Skip to main content

Weekend Project: Complete Workflow System

Assemble everything from this module into one repeatable production pipeline

In This Lesson

The Goal

This weekend you'll stop practicing pieces and build the whole system — a documented, repeatable workflow that takes a folder of raw shots and produces clean, consistent, well-organized deliverables for both web and print, with masters backed up and everything named so you can find it in a year. Every lesson this module taught is a component; here they lock together into one pipeline you'll reuse for real work.

🎨 An Analogy

All week you forged individual parts — gears, springs, a case. This weekend you assemble the watch. The value isn't any one piece; it's the mechanism that runs on its own once built.

The Scenario

Give yourself a realistic job: a folder of 20–30 photos from one shoot (an event, a set of products, a photowalk) that must be delivered three ways — a web gallery, a couple of prints, and archived masters. That single brief exercises organization, templates, editing, batching, and both export destinations at once.

Step 1 — Set Up Structure

Before touching a pixel, lay the foundation from Tuesday:

  • Create the per-project folder set: 01_originals, 02_working_xcf, 03_exports (web/print), 04_assets.
  • Copy the raw shots into 01_originals and leave them untouched.
  • Adopt the dated, padded naming convention for everything you'll create.

Step 2 — Build Your Templates

Set up the reusable pieces from Monday and Thursday so the rest of the job is fast:

  • A watermark PNG (transparent) saved in 04_assets.
  • Any tool presets or a starter document you'll want for consistent edits.
  • An optimized workspace layout (Monday) for photo editing.

Step 3 — Edit the Masters

Work non-destructively (Monday's pipeline): edit each selected photo into a layered XCF master in 02_working_xcf. Apply your corrections, keep adjustments on their own layers, and version up before anything risky. These masters are the source of truth every deliverable will derive from — don't flatten them.

💡 Add Copyright Metadata Here

While each master is open, embed your creator and copyright fields (Tuesday). Do it once on the master and every export inherits it — authorship travels with the work automatically.

Step 4 — Batch the Deliverables

Now let automation do the volume work (Thursday). Point a batch job at your finished exports-from-masters and produce the web set in one pass:

flowchart LR A[XCF masters] --> B[Export full-size JPEGs] B --> C[Batch: resize to 1600px long edge] C --> D[Batch: convert to web JPEG or WebP] D --> E[Batch: watermark, corner, 50 percent] E --> F[Strip metadata, sRGB] F --> G[Web gallery set]

One batch chain turns masters into a consistent, web-ready, watermarked gallery.

Remember the order rules: resize before watermark, and write output to 03_exports/web, never over the originals. Test on three files, then run the folder.

Step 5 — Export, Back Up, Archive

  • Web: the optimized gallery from Step 4 (Friday) in 03_exports/web.
  • Print: from the same masters, export your chosen shots at 300 DPI as TIFF (Friday) into 03_exports/print.
  • Back up originals and XCF masters per 3-2-1 (Tuesday), and archive the closed project off your working drive.

🎓 Write the Recipe Down

As you go, jot the exact steps and settings into a short checklist. That document is your workflow system — next time you run it in a fraction of the time, and it never varies. A written pipeline is the difference between remembering how you did it and simply doing it again.

Deliverables Checklist

  1. Organized project folder with originals, masters, exports, and assets, correctly named.
  2. Layered XCF masters for your selected images, with embedded copyright.
  3. A web gallery — resized, watermarked, sRGB, metadata-stripped, optimized.
  4. Print-ready files at 300 DPI as TIFF for your chosen shots.
  5. A backup (3-2-1) of originals and masters, plus the project archived.
  6. A written workflow checklist you can rerun on the next job.

Summary & Module Wrap-Up

✅ Key Takeaways

  • A real workflow is a system, not a pile of techniques — organization, templates, non-destructive editing, batching, and destination-aware export working together.
  • Build it once as a repeatable pipeline: structure → templates → masters → batch → deliver, back up, archive.
  • One master feeds many deliverables — web and print pull from the same non-destructive source.
  • Automation handles the volume; backup and archiving protect the result.
  • Document the recipe so every future project runs faster and more consistently.

➡️ Where You're Headed

With a professional workflow in place, you're ready for the course's finale — Module 10: Final Projects & Advanced Topics — where you'll put the entire skill set to work on complete, portfolio-worthy projects.

Additional Resources