I've got a workflow I'm really happy with at the moment - one that does a lot of the heavy lifting for me and let's me concentrate on producing the best outcomes for my shots.
Thank you Andy, very useful to see your workflow. I will transfer my SD card all RAW files to my SSD drive. I use DXO PL7 and I pick and flag my favourites. I then work on my favourites, but in a very simple way: Horizon, White Balance, base colours (usually my OM-5 colours), White Point, Black Point, DXO Smart Lighting, DXO Clear View, then I adjust Highlights, Midtones, Shadows, Blacks and Contrast to personal taste. I then export as a Tiff file to my various personal folders. Now, I open TopazAI then I will select between Denoise, Sharpen, Face Recovery, Adjust Lighting and Balance Colours. I then re-export back to the file as a JPEG. All up, I spend about 5-7 minutes on each image. Many thanks for your video. 🎉🎉🎉
@@Andyhutchinson Yes. I am not colour blind, I am colour illiterate! I do not touch any colour options in DXO as I will just stuff it up. So, I always use DXO for the tones and I use Topaz to "polish" the image. The colour balance is really useful for me. It can produce "funky" results, but it generally works. I find that Topaz is getting better with every update. I don't sell photo's, I only have to please myself.
Thanks Andy, always interesting to see what others are doing. I have relatively recently started to use Topaz AI which I find very impressive with some images. I'll investigate your suggestions especially Hazel.
Thank mate - how you finding Topaz these days? It's had this annoying flashing screen bug for me for a while now which makes using it pretty frustrating. Also I find Photo AI to be very lacking compared to the individual apps.
@@Andyhutchinson i don’t get the flashing screen and have been pleased with what it’s produced. I’ll experiment with the individual apps this week and compare. 👍
Hi Andy, I like your Hazel recommendation as I was looking for something like this as a potential replacement for Photo Mechanic when it goes to the subscription payment model later this year. Michael
Great video as always I am on Windows at the moment but will be moving back to a Mac. I used to have an Anglepoise iMac and used Hazel back then, so it’s been around for a long time.
Another great video Andy. Quick Q re Hazel - can it be set to only import images not already imported? Or do you start off with an empty card each time you pick up the camera?
Replied to this on your other comment but in case you don't see it - no you don't need an empty card it will not import stuff twice - here is the options screen: share.cleanshot.com/R2KgTs49
For gallery grade prints I spend a lot of time going over the image at 100% checking for minor inconsistencies - something that's inconsequential on a screen can look bad when the print's 2m wide. Depending on the shot I might do a final pre-export sharpen - usually with the unsharp mask in Photoshop. I have a Mac Studio monitor with excellent colour fidelity so I don't stress too much about colour. If it's a print to canvas I often bump up the saturation because the canvas papers soak up the ink a bit more. Then just output at 300ppi. Output to TIFF and WeTransfer off to the printer. :)
Super deep expert video. Very cool for a newb like me to see. Great channel. Found you from your dxo videos. Learning a lot. Cheers from Canada 🍻🍻🍻🍻 I'll look for something like hazel for windows. Barring that I'll script up something in powershell
There's an app called BatchPhoto which I reviewed on this channel because the developer saw my Hazel video and wanted folks to know there was a Windows alternative. It works very differently but effectively does the same job. :)
I watched a Scott Kelby video where he tells us not to use folders, but to use collections instead. I believe the reason is that there’s less chance of you misplacing photos or disconnecting a photo.
Where is it that you delete all the bad images ? You mention you final edit about 20 over 2000 images. Part of the workflow there must be a step to delete the bad ones and not store them forever ? Reason I am curious about this is because as you make several copies before editing, deleting may become more complicated so I am curious how you deal with that. Cheers
I only ever delete out-of-focus shots. Hard drive space is very cheap and I learned a while back to hang onto everything because I get inquiries all the time asking for a specific kind of photo in a specific location. Or someone will see a shot and ask if I have one from later on or further down the beach. So yes, I delete very little - just the mistakes. :)
Thank you Andy, very useful to see your workflow. I will transfer my SD card all RAW files to my SSD drive. I use DXO PL7 and I pick and flag my favourites. I then work on my favourites, but in a very simple way: Horizon, White Balance, base colours (usually my OM-5 colours), White Point, Black Point, DXO Smart Lighting, DXO Clear View, then I adjust Highlights, Midtones, Shadows, Blacks and Contrast to personal taste. I then export as a Tiff file to my various personal folders. Now, I open TopazAI then I will select between Denoise, Sharpen, Face Recovery, Adjust Lighting and Balance Colours. I then re-export back to the file as a JPEG. All up, I spend about 5-7 minutes on each image. Many thanks for your video. 🎉🎉🎉
Nice one Peter - sounds like a thorough workflow - do you always use Topaz before export?
@@Andyhutchinson Yes. I am not colour blind, I am colour illiterate! I do not touch any colour options in DXO as I will just stuff it up. So, I always use DXO for the tones and I use Topaz to "polish" the image. The colour balance is really useful for me. It can produce "funky" results, but it generally works. I find that Topaz is getting better with every update. I don't sell photo's, I only have to please myself.
Looking forward to this episode knowing your willingness to reject BS!!! Blessings.
Cheers Will :)
Thanks Andy, always interesting to see what others are doing. I have relatively recently started to use Topaz AI which I find very impressive with some images. I'll investigate your suggestions especially Hazel.
Thank mate - how you finding Topaz these days? It's had this annoying flashing screen bug for me for a while now which makes using it pretty frustrating. Also I find Photo AI to be very lacking compared to the individual apps.
@@Andyhutchinson i don’t get the flashing screen and have been pleased with what it’s produced. I’ll experiment with the individual apps this week and compare. 👍
Got into your channel because of my first RAW camera 7D Mark II
I had some good times with that camera. Did suffer a bit at higher ISOs though. :)
Hi Andy, I like your Hazel recommendation as I was looking for something like this as a potential replacement for Photo Mechanic when it goes to the subscription payment model later this year. Michael
Glad it was helpful!
Great video as always I am on Windows at the moment but will be moving back to a Mac. I used to have an Anglepoise iMac and used Hazel back then, so it’s been around for a long time.
Thanks Martin. Yea I've owned a licence for a long time. ;)
Another great video Andy. Quick Q re Hazel - can it be set to only import images not already imported? Or do you start off with an empty card each time you pick up the camera?
Replied to this on your other comment but in case you don't see it - no you don't need an empty card it will not import stuff twice - here is the options screen: share.cleanshot.com/R2KgTs49
Thank you. Very useful to see how you are getting business done. What is your workflow for getting output (i.e. how do you print your photos?)
For gallery grade prints I spend a lot of time going over the image at 100% checking for minor inconsistencies - something that's inconsequential on a screen can look bad when the print's 2m wide. Depending on the shot I might do a final pre-export sharpen - usually with the unsharp mask in Photoshop. I have a Mac Studio monitor with excellent colour fidelity so I don't stress too much about colour. If it's a print to canvas I often bump up the saturation because the canvas papers soak up the ink a bit more. Then just output at 300ppi. Output to TIFF and WeTransfer off to the printer. :)
And the color profiles are embedded in the tiff?@@Andyhutchinson
Super deep expert video. Very cool for a newb like me to see. Great channel. Found you from your dxo videos. Learning a lot. Cheers from Canada 🍻🍻🍻🍻 I'll look for something like hazel for windows. Barring that I'll script up something in powershell
There's an app called BatchPhoto which I reviewed on this channel because the developer saw my Hazel video and wanted folks to know there was a Windows alternative. It works very differently but effectively does the same job. :)
@@Andyhutchinson thanks Andy appreciate it brother will check out the video on your channel regarding BatchPhoto!
I watched a Scott Kelby video where he tells us not to use folders, but to use collections instead. I believe the reason is that there’s less chance of you misplacing photos or disconnecting a photo.
Hmmm. Not convinced by that logic. What if you move away from Lightroom?
Where is it that you delete all the bad images ? You mention you final edit about 20 over 2000 images. Part of the workflow there must be a step to delete the bad ones and not store them forever ? Reason I am curious about this is because as you make several copies before editing, deleting may become more complicated so I am curious how you deal with that. Cheers
I only ever delete out-of-focus shots. Hard drive space is very cheap and I learned a while back to hang onto everything because I get inquiries all the time asking for a specific kind of photo in a specific location. Or someone will see a shot and ask if I have one from later on or further down the beach. So yes, I delete very little - just the mistakes. :)
Hold on let me sell you apps 😅