Workflow

The following epos is an overview of the workflow I (try to) follow when getting photos from the camera to the web or print. I hope it helps others to understand why my photos suck :)

My Workflow

The image on the right is my workflow in a basic flow diagram. I think it's complete, but do expect changes in both the image and the following text......

After a shooting session these are things I usually do next:

If I used a GPS device (QStarz BT-Q1000) during the shoot I first tag my images with PhotoGPSEditor. This magnificent piece of software is able to embed the GPS coordinates directly into Nikon RAW files (NEF). As a bonus, there's no way of overwriting the original files, so you instantly have a backup.

The tagged files are imported into Adobe Lightroom where I tag the photos upon import (general tags for the set of photos).

After the import I quickly go through to imported photos and discard (mark for deletion) those that are obviously not suitable. This way you don't end up with gigabytes of unwanted material over the years.

Next comes the more individual tagging of the photos, and basic correction of the photos (horizon correction, cropping,  white balance, etc.). During this process some other photos might be considered obsolete and marked for deletion. Being marked for deletion just means that the photo won't show up in the interface, so it can't distract me. When I'm done organizing the photos I'll delete the actual photos that were marked for deletion.
If the photos somehow failed to get proper GPS coordinates I use the Friedl GeoTagger Plugin for Lightroom to set the cordinates either manually or via an import of the proper coordinates.

When photos need additional manipulation I use Adobe Photoshop and other tooling. With each edit I keep the original (edit a copy), so there's always a way back.

When the images are ready to be published, whether that's a print, or on the web. Exporting is being done with (user-based) pre-sets for consistency. After the exports have been done the images themselves are not altered in any way. This way I make sure that I always have the master material available in Lightroom, so that reproduction of a photo is always the same.

One of the most important things in this workflow is that I tag the photos with keywords. This way I can find them back real easy. Tagging keywords contain at least; occasion / event, subject(s), and type of photo (nature, urban, portrait). Where occasion/event is done on the actual import, the other tags are added during the first (and second, etc.) inspections of the photos.