3 Simple Tactics To Speed Up Your Editing Workflow



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Any time you spend behind your computer editing is time you’re not spending with a camera in your hand practicing your shooting skills. Sure, good post processing skills are important too, but, as I’m sure you’ve heard a million times already, it’s always best to learn how to prevent mistakes in camera rather than learning how to fix them in post production.

So how can you minimize the time you spend editing and maximize camera time? Here are four time-saving tactics you can employ to speed things up.computer-767781_1920

Use Presets

If you tend to edit all your images with a specific look and style, presets can save you tons of time. They’ll let you quickly apply your most used adjustments to your images with a single click of the mouse. You can then go through and fine tune each individual photo as needed, but having that initial bulk load of adjustments done beforehand is a total time saver.

Plus, you can create custom presets using your own settings or grab some pre-made presets online. There are a lot of options!

Batch Edit

If you’re working on 100 photos from the same event and all are similarly exposed and, likewise, need to be similarly edited, batch editing is the way to go. Programs like Lightroom and CameraRaw make this incredibly easy as well.

By batch editing, you’re effectively performing the exact same edit on an entire batch of photos at one time. You’ll select all the photos you want edited, then apply the selected adjustments to all of them. It’s pretty straightforward, which is part of what makes this process so efficient.

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While batch editing may not be appropriate for every occasion, when it’s a good fit into a workflow, it tends to save hours of time.

Stay Organized

Keep your photos organized right from the start. Upon import, immediately start culling any photos that aren’t useable. There’s no reason for them to take up space on your hard drive. In fact, it’s okay to be a little ruthless while deciding which photos make the cut.

Develop a highly organized file system that’s easily navigated so you’re not wasting valuable time hunting through various folders on all of your different hard drives. It’s easy to waste a lot of time just looking for things!

Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Depending on which post processing software you use, there are typically a favorable amount of keyboard shortcuts you can use to expedite your workflow. The more of them you learn and utilize the more time you will save.adult-1986108_1920

It’s well worth looking up the shortcuts for your software. In some cases, you can even find printable charts or covers you can slip over your keyboard to help you learn them!

Have A Time Saving Tip?

Did I miss one of your favorite time-saving techniques? How to do you ensure you’re not spending any unnecessary time editing? Or do you enjoy the post processing part more than the shooting part? Share your thoughts in the comments below.