Seattle, Washington: A local photographer swears final_image_version_8_USE_THIS_ONE_edit_edit_edit_edit_copy.TIFF is the last edit of this image. No really. Promise.
Teddy Bridges, a local landscape photographer, has been working on the image for a while:
Yeah, well, I thought I had everything dialed in around final_image_version_5_edit_edit.TIFF, then I saw a hiker I forgot to clone out. So, I took care of that and saved it as final_image_version_6_edit_edit.TIFF.
Unfortunately for Bridges, he then realized that several iterations before, he had accidentally opened final_image_version_2_edit.TIFF instead of final_image_version_2_edit_edit.TIFF and had been using an 8-bit space for several versions of the file, leading to some color banding in the sky that once seen, could not be unseen.
I had to redo a bunch of edits in 16-bit mode, but once I had done that, I saved it as final_image_version_7_USE_THIS_ONE_edit_edit.TIFF so there was no mistaking which one to send to the printer.
However, Bridges hit another hiccup when he realized he had forgotten to calibrate the new monitor he was using to edit. After crossing his fingers and running a calibration, he was frustrated to discover all his images now had a yellow tint, leading to final_image_version_8_USE_THIS_ONE_edit_edit.TIFF. All seemed well, until Bridges' wife walked in. She picks up the story:
I poked my head in to see how things were going, and Teddy seemed relieved, saying he had finally finished. The photo looked great! Although, I noticed a little black dot in the sky. I asked him if it was supposed to be there. He squinted, licked his thumb, rubbed it furiously on the monitor where the dot was, then angrily mumbled something about '****ing sensor dust'.
The last Fstoppers checked in with Bridges, he swore final_image_version_8_USE_THIS_ONE_edit_edit_edit_edit_copy.TIFF was the last iteration of the image. We will keep you updated.
Time for Teddy to invest in some new glass; readers. Teddy, start with 1.25s at the store and go stronger if necessary.
LOL
Haha story of my life. As a non-Lightroom user I kick myself anytime I f**k up an hours long edit in Photoshop due to some tiny mistake that can't be undone because I "flattened" a layer. Angrily delete the whole thing and go right back to the beginning with the raw file.
That's why taking a snapshot in the history panel is so important. Before you start down the road of finalizing your image, take a snapshot. Much easier than searching through your history or starting over.
A lesson to be learned for everyone in standardising your naming conventions.
True story: I had an ad agency send me a file called "final" and then "final final" and then "final final revised" and they flipped out when I worked off of that one. There was an even newer "final final revised 2" that I was supposed to use, but never received from them. Several full days of work were wasted because of it.
Hope he never works on videos, names like this are just the beginning LOL
Oh yes! Thats me.
Though to be honest the sensor dust fix need not have required a new file. But he highlighted a big problem for many photographers who are not that well organised in my case due to being dyslexic. It is a real issue keeping track of edits especially when applying filters. Ive stopped running them from Lightroom, due to the auto creation of new images when using Topaz filters, I tend to open them up in photoshop. To flatten or not is another issue. Sure as fate if you flatten and edit you'll discover a problem that needs a layer fix! doh. The problem extends to keeping Libraries organised, backed up and logical. It's not easy.
How many readers here ever worked in software - labored to fix the proverbial "last bugs" in time for the prototype to be running at the trade show - relaxed over the weekend - then found out that the guys at the show somehow ended up using the version from last Wednesday... with the old UI...
Nope, but I've seen prints on display of low res proofs of designs that I've sent to customers, replete with watermarks.
I always use Finder’s labels that I renamed: In Proof, Working on, OK, Archived, Old…
When client approves or wants corrections, I switch the labels.
Files just get a version number, but highest number doesn’t mean final because sometimes clients ask for a previous version in their decision process.
Also final versions are archived into a separate folder (repackaged InDesign or After Effects with only used assets)
At work I made this rule that everyone uses my AppleScript for creating the standard job folder structure.