6 Tips That Will Speed Up Your Photography Workflow

We all know that going through photos can take a lot of time and that the post process of uploading, culling and editing is half the battle of photography. So how can me minimize the time it takes through this process so we can quickly get back to shooting?

1. Sort Out Your Hard Drives 

Having an organized and large hard drive to keep your photos not only safe but easily found can make a world of difference. Knowing exactly where to put photos and where to find them can save a lot of time. Name all of your folders in a similar fashion. I prefer to organize my hard drive by years, months, then genres, and then with an appropriate file name.

I.E 2018 > Weddings > May > Jean and Andrew

This could work for anything such as 2018 > Family Holidays > June > Florida

However you choose to organise your hard drives make sure it is simple and easy for you to navigate. Using metadata and keywords will also help you be able to search up photos quickly. 

I use an A B system as well as Dropbox to keep my photos safe. I have two separate hard drives that are identical so that if one should fail I know I have a back up, as well as uploading files to dropbox in case there should be a natural disaster, fire etc. 

2. Using Lightroom

Lightroom is built to be a quick workflow and once you get the hang of it can save a lot of time. Here you can cull your images, edit and export all in one place and it is super handy for large batches such as weddings, travel photos or event photography that don't need to be extensively retouched. You can sync your photos for a large blanket edit or develop your own presets to make the process even quicker. 

3. Photoshop + Bridge

If you just can't get on board with Lightroom after giving it a good go there is another way. You can use Bridge to cull your images quickly using their star system and then open your photos into photoshop from there. Once in photoshop you can actually batch edit your photos with actions. You can do this by opening multiple photos and then choosing File > Automate > Batch, choose your desired action and then click okay. This will apply the action to all opened files and speed up the process.

4. Get it Right in Camera

Becoming a master at using your DSLR and getting shots right in camera will save you a lot of adjusting and "saving" images in the post process. 

5. Stop Being a Perfectionist

As a photographer it can be easy to get attached to images and over think things. If you think of culling images and editing as a more mechanical process instead of emotional you will make decisions much quicker. Stop worrying about whether a shot can be made perfect, after all it's all about the initial impact.

6. Cut the Distractions

If you really want to become an editing machine, make sure your entire focus can be on the process. Find a workspace you know you won't be bothered, plug in to headphone and completely zone in on the process. Most importantly hide your phone and refuse to open any other tabs, especially social media on your computer. You'll be amazed how much quicker time will go when all of your attention is on one thing.