Your post-processing time

[keitaro]

Just wandering how much time do people spend post-processing their images?

For me a quickie in lightroom takes about 3-5 min (includes sorting, tagging and making adjustments) per image. In Photoshop it varies for me. Depending on how muh work is needed, I can spend about 5-10 min on a pre-lightroom processed image.

Post up how much time you spend on post-processing.
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[Senna4ever]

I'm probably about the same, sometimes I can go crazy and spend about 1 hour on one image trying out different special effects. If it's a paid gig, it can mean the difference between making a sale or not, but at the same time you have to ask yourself if it's worth the extra effort.

3~5 days for a full day's wedding shoot of 700~1000 images, working maybe 5~6 hours a day. I use Lightroom for image management & low level color management, Capture One Pro for high level colour management, and Photoshop CS3 for higher level edits. I also have the full suite of NIK software plug-ins for Lightroom which makes life easier sometimes. This is if I go all out and work without any distractions, usually at my local Waves Cafe. If I try doing this at home, it takes much longer due to distractions like TV, making meals & relationship upkeep.

[ddr]

I'm curious, was there a reason why you selected the Nik suite for LR instead of PS?

[Senna4ever]

Originally Posted by dragonone

I'm curious, was there a reason why you selected the Nik suite for LR instead of PS?

A few reasons:
- Why not?
- I spend more time in LR than in PS.
- It was free!

[keitaro]

Nik is actually a very good tool once you understand how to use it. With its global or selective adjustments, it provides a lot of flexibility.

[J____]

depends, if it's an image for my blog prolly around 2-3 mins, for my commercial stuff up to 6 hours per image.

[1exotic]

how would it take 6 hours?! like a composition of the same picture with different exposures?

for me usually 2 minutes in lightroom and 1 minute in photoshop resizing and watermarking, sometimes cropping.

[Mananetwork]

Anywhere from 1 minute to 30 minutes, lol

[Matsuda]

I spend 2-3 minutes an image in Lightroom, 10-30mins if I'm using my tablet. That's usually if i'm trying to bring out more details in clouds/textures. I hardly ever go into Photoshop but I'm trying to use it more these days.

[Senna4ever]

Originally Posted by 1exotic

how would it take 6 hours?! like a composition of the same picture with different exposures?

for me usually 2 minutes in lightroom and 1 minute in photoshop resizing and watermarking, sometimes cropping.

For commercial work, easy. You're working with very high resolution files with multiple layers.

[J____]

exactly. when your doing multiple layers and often times pixel sized retouching on skin, it can EASILY hit 6+ hours.

here's an example of a timelapse for macworld cover shoot. That was probably a 2 hour edit job and the content is pretty simple with near vector like lines and shapes. imagine doing that to a face where you can see every single pore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqC2xpCaG80

[Senna4ever]

Cool video. You'd think such a higher end post processor would use something better than an Apple Cinema Display.

[CP.AR]

this is what seperates the pros from the noobs.

I take about 30seconds to about a minute on all my photos.........

[604spydaone]

Originally Posted by J____

depends, if it's an image for my blog prolly around 2-3 mins, for my commercial stuff up to 6 hours per image.

hes right! i did an apprenticeship for a retoucher at dreamworks last year... he used to do retouching for a company that work for companies like clarins and other big fashion houses... he said a really good photographer/mua/hair stylist/stylist and flawless model can cut ur editing time by half but he wouldnt work on a picture less then 2 hrs... i watched him for 8 hrs.. he asked me to show him how i edit a picture.. took about 20 mins... then he told me to throw out everything ive learnt and should me how to properly do it....he did 2-3 pictures... i believe they were shot with a h3d2-50... huuuuge files... obviously more detail and data... now i rarely do less then 2hrs on a typical edit...

the major things that took the longest wer the face...skin.... D n B... color corrections... client preferences.... n the style element of course...

BUT...... he did mention that the style has aggressively changed to a drastic reduction in airbrushing and retouching... clients are changing it up from perfect to 'real'..... he said the next big thing to learn and practice in post is compounded sharpening... and 3d layering... got really confused when he explained it..but from what i think i understand its crazy!!

[Senna4ever]

If any of you want to learn Photoshop retouching from a master, take a class with George Jang of G. King Photo. That guy is a genius.

[J____]

Originally Posted by 604spydaone

hes right! i did an apprenticeship for a retoucher at dreamworks last year... he used to do retouching for a company that work for companies like clarins and other big fashion houses... he said a really good photographer/mua/hair stylist/stylist and flawless model can cut ur editing time by half but he wouldnt work on a picture less then 2 hrs... i watched him for 8 hrs.. he asked me to show him how i edit a picture.. took about 20 mins... then he told me to throw out everything ive learnt and should me how to properly do it....he did 2-3 pictures... i believe they were shot with a h3d2-50... huuuuge files... obviously more detail and data... now i rarely do less then 2hrs on a typical edit...

the major things that took the longest wer the face...skin.... D n B... color corrections... client preferences.... n the style element of course...

BUT...... he did mention that the style has aggressively changed to a drastic reduction in airbrushing and retouching... clients are changing it up from perfect to 'real'..... he said the next big thing to learn and practice in post is compounded sharpening... and 3d layering... got really confused when he explained it..but from what i think i understand its crazy!!

yea no more gaussian blur plastic skin anymore haha. Where did you find that apprenticeship? I woulda killed for something like that, i had to learn everything myself =(

[Rikaro]

it guess it comes down to what you shoot and what the photos are for. It takes around 1-2 minutes for each wedding shots but for the car shoots that I do they're usually 1/2 to 2 hours. I've done over 6 hours on some photos but that was like a whole photo revamp

[604spydaone]

Originally Posted by J____

yea no more gaussian blur plastic skin anymore haha. Where did you find that apprenticeship? I woulda killed for something like that, i had to learn everything myself =(

i had to move out to LA..... and i was on some newsgroups and emailed a member about tryin to find someone to pay to just watch work... a guy sent me an email to contact... 3 weeks later he replied saying he was gonna try n get me a guestpass... 3 months later i was in! out of the 30-40 emails i sent while i was out there to photographers and retouchers and agents 3 got me back... the guy from dreamworks.... zizi from the rex agency.. she reps lionel deluy!! we did a 75g shoot for interscope with 50!! learned more that day then months in school... and i also got to go to patrick hoelcks studio as he was finishing up a campaign shoot....besides crazy techniques in shooting and lighting... i also learned how a celebrity shoot goes... and if they give u a 75g budget... wat to do with it...cant wait to move back there... she also reps mike ruiz so hopefully i can get a gig with him next time im out there! just pound the pavement! u'll be suprised!

[J____]

Originally Posted by 604spydaone

i had to move out to LA..... and i was on some newsgroups and emailed a member about tryin to find someone to pay to just watch work... a guy sent me an email to contact... 3 weeks later he replied saying he was gonna try n get me a guestpass... 3 months later i was in! out of the 30-40 emails i sent while i was out there to photographers and retouchers and agents 3 got me back... the guy from dreamworks.... zizi from the rex agency.. she reps lionel deluy!! we did a 75g shoot for interscope with 50!! learned more that day then months in school... and i also got to go to patrick hoelcks studio as he was finishing up a campaign shoot....besides crazy techniques in shooting and lighting... i also learned how a celebrity shoot goes... and if they give u a 75g budget... wat to do with it...cant wait to move back there... she also reps mike ruiz so hopefully i can get a gig with him next time im out there! just pound the pavement! u'll be suprised!

thats so awesome! If i was able to get a work visa to the us, i'd go to NYC in an instant. damn visas... r u working in the field now? How did u find the LA market, NYC's got way more commercial work but LA's photogs make quite a bit more...

[keitaro]

I would watch any pro edit the photos. I would even like to see how Senna or Mana does for post processing.

[Senna4ever]

Originally Posted by keitaro

I would watch any pro edit the photos. I would even like to see how Senna or Mana does for post processing.

Heh...thanks for your confidence, but I've started to forget all the high level editing that I learned in school. Two semesters at CDIS wasted. As a mainly wedding photographer I don't really do high level edits, so I've mostly forgotten what all the blending modes do, and that other shit. Besides, although I've been using Photoshop since version 2.0 in 1990, I didn't get formal training in it until version 6.0 at CDIS.

[Senna4ever]

Here's an example from yesterday's shoot.

First is the untouched RAW as opened in Lightroom 2.


This is what I at first considered to be the final image.


Then I thought the image might be enhanced if I added some smoke coming out of the pipe, and also did some more work with the light.


The time I took to reach the final image was probably around 45 minutes, but a lot of that time was spent thinking what to do with it. Total pointing and clicking time is much less, maybe 10~15 minutes.

[keitaro]

^ very good example on how an image is improved via post processing. The added smoke is a nice touch.

[1exotic]

this should be the before and after thread, those are always interesting to look at.

[J____]

ok i got bored so i did this for fun. Took a little over 1 hour or so.