JD750 Loc: SoCal

Professionals shoot raw because of the competitive advantage.

Lots of champions for raw on this forum. But you have discovered one of the disadvantages. Time. Raw workflow takes more time.

Raw format has a place and so does jpeg format.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

FWIW:

I shoot 100% raw, images on my SD card are examined and selected for import into Lightroom by using FastrawViewer, once selected, Lightroom is launched from FastrawViewer, and only the selected images are imported, once imported into Lightroom, I add a few basic keywords, lens info to EXIF, GPS info from the map module or apply GPS from a GPS tracking app on my iPhone (FollowMee.com).

Then in Lightroom I can then do basic raw editing, or send the image over to Photoshop, ON1, or DXO for editing/developing.

Lightroom manages my entire library of images, once imported into Lightroom, everything begins and ends there.

Every editor I use integrates with Lightroom, as well as many plugins like most all from Topaz, NIK and others.

My library contains my original untouched raw files, XMP files of the completed adjustments from Lightroom/Adobe Camera Raw, stacked PSD files from Photoshop or stacked TIFF files from other editors/plugin filters.

If I need a JPG, Lightroom can generate them quickly as needed.

The only stored JPG files are from cameras that do not save as raw.

Lightroom also publishes selected images to my Flicker page as reduced size JPG’s with a signature watermark added.

Everything is of course on external drives, backed up to my Time Machine disk hourly, daily, weekly and monthly, plus I keep a monthly backup of just images on another external drive kept in a fireproof/waterproof box when disconnected from my iMac.

Digital photography for me is a hobby.

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

I'm shooting raw only now...
import into Lightroom and fairly aggressively delete duplicate images or images that didn't hit me...
Recently I have been going back to prior trips relooking at older images and in some cases reworking them.
Digital photography is a process for sure. Practice makes perfect or close anyway.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I shoot TIFF. Download to the computer, it’s ready to crop and print. I use Photoshop 6 to crop.

BruceS

I shoot in RAW (never, ever in jpg), edit in Bridge/PS, save and print as TIFF, convert to jpg only those images bound for email or social media posting. I save everything on 2 external hard drives.

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

Whlsdn......... To your last statement and the real topic/question was...

Whatever - to the real topic. I've noticed lately that some of those whom I perceive to be advanced photographers ... appear to not even use jpeg images. Unless some final usage needs to be in jpeg format, their images never reside on their storage in that form.

How common is this?
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As for me... I changed/transitioned from film to digital around 2010 right after eye surgery... Like you, I first shot RAW/JPG because of old habits and resisted the change... After about a year I got comfortable with RAW and now shoot RAW CR2 only... and it is a matter of 'what works for you...' and when you get comfortable...

As for Storage... I never, never, never store any of my images on the C: drive for one main reason... SAFETY... I keep only 'Executable' programs on the C Drive because the drive can crash and/or you can have software failures... without any notices... Example... I had a problem with one of the Adobe PS updates last month, it was a 'dll' conflict between the program itself and my video driver and the ADOBE Tech spent over 7 hours working remotely on my machine over two days... to try to solve the problem... Ultimately, at their recommendation, I had to do a 'Windows Repair' onto my system to 'solve' the problem... ?? Go Figure...

My process is as follows:

1) at the end of the shoot, move the RAW files onto a "Data Drive" on my main pc... (d or e or whatever)
2) I use a software known as 'Photo Mechanic" to review and to that transfer... see below
The below software is very, very fast - especially when you shoot hundreds or thousands of images

... https://home.camerabits.com/

3) In Photo Mechanic (current ver 6), I cull out all the 'bad' and the PM software has the absolutely best software on the market - (faster than Lightroom) - for up-dating / or adding anything to your metadata - Template Formed, Do one entry and the metadata saves to all. This software is used by all your sports photographers and AP or major news type shooters to 'TAG' they photos for later identification.

4) Once my photos are on the "DATA DRIVE" (NOT C) they will also be backed to one external drive (or NAS) which is 'in house' for me... on site.. with auto software...

5) In addition to the NAS backup, the "DATA DRIVE" is backed up into the cloud (continuous) to a firm know as 'BackBlaze' which offers a 3-year subscription for 'total unlimited data volume' for $ 99 / for 3 years... that amounts to a cost of $ 2.75 / month which is really cheap secondary insurance...

6) Also, although some people do, I will never, never use 'RAID' on my NAS... I just use what is known as 'JBOD' or "Just a Bunch Of Disk"... I had a RAID Crash a number of years ago and could never recover the data on either drive; even commercially and my photos mean tooooo much to me...... Large hard drives are just so cheap... I like 'clean' copies of my photos and not Raided Copies.. See Below

http://www.touchoftechnology.com/difference-raid-jbod-using/

7) Edit is done mostly in Lightroom, but... I do have access to other programs if and when I need them,,, including ON1, and Luminar, Topaz, PhotoShop and ... I subscribe to Adobe monthly...

8) Watch for the various online providers like B&H and from time to time, you can catch a 1-year sub. to the photo version of Lightroom for around $ 79 to 89 / year... Yes, there are others, and some which are free... and they work well........... For me, I have gotten so use to Lightroom, I can edit in my sleep in no time...

9) Lastly, you seem that you want to move into RAW and you are looking for 'guidance' as to just how to do that... I would suggest you look at one professional I know who published on YouTube and he does it in such a clear, simple and concise manner, that he is easy to follow and you will learn a lot from him... His name is Anthony Morganit and he is a pro wedding photographer.. with many disciplines.. Below is a line to his page and you will have to look around to see what you want... I started with him five years ago got tons of good advice from that one location...


https://www.youtube.com/user/AnthonyMorganti


Best of Luck in your endeavors my friend

George

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I have ben shooting RAW and JPG until a few weeks ago. I save both but 99% of the time I end up using my JPG. I had a 2 day shoot of a Busker Fest and after the first day I was down loading my pictures and looking at them, I took my cameras off RAW. I will stay on JPG only for a while to see how it works out. I may be stupid as I can ignore my RAW but Idon't think I need it.

LarryFitz Loc: Beacon NY

I shot Raw plus JPG for about a year and a half. The challenge was to use my processing software to create better edits then the JPG. With Canon software I was getting close. Then I tried several trials of popular software packages. They moved me up the learn curve and for most part results were better than camera produced JPG. I settled on Luminar. Now I only shot Raw only, then process the image to obtain JPG output. Suggest you check out youtube on how to get the most out of ON1

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

My process time in JPG is in seconds and can have all my pictures the next day, which I needed at the Busker Fest.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

The only jpeg I shoot is on my phone. Otherwise, it’s all raw all the time. I use Lightroom because it was recommended to me by a graphic designer I worked with.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I can't speak for everyone, but I'm an amateur and I shoot raw only. The only time I shoot jpg is (1) when raw is not available, e.g. on my cell phone or when I'm using high frame rate live view on my D4 or D5; (2) when I'm shooting a featureless photo to check for sensor dust. I use the cell phone fairly often but the rawless modes on my DSLR are not something I use more than once every few years.

Although I shoot raw only, I do save jpgs of the images I like. I have plenty of storage space so it's not an issue to me. The largest issue I have is forcing myself to delete the junk images.

I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and consider it a minor expenditure for my photo habit. I spend more on impulse purchases which provide less satisfaction in the long run. I like Lightroom for its organizational capabilities. When I got over 10,000 images in my photopile I needed a way to find things, particularly as my own memory degrades with advancing age. LR provides that by use of keywords and collections. I can find photos I'm looking for, sometimes even when I've forgotten I took them. LR makes it easy for me to produce a jpg whenever I need one, or produce several different edits of a given photo.

So why do I save jpgs?

I have no delusions that the world will be looking for my photos after I'm gone. However, a subset of the world, my family, will (I think) be interested in a subset of my photopile, i.e. that part dealing with the family. If I were to limit photo searches to Lightroom, the family photos will be lost because none of my family knows how to use Lightroom. For that reason, I use a secondary organizational system based on file and folder naming. Files and folders are given meaningful names like "Suzie's Birthday Party". File names also include the date and time on each image. The good images are saved as jpgs because my family won't know what to do with the raw files.

Since the title of the original post asks about workflow, I have a writeup of mine at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1584 and another writeup of my file naming at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1595

bw79st Loc: New York City

I always shoot RAW then download the card's pic folder to my Mac's Download folder which acts as a holding area for things to be worked on. The next step is to batch rename all the day's photos to year-month-day-image number (as assigned by my Olympus.) Batch renaming is a cinch on the Mac.

I drag the folder of renamed photos to PS Bridge where I can easily discard any obviously useless frames and select the better ones for some processing. In Bridge I select all and apply a Metadata Template that fills in my personal info. Keywords and location are also applied at this point. The picture files will open in ACR where most of the processing can be done. While in ACR a picture can be opened immediately in PSCC where I can resize it, if needed, for JPG.

I started using Adobe PS many years ago when I could get it for free from the company I worked for that had a group license. So I've stayed with it and now get PSCC for $10/month. I never bothered to learn to use LR as Bridge works fine for me. I can search my photos by using my Mac's search feature since all the RAW files have an xmp sidecar that can be read by the Mac.

Once everything has been done I copy the picture folder, renamed in the same format as the files to y/m/d, to two external hard drives, and then erase it from the Download Folder where I generally only keep items to be worked on.

bw79st Loc: New York City

For those who are shooting JPEG only, you should be aware that a RAW file of the same image is, in effect, your negative. Your JPEG is, in effect, a print. So when you copy your JPEG you are, essentially, working from a print not a negative.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

For a beginner, you don’t need more than Elements to start editing RAW files. Lots of helpful videos on YouTube.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Get the LR/PS combination. LR has a learning cure but oodles of free videos. Non-destructive processing. Photograph and save raw+jpg. Play with the jpgs but have the raw file for when you want to delve into raw processing. The best of both worlds and contrary to the bitching abut the price, it is dirt cheap. Start in LR, you can do 95-100% of your editing in LR alone. Slowly at your pace add some the function in PS.