Joeri's workflow

Sometimes people ask me how much time I need to edit a photo.

Well, it depends.

I very rarely only edit photos only in a RAW editing program like Capture One pro or Lightroom because these programs are not as powerful as Photoshop.

What if a woman has a bad skin? What if the eyebrows are not nicely plucked? What when she has a red skin because of stress? What if the dress is full of wrinckles?

After culling images (selecting the best) in Capture One (or FastRAWviewer) I drop the RAW files in the selects folder in Capture One Pro. This folder contains all the RAW files for editing purposes.

This is my workflow:

RAW editor (Capture One):

1. General exposure adjustments

2. Dodge & Burn using luminosity masks

3. White Balance correction

4. Skin color correction (equalize skin color only when necessary)

5. Edit width: Photoshop (16 bit)

Photoshop:

1. Copy the background layer (always)

2. Heal & clone distracting elements (also hair, nose hair, eyebrows,…)

3. Convert this layer to a smart layer

4. Liquify: Modify the dress and hair 'when needed.

5. Smoothen the background (only when using background paper)

6. FS 2.0: Smoothen hard skin edges & remove wrinckles on clothing (some fabric like satin)

7. Dodge & Burn: Make parts of the image darker or lighter

8. Give contour to the face and in general

9. Brighten the eyes a tiny bit but not always

10. Whiten the teeth when needed

11. Darken the eyebrows

12. Add glow (Highlights) like on the lips

13. Modify levels (midtones, shadows & highlights)

14. Dodge & burn more

15. Sharpen using a Highpass filter (except hair)

16. Modify color balance (too yelow, too red, …)

17. Add a touch of grain

18. Combine all layers to a smart layer (except the background)

19. Save as a PSB file (mot files are + 6GB)

20. Flatten image

21. SaveAs PSD

Final toch in Capture One:

1. Change general levels

2. When needed modify light with Luma masks

3. Color balance

4. Dodge & Burn (only small changes)

5. Export to JPG in several sizes

Here is an example of changing colors & luminosity in Capture One Pro.

New transportable Mini PC system

When I shoot on location and I have the option to tether, I take my Lenovo X360 laptop with me and it works perfectly. The only drawback is that the screen is only 13 inches. I can take an extra screen with me, but wanted a portable "all in on" system.

I once bought a Benq pd2700u 4K screen that served as a 2nd screen. It is good value for money and supports 100% sRGB color space. Still, I didn't use it enough and I decided to mount it via a VESA mount on a tripod. For tethering, your computer does not have to be "state of the art" and a standard computer can do the job.

I started looking for a mini PC and on "black friday" I saw this mini PC for 400 Euro. A Beelink SER3 Mini PC AMD Ryzen 7 3750H 4C/8T Windows 11 Pro Mini Office Computer, 16GB DDR4 RAM 500GB NVME SSD, Radeon RX Vega 10 , Dual HDMI 4K @60Hz Output, Dual WiFi-BT

This mini PC is even expandable to 64GB of RAM and the processor speed is comparable to an intel i7 7700 from 5 years ago that is now in my Dell Alienware R6 and still does its job superbly.

I mounted this mini PC on the back of the screen and attached a wireless mini keyboard to the tripod using a smartphone holder and a small rig 10 inch arm.

After calibration of the screen and installation of Capture One Pro, I am surprised by the performance, weight and solidity of the device.

My wife will make a protective cover for the transport.

All in all I am happy with my choice. It is a cheap and very solid configuration.