My Canon DPP 4 Work-flow / Steps

A. File management

  1. Sub-folder in external drive: I create a new sub-folder in my external SSD PhotoBackup Folder. I name it based on the event and within this subfolder I create two subfolders called RAW and JPG

  2. Copy RAW files from card to folder "RAW: create in earlier step

  3. Launch DPP 4: I browse to the "RAW" folder in DPP4

B. Quick Check And Keep Only a few RAW files for final edit:

  1. I select all images and click quick check

  2. Rating: In quick check view, I rate

    • Pictures I want to keep with 5 star rating

    • Pictures I want to delete with Rejected flag

  1. Select by rating: I select files with rating Rejected only. DPP4 will auto select all Rejected RAW files

  2. Delete: Delete selected. DPP4 will show a count of files that will be deleted and prompt for confirmation. Click Yes after validating number of files deleted

C. Edit Image

  1. Select image and click Edit Image

  2. Lens Correction: I click the image lens correction and flag the Digital Lens Optimizer. Optional if data lens was not downloaded earlier, you will need to download it

  3. Basic Image Adjustment: White-balance to auto, Picture Style to portrait or landscape, Gamma adjustment to auto and in rare occasion I may need to slide the mid-point bar a bit, finally I adjust the Unsharp mask. My default is strength - 9, Fineness 4, Threshold - 2

  4. Image Details: I usually leave these to defaults and only open this tab if the images were shot at very high ISO and I need to tweak the noise reduction

  5. Image Colours: I use this feature to boost saturation of certain colours only. Example if I want to make the skies bluer, I will boost saturation of blue color. This is a powerful feature. Use sparingly for artistic purpose and do not go overboard with saturation. I seldom change the hue and luminance.

  6. Crop: I use this to crop to taste. Usually for landscape where I usually shoot wider than I intend to frame. Later I crop to rule of third. With the high resolution of camera and lens, I am willing to sacrifice a few pixels. The main advantage of doing this is when I frame the image, I keep the horizon levels parallel.

D. Save and batch process

  1. Save RAW edits: I select all files, and click save all to save my RAW file edits

  2. Batch Convert: I select all and click batch convert -> save as JPG's. For website I save 250 DPI, and 2056 pixel dimension. This results in each JPG approx 2MB in size

Periodically backup the entire photobackup to another drive for contingency purpose. Finally below are the screenshots of above steps