This just in. Sure looks complicated. William Robb
>was wondering. In what format do you archive your D100 photos. NEF, .tiff >or .psd? Well, I'm still working on my total workflow, so it's still a work-in-progress, but here's what I'm currently doing. Shoot in NEF. Transfer images to computer from the CF card using a ZiO! reader using USB (going to upgrade to a USB 2.0 when one finally ships). I use Windows Explorer to do the transfer -- takes about 9-11 minutes to download a full 512MB CF card. I create a folder structure on the hard disk this way: Top Folder = Job Name (I use year/sequential number eg: 02-335) Then I create four folders inside that, so the structure looks like (for example) [02-335] ....[File] ....[NEFs] ....[Prints] ....[Proofs] I put the NEFs into the [NEFs] folder. I then use ACDSee to rename the NEFs to (eg) 02335-0001...023350-xxxx. The reason I use a four-digit frame number is so I can kee p scanned films in the same numbering sequence, where the first two digits of the [xxxx] would be roll number, and the last two, frame number. For scanned images, I wouldn't have NEFs of course, but TIFFs. Then I use Bibble to make (smaller) JPEGs from the NEFs which are placed in the [Proofs] folder. They keep the same relatively file name as the original NEFs. I then use ACDSee to make a contact sheet of the JPEGs. Then I use ACDSee to resize those JPEGs even smaller @ 72ppi and put them into the [File] folder. (More on this later.) Now I can burn a CD with the NEFs (so I've got something backed up off the hard disk). If it's a client job, I'll probably make two copies at this time. After reviewing the contact sheets and making some selects, I start up Photoshop 7 and open the first (NEF) image I want to work on. I use either the Bibble filter or the Nikon Capture filter, depending. (Right now, I've left out the step of possibly using NC to change things like W B, tone, etc.) Once opened, I *immediately* save it as a PSD file into the [Prints] folder. As I work on the image, I make intermediate saves as a PSD into the same [Prints] folder with a suffix -- eg, the first PSD might be 02335-0019.psd, and the intermediates would be something like 02335-0019a.psd... 02335-0019b.psd, and so on. Yeah, this folder gets some pretty large files -- the first PSD is usually at least 35MB or so, and after some editing, easily can get to 50MB or more. If I'm doing some cropping for different print sizes, I use the Crop Tool with Output PPI set to 360 and Bicubic intepolation. So if I want to make an 8x10, an 11x14, 4x6... whatever, I've got various crops pre-established for those sizes. I then save the image something like 02335-0019a810.psd, 02335-0919a1114.psd and so forth. (An aside: The above is for when I need to make prints to a "standard" output size, as for portraits, commercial work, etc. For my own "art" work, where I 'm printing to a standard 13x19 or 8.5x11, I let the printer driver do the interpolation and don't worry about resizing the image myself, unless I've performed a pretty radical crop.) I do as much editing as possible in 16-bit mode, and only flatten to 8-bit for those functions which don't currently work in Photoshop at the high-bit setting. If I'm printing something standard with white borders, I put my Copyright info ( (c) John W. Albino--All Rights Reserved) into a Text Layer positioned just below the image area itself. (I make the image proportionately smaller than the paper size, so I have a white border created by making the Canvas Size the same as the Paper size.) The last thing I do before printing is USM-ing, and the settings I use depend on my mood, the subject, colors, textures, and all the rest. I sometimes save this image also, if I know I'll be making more prints soon, with a "p" suffix to indicate "This is how it printed" -- eg, 02335-0019ap.psd, or 02335-0019a810p.psd and so forth. Eventually takes up a lot of disk space, and maybe sounds too much belt-and-suspenders-ish, but, as I've said, I'm still working on the whole process. Periodically, I also burn these folders to CD also... generally need a CD for each step -- one for NEFs, one for Prints, etc. Back to the [File] Folder -- this is purely a U.S. thing, but most of us are now trying to register all of our images as Unpublished with the U.S. Library of Congress for maximum protection. You've probably seen this mentioned on some of the other lists we're both on. Anyway, the reason to have relatively small JPEGs to file is both to save space on a CD as well as make them undesirable for someone to steal. Periodically, I burn a couple CDs with the [File] folders from several jobs and make an index sheet from each, and send it off to the Library of Congress. I'm currently using Photoshop 7, ACDSee 5, Bibble 2002, Nikon Capture 3.5, DigitalPro, and Pa intShop Pro 7 for various uses along the way. DigitalPro ultimately can be a great cataloging tool, but I haven't completely figured out exactly what my long-term workflow is going to be. --
