Photographers want to spend most, if not all of their time making photographs. Even though post-processing is a fact of digital photography life, they sometimes shudder at the thought of developing a routine approach to it.

I admit that I once fit into the above category. While I loved making photographs, I was often frustrated by the amount of time spent in the digital darkroom. One day I decided to explore ways in which I could create the images to match my vision at the moment I pressed the shutter, but in less time and with more consistency. An efficient digital photography workflow allows me to do just that without sacrificing flexibility. You can apply the same or similar approach, even if you use different software. It’s not difficult to have a consistent workflow, and the benefits are huge.

When reading about software, the steps can appear to be more complex than they are in practice. But the process described in this article can take under 30 minutes to complete. Sometimes I just use parts of it and in less than 15 minutes I have the photo I want. Read through the steps and try them—the more you do, the less time it will take in the future. I use this every day, and won’t go back to my old ways.