# Wedding photographers... what RAW software?



## dewey (Mar 13, 2007)

So I have been using lightroom for a while and I'm happy with it.  I just started using Capture One LE because I got a free copy with a Sandisk card I bought.  I haven't used it for an entire shoot yet.  I like Lightroom more, but I think it's because that's what I'm used to, and CaptureOne is still new to me.  It seems slower and it seems harder to go start to finish with it.  Again I'm still learning it... don't freak out you Capture One addicts. 

SO....

The question is who uses what for weddings?  I typically use Lightroom & Photoshop.  I'm open to changing my workflow if it will increase my speed or increase the quality of my postprocessing without adding alot of time.  I'm working on processing a 2800 photo wedding today and speeding up processing is on my mind... go figure. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## Big Mike (Mar 13, 2007)

I use R.S.E. and Photoshop.  I haven't tried Lightroom or Capture One, so I can't say anything about them.

I like the RAW workflow of R.S.E. (which I'm guessing is close to Lightroom)...but my Photoshop workflow is too slow.  

Do you use any actions in Photoshop?  That's the time/effort saver.  I think I'm still too attached to editing every image individually based on what I think it needs...rather than getting close enough and batching a whole lot of files.

Let us (me) know when you figure out a way to stream line you processing.  I've read plenty about people's workflows but it's always a matter of personal taste.


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## dewey (Mar 13, 2007)

Great point on individual vs. batch treatment Mike.

I "grade" photos on how much pp I will give them.  Reception candid shots get a basic automated correction - not much input from me and no Photoshop - just lightroom.  Formals and the important reception shots get individual treatment as needed in Photoshop.  I have an action that opens adjustment layers and makes minor changes which is a real timesaver.


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## Big Mike (Mar 13, 2007)

So your action that opens adjustment layers...does it just create the layers and save the image for you to come back and edit individually?  Do they automatically do a basic adjustment in the action or is it just to open them?

I'm thinking that I could probably do that.  It seems that I always create a levels layer and then a curves layer.  The levels adjustments are similar but not the same for each image.  The curves adjustment is almost always a slight S curve...so I could probably automate that.

One thing that I don't like (or haven't figured out) with R.S.E. is how to list more than one category, once I have rated all the images.  For example, I go through all the images and tag them with a 1, 2 or 3 (not counting the garbage).  Then I go ahead and start the edit/convert process on the #1 files.  Then I switch to the #2 group of images and basically do the same adjustments on the images as I did for the #1 pics.  The #3 pics may or may not even get converted....but if I'm going to convert both the 1 & 2 images...why do I tag them separately in the first place?

I think I'm rambling so I'll shut up now.


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## dewey (Mar 13, 2007)

My default action opens the image, creates an adjustment layer for curves, levels, sharpness and contrast and hue / saturation.  It makes a minor adjustment to each because as you mentioned it's frequently the same sort of adjustment.  It then closes and saves the PSD for later tweaking.  It's a set it and go to lunch action. 

I have tweaked this action a bit from time to time - I have one for reception candids because they're normally a little dark.  I have one for formals to be a little easier on the skin tones.

I find that on about 50% of the images I dont mess with them.. I leave it as is.  The other 50% I find I have to adjust more or crop or clone something or dodge/burn etc.  When I've edited them all I have another action that opens each PSD, flattens and resizes them and saves them as a JPG for web proofing.  Again an action that is fast like the snail. 

Not sure about RSE - I would hope there is a way to do that!


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## Big Mike (Mar 14, 2007)

Excellent, thanks for the run down.  I've messed around with making a few actions like that...but I haven't really committed myself to doing it properly yet.


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## dewey (Mar 14, 2007)

Sure... when I get a chance I will post those actions here.  One REALLY cool thing I use in lightroom in the built in web proofing.  With a few clicks I can build web pages with numbered proofs.  What's really neat is if I catch a mistake I can toggle back to editing mode and fix it, then toggle back to the web mode.  On top of that Lightroom will dump the finished web pages on my website (built in FTP).  I love that and it's a real time saver.

It's like a chinese menu... my clients can email me back and say I want a #24 , a #9, a #92 extra spicy 

Do you do proofing online?  I'd be interested to fond out how others do it.

I've considered things like collages.net but I don't want to pay someone else a % of my sale for something I can do just fine.


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## Big Mike (Mar 14, 2007)

I don't have a real web site up and running yet...and it will probably just be a basic site, for now anyway.  I haven't really nailed down how I want to work my proofing process.  I'm only just starting out as a primary wedding photographer so I guess I'll work these things out as I go.

I've been reading up on what others thing of those on-line proofing and print sales sites.  I like the idea of not having to process the orders myself but then you do have to give up a percentage.

Actually, I'm still trying to figure out what my main sales focus will be.  Should it be selling prints or selling the files?  I recently put together my price list for this year and I made packages that include either a print credit or the files on disc.


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## Digital Matt (Mar 14, 2007)

I'm not a wedding photographer, but I use C1 LE for my raw workflow and I love it.  Use whatever you are comfortable and gives you the best results.


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## davyhsieh (Mar 14, 2007)

I use Capture One Pro 1, and it is really useful.  In Taiwan we shoot a thousand photos per day, need a quick software to do it.


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## danalec99 (Mar 31, 2007)

Bridge/ACR for RAW
Russell Brown's _Image Processor_ for batch conversion to TIFF
Russell Brown's _Jpeg 1-2-3_ (for 3 different Jpeg sizes in one go) for batch Jpegs, coupled with Actions, if needed.


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## guitarkid (Apr 30, 2007)

Dewey, when your clients call and say they want photos, how do you get them out to them? your printer? what do you do. i don't want to pay a lab a % of my prints but i do it. i work with digilabs.net and i LOVE them. can't be easier or better and the prints are simply amazing. you upload your proofs direct to their servers via their software and the photos along with pricing are just there after your upload. you set your prices. i do nothing else. clients visit their proofs, click what they want to order and they print and ship direct to them. same as pictage but they are really pricy and i can't afford it. after working with digilabs.biz though, they are all i need. good luck.
steve


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## zendianah (Apr 30, 2007)

guitarkid said:


> Dewey, when your clients call and say they want photos, how do you get them out to them? your printer? what do you do. i don't want to pay a lab a % of my prints but i do it. i work with digilabs.net and i LOVE them. can't be easier or better and the prints are simply amazing. you upload your proofs direct to their servers via their software and the photos along with pricing are just there after your upload. you set your prices. i do nothing else. clients visit their proofs, click what they want to order and they print and ship direct to them. same as pictage but they are really pricy and i can't afford it. after working with digilabs.net though, they are all i need. good luck.
> steve


 

Hey there ...  Does digilabs charge you a monthly for online proofing? I'm using Pictage to try them out. They have an intro offer of 49.00 a month for 2 months than 99.00 a month. I believe that anyone can go to digilabs? Is that true? I would love to hear more about digilabs. Thanks... Dianah


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## guitarkid (Apr 30, 2007)

i was very close to going the pictage route but i found them to be a lot of fluff, and this is coming from a few other photographers i know. i'm sure they are great, they're huge, but it's also money i don't have each month. 

i would highly recommend digilabs. they have MANY services and are so helpful. i call them all the time. during printing of some shots, the head of the lab calls me last week to recommend cropping in a different way for a particular shot and wanted to know if i wanted 8X10 or 10X10 and what style border I wanted for effect...wanted to run past some ideas before doing the run. they spent a lot of time with me on the phone answering all the questions i have. there is just so much to their services, i can't say enough great things about them. 

i'm on the $150 a year plan and that gets you unlimited photo uploads and galleries and all their services included...they also take 17% of each sale. may sound steep but it's not much considering what they do and what the prints look like. they do have a monthly plan which i think is around $25 a month and they take no commission on sales.  this would be great for me if i had a lot of clients.  there are a couple different pricing options on their site.  yes, anyone can sign up.

a quick rundown: once i have all photos edited, i open their software (which is updated monthly and free for download from their site. they always email saying when something is new.) i import all hi-rez jpg's into their software when i'm done editing them. once they are in the software i hit SEND TO WEB. it walks you through creating the gallery name, date, etc. the software resizes the images to smaller web-based files which still look great and it takes about 5 minutes on broadband. after that i just click on my proofs link from my website....and all the photos are there! 

have a look: 

http://web.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/galleries.asp?CouponID=SAR

i choose my pricing structure and all photos are automatically linked to the pricing. they have MANY printing size options and other features to choose from that clients can order. prints can be direct to actual canvas...looks amazing. they have 3 different print styles: matte, luster and metallic. the metallic finish is just amazing and the photos really pop. you pick and choose what you want to offer clients and set the pricing. after the upload, i copy all hi-rez photos to DVD and mail off to the lab...this is used for when clients order...they will print from these hi-rez files. you can also ftp these hi-rez files to their servers but it's money...maybe $20 a month...not bad, but not necessary. mailing a DVD is only a dollar and there is no charge for them to take it in.

if you want to order the spiral-bound proof book for the bride all you have to do is click the ORDER PROOFBOOK and it submits the order to the lab from the software...you enter your credit card number before submitting. the order is submitted and you get the book in a week or so. 

they have separate software for drag and drop hi-rez wedding album design as well. these books are amazing looking...all hard cover, photos are part of the page. 

sorry for the long email. there is also an admin logon where you type in your username and password to view all your galleries, set pricing, s/h pricing per order, you can see who viewed your galleries and how many hits each got, etc. this is web-based, no special software required.

they are at www.digilabs.biz

in the end, it's who you love working with. for me, the search ended here. i love how it's only $150 a year and you only pay if someone buys prints....and it's only 17% of the sale. they print, package and ship to purchaser's via fedex.

good luck,
steve


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## EOS_JD (Apr 30, 2007)

I just started using lightroom and like it a lot.  Faster than any other software I've used.


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## guitarkid (Apr 30, 2007)

thanks for the opinion! i'm leaning to that


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## fotogenik (May 1, 2007)

I currently use photoreflect as I do not have enough business at this time to support paying for a service yet.  I looked at the digilab site and I really like their offerings.  Adobe Lightroom is absolutely wonderful software as well.  I just cannot say enough about lightroom since I started using it last week.


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## guitarkid (May 1, 2007)

yeah, i just ordered lightroom last night and did the next day air thing.....i can't wait to get it since i have a wedding to edit.  if you like digilabs, just go for it.  it's $150 a year......not bad with all you get.


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## aammoore (May 9, 2007)

guitarkid said:


> yeah, i just ordered lightroom last night and did the next day air thing.....i can't wait to get it since i have a wedding to edit. if you like digilabs, just go for it. it's $150 a year......not bad with all you get.


 
I am new to the photography business...what is the need for something like lightroom? I haven't started a busy workflow yet, so not sure why I would need something like this?
Thanks in advance.


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## fotogenik (May 10, 2007)

Personally, Lightroom just fits me best.  It allows me much greater speed in going from mem card to finished files.

Processes that used to take me several days can be done in VERY short amounts of time.  If I don't have to make any serious edits (healing/cloning) I can be finished with an entire set of shots (369 shots in my first test batch) in just under 2 hours from mem card to finished files.

My old work flow used to take the better part of a day just flagging and sorting the keepers from the trash.


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## AprilRamone (May 10, 2007)

I had a trial version of Lightroom but I never got around to figuring it out or using it and after all that's been said here, now I'm kicking myself!


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## dewey (May 10, 2007)

Yeah I've looked around and I'm sticking with Lightroom... it saves me SO much time. :thumbup:


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## EOS_JD (May 10, 2007)

I'm using lightroom more and more. When I used to use Ps I'd end up editing every image. Now I can do my edits very quickly and have my saved images ready for printing very quickly. Even things like colour correction  are very fast and simple. The quick collections are great and flagging an image is easy.

Perfect for my workflow and if I need to edit some images in Ps I can be much more selective.


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## DeepSpring (May 11, 2007)

I'm not a wedding photographer (or yet at least) but I have done lots of different kind of events. My old work flow was worting them one by one and then editing one by one. I recently got lightroom and it saves soooooo much time. I can just do basic adjustments to one and then set it so all of them get the same treatment then the ones I like more I go in PS and manually do it. Saves a LOT of time. 


I recommend watching some of the videos on the adobe site. They gives you a lot of tips


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## EOS_JD (May 11, 2007)

To be honest, in most cases the auto function works amazingly well. I go through each and tweak very slightly.


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## Gert1985 (Dec 10, 2016)

Lightroom is the best option for the photographer to edit their photos. I also use lightroom when I work for my client on photo editing projects.



Photo editing services for photographers


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## KmH (Dec 10, 2016)

Lightroom's editing module - the Develop Module - uses Adobe Camera Raw or ACR.
ACR first appeared with Photoshop 7.0.1 in August of 2002.
ACR 3.0 first appeared with Photoshop CS 2 (Photoshop 9) in April 2005. (Photoshop 8 was named Photoshop CS - Creative Suite.)
Lightroom 1.0 started shipping in February of 2007 (about the time this thread was started), some 4.5 years after Photoshop 7 and the Lr Develop Module was ACR 3.0.

Photoshop CC 2017 is _Photoshop 18_.
Both Photoshop CC 2017 (released Nov.2, 16) Camera Raw and Lightroom CC 2015 (Lightroom  6) use ACR 9.1 which was released in June of 2015.

Note too that Adobe Photoshop's Photography subscription includes *both* Lr and Ps.
Because Lightroom's primary function is image database management, and Lr was designed to be a front end application to compliment, not replace, Photoshop.
Both Lightroom's Develop module, and Photoshop's Camera Raw have a lot less editing capability than Photoshop has.

Since both Lr and Ps use ACR it's easy to switch back and forth between the 2.

A better application for image database management, and as good or better for Raw file conversion is Phase One's Media Pro.


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