Just thought I'd reiterate what I went over at the end of our final class. Here are the basic steps for going from your DNG files to the various types of derivatives:
Once you have archived your DNG's (by copying your DNG's from the step "4_Converted to DNG" folder into the "1_Archive Originals" buckets), and then imported them to your "Originals Catalog" EM catalog, you'd follow these basic steps for making Derivatives of those files:
1) Select the files you want to work on (you don't have to make derivatives of all the files from a shoot, of course - leverage those ratings we did to only work on your best!)
2) "Sync Annotations" (Action>Sync Annotations... This ensures all your metadata comes along with your derivatives)
3) With the images still selected, right click & choose "Edit with... Photoshop CS4".
4) The files open in PS, and you do your work on them. At this point, you have two options:
a) If you are done working on the files, then you can save them as PSD/TIF files into the current "Derivative" Bucket (making sure to append the filenames according to what type of derivative you've made - see first class PDF notes), then import them into your "Archived Derivatives" catalog, or
b) If you are not done working on your files at this point, save them into the "Working Derivatives" folder inside the Working Files area. Leave them there until you are done working on them, then follow the steps I outlined in a). The key here is not to archive your derivatives (move them into the current "Archive Derivatives" bucket) until you are sure you are done working on them. Sometimes my working derivative files will live in the "Working Derivatives" area for weeks while I tinker with them before finishing and putting them away in the current bucket.
In the future, if you need to re-open derivatives that you've already archived (because you didn't like the work you did previously, etc), you have a couple of options:
1) Open the derivative file (PSD, TIF etc) into PS, make your changes, then just hit "Save". This will save the adjusted file right where it lives - which could be an old bucket that has already been backed up to DVD. In this case, you could re-burn the DVD (overkill I think), or just rely on your Hard Drive backups to keep the changes made. If you don't re-burn the DVD, the file will still be on the DVD, just not the most current version. I prefer this route as it is simple and clean, and these situations happen quite rarely (provided you aren't too hasty in archiving your derivatives in the first place). However, if your main and backup HD's both crash and you have to recover from DVD, you will not have the most current version of some files - a risk I'm willing to take to keep things a little simpler.
2) The second option (not my choice) would be to remove the derivative from your "Archived Derivatives" catalog (delete it), then go back to your "Archived Originals" catalog and open the corresponding DNG into Photoshop, do all your work, then save them as PSD/TIF files into the current "Derivative" Bucket (providing you are done working on them - making sure to append the filenames according to what type of derivative you've made - again, see first class PDF notes), then import them into your "Archived Derivatives" catalog. This essentially replaces the previous version. The reason I don't like this method is that in the case of a multi-drive failure (where my main and backup drives both fail) and I have to rebuild from DVD's, I could potentially have multiple derivative files with the exact same name.
Hope this helps. Questions? Post 'em here.
Cheers, Josh
Copyright © 2010 Josh McCulloch.
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