.

So I would go through these images and

I just pick out 50 or 60 of

my favorite images.

So in this case I'm actually going to

do 5 or 6 just to give you

an example of what I'd do but again

with a wedding it's anything between sort of

50 and 60.

So I'm just choosing the image that I

want to give my couple and I'm just

hitting 5 just so that you can see

it's given a 5 star rating.

There we have it.

Okay so I've chosen my images and again

when I'm making this selection I'm just picking

out either favorite images, I'm picking out a

couple of things that I know suppliers are

going to want because I want to share

those images with the supplier.

So if for example there's a nice shot

of the flowers I'm going to 5 star

rate it in that 60 collection because I

know that I want the florist to have

hold of those images so that they can

use them for Instagram.

So I'm using a real mix of you

know kind of creative input like some of

the strong images that I know I want

to feature on my Instagram but also maybe

some images to get out to suppliers so

that they have them within the first few

days after the wedding.

And then we're going to go up here

I'm going to choose rated and this is

going to filter all of those images and

it's just going to show me the rated

images and I'm just going to go through

and edit these.

Again we'll cover editing in the editing section

but I use Pfixer which is a key

mapping tool.

Again I'll go over that later on.

She's going to hate me for that one

but I don't care.

Serves her right.

Should have been a bit more cooperative.

Okay so there we have it.

Now obviously these are these are shots of

my children normally there would be of a

wedding couple but these are the previews that

I'm going to get out to say I'm

going to save these out and get these

out to my couple.

So turn Pfixer off, command all and we're

going to export these.

So I've already saved a preset for saving

out so high-res previews again just going

to name them Betsy and Buddy starting from

0-1.

It's going to put them in a subfolder

0-1 high-res previews.

I use the number 0-1 because I

want to be able to filter all of

that folder so I know that 0-1

sits at the top and 0-2 which

is the high-res originals will sit beneath

it eventually when that gets edited.

I'll keep quality at 100 but obviously when

we get to the high-res images I'm

going to deliver the full gallery with I'll

probably bring that down to about 90 but

we'll keep it at 100 for now.

5400 pixels on the long edge at 300

pixels per inch and we're going to export.

And there we have it so they all

now you can see sit within the high

-res previews folder of their Lightroom Ready RAWs

folder.

So let's close that and that is now

Lightroom done and complete.

I don't know what stage we're on if

this is stage 3 or 4 but we're

working through it so yeah we really want

to quit.

We're going to quit Lightroom, skip this time

we don't need to back Lightroom up just

yet.

So that's Lightroom done.

Right now the next and pretty much the

final stage is the sharpening stage of my

edit and again I'll recap this during the

editing stage but we might as well just

go through it during this part.

So we're going to use exposure 6 and

up here we're going to click on folder

drive and we're going to navigate to that

folder.

So recent places 29, Betsy and Buddy, high

-res previews and there are those images we're

going to open that up and you can

see that's going to open them into exposure

6.

We're going to do command A which is

going to select all of the images you

see down here.

6 are selected of 6 total.

If for example I've got 900 images here

it might take a few minutes just for

it to be able to render all of

those images before I choose select but just

double check before you do anything that 6

of 6 are selected or 900 of 900

are selected.

Okay and then this is really simple I'm

just going to apply some sharpening in exposure

6.

Now I don't sharpen in Lightroom.

I apply no sharpening on the preset or

a tiny tiny little bit, very minimal and

then I don't sharpen on export.

I do all my sharpening and resizing in

exposure 6.

So they're my sharpening settings so I've saved

that as a preset that's going to apply

them apply those sharpening presets to each image

and we're then going to do file export

and I have three different sized outputs already

saved so you can save these as presets

in exposure 6 and I've already done that.

For this example and if this was again

if it was a wedding I would send

just the web ready versions I wouldn't send

the high-res for the preview but I

would do if it was their full gallery.

So I'm just going to choose 0 to

web it's going to save those into a

subfolder called 0 to web.

It's going to keep this it's going to

keep the file names the same.

I'm going to scroll to the bottom and

I'm going to click this wheel here and

again I'm going to just choose that I

want them to be saved at 2048 pixels

on the long edge which is optimized for

Instagram, Facebook and social media.

So export and that is pretty much it.

So if we're just going to Drobo now

you'll see that we have a lightning-ready

RAWs folder 2021 weddings Betsy and Buddy we

have our high-res previews folder and you

can see within that so the high-res

previews here look you can see our five

and a half thousand pixels wide on the

long edge but the web ready versions are

2048 by 1365 and these are the images

that are going to get sent to Instagram

to my social media I'm going to send

them out to my couple I'm going to

send them out to suppliers we're going to

copy that I have a 2021 previews folder

in Dropbox or paste that in there so

here they are and I'm just going to

rename that 29 Betsy and Buddy and there

we have it so I have a Dropbox

link now I can just share with my

couples and I'll just drop them an email

saying they've got a preview folder selection ready

and that is it so we have all

of the RAWs on the Drobo we have

all of the RAWs on the Lassie external

drive which is going to go off-site

chronosync which is a tool that I talk

about in the systems and automation side and

the workflow side of the business is going

to take all of the files that sit

on the Drobo in the Lightroom ready RAWs

folder here it does this every day at

a certain time and it's going to back

this entire folder up to another hard drive

here there you go so it's not done

today's it's not done the ones I've done

today but tomorrow at some point it will

do those and it just means that if

I come in the office and heaven forbid

the Drobo has decided to cease trading and

it's packed up I know that the chances

are that I've got all of those Lightroom

ready RAWs backed up already on a drive

that's already connected to my computer so it's

not it's nothing too serious okay and and

that is it that's the process from start

to finish in a nutshell workflow completed