A professional workflow

Learning goal

You will be able to run a photography job from preparation to archive, in the same order every time and without losing a single file. You will explain what is done in each of the preparation, shoot, backup, culling, editing, delivery and archive stages, and how skipping a stage affects the following stages. Before the shoot you will prepare with a gear checklist, gather the files in a job folder set up with the same structure for every job, and not erase cards before the backups are verified. At the end of editing, before delivery, you will put a quality checkpoint that checks that colors, exposure and different skin tones look right, and end every job with a job close-out that finishes with invoicing, follow-up and archiving. By turning this flow into a checklist and using it in every job, you will tie the job's success not to luck but to order.

The question

The bakery job is finished and it went well, but when your friend looks back they see they got off lightly several times. On the night of the shoot they forgot to transfer the cards to the computer; for two days the whole job sat on a single card. They made the backup on only one disk. They started editing without culling, and edited five almost identical frames of the same scene one by one. The job's files, meanwhile, were scattered across three different folders.

When they consult the older member before the next job, the older member points to a sheet on their wall: a list they have applied from start to finish in every job for years, its items erased and rewritten here and there. How does the work flow from shoot to delivery? How is every step of a job put in order without leaving anything to luck?

Context

In the backup lesson you learned the principle that recommends keeping every file in at least three copies, on two different types of media, with one off-site (Lesson 15.6). In the culling lesson you practiced sorting frames with reject flags and stars (Lesson 17.3). In the previous lesson, too, you got the photos to the client with a delivery set and a note (Lesson 28.8).

This lesson links these pieces into a chain. Each skill learned on its own gains meaning when used in the right place and the right order within a job. A workflow makes the job move forward at the same quality even on days when the photographer is tired, in a hurry or forgets something. It is also the way the promises made to the client, that is, the delivery date, the usage rights and the file storage period, are kept in daily practice.

Simple explanation

Why is a workflow needed?

A workflow is the stages of a photography job followed in the same order every time, from preparation to archive: preparation, shoot, backup, culling, editing, delivery and archive. The order matters: starting to edit with a card that isn't backed up, wasting time with frames that haven't been culled, or postponing archiving until before delivery comes back as a problem in later stages. When a flow is put in writing, it turns into a checklist ticked at the end of each stage. The list doesn't have to be long or complicated; a few short lines are enough for none of the important steps to be skipped, and the same list is reused in every job.

The preparation stage begins days before the shoot. The quote and contract are read once more, a location scout is done if needed, and the light is planned. If people of different skin tones will be in the frame, the light plan is built to show each of their faces in its own tone; for example, an extra fill light or a reflector is prepared. A gear checklist is the list containing all the devices, batteries, cards, spare parts and small supplies to take to a shoot, ticked one by one before the shoot. Batteries are charged, cards are formatted in the camera, and if possible a spare body, or at least a spare card and battery, goes into the bag. The camera's time and date are also checked; files being saved with the right date makes it easier to find a job in the archive years later. A time plan is made for the shoot day: at what hour which location or which person will be shot, and at what hour the light will be most suitable.

How do you move from shoot to editing?

During the shoot the cards are numbered and used in order, and a full card is kept in a separate pocket. When the shoot is over, the first job is backup, not editing. The files on the cards are transferred to the computer the same day and copied to at least two separate places according to the backup principle. Cards aren't formatted until the backups have been checked by actually opening a few files. Your friend carrying the whole job on a single card for two days was this stage being skipped. A small job to do after backup is also arranging the files' names and basic information: job name, client, copyright information. If this information is entered once during transfer, every file carries within itself where it came from.

A job folder is the folder set up with the same structure for every job, holding together all that job's files, that is, the raw files, the edited files, the delivery set, the quote, the contract and the correspondence. The folder's name starts with the date and the client's name, and the names of the subfolders inside are the same in every job. When a client comes three years later asking for the same photo, all the parts of the job are waiting in a single place.

Culling comes before editing. Frames that can't be used technically are eliminated, similar frames are compared, and only the frames to be delivered move on to editing. For consistency in editing, a base setting that gives the job's overall look is first applied to one frame, then transferred to frames in similar light, and each frame is fine-tuned separately. The base setting may not sit the same way on every face; frames shot in different light or of different skin tones need this fine-tuning more.

How do you get from delivery to archive?

A quality checkpoint is a fixed step at the end of editing and before delivery in which all the frames are checked one by one. In this step exposure and sharpness, the consistency of colors between frames, the cleanliness of spots and the match of the number of files with the quote are checked. If a job has different faces from light to dark, it is checked separately, on a calibrated screen and with the frames placed side by side, that each face appears in its own color and with its detail. Fixing this check at the end of a stage keeps it from being forgotten on a tired evening. Many photographers leave this check for the next morning; a rested eye easily catches a color shift or a forgotten spot missed late at night.

After delivery the job isn't considered finished right away. A job close-out is all the steps that complete the job after delivery: checking that payment has been received, sending the client a short follow-up message, moving the job folder to the archive disk and verifying its backups, marking the frames that can go into the portfolio according to their permission status, and adding the lessons learned from this job to the checklist. The checklist thus gets a little better with every job; the erased and rewritten lines on the older member's wall are the traces of this.

Visual evidence

Starting from the older member's list, your friend writes their own checklist: seven stages, a few items under each. The next job is a venue and product shoot for a small florist. In preparation, knowing they will show the florist's dark-skinned owner and light-skinned apprentice in the same frame, they add a reflector to their bag and tick the gear checklist.

On the evening of the shoot they transfer the cards and back them up to two separate disks, open a few files from the backups to check them, and only after that format the cards. They set up the job folder with the same subfolders as always. They finish culling and edit only the fifteen frames to be delivered.

At the quality checkpoint, when they put two frames side by side, they notice the owner's face is colder in one than in the other and correct it. After delivery they check the payment, send the follow-up message, move the folder to the archive and add a new item to their list: put the reflector's clamp in the bag too.

Common mistakes

Summary

A professional workflow follows the preparation, shoot, backup, culling, editing, delivery and archive stages in the same order in every job; in preparation a gear checklist and a light plan that takes different skin tones into account are set up, the first job after the shoot is a verified backup, and all files are gathered in a job folder with the same structure in every job. Culling comes before editing, before delivery there is a quality checkpoint checking colors, exposure and that every skin tone looks right, and the job is completed with a job close-out ending with payment, follow-up, archiving and updating the checklist.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will turn your own workflow into a written checklist.

1. Under each of the headings preparation, shoot, backup, culling, editing, delivery and archive, write at least three items.
2. Prepare a complete gear checklist for a shoot suited to your niche; for a job that will include people of different skin tones, also write what you need to add to the light plan.
3. Set up on your computer a job folder template you will use for every job: a main folder starting with the date and the client's name, and subfolders carrying the same names in every job.
4. Write a checklist for the quality checkpoint and add to it the step of comparing the tone of faces side by side. Apply the list in your next job and add at least one new item at the end of the job.

Check yourself

• Can you explain the order of the seven stages and the result of skipping each?
• Are you sure you don't format your cards before the backups are verified?
• Do you have a step at the quality checkpoint that checks every skin tone looks right?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What should be done first after the shoot?

• A) Starting to edit
• B) Formatting the cards
• C) Transferring the files, backing them up to at least two places and verifying
• D) Sending the client an invoice

2. Why does culling come before editing?

• A) To not spend time on frames that won't be delivered
• B) To embed the color profile
• C) To empty the cards
• D) To send the client a preview

3. Which of the following is checked at the quality checkpoint?

• A) The camera's serial number
• B) Whether the tone and texture of all faces in the frame came out right
• C) The client's social media account
• D) The quote's validity period

4. Which is part of a job close-out?

• A) Buying a new camera
• B) Repeating the shoot
• C) Formatting the cards without backing up
• D) Moving the job folder to the archive and verifying its backups

Answers

1. C — Without a verified backup the whole job depends on the durability of a single card.
2. A — Editing only the frames to be delivered saves hours and makes consistency easier.
3. B — The quality checkpoint is a fixed check step that also includes the tone of skin.
4. D — A job close-out includes, besides payment and follow-up, archiving the files safely.

Summary card

• Preparation, shoot, backup, culling, editing, delivery, archive: always in the same order.
• Tick the gear checklist; plan the light for different skin tones.
• Backup first, then editing; don't erase a card without verifying.
• Every job in a job folder with the same structure.
• A quality checkpoint before delivery, then a job close-out; improve the list with every job.

Bridge to the next lesson

Between florist jobs, one evening your friend looks at the archive on their computer: hundreds of frames, none of them gone to a client but many technically clean, calm, flowers shot in different seasons, bakery counters, morning streets. Someone from the club tells them these frames could be sold at a stock agency. Your friend wonders whether this path would really bring money, which frames could sell, and how AI-generated images are changing this market. Can you earn money from stock photos? The next lesson takes up agencies, keywords and competition from AI.