We all know that creating a repeatable process or workflow will frequently speed many tasks up and allow us to focus on details rather than the overall process. Where digital photography is concerned they also tend to yield better results with final photos as well.

Many post-shoot photo processes cause a break down in the file from the original shot. To many filters being used in Photoshop, saving and resaving as a new file multiple times, poor use of curves and levels in Photoshop…all these things cause image degradation.

To eliminate the loss of image quality as much as possible it is a good idea to establish a workflow with an order designed to minimize loss and maximize results.

Step by Step Post Shoot Digital Photo Workflow

• Shoot in RAW Mode – When you set your camera to shoot in RAW mode it allows for the images to be uploaded to the computer with no color or resolution loss as happens when the camera converts the image to a .jpeg on shoot.
• Edit White Balance, Exposure And Tint Corrections – Using an editing program such as Adobe Lightroom, RawShooter, or Cannon’s Digital Photo Professional will frequently make this easier than attempting to use a combination of photo editing techniques to achieve it. For those that don’t have a program such as these you can also use color balance in Photoshop and other similar programs to achieve the desired result. Save your item as a native format to the program you will finish the editing with (.psd for Photoshop, .psp for Paint Shop Pro).
• Levels and Brightness/Contrast vs. Curves – At this point photographers seem to differ slightly on the best course of action. Some strongly recommend against ever using levels and brightness/contrast. While b/c is a little clunky and gives too broad of a change by itself, when combined with the use of levels it can produce fantastic results, but takes a bit of skill and practice with the combination. If you’re unsure use curves and modify until you are happy with the end result.
• LAB Color – This particular step is a little known trick in Photoshop. By converting the image to LAB mode, using curves to modify it, and then converting it back…color can literally jump from the page with very little work. You can find the LAB setting under image/mode. The images below illustrate how to do this.

Set Mode to LAB

Open Curves

Move Channel A and B points in on top and bottom just about half a square

Adjust Lightness

Change back to RGB

• Shadows/Highlights vs. Dodge and Burn – Using shadows/highlights vs. dodge and burn generally depends on your skill with brushes using dodge and burn and the version of Photoshop you might be using. Older versions of PS do not have this option. Therefore you will have to use dodge and burn to deepen shadows and bring out highlights. Be careful using either of these as they can produce results that are unexpected if not used sparingly.
• Crop And Straighten­ – It is generally a good idea to wait to crop and straighten photos until much of the editing is done. You might be cutting out dramatic lighting or interesting objects without realizing their full importance if you do this step too early.
• Sharpen and Other Filters – Filters can now be applies as needed. Sharpening should be the last thing you do before saving the final copy. Again use this sparingly and only when necessary as it can result in image breakdown.
• Save and Apply Metadata – Save your file in the format it needs to be for production at this point. Saving further copies after this will only result in image degradation. Add metadata as needed.

Using these steps in this order will eliminate as much image degradation as possible. Not every step above will be necessary with every single photo. Use your discretion and always take care not to destroy portions of the image while doing this. It’s always best to work with a copy of the original image or work with a layer copy so that you can always go back to the beginning if need be.

Now your image should be ready for production in whatever publication format you have deemed necessary. Remember that this is a workflow to use with every photo you plan on optimizing, touching up, or modifying.