I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! Summer is officially here. It's the best time to be outside and not always the most enjoyable time to be stuck behind a computer. So I thought I would share a few of my tips and tricks to stay organized with my images from each session and streamline my pre-sale workflow. So from capture to the sales meeting, here we go:

Use a Raw Format

When capturing images, be sure to use a RAW format. This gives you the maximum latitude for adjustments to your file.

Use a Target or Gray Card

With every lighting change, photograph a target or a gray card. This will allow you to quickly and easily balance the color in your images later in the processing stages.

Import with Care

You don’t want to lose images or spend time looking around for them on your desktop. Create a file in your computer and name it ‘Daily Sessions’. Within that file, create a new file for each date that you hold sessions. Then, import each session right into a file named for the client’s name and session number within that day’s file.

Rename Images

By renaming your images right after you import them, you will never have trouble locating or identifying them. You can use the first four letters in the client’s last name, then the first four letters in the photographer’s last name, and then the image sequence number. It would look something like this: {smit(sphn)0008}

Burn

Creating a backup disk of each session is absolutely imperative. Once you’ve renamed the files for a session, burn the file onto a disk and label it with the date, client’s name and ‘First Burn’. Keep these disks in a client folder that you keep on file.

Edit

Once you have burned the session file onto a disk for backup, you can go through the file and delete the images that you don’t want your client to see. What is left is what you will present to them during their sales meeting.

Adjust

Now you are ready to make basic adjustments. Select the image with the gray card and click on the gray to balance color. Sync the adjustments to all the other images in that lighting scenario.

At this time you will also want to make any necessary adjustments to exposure in your images.

If you want to make any special adjustments to your images before you convert them (such as black and white or toned) do it at this step. When all of your adjustments have been made to all images, export them as jpgs.

At this point, your images are ready to be presented to your client. With these simple SOPs, you can organize and simplify your pre-sale workflow in dramatic ways.

I hope this helps you save some time and get back to the business of life!

Happiness,

Sandy Puc'

Do you have a pre-sale workflow tip?

Share in the comment section below!