Digital Boudoir Photography : A Step-by-step Guide to ... - Ken Gilbert

60 Digital Boudoir Photography
Step 13: Digital Image Processing
Memory card in a card reader.
What does “digital image processing” mean? In the old days of film, if you wanted to
process your images, you had to load the images onto a reel and put it into a tank, all
in total darkness. After that you could turn on the lights and begin adding various
chemicals and, keeping the temperature constant, agitate the tank to keep the chemicals
mixed. Finally, you would hang up the film to dry. Once it was dry, you would
cut the film, make a contact sheet, number it, and you
were ready to begin printing. We will do the same here,
except using digital techniques. The goal is to have
your images ready for printing.
The simple steps in digital are downloading the image,
numbering it, backing it up, and organizing your
images. These are all very similar to the things done
with film.
First you need to download your images. This means
transferring them from your memory card or camera
onto the hard drive of your computer. As suggested
under Step 3, “Selecting Equipment,” it is easier and
less prone to error if you use a card reader to do the
downloading rather than attaching your camera to the
computer. Simply remove the memory card from the
camera, place it into the reader, and watch it show up
on your desktop. Make a new folder and name it
appropriately. One suggestion is to use the date and a
short description. If you use the date as YYMMDD
(for example, 060315 means March 15, 2006), then
they will automatically sort in date order. So the complete name would be: “060315-
Susan beach.” If you have more than one session or location on your memory card, set
up folders for each. Then simply drag the photographs from the memory card on the
desktop into the various folders.
Eject the memory card from your desktop. Do not erase or reformat the card on your
computer. Check that the photographs transferred okay by looking at them with your
image software. You need to consider whether you want to renumber your images.
Some photographers will simply use the number assigned by the camera. It might be
something like “DSCF7479.” Others will change it slightly by adding letters that refer
to the session, such as “Susan01-7479” (Susan01 means the first session with Susan).
Finally, others will rename the images entirely to something like “Susan01-001,”
“Susan01-002,” and so on. Choose the one that works best for you and renumber the
images if you’d like. Many image programs, such as Photoshop, have a renumbering
feature built-in. If not, there are a number of programs available for PC and for Mac
that will enable you to renumber easily.