This is one of many articles to come on the Digital Photography Workflow and we will call this series “Workflow Wednesdays”. The assumption here will be that the posts will be on Wednesdays and that they will primarily focus on digital workflow.

So what is “workflow” anyway?

I’ll spare you the academic definition, ahem, we all know what that definition says. Workflow for us, will be what we do to get the most out of our photos. Sure, that seems like a pretty nebulous definition, so we’re going to constrain it even further :

Workflow is the steps we take to manage our photos, edit our photos, and create things with our photos.

This series will attempt to decompose each component of this workflow (manage->edit->create) so that we can realize that the fun hasn’t even started yet – and that once we understand how to work in a consistent and predictable manner, we can do things with our photos that we’ve never before imagined. We will then have a level of efficiency and control that makes us feel happier about our digital photography, and a nice side effect is that we’ll end up better photographers (promise)!

Our workflow begins with Management. Management of our photos is extremely important, because there isn’t any fun in taking photos and not knowing what to do with them, how to take care of them or how to categorize and tag them. Photographs can be important historical artifacts, but they’re useless if they can’t be easily found. Photographs can also have significant aesthetic value – a great photo of something needs to be taken care of by appropriately managing it.

Management really has three core components :

• transfer/import
• catalog
• backup

This series will discuss, in depth, each of these workflow components. While we will make every effort to keep our techniques generic, it is impossible to manage images without some kind of tool. In the spirit of keeping things accessible, we will focus on the increasingly popular Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 (Windows/Mac). We find this tool has a very mature set of features for all aspects of the workflow presented here.

As for the Editing component of the workflow, we’re definitely going to take our time to touch in on some of the important techniques for turning a good image into a great one, including some of the increasingly popular techniques and tools for panoramic and HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.

Finally, doing things with our images is where the fun really begins – and we’ll be bringing attention to the myriad of possibilities, from emailing photos, creating slideshows, making poster-sized prints, T-shirts, customized photo postage, soft and hard-bound books and slideshows to name a few of the many possibilities to Create exciting things with your photography.

This series will be fast-paced and exciting! We’re looking forward to diving into the wide range of topics that will be covered, so hang on for a grand tour of the digital photography workflow.

Denver’s own Photo Martini Club http://www.photomartiniclub.com is a great way to meet people, while at the same time showing off your best work. Here’s how it works :

• every two months or so a theme is selected, which becomes your “assignment” should you decide to take it on
• if you’re interested in submitting work to the theme, get out and start shooting
• get your best shots together, frame them and get them ready to present
• pay $25 to enter the show which is usually held at a different Denver gallery, restaurant or other chic space each show
• show up with your work, enjoy a martini and get ready to sell your best!

The club also has a print magazine called Shot! magazine which for an addition $75 you can have your photos published into after the gallery showing.

Sound like fun? Head over the Photo Martini Club website to learn more!

We talk alot about digital noise in images, and sometimes there’s nothing like a good example to really drive it home. A few weeks ago, a former student emailed me about “noisy” images and wanted details on what could be done to control it.

First, a little background on what noise is. Whenever you increase the ISO on your digital camera, you are increasing its sensitivity to light – it is the same as shooting with a different film speed in the analog film world. The benefits of doing this are clear :

• allowing hand-holdable shutter speeds in lower light situations (usually about 1/50th or 1/60th of a second )
• allowing indoor (and outdoor) photography with reduced flash power or no flash at all
• allowing broader depth of field with higher shutter speeds, especially in lower light situations

The list could go on, but these are a few quick reasons.

Now what does this digital grain look like and how can it be controlled? I’ll take a look at the first question.

Here is a photo taken at ISO 1600. Notice the graininess and color patches on the underside of the body of the sea gull. There isn’t anything wrong with the image – that’s digital noise! Notice how the noise seems more prominent in the shadow under the right wing (bird’s left). This is a common problem with noise – it likes to lurk in the shadows!

Imagenomic’s Noiseware “Community Edition” Standalone 2.6 is a freeware software tool that you can try out and see if it improves your shadows. Imagenomics makes several variants of this tool, and you can compare them all here : http://www.imagenomic.com/nwsa.aspx.

After running the Community Edition of the standalone tool, here is the side-by-side comparison.

You can see, the noise has really been improved without loss of details. Now the noiseless image is amazingly smooth and clear!

Shooting at high ISOs can be a tremendous creative tool for your photography. Now you can feel more confident about shooting at those higher ISOs without worrying about that annoying digital noise!

There are plenty of tools out there to remove noise and Imagenomic’s Noiseware is just one of many good tools to consider in your digital photo editor’s toolbox!

We have two sessions still open for registration in February :

If you’ve already taken our class, spread the word. If you’re ready to register, visit Colorado Free Universities online registration here.

Adobe has recently announced that Photoshop Elements 6 will be available for the Apple Mac. That last MAC version was Element 3, so there is a generous $20 discount for upgraders. The full price will be $89.99. You can pre-order now directly from Adobe here.