[Digikam-users] Workflow Questions

[Mike Morris]

In the digiKam Handbook there are two conflicting (as far as I can tell)
workflow recommendations:

2.4.5 A typical DAM workflow with digiKam

   1. import images from camera, card reader or scanner. As long as the
   images are stored on the camera media, you can use that as temporary backup.
   2. RAW are converted to DNG and stored away into an RAW archive (not yet
   implemented)
   3. rate and cull, write-back metadata to the DNG archive
   4. make a backup e.g. on DVD, optical drive or tape
   5. tag, comment, geo-locate
   6. edit and improve photographs
   7. For layered editing use external applications. Back in digiKam,
   re-apply the metadata, which was probably lost or curtailed by the other
   applications.
   8. run the routine backup with following data-integrity checks
   9. protect processed images for copyrights with Digital Watermarking.
   Export to web galleries, slide shows, MPEG encode, contact sheets, printing
   etc.

3.2 Photographic Editing - Workflow
3.2.1 Image Editing/Workflow Tools
3.2.1.1 A Standard Workflow Proposal

When performing a basic workflow, the primary areas for consideration are:

   1. Exposure: White Balance
   2. Color: White Balance
   3. Black and white points: White Balance or Adjust Levels
   4. Contrast: Adjust Curves
   5. Saturation: White Balance or Vivid or Hue/Saturation/Lightness
   6. Resizing (interpolation) : Change Size
   7. Sharpening
   8. Digital Asset Management (applying tags, captions, rating,
   geolocation, save under new name)

We recommend this sequence of image editing steps to ensure optimum
photographic quality for the end product. In particular, never do
sharpening before the last step.

Questions:

   1.  It seems to me steps 2 - 5 of section 2.4.5 are the correct first
   steps to take.  Why wait until all the hard work is done to apply tags,
   etc., especially since using a template makes quick work of that task?
   2. Shouldn't crop/resize be done before any exposure/color edits?  That
   way you have removed any pixels you don't want and doesn't that make the
   subsequent exposure/color edits easier (or at least more effective)?
   3. Why adjust White Balance before Levels and Curves?
   4. Why adjust Levels before Curves?
   5. Is everyone absolutely certain that the DNG format is the correct
   archival format?  It does seem to have subtle effects on the resulting
   image.

Here are my thoughts on workflow:

   1. Import images from camera into a folder called Camera Originals (or
   whatever you want to call it - use Peter Krough's terminology if you
   prefer).  The point is that absolutely nothing is done to these images -
   they remain untouched.
   2. Save all images as DNG in a new folder, should you use that format.
   3. Apply metadata to all images (note: even before rating and culling -
   isn't the point here that you never know when an image might be usable, and
   adding this data long after the fact can be a challenge?):
   IPTC/XMP
   Tags/Comments/Geo-locate
   4. Save all images with metadata to new folder (I happen to call this
   folder "Working").  All further work is done on the images in this folder.
   5. Rate and cull.
   6. Crop and/or resize "Accepted" images.
   7. Apply exposure/color edits to "Accepted" images.
   8. Save cropped/resized/edited images to a new folder (call that folder
   whatever you want).
   9. "For layered editing use external applications. Back in digiKam,
   re-apply the metadata, which was probably lost or curtailed by the other
   applications."
   10. If layered editing is used, save these images to a new folder, with
   "layered editing" in the folder title.
   11. "Protect processed images for copyrights with Digital Watermarking."
   12. "Run the routine backup with following data-integrity checks."
   13. "Export to web galleries, slide shows, MPEG encode, contact sheets,
   printing etc."

Yes, that means you have multiple copies of your images, and you need a
great deal of storage capacity.  However, I submit that having multiple
copies is actually a good idea, and that storage capacity is, today,
relatively inexpensive .
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