Today, in the world of photography it takes a lot of work to make it. Many of us still work other jobs just so we can finance our photography business. Throw family into the mix and we wonder how we are going to find time to succeed with our photography. From taking pictures, editing, marketing and everything in between, the precious minutes are few and far between.

One of the more time consuming parts of photography is the whole editing workflow process. Photographers, more than ever, need to be very knowledgeable of industry leading editing software.  Yes, getting everything right in camera is so critical but there is always going to be some final touches needed. To stand out in this competitive business, being good at editing is important.  Sometimes no matter how efficient you are at editing, it still takes a lot of time. Because of this I am always on the lookout for ways to create a more effective workflow while still having control throughout the process. At the same time I don't want to sacrifice quality for a "quick fix".  There is one company I have found  that gives me a solution for what I am looking for in my editing workflow.

Sleeklens has developed products for both Lightroom and Photoshop to help all types of photographers streamline their editing workflow with presets, brushes and actions. For me I prefer to do most of my editing in Lightroom so I use the presets and brushes workflow from Sleeklens.  Being a landscape photographer the “Through the Woods”  workflow collection has great tools with 51 presets and 30 brushes to make my workflow more efficient.

Why I like working with Sleeklens is how easy it was to integrate into my workflow. Software can be intimidating and frustrating at times. The installations instructions make is so simple. Unlike other plug-ins I have installed in the past, there is no stumbling around my computer files wondering if I did it right. They also offer great customer service to help guide you through your instillation.

No sooner than installing it, you can get right to work using it. In the Develop module you can choose a variety of presets from an “all in” one preset that makes all your adjustments at one time to a base preset and some fine tuning presets. There are also brushes that go along with the presets. Simply pull up the adjustment brush and choose from the drop down menu at the top. All the brushes are conveniently labeled as to what they will do and help me turn my image into exactly what I want. Then, like with all presets and brushes, I can adjust the settings to my liking.

 I wasn’t looking for something to speed up my editing; I wanted to make the process more efficient. Sleeklens does that and more. With just a couple clicks and a few slider changes, I have my image looking exactly like I envisioned. I have a before and after image of some sunflowers where I used the Through The Woods workflow preset “extending DR – Crisp and sharp”. It really made the image “pop”, especially the center sunflower where I want the most of the attention focused on. Click on the images to see a larger version of how the preset enhanced the photo.

Sunflowers "Before" Sunflowers "After"

If you are looking for something to help improve your editing workflow, I would highly encourage you to check out Sleeklens and the quality products they offer. The Staff is comprised of experienced photographers and designers that have worked in the industry for many years and understand the passion photographers feel towards creating a top quality images.  To specifically check out the landscape workflow that I use you can go here.  Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned professional, Sleeklens workflow solutions will help you with your image editing and maybe get some of the invaluable time back that we all need in our lives.