Photo Workflow

If one takes enough photos, there comes a time when some organization seems a good idea. Organization can take the form of systematic, well-rehearsed camera techniques; filing system, search and metadata; workflow analysis; and sharing. First one needs to identify the inputs and outputs. The rest is filling the middle area between the two.

Getting organized is more than just fitting current tasks into some regimen. To avoid having to re-do organization every couple of years, let’s also examine the future, in order to future-proof our organizing principles. Considerations include pixel dimensions, shooting regimen, tool choice, file format choice, and detailed post-processing workflow.

While one person’s stab at getting organized might make an (unintentionally) humorous read, much of the following techno-babble is for those operating in the GEEK domain of Nikon/Apple products. Todays cameras naturally produce high IQ, offer many auto processing steps in-camera, and offer Wi-Fi connection for backup and hard copy. This single tool is good enough for almost everyone. Read on only if future-proofing and incorporation of current state-of-art 3rd-party tools might be useful for your image-capture style.

Pixel Dimensions

My crystal ball shows that in the near future, we will routinely be displaying digital 4K images. A 4K image has 4K horizontal pixels. 4K displays on smaller screens are already challenging the resolving power of the human eye at the limits of close focus. Only at wall-sized display dimensions would higher pixel dimensions make sense. Thus 4K is as future-proof as I will need to be.

It seems best to keep full pixel dimensions of digital photos at each step of the workflow, in anticipation that the destined output devices will be able to present most of them, and extra storage space and computer processing load have become negligible cost factors. Looking at the following pixel dimensions, it appears we already live partially in a 4K world.

Pixel dimensions of current home technologies:
DSLR Camera (2015) – NEF: raw DX image: 6000 x 4000
Mobile Phone Camera (2018) – DNG: raw image 4032 x 3024
Computer (2014) – 27″ retina display: 5120 x 2880
Printer (2017) – 8.5 x 11″ inkjet: 4800 x 1200
TV (2017) – 65″ OLED: 16:9, 3840 x 2160; 21:9, 5120 x 2160

4K resolution on a TV is not so important for our situation, because we sit 14′ from the screen. Even our previous plasma HD screen provided all the pixels we can resolve at that distance, but plasma technology had reached end-of-life. Further, currently there is no full HD (1080P) broadcast content available, and precious little cable content in full HD. It was rather the very impressive OLED technology itself, together with increased screen size, that justified an upgrade. Of course, we can chose to sit closer when viewing photo images of high sharpness, to get the maximum impact of the OLED resolution.

Shooting Regimen

I do mainly still photography; it’s more within my skill level. My camera use is oriented toward getting the maximum IQ from the camera. I don’t require images to be immediately usable straight from the camera, so no problem to shoot in raw mode, for maximum detail and post-processing headroom. I do not enable in-camera processing features such as ADL and HDR, which are incompatible with 3rd party raw image processors.

The prime commandment – make that shot count! When an imaging opportunity presents, that is the one and only time to get exposure and sharpness correct. Practice and rehearse with the camera to improve consistency.

Exposure

For most shots, the excellent dynamic range of the D7200 will itself ensure perfect exposure. Yet with bright sunlight overhead, or strongly back-lit subject, and other very contrasty conditions, the histogram is your friend. Check the histogram to reveal whether the scene is within the camera’s dynamic range. If not, turn on bracketing to take multiple exposures by fixing aperture (fixing depth of field) and varying shutter speed. Post-processing software can align and merge the bracketed images into a single image with the full contrast and detail the scene presents.

Sharpness

The autofocus camera is your friend for ensuring adequate focus on the primary subject or entire scene. An in-focus image is the photographers primary skill responsibility, to utilize the camera focussing controls to get a well-focussed image. Learn the proper technique for each focus-related set of image characteristics. The D7200 focussing controls work very well in low light.

Optical image stabilization (OIS) is also your friend for sharpness. We no longer need to lug a tripod about. Camera motion during hand held shots is practically eliminated by OIS. My three main lenses all offer OIS; being full-frame lenses, they further offer extreme sharpness and even lighting, corner-to-corner, when used with my D7200’s DX-sized sensor. Yes, they are slightly more costly and heavier than the DX-specific lenses, but not comparable to the professional series of very fast glass, which would be overkill. These examples of intermediate level ~f4 lenses add but a small % of total system cost and weight, and well worth the investment.

To help further control camera motion, I carry a monopod and my iPhone (with Measure.app’s spirit level), which helps with both bracketed shots and slow shutter settings.

OK, the shoot is over; most of the images have proper exposure and focus; it’s time to create the final product. I’m a click-happy amateur, so I’m expected to operate a few notches below the best in the game; I can make up for technical inconsistency with volume.

Workflow Considerations and Tool Choice, Past and Future

Future proofing is a major factor in choice of workflow tools. These should be as isolated as possible from platform dependencies with potential to obsolete them. Further, subscription software is a value disaster for all but prolific professionals. Thus, I avoid Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe products. Also, the following discussion may not be of interest to Adobe fans; Lightroom/Photoshop subscribers comprise a differing experience and mind-set, and will use a different workflow.

I made a decision 45 years ago to live in a Nikon world, and 35 years ago in an Apple world as well, and have never looked back. Both choices have been relatively future-proof in the hardware sense of bodies and lenses; Nikon is still totally mix and match. I also preferred to remain in a Nikon post-processing world for as long as Nikon offered quality post processing software. Alas, we are here because my prior Nikon workflow must be replaced, due to an obsolescence roadblock that I could not foresee.

I have utilized Nikon DSLRs, beginning with the Nikkormat FTn, and Apple iPhones beginning with iPhone 3. Our current crop, consisting of D7200 and iPhone 8+, are setup to produce raw digital images (actual sensor readouts). Raw images from both cameras, NEF and DNG, are merged into one workflow; basic quality from both devices exceeds my IQ floor.

I chose the D7200 for its excellent dynamic range and low light capability, for its very flexible bracketing tools, and for its familiar feel. The prosumer D-7200 DSLR, as did the D300, D2h, and D1 before it, generates Nikon-proprietary NEF raw-format images. My dual lens iPhone 8+ camera phone can generate widely-supported DNG raw files. Both NEF and DNG can be processed directly by third party raw editing software with no degradation, since I do no in-camera processing that would be incompatible with raw format. I also include some of Debby’s photos in my catalog and workflow. On her iPhone 12, she chooses to produce only JPG files, which all post-processing software can handle.

However, my Nikon workflow was  disrupted in spite of my efforts.  Here is how even conscientious future-proofing can break down. My basic post-processing tool has been Nikon’s CaptureNX2 (CNX2); I chose to remain within the Nikon family for software. But the company that wrote this software for Nikon was bought by Google for the express purpose of shutting it down. Nikon reverted to a less-capable version of the software, without the NIK control-point local repair features, and hence of minimal value to me.

I continued using the last version of CNX2, accepting that it is no longer upgradeable. Predictably, when I changed out my D300 for a D7200, the NEF formats of the images were no longer recognizable by the last available CNX2. My only hope was for a third party with required expertise to offer a bridge solution.

Enter Miguel Bañón and his Tcl/Tk script Raw2Nef. It translates new RAW file formats into a hybrid NEF file format that Nikon CNX2 (specifically, only version 2.4.6) can understand. I could still play entirely within the Nikon game for a while longer with the D7200. Every month I gained meant a month more for alternatives to appear and mature. Finally in 2020, I have lost the ability to run CNX2 v 2.4.6, obsoleted by Google/Nikon. The only thing I now know for certain is that my workflow will include no Google software.

If I do not rely on any in-camera processing, I can export raw files directly to a 3rd-party tool without loss of quality. But for maximal flexibility, I do first pass processing of NEF files with Nikon View NX-i and Capture-NXd, saving the result to 16-bit TIFF. This gives the advantage of Nikon’s own de-mosaicing software to render the raw image. They can do it better than any third party.

I am back in the post-processing marketplace. I knew it would happen some day, and it is time to move forward. The many new packages offer an amazing set of features and values. Without some existential shift of the ground under me, I might have remained closeted in old technology. It’s time to make lemonade and welcome my fresh start opportunity.

Some popular raw photo editors are in the ultra-premium price class, typically available only by subscription model, a very poor value for a consumer-level photographer. Other good packages are free (open source), but they are less intuitive and/or less capable for my needs. I have settled on middle ground in the cost landscape: easyHDR is now my sole post processing tool for NEF and DNG RAW files, and for JPG when necessary.

EasyHDR supports all functions I will need: batch processing of all my file formats: useful presets; denoising; distortion correction; bracketed, multi-image stack alignment; cropping; layers and masking; HDR tone mapping; global and local operators; image repair; color management (ProPhoto RGB internally, clipped to sRGB for sharing).

EasyHDR will make beautiful images of both single image shots and multi-image bracketed shots. EasyHDR is efficient and can be assigned all four cores of my Mac CPU in parallel, for shortest processing time. EasyHDR is intuitive to use, has a good user manual for all the details, simplifies my workflow, and costs $33USD for a perpetual license. What’s not to like?

Organization

File Formats

I find that organization via subject best suits my needs. All other attributes of the images are recorded in the metadata, including location, date, and time. My catalog subject types are scenic landscapes (SCENE), birds (AVES), other wildlife (WILDLIFE), city-scapes and architecture (URBAN), family portraits (PORTRAIT), family activities (FAMILY). The capitalized word is the EXIF TAG I apply to the images when cataloging them.

Following are the Inputs, Outputs, and Processes that comprise my photographic workflow.

Workflow Inputs

Images enter the workflow either as NEF, DNG, or JPG files, marked with wide color space processing intent.

• 4K+ digital images as 14-bit-color raw files in Nikon D7200 NEF format (ProPhoto RGB color space meta-intent specified in the imbedded JPEG image (used by in-camera histogram generator)
• DNG raw files from the ProCamera app (dual lens iPhone 8+)
• JPEG digital images in 89% sRGB color space (iPhone 8)

An overview of my raw workflow:

• Download the raw image files to a project folder named for the shoot.
• Using Nikon’s ViewNX-i software, review the photos and delete the losers.
• Using EasyHDR, process all images to final quality, saving the processing intermediaries in a project file named for the shoot, then saved in the project folder.
• The final 16-bit TIFF file is saved there as well.
• For further editing, simply re-load the Project files into easyHDR.

Input and Filter Process

The fundamental organizing principle of the workflow is ‘keep it simple’. The only place this is violated is on the very front end when we choose a vendor-specific raw file format in the DSLR, rather than ubiquitous JPEG, to preserve maximum quality from the digital image.

This is the perpetual technology conundrum: how much headroom can we afford – whether the cost of preserving maximum bits of information as future-proofing can be justified vs. the cost to keep only the bits I can appreciate with my eyes and ears using today’s technology.

The process for each photo shoot is:

RAW Input

• Use Raw2Nef script to convert the memory card images to compatible .nef format, and place the renamed files in the sub-folder named for the shoot

JPEG Input

• Download the images from mobile device camera and point&shoot camera to a JPEG image temporary folder on the Mac
• Use Nikon Capture NX2 to batch process the images, converting each to .nef format to support non-destructive image editing, placing the outputs in the sub-folder named for the shoot

Note: When a JPEG file is opened by Capture NX2, it has its color space set to the default color space (software preference), ProPhoto RGB (does not change existing RGB data, just sets wider data clipping thresholds in the raw re-conversion and editing processes)

Image Processing – all images related to the camera shoot are now in compatible .nef format, with ProPhoto RGB processing intent specified, in the sub-folder named for the shoot.

• after the next backup cycle, delete original images from cameras, delete the temporary folder with input JPEG files,  and reformat any memory cards
• run the standard batch script in Nikon Capture NX2 to perform the standard processes of the workflow that I choose to perform on all input .nef files:
  • D-lighting (exposure)
  • Color LCF (brightness/contrast optimization)
  • Levels/Curves (RGB optimization)
  • Unsharp Mask (focus).
• open the pre-processed files in Nikon View NX2 and view a full-screen slide show, manually advancing to each image; either keep or delete it (typically removes 60% of images)
• open the keepers from the shoot folder in Nikon Capture NX2 and for each image, perform any individual editing necessary: Crop, Straighten, Defect Removal, Color Tweaking, Light Tweaking
• iffy images that can not be made to work are trashed during this step (typically removes 20% of images)
• images selected for Internet sharing are saved as compressed .jpg images, converted to sRGB color space, saved to a Web Export sub-folder named for the event

Workflow Outputs

• Folder of processed/corrected .nef files, named for shooting event, processed in ProPhoto RGB color space.
• Folder of compressed JPEG images, typically ~500kB, converted to sRGB color space, for web upload/display
• Prints on photographic paper, converted to aRGB 1998 color space
• Slideshows on computer (best quality, rendered from .nef files)
• Slideshow movies (H.264, 1920 x 1080, 30fps, Stereo Linear PCM); archived to DVD

Print Process

• Print selected images from Nikon Capture NX2, converted to aRGB 1998 color space, onto an Epson R1800 dot matrix printer: 4×6″, 8×10″, 11×14″, 13×19″; Epson EF-3750: 8.5 x 11″; (Costco) 20×30″ li>

Computer-hosted Slide Show Process

• Use Nikon View NXi to generate a slide show on the iMac’s 27″ LCD monitor, rendered directly from the corrected .nef files, perhaps along with music from an iTunes playlist. A 5K retina iMac offers the best resolution currently available, displaying >60% of pixels in a D7200 image. A 4K TV will display about half of the available D7200 pixels. These figures are elevated from the standard HD resolution displays, which can display less than 10% of the available D7200 pixels.

Slide Show On The Big Screen

• To view a NEF slideshow on the big screen, one needs mirroring via Apple TV. Note that Macs from mid-2011 support mirroring via Apple TV from one’s computer onto one’s  big screen. (For older Macs, turn to 3rd party software support. Squirrels’ AirParrot2 software, $15 and free trial, does exactly what the Apple mirroring does, but for older Mac models.)
• For vivid colors and full contrast performance, OLED is the first visual upgrade from plasma technology that has come to market. It became an acceptable value proposition for us in 2017, in 65″ size..

Make a Slideshow Movie

• Use Nikon Movie Editor (NME) within Nikon View NXi to render a raw image slide show into an HD H.264 movie (MOV container) at 1920×1080 at 30fps; a variety of image transitions are available.
• For background music, make a playlist in iTunes, convert it to WAV format (NME doesn’t understand ALC format), and add it as a stereo linear PCM audio track. Play the movie in QT Player. Mirror on the big screen as above.
• Optionally import the movie to iDVD, add menu, and burn to DVD.

Make a Movie

• Download video segments from the iPhone and/or DSLR (MOV container using H.264 codec)
• Import to Final Cut for editing.
• Follow instructions above under Slideshow Movie for adding background music, commentary, and playing on the TV.