[Leica] Hello, to M8 users, can you tell me what your workflow is, for DNG?

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

At least you're not using photo management software to optimize your images.
Adobe calls "photo management software" Lightroom.  They like the sales
figures.
 
Photoshop is called by Adobe "an image editor".
And Nikon calls NX "photo editing software"
Photoshop and Nikon NX are "editors".
Not the first term I'd come up with to describe "enlarger" or darkroom.
- by photo editing they're talking about tweaking an image to perfection,
crafting it; like printing in the darkroom.
Most people who has done photography for more than five minutes call editing
picking a picture out. Not printing it.
Me when I'm in the darkroom I don't think what I'm doing is editing.
I'm printing. Editing takes place on the light table.
But maybe the semantic unclarity from Adobe is less then unintentional.
They want you to buy both. Of your a tad confused so much the better.
My light table by the way was in my darkroom it was 2x4 foot and I'd spend
quite a lot of time going over negs figuring out which one to print after
mixing up my trays. That's Lightroom. As many people don't have that light
table in their darkroom but in an editing print finishing room with their
dry mount press and drying screens. That's a Lightroom. Kind of the opposite
you'd think of a darkroom.

Any software which makes you loose your Photoshop chops for any period of
time is a distraction.

Photoshop was been at the center of how photography is done for decades..
Its your darkroom. Not your light table. The kids all use it every day
instead of going on recess.
- their parents shooting with thousands of dollars worth of photo gear want
to save money on software. They think that Photoshop might take up too much
of their time. Time which in many cases is not out shooting but ebaying.
To someone using Photoshop for the past 20 years (a photographer living on
planet Earth) not using Photoshop would occur to them just as quickly as
trading in their Omega D2 for a Kitchen Aid blender.
Or perhaps more to the point spending a month with their kitchen aid that
they should have been spending with their Omega. Perhaps Focomat V-35 in our
LUG case.

I have 20 years of experience using Photoshop as do most photographers I
know my age. I'm 58. We've all lost our way playing around with this and
that software now and then but then snap out of it soon enough and try to
catch up with Photoshop the best we can. I've pretty much learned my lesson
right not. I'm not interested in cheapweare or freeware. Or alternate ware.
I'm just trying to concentrate on making pictures.

What have I learned about my using Photoshop hands on this month?
A few things. Trust me.

But photo MANAGEMENT is very about as important. Sorting. Editing (in the
old sense),
In the past week I've come upon the idea from at least one friend that the
reason this person or anybody does not print is because they cant decide
which single image to start working with.
"show us your best shot!"
"ummmmmmm"

They idea that their printer is crunching out some image which is by far not
the hottest thing they've shot up to that point seems to drives people
crazy. So they print nothing.
But the same thing happened in the darkroom.
You've got your 16x20 trays mixed up and what are you printing?
Not the very best neg you've ever made in your whole life that's what.
But then this is just one excuse of a hundred you can easily come up with.
To not work.
Bridge which comes with Photoshop and the Adobe suite is of course
intentionally made wanting by Adobe so you'd need to buy Lightroom.
But Adobe Bridge that is coupled with Photoshop makes it just a tad tricky
to have your very best top ten images at the tips of your fingers.   So you
can  Photoshop them or print or show somebody standing right next to you
them.
Or up load them to your gallery or website.
It can search and search then stall. Then you rebuild your cache. Go walk
your dog.
They've seen your latest lens. Now they want to see your "pictures".

- the important thing is not what you shoot but what they see.

And I think its important to conceptualize that even if your light table was
in your darkroom your darkroom and your Lightroom are two different rooms.
            form follows function.
            Room equals form.



Mark William Rabiner



> From: David Rodgers <drodgers at casefarms.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 10:42:26 -0400
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Conversation: [Leica] Hello, to M8 users, can you tell me what your 
> workflow
> is, for DNG?
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Hello, to M8 users, can you tell me what your workflow
> is, for DNG?
> 
> I use Nikon Capture NX. Very rarely do I use Photoshop anymore. (I
> question whether or not I'm any longer a real photographer, so maybe
> that explains why. :-) )