Digital Photography Workflow

Technical discipline is necessary when shooting with a digital camera, and some basic camera setup is required to create consistent professional images.

• White balance your camera to the lighting you will be using. (See our White Balance Tutorial.)
• Maintain the exposure within (+ or -) ½ stop of ideal exposure.

Here are some of the more common results of white balance or exposure problems. There are others.

• Underexposure - loss of detail in dark tones, odd colors in dark tones, pixilated shadows.
• Overexposure - "blown out whites", odd colors in light areas of the print, pixilated light areas.
• Discolored bright and white tones.

Two versions of the same image are shown below. The left image is from the original file, while the right image has been corrected so it will look best on our screen. (What you see on your screen may look different.)

Viewer preference is a significant factor in adjusting images for viewing on screen. A wide range of additional factors such as monitor type, age, calibration etc. are also important.

Although adjusting the image may be required when selling from a projector or computer screen, the best print will be made from the original camera image.

Camera Image	Adjusted for Screen
The best print will be made from the original camera image.	Duplicate image adjusted for screen viewing.