Companies that process RAW files

[Donkey_Kong]

Hello,

I am a Melbourne (Australia) based wedding photographer.
I shoot between 30-60 weddings per year. I shoot between 1500-3000 images per wedding.

Do any of you have experience paying overseas companies to process you raw files? Are there any companies who are priced reasonable who you would recommend?

I would really appreciate any help or advice here, as I'm currently drowning in Lightroom.

Thanks very much!

 

[neuroanatomist]

Re: Companies that prices RAW files

Companies that prices RAW files

You might want to edit your title...

 

[Donkey_Kong]

Re: Companies that prices RAW files

Companies that prices RAW files

You might want to edit your title...

Thanks. I love auto correct.

 

[pwp]

If business is that good get an assistant who can take some of the load. Contact the photography dept at RMIT in Melbourne and see what sort of response you get. A good final year student could have dazzling Lr & Ps skills, and value the opportunity to process files for an established wedding shooter.

Outsourcing? The bottleneck getting your RAWS processed off-shore in say, India, would be the vast data volume/upload delivering your RAW files to them.

-pw

 

[Donkey_Kong]

If business is that good get an assistant who can take some of the load. Contact the photography dept at RMIT in Melbourne and see what sort of response you get. A good final year student could have dazzling Lr & Ps skills, and value the opportunity to process files for an established wedding shooter.

Outsourcing? The bottleneck getting your RAWS processed off-shore in say, India, would be the vast data volume/upload delivering your RAW files to them.

-pw

Smart previews are apparently much smaller to send

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi aa Angus.
First I don't use Lightroom, so I'm not sure I understand this correctly but don't you need the raws to process them, surely if you only send smart previews then if they make adjustments you will still need the computer time at your end to process the changes in to jpegs or whatever you export?
Also isn't editing your shots very subjective, how will any third party know what you want a shot to look like?
To me this looks like a 6 and half a dozen situation, you are going to have to send and receive all the files, check the edits, make adjustments to someone else's work and then still tie up your computer to process the changes, how will this lighten your load?

Cheers, Graham.

Smart previews are apparently much smaller to send

 

[Donkey_Kong]

...
I would really appreciate any help or advice here, as I'm currently drowning in Lightroom.
...

What you're asking for here isn't how to process raw files but how to run a wedding photography business.

That's true actually. I'm currently in the process of sampling a selection of companies. You can talk with them, and send examples of your current editing which they can get an idea of how you like your final images to look. So far this seems like a lifesaver! However the real test will be how the final images from a job look, and how much (if any) time I will have to spend tweaking the edits prior to export.


You can send a Lightroom catalogue + smart edits for a total of 42.6MB, so that part is quick and painless. Its true that I will still have to use my computer to export the files - but I find this quick and easy on my iMac 5K. Plus, I won't need to use the computer much since all my editing will be taken care of

I will delete this thread shortly as it's in the wrong thread, and it seems I have found a solution to my initial question. Thanks

 

[d]

comment removed by mod

 

[LDS]

First I don't use Lightroom, so I'm not sure I understand this correctly but don't you need the raws to process them, surely if you only send smart previews then if they make adjustments you will still need the computer time at your end to process the changes in to jpegs or whatever you export?

LR allows for working on smart previews and then apply the changes made to the original images. Because LR doesn't alter the original images but keeps a record of changes made, how it works is almost simple. Smart previews are "good enough" previews to work on, and which allows applying changes to the originals.

Once the changes are applied, exporting in the final format is quite trivial.

 

[LDS]

Did you automate your post-processing workflow enough, or do you spend time to process each image separately? LR allows for storing/copying settings/edits and apply them quickly on many images at a time, even during import - and this is one of the advantages over tools that allow only to process one image at a time.

Some images may need ad-hoc post processing, but many should allow to be processed in a batch, when well shoot under the same conditions.

Anyway, a lot depends on what is your style, how many edits you apply on average to each photo (and which), and what your customers expect.

Relying on an outsourced service means you have to properly instruct them to ensure they match your requirements, and ensure their work quality is constant.

 

[WillT]

I have not used them yet, but I must admit the idea is appealing. At least to all the basic work. These are the companies that were recommenced on another forum.

The Image Salon
FotoFafa
RDFL

I am currently considering The Image Salon

 

[rfdesigner]

Hello,

I am a Melbourne (Australia) based wedding photographer.
I shoot between 30-60 weddings per year. I shoot between 1500-3000 images per wedding.

Do any of you have experience paying overseas companies to process you raw files? Are there any companies who are priced reasonable who you would recommend?

I would really appreciate any help or advice here, as I'm currently drowning in Lightroom.

Thanks very much!

processing is only one activity you could outsource/employ someone else.

Decide what you think is "core" and what isn't, core stuff should be done under your controll. Outsource for the stuff that is handle turning and just gets in your way and/or the areas you really aren't so good at (no one's perfect)

Processing... how much can you automate?.. is it worth investing in a mega-processing machine. I like the idea of getting in a grad, they could help as an assistant/2nd camera during a shoot and you get them to do the bulk of the basic processing leaving the stuff you really care about and you keep control so they learn what you want and things get better over time.

FYI I ran a small bussiness in another field for a time.

 

[Pookie]

Comment Removed by Mod

 

[Donkey_Kong]

Hello,

I am a Melbourne (Australia) based wedding photographer.
I shoot between 30-60 weddings per year. I shoot between 1500-3000 images per wedding.

Do any of you have experience paying overseas companies to process you raw files? Are there any companies who are priced reasonable who you would recommend?

I would really appreciate any help or advice here, as I'm currently drowning in Lightroom.

Thanks very much!

processing is only one activity you could outsource/employ someone else.

Decide what you think is "core" and what isn't, core stuff should be done under your controll. Outsource for the stuff that is handle turning and just gets in your way and/or the areas you really aren't so good at (no one's perfect)

Processing... how much can you automate?.. is it worth investing in a mega-processing machine. I like the idea of getting in a grad, they could help as an assistant/2nd camera during a shoot and you get them to do the bulk of the basic processing leaving the stuff you really care about and you keep control so they learn what you want and things get better over time.

FYI I ran a small bussiness in another field for a time.

lol none of you seem to understand, I'm trying to spend LESS time editing, not ramp things up.
One day some of you may run businesses. Of those few who do, some of your businesses will be successful. Now, unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of owning a successful business is that there is a lot of work to do. When the amount of work is too great for one person, it's time to start outsourcing some of the load. I don't expect you simpletons to understand this concept, so don't hurt your brains trying xx

 

[d]

Comment Removed by Mod

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi aa angus.
I run a business, (cars, not photography) one of my priorities is to help the economy which is supporting me in various ways, one way I see to do that would be to employ local help if I needed it, same country if local is not available, then overseas as a last resort.
I passionately hate the race to the bottom caused by cheap, cheaper than that and the quality that follows. And yes I do have to buy parts sourced from abroad, typically China these days, but it better be up to quality or you get it back.
I wish you the best but if I found you were outsourcing abroad I wouldn't use you, cheaper or not unless you were the last resort.

Cheers, Graham.

lol none of you seem to understand, I'm trying to spend LESS time editing, not ramp things up.
One day some of you may run businesses. Of those few who do, some of your businesses will be successful. Now, unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of owning a successful business is that there is a lot of work to do. When the amount of work is too great for one person, it's time to start outsourcing some of the load. I don't expect you simpletons to understand this concept, so don't hurt your brains trying xx

We're "simpletons", yet you're the one seeking advice from strangers on a camera rumours forum to help your "successful" business. Good one, hero. All the best with your 'churn and burn' process.

 

[rfdesigner]

Hello,

I am a Melbourne (Australia) based wedding photographer.
I shoot between 30-60 weddings per year. I shoot between 1500-3000 images per wedding.

Do any of you have experience paying overseas companies to process you raw files? Are there any companies who are priced reasonable who you would recommend?

I would really appreciate any help or advice here, as I'm currently drowning in Lightroom.

Thanks very much!

processing is only one activity you could outsource/employ someone else.

Decide what you think is "core" and what isn't, core stuff should be done under your controll. Outsource for the stuff that is handle turning and just gets in your way and/or the areas you really aren't so good at (no one's perfect)

Processing... how much can you automate?.. is it worth investing in a mega-processing machine. I like the idea of getting in a grad, they could help as an assistant/2nd camera during a shoot and you get them to do the bulk of the basic processing leaving the stuff you really care about and you keep control so they learn what you want and things get better over time.

FYI I ran a small bussiness in another field for a time.

lol none of you seem to understand, I'm trying to spend LESS time editing, not ramp things up.
One day some of you may run businesses. Of those few who do, some of your businesses will be successful. Now, unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of owning a successful business is that there is a lot of work to do. When the amount of work is too great for one person, it's time to start outsourcing some of the load. I don't expect you simpletons to understand this concept, so don't hurt your brains trying xx

nice! :

 

[Alex_M]

That was not a nice thing to say, aa_angus.

let me go ahead and apologise on your behalf. I am also living in Melbounre for 20 years now and feel obliged to assure the forum that Melbournians are in general very polite and nice people... Not sure what just happened here..

 

[Mikehit]

Very common problem - OP asks a question, some questions and comments are posed such that the OP takes it as a personal slight about their methods which they believe to be as good as they can be, so gets irritated and posts (shall we say) intemperate responses.

If people only ever directly answered the question, no more and no less, fora would be pretty boring places to be IMO.

Given it is their livelihood I would think the OP would take time and think 'I wonder why they said that...' and ask for more details so see if the workload is as efficient as it could be.

 

[old-pr-pix]

In an effort to salvage something from this thread... I have no direct experience photographically using off-shore support; but, I can relate experiences attempting to use outsourced engineering design (CAD/CAM) support between US and India. For engineering there are definite standards and right vs. wrong solutions -- I find it difficult imagine how one would establish quality/style standards for something as subjective as photo PP. Don't underestimate the difficulties of communicating via email -- language and time zones can make real-time communications questionable. The "sales" contact may be fine, but the person actually assigned to work on your account may not be so easy to communicate with - and may change daily. Once settled-in with a workable supplier watch out they don't further sub-contract to an even lower cost (less reliable, less controllable, etc.) source without your knowledge. Suddenly you may get a batch of "crap" and wonder what happened. Or an important project simply gets "lost" in all the exchanges. Of course, they always expect to be paid - even if you are totally dissatisfied with their output. That brings other stresses to resolve.

IMO - as suggested above - hiring a local "assistant" makes the most sense. Someone you can coach daily and guide into matching your style and quality expectations. They may also serve as a workable "second shooter." That can give you a path to grow your business further. Eventually perhaps reaching a point where you can select which events you want to cover and delegate the others to reliable assistants.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.