Edit Faster With My 15 Seconds Per Image Lightroom Workflow

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If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may know that I was just traveling and photographing wildlife and nature in Alaska.  Wildlife photography is a passion of mine (though it’s definitely just a hobby).  I am not seasoned in photographing birds or animals, but I hope to grow in that arena. When I come back from a trip with thousands of photos, it can be daunting.  I imagine weddings would be much the same way. If you want to edit faster, try this simple process.

My 15 seconds per image Lightroom workflow:

I cull my way through 1000s of nature, wildlife and personal snapshot photos from my trip, using my “15 second per image editing technique.”  Using Lightroom with my cap locks pressed, I hit P (for Pick) or X (for Exclude). The cap locks advances you to the next photo once P or X are pressed. If I know it is one I want to keep, I edit quickly using the Enlighten Lightroom presets before hitting the P key. Once I have the look I want, if there are other similar images, I save the combination temporarily as a “save a fav” preset within the set.  Then I apply it (or even just sync) with all similar images.

While I may spend 20-30 seconds on a few photos, the average time is about 15 seconds since I average in rejects and photos I synced (as those then usually just need a possible crop).

** for most vacation photos, I don’t enter Photoshop.  But for portraits, if I want to, I will star those with a number too (so maybe 3 stars or 5 stars = portrait).  Then once I am done in Lightroom, I can export and edit the starred images with Photoshop actions or hand retouching as needed.

 

Help, in exchange for the tip?

Remember how I mentioned I am not seasoned at wildlife photography???  Well, I need your help.  I loved photographing bald eagles and really want to print one for my home.  But technically speaking – and visually – I am having a hard time deciding on the strongest image.  Which of these do you feel is the strongest?  Feel free to add any thoughts or helpful CC for me in the comments too.  Thank you!

** All images below were edited with Enlighten Lightroom presets. Only the resize and copyright were added using batch processing.

All eagles in flight were taken with the Canon 5D MKIII and Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II with a 1.4x extender. Settings: ISO 800, Aperture 4.0, Speed between 1/1000 and 1/1600

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All bald eagles in the tree and nest were taken with the Canon 5D MKIII and Tamron 150-600mm at the full 600mm. Settings: ISO 1000, Aperture 6.3, Speed between 1/500 and 1/1000

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Overwhelmed yet?  Again, helpful critique is welcome.  I did not have a flash, though with a better beamer that may have helped, and I know on a few the wings are clipped, so there’s that too.  But I was happy overall with these.  And I think practicing at home with the birds in my backyard actually helped me a bit. So tell me, what is your favorite of the ones above? Thanks again.

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No Comments

  1. Karen on January 13, 2012 at 9:11 am

    Thank you for this post. It is so helpful to understand someone’s work flow… the why, the when, and the how. Your work is great!

  2. Lori on January 13, 2012 at 9:35 am

    I find it very difficult to maintain straight edges with the clone tool and make lines match up exactly. In this application, I would have copied a width of the column from higher up, and pasted it over the column where the handrail is. I can move the new piece to make it exactly line up with vertical lines (use transform if the perspective made it larger/smaller) It would have also removed the shadow from the handrail that remains.

  3. Janet on January 13, 2012 at 9:44 am

    Thank you for this….

  4. Ronnie on January 13, 2012 at 10:02 am

    the clone is showing up on both sides of the bride.

  5. Kelli on January 13, 2012 at 10:18 am

    Thank you! This is great for a beginner like myself, I love hearing other photographers talk through their workflow.

  6. rhondi on January 13, 2012 at 11:15 am

    Than you so much for sharing your workflow. It’s always nice to see how somebody else gets from start to finish. Great actions.

  7. Georgette on January 13, 2012 at 11:35 am

    Great post! I am confused by the last point however, how does adding a layer mask keep from changing the skin tones? Do you actually brush away the effect on bride? Or is there a quicker way to do it?

    • Jenn Kelley on January 13, 2012 at 12:18 pm

      Yes, when adding a layer mask, you can essentially delete the action or enhancement anywhere you choose.(in this case the Sentimental layer.) You can run the action and then add a mask. It allows you then to brush over what you dont want affected by the action you ran.

  8. Amber on January 13, 2012 at 11:49 am

    This is great! So appreciate of start-to-finish workflow posts!

  9. Erin on January 13, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    I love seeing what the work flow looks like. My only comment is in the cloning… you have to be incredibly careful to not make it look like it was cloned… if you look at the image it is very clear where it was cloned with the removal of the handrail, as well as the unmentioned cloning on the left side removing the other column. I’m not trying to be critical or mean, I hope no one takes it this way. Just constructive, I hope!

  10. Ryan Jaime on January 13, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    I agree with the cloning comment, however I’m always grateful for others showing there methods! Thanks again and keep it up!

  11. Lindsay on January 13, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    I agree. The cloning is way too obvious.

  12. april on January 13, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    thanks, this is awesome!

  13. Rixie on January 13, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    The patch tool has become my best friend when retouching. After I use the cloning tool I like to go back and use the patch in a few spots to break things up and keep from getting that cloned look. It has a lot of uses, but it is easy to forget it is there sometimes.

  14. Ted on January 17, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    Yeah, using the clone tool to remove the rails works for the column area, but not for the bushes. It looks fake. A better choice would have been (assuming you are using CS5) would have been to use the Content Aware fill for the bushes area. I did a test on the before photo, and it is much more convincing.

  15. Carleeh Mulholland on January 18, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    love this thank you!

  16. Justina Mikalik on January 18, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    This is very informative, thank you.

  17. Melissa on January 18, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    Such a great post and definitely something that I needed to read! Time to revamp the product list. Thanks Jodi!

    • Melissa on January 18, 2012 at 6:31 pm

      I commented on the wrong post. Meant to comment on the Expert-i-tis

  18. yuni triasih on April 21, 2017 at 12:57 am

    really you are a perfect photoshop expert. this is a very resources idea about this top[ic. i have got more idea from here. thank you so much

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