August 6, 2009
-
WORKFLOWSHOP Subject #1: Rockin’ it in-camera!
One of THE BIGGEST keys to reducing the number of hours you spend in front of the camera is to simply get it right the first time.
When I first started out, I used to think to myself “yeah, getting a good exposure is fine and dandy, but who has the time to try and make sure EVERY single one of their images has good white balance, contrast, saturation, etc. etc.???” For the longest time, I shot RAW and NEVER touched my white balance until after the fact. And I spent WEEKS editing just a few hundred photos… I tried shooting JPG, but since I wasn’t getting any better at the in-camera stuff, that didn’t solve the problem.
Long story short, I’ve spent years shooting *both* RAW and JPG alike, and I’ve decided that it really doesn’t matter THAT much if you shoot RAW or JPG, as long as you figure out what the heck you’re doing!
It would be crazy to think that some day we could reach a point when EVERY image we took was perfect right out of the camera, but I just wanted to share a few random, recent images…
First up we have Karin, a model I’ve had the pleasure of photographing a few times now at some of the “Photog Shootout” GTG’s in the past few months. If we’re NICE, she’ll be at the workflowshop for us to practice on.
=Matt=
(The RAW file, with all adjustments at zero)
(My RAW defaults, with zero editing. Possibly a bit over the top, but I have a secondary preset with slightly lesser settings too…)
(Another RAW file with my preset, automatic defaults…)
(A JPG image with zero editing. In-camera settings )
(JPG image with zero editing)
(JPG image with zero editing)
Comments (6)
matt, those sooc images are so amazing! you are absolutely right about getting it right the first time. zack arias said to smack yourself in the head if you have ‘i’ll fix it later in photoshop’ mentality. lol. it does get tedious and boring retouching those images… bleh!
Matt, you know me… Thanks to YOUR tutelage, I NEVER, EVER even open photoshop.
ALL of my images are one click edited and then tweeked from time to time.
Makes life MUCH easier
I’ve learned so much from you…and there is still a lot more to learn!
Hey Matt, I’ve always loved how you make your images “pop!” What are your raw defaults in ..Lightroom, or Photoshop?
James, I’ve got some seriously complex “defaults” in Bridge, (Lightroom) so I can’t list them ALL for you. But off the top of the list, Highlights = 20, Fill = 5, Black = 10, Brightness = +50, Contrast = +90, and zero clarity / saturation etc. adjustments…
=Matt=
Great stuff, Matt!!