How do you capture and process 3,000 to 5,000 shots and hand your client the image disk in a single day? Is a workflow that shoots tethered into Lightroom robust enough for professional work? How do you transport studio-quality gear to shoots across the country? These were many of the questions covered recently at the Image Mechanics workshop “Making the Transition to Digital Tech Part 1“.

I’ve long been a fan of the workshop’s instructor, Michael Britt – the managing partner at Image Mechanics. Michael wrote the original manual for Lightroom. He’s consulted for Apple on Aperture. His company has been responsible for managing literally millions of captures on professional shoots around the globe. The Image Mechanics client list reads like a Who’s Who of high-end editorial and advertising photographers.

For a guy, like me, who does not work in that realm, I could say that’s a lot of rah-rah. What’s made me a fan is that Michael does not hesitate to share what he knows about digital capture. This was the second time that I’d spent a day with Michael. (The first time was two years ago at the nearby Julia Dean Workshops.) Any industry leader who is willing to share the details of his entire workflow with anyone who is interested, gets my sincere appreciation and respect.

An Image Mechanics digital capture studio ready to roll.

Taking The Digital Capture Studio Wherever It Needs To Go

There are many benefits to shooting tethered. The first and foremost reason to shoot tethered is that you can make precise decisions about exposure. Another is that if your client is on-set, he or she can see large-scale images to confirm that you’re delivering what’s needed from the shoot. (For a detailed discussion of these and other benefits, read this Px article.)

An Image Mechanics field kit for digital capture includes an Apple 30″ Cinema Display, a G5 Tower, a MacBook Pro laptop, external drives (with multiple ways to connect to a computer), UPS battery backup and several sets of USB and Firewire cables for tethering a wide range of cameras to the computer. All of this is moved around on a special cart that converts into a computer stand.

Redundancy is the key to surviving the challenges that will inevitably pop-up in the field. Michael discussed redundancy in ways that I had never considered before (such as carrying a copy of your software and other essential files on a thumb drive in case your computer gear disappears – rent a computer in that distant city and you’re back in business).

Michael Britt talks about getting a 30" Apple Cinema Display and G5 Tower out to location shoots.

The Image Mechanics digital tech studio in action.

Using Lightroom As The Backbone Of A Digital Capture Workflow

I was surprised to learn that Lightroom is the backbone of the digital capture workflow at Image Mechanics. I figured they would use a proprietary capture system or one of the programs that costs twice the price of Lightroom. As digital capture technicians, they have to be ready to handle literally any gear that their professional clients throw at them – Canon, Nikon, Phase, Leaf, Hassy… Aside from using the manufacturer’s camera control software (like EOS Utility) to get the image from the camera to the computer, the rest of the Image Mechanic’s workflow is handled entirely in Lightroom.

One of the favorite debates among Lightroom users is whether to manage your images in one catalog or several. Given the volume of captures they manage and their need to efficiently archive their clients’ shoots, Image Mechanics creates a unique catalog for each shoot and stores that catalog with the captures. Michael shared the exact details of their folder structure for a shoot. I followed along on my laptop and headed home with a new workflow to deploy.

Demonstrating how to shoot tethered into Lightroom

Managing The Digital Archive

I shot 40,000 or so images last year. The Image Mechanics have to manage more than that every month. I’m one guy. They have to manage images for a long list of clients. Their average shoot generates more than 50 gigs of data. So, when Michael talked about their archiving system, I really paid attention. You can read the details about their approach here.

Image Mechanics stores one copy of their archive disks in custom-made, anti-static file cabinet inserts. A set of matching disks are kept off-site for data redundancy.

More From Image Mechanics

To get a sense of what professional digital capture is about, check out the Image Mechanics site.

Death To Film, their original blog, as been retired. Fortunately it remains online as it has a ton of great info.

Counter Intelligence is their new blog. It continues the IM tradition of sharing valuable insights.

Shoot Stories is where you can read the details of Image Mechanics in action on pro shoots.

Organizing External Drives with Adobe Lightroom is a great value. You can buy the PDF download for only $5.95.