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Digital Workflow

updated 12/09

The universe that is digital workflow could possibly be described in two competing textbook series, each disagreeing on every point with the other, and yet both would be correct.

Our digital workflow, from a greatly simplified perspective, begins with shooting in the RAW format.

Verses the popular jpeg or tiff file formats, RAW offers many advantages. It records the data exactly as it comes from the camera’s imaging sensor, and no processing is applied. This means that as long as the original RAW file is available, the maximum possible detail and quality may be extracted from that file. Color balance can be chosen after the image is taken, while evaluating the scene on a large, color corrected monitor.

Raw files are not viewable without special software, so we must convert them to a format viewable on our website and also publishable or printable for sale. We use Adobe Lightroom for this conversion process and all color correction and other required digital work. Photoshop is used when necessary. Once all photos from a specific trip or assignment have been color corrected and fixed as necessary, they are key-worded and captioned for the web and our records, ripped to web resolution, and uploaded to our website.

BackUp Procedure

Our backup procedure has changed frequently but it is pretty stable now. When returning from a photo shoot all files are simultaneously transferred to the primary workstation and a "TEMPORARY" storage USB drive. The TEMPORARY storage drive keeps a copy of all unedited files until space runs out, which lasts many months. We then delete the oldest folders. This gives us a complete "go back" version for a time period sufficient until the grading/editing process is complete in case we accidentally delete something. This even includes all the junk photos.

Scheduled Backups and redundancy

  1. DAILY BACKUP: Incremental backup of primary workstation to external USB Drives. (Drives remain on site)
  2. OFFSITE BACKUP: Bi-Weekly incremental backup of primary workstation to external USB Drive (Drives stored offsite).
  3. ARCHIVE BACKUP: After editing and grading is completed on a folder on the primary workstation, it gets copied to an external USB drive we call ARCHIVE. This takes the place of our former DVD copy. When this fills up, we retire it and buy a new one.

So, we are are backed up redundantly a few times. In the worst case scenario, we could loose work from two weeks if the office burned down and toasted everything.

The Workstations

Our digital studio includes:

  • Primary workstation (which stores our digital files)
  • Secondary workstation which accesses the files through a gigabit network
  • Website test server Linux box
  • Print workstation connected directly to our Epson printer.
Configuration of our Workstations
  • Dell Studio XPS 8000, Intel Core i7-860 procelow, ssor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
  • 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz-4×2GB
  • nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB GDDR3
  • 500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive 7200 RPM (for OS)
  • Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
  • 16X DVD+/-RW
  • Two, 2 TB hard drives (primary station only)
  • 2 - 30” Dell LCD color monitors
  • Spyder 3 Pro for monitor calibration.

Image access and network

Digital photography introduces a challenge in file management and storage. We have over 30,000 images either natively digital or scanned from film. Many are over 50 megabytes, and some large panoramas are nearly 2 gigabytes! For speed and workflow efficiency, our images are stored directly on our fast workstation, and accessed over a gigabit network.

Printers

We produce all our prints digitally using Epson UltraChrome K3 pigment based inks on a Premium semimatte paper, which offers saturated colors and rich blacks with a low glare surface. This is the ideal printing platform, offering superior color, sharpness, and longevity when compared to traditional methods. It also enables us to provide fast turnaround, often shipping custom, hand-made prints the day after the order.

We print primarily on the Epson Stylus Pro 7800, which enables 24" wide printing at a virtually unlimited length.

When properly cared for and displayed under glass, our prints will last a lifetime.

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