[Digikam-users] RAW workflow & digikam

[Simon Oosthoek]

Sebastian Schubert wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm just a newbie and would like to get some idea for a good workflow.
> I want to shoot RAW files.  My idea:
> 
> 1) download files to a backup folder
> 2) copy them to another folder, scan through it, delete bad ones and
> keep the others
> 3) produce jpg from the files in 2)
> 4) tag and sort results from 3)
> 
> after some time
> 5) delete files in 1)
> 
> 
> What do you think?  What would be the most efficient way to do that?  I
> want -- of course -- have the final results in digikam.  Is an extra,
> external raw converter a good idea?  To be honest, atm I'm quite
> overwhelmed by all the sliders and stuff in these programs.
> 
> Is there a way to tag the raw files I want to keep (step 2) and the
> final jpgs?
> 
> Thanks for any ideas!  Also if you know any tutorials, I am eager to
> read them.
> 

Hi Sebastian,

I'm not sure this is the best way, but for starters, I can tell you my
current way (not that it cannot be improved, it can!)

I have albums more or less subject related and below that, date based
albums. Most of the time I shoot pictures of my daughter, so most
downloads end up there, I'm sure this differs for everyone. Another
(more?) sensible approach would be to download all files to a date based
tree and just tag them for contents, it's just that my legacy is like
this...

I shoot RAW+JPG, so I don't have to have a conversion step for all the
RAW files, however this takes up space and the need to clean up more
unwanted files when I pick and choose the best ones.

Sometimes you only realise the potential of a shot while you're doing
the actual postprocessing of the RAW file. A severely underexposed shot
may turn out to be a wonderful noisy black/white art photo ;-)

That said, all the shots you take will take more of your time, so best
to shoot well and not too much...

I guess it's a good idea to be quite ruthless in selecting the best ones
and not take too much time with the marking for removal and then later
removal.

Cheers

Simon