Okay, here's my complete raw workflow as it stands right now, with explanations and scripts. All this is based on my personal equipment and preferences: As I shoot, I accumulate my raw-format shots on an Epson P-2000 image viewer, and I do my screening and contacting with
iView MediaPro. Naturally, everyone uses different stuff, so feel free to mix, match, adapt, etc. as you see fit...
Step 1: Retrieve images from P-2000
When I get back from a shooting session, my first task is to copy the images from the P-2000 to my iMac's hard drive. I leave the original raw files on the P-2000 until I'm completely finished, to provide an additional backup; this means there often are several days' worth of files on the P-2000.
If you use a P-2000, you know its file system is kind of a pain -- each memory card's worth of files gets stored in a separate subfolder inside that day's folder. This means that to move all the files, you have to open and copy a lot of separate files, and it's easy to overlook some and forget to copy them (ask me how I know this.)
So instead, I use AppleScript #1, attached as "Selective P-2000 copy." When I run this script, it prompts me to select a day's folder from the P-2000, then automatically downloads ALL the files from all its subfolders to the location I select.
Step 2: Renumber The Files
Once the files are on my iMac's hard drive, I immediately rename them using my own naming scheme, which involves the shooting date and a sequence number. I do this so that there's no risk of mixing up these "working" raw files with the camera-original raw files that are still stored on the P-2000. There are lots of ways to handle the renumbering, including an Automator action that comes with Tiger -- but I like my own AppleScript, which is attached as "Renumber files sequentially."
Step 3: Convert to "Rough Draft" JPEGs with Raw Developer
With the working raw files safely renumbered, I use Raw Developer's batch capability to convert them to "rough draft" JPEG files. These are at full resolution, but use default conversion settings. The purpose of these rough-draft files is to let me go through the images, cull out the unusable ones (unsharp, hopeless exposure errors, etc.) and identify what tweaks the good ones need.
Some people can do this from thumbnail-sized files, but I can't -- I need to be able to zoom in and check the sharpness of details, etc. That's why I need the rough-draft JPEGs, even though I later re-convert most of them using settings customized for the needs of each image.
Step 4: Examine and Rate Rough Drafts in iView
Once the rough-draft files are done, I open them in iView MediaPro and edit out the bad ones. I like to do this in iView's fullscreen slide-show mode; I page through the slide show, rating each image as 1 (good), 2 (usable) or 3 (hopeless) with the number keys.
Once I've rated the images, I use iView's filters to eliminate the #3-rated ones. Now I start looking at the remaining images to see which ones would benefit by being reconverted from raw using customized settings.
Step 5: Convert Again to Make Final Images
You aren't really getting the full benefit of raw format if you just batch-convert all your files at some combination of default settings. So, I go back through the promising images and re-convert them again, using settings customized for best results from each image. Sometimes I do this conversion with Raw Developer and sometimes with Photoshop, depending on what capabilities I need (for example, using the Epson plug-in with Photoshop allows vignetting correction, which Raw Developer doesn't; on the other hand, Raw Developer has a hot-pixel filter and the Epson plug-in doesn't.)
I do these final conversions working from the rough-draft images, which are still open in iView. The reason for this is that often there will be several images which need the same conversion settings; with iView, I can select these images and handle them as a group.
To do that, I use two more AppleScripts; I keep them in iView's Scripts folder, although they probably could run from the Finder just as well. I've attached them as "Open raw in Photoshop" and "Open raw in RD" [Raw Developer].
The way they work is that after I've selected several rough-draft images in iView for "treatment," I run the relevant script; it commands either PhotoShop or Raw Developer to
find the corresponding raw files and open them.
Step 6: Save Final Versions
With the selected raw files again opened with Raw Developer or the Epson plug-in, I make whatever settings will give the best results for each one. Then I save these final versions in another folder. Once the final versions are saved, I no longer need the "rough draft" JPEG files, so I can trash them.
I know, this sounds like a lot of steps and a lot of work. But it's the sparsest workflow I've been able to devise that lets me edit images at full resolution AND do the final raw conversions with custom settings.
A lot of times, especially when I've been able to make the photos under well-controlled conditions, I don't need to do this whole sequence; I can just batch-process all the raw files at the same settings and get good results. In that case, I only have to do steps 1 through 3 to get "final" instead of "rough draft" images.
As I said, this is all very personal and I'm sure anyone else would do better with a somewhat different process tailored more to his/her preferences. But this is what I've been doing, and it seems to work for me; maybe it will give you some ideas. Good luck!
(The scripts attached were all written by me, and are NOT guaranteed in any way!)
