San Jose, US
|
Antero and Danny:
Danny is correct. Before I moved to NX2 for my Post Processing of NEF's I used Photoshop exclusively and I was and still am an advanced user so never saw a need to buy LR,and in fact tried it when it first came out and thought it was very poor compared to the power of Photoshop. When I first started using NX I was only using it to process the NEF and then was moving TIFFs to Photoshop to finish my editing, when NX2 came out I realized I could achieve the same results in NX2 quicker and often better, except when I needed to stitch images do perspective control or more importantly do composites. So here is my current work flow:
Nikon Transfer (the new version in View NX2, I forget its new name) brings my images into my computer where the images are stored in two locations 1) to a Nikon Transfer tree stored in a newly named folder on a separate SATA drive (P) on my computer used soley to store images. 2) A second external drive stores a second copy of these RAW unprocessed images.
View NXS2 is then used to review and rate images. I try to be brutal in this phase, and since I often have duplicates of an image, either taken from various views or other settings, I pick only the best of the lot and do not send the others to NX2 for processing. Yet I keep all the images unless they are totally hopeless, as sometime in the future I may want to use a piece of an image or may be better at processing to overcome its shortcomings.I also use it after review as the general source to load images into Capture NX2.
Capture NX2 is used to do all my RAW processing. When the image opens in NX2, I keyword the image and add descriptions here. I have a preset for my general data which I load into the file and add any additional data. I could do this in View NX2 but I only keyword pictures I plan to post or make. When the image is done to my satisfaction. I save a copy of this image to a Folder on my P drive that I call Processed Images and this folder is broken down by category, like Landscape, wildlife, etc. If I make other versions of the same image, they are stored in the same NEF.
Once that is done my routine goes something like this. I move a 16 bit TIFF to CS5 and if I have nothing else to do I just process that file for the web after adding my copyright signature and post the image to a separate folder for later upload to Nikonians. If that is all I have done, I now do not save the TIFF, although I used to keep the signed TIFF in the same directory as my NEF's with an additional tag on the name to show it was processed in CS5, but now I decided that was unnecessary. But if I need to use CS5 say for a Pano, HDR, Composite, etc., then after I do that processing on the TIFF and before I convert to web, I do save that TIFF in the same folder as my processed NEF with a CS5 extension. I do not use DNG, as for my work it is a useless waste of time. DNG is no more sure to be around in the future than is the NEF and the NEF solution is so much more simple. Once in awhile I might save to PSD if it is a complicated layered file, but lately, I have just decided to save only layered TIFFs in Photoshop as I know that format is universal. If for some reason I need to make another trip back to NX2 with a TIFF I create a flat version and send it over. The key for me is I stay in 16 bit Pro Photo for all my processing unless I move to Photoshop and need a tool that does not support 16 bit. In any case, I only go to 8 bit when I am processing for the web or using an 8 bit tool after all my 16 bit work is done.
On a regular basis the P drive is backed up to a network drive backing up the originals and the final processed images both NEF's and TIFF's as well as backing up the original Nikon Transfer Folder too. So when I am done, I have 3 copies of the original NEFs and 2 copies of processed images. The Network Drive is a RAID 1 configuration so if one drive fails, I do not lose any data.
I hope this answers your questions. Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery
"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"
Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!
|
