Outdoor Photography Workflow: Spend Less Time Editing, More Time Shooting

Today, we’re talking about our outdoor photography editing workflow. How do we go from shooting in the field to delivering polished photos to clients? And most importantly, how do we spend more time shooting and less time behind the computer editing outdoor photos in Lightroom or other editing software?

It’s the first problem many photographers realize when they embark on their professional photography journey. Everyone thinks we spend all day taking pictures when, in reality, there’s a fair amount of computer work on things like marketing, accounting, and of course, editing.

On this blog, we spend a lot of time helping you learn how to shoot, and today, we’re taking it further into completing the workflow. Because a photographer’s work isn’t done until the images are shared! By the end of this blog post, you’ll be better equipped to take your landscape photography and outdoor photography from capturing the moment to final delivery.

Outdoor Photography Workflow

In this article, we’re going to talk through our workflow principles. Then we’ll walk you through our best tips for speeding up your workflow. And finally, we’ll share our thoughts on choosing editing software and other recommended resources to save time/energy.

This workflow guide is created with support from The Presets Room and contains affiliate links. Testing their presets played a big role in shaping the process we’re excited to share here.

Editing Workflow Philosophy for Outdoor Photography

Outdoor photography is both rewarding and challenging. When you’re surrounded by mountain peaks, forest trails, or dramatic skies, you want your photos to capture that feeling of awe. But nature doesn’t always make it easy — you can’t control the light, the weather, or how quickly conditions change. Sometimes it feels like nature is in a constant battle against us, capturing its beauty.

That means your editing process often starts before you even press the shutter. The better you plan and shoot, the less you’ll need to fix later. If we want to spend more time outside and less time in front of a computer, it starts with a solid plan for your workflow.

Our editing style is true to life and vibrant. We want our photos to reflect the adventure with clarity as we experienced it, capturing subtle details, not something overly manufactured. And the way we get there isn’t by heavy-handed edits — it’s by shooting intentionally and streamlining the editing process so it’s fast, simple, and efficient. The edit should add to the image, drawing out the important parts.

Field Notes:

When we’re out on a multi-day shoot for a client with a long shot list, we have to have a solid process to make sure we get through the workflow quickly and efficiently without compromising quality. Having a plan for how we’re going to shoot, import, edit, and deliver is essential. Especially because some clients want previews to assure them that the shoot is going well.

The Problem: Too Much Time Editing, Not Enough Time Adventuring

Here’s the reality: many photographers spend more time sitting at a computer than out exploring with their camera. Without a clear editing workflow, it’s easy to:

• Lose hours tweaking RAW files.
• End up with inconsistent images from the same shoot.
• Burn out on editing before you’ve even shared your photos.

The good news? By building a structured outdoor photography workflow, you can cut your editing time dramatically — which means more time shooting and adventuring.

Core Workflow Principles

Let’s talk through some core workflow principles that will help streamline your post-production. We’re going to walk through how to plan ahead in the field, cull and organize, batch edit, and export and backup your photos.

1. Plan Ahead in the Field

The best way to save time editing is to capture photos that need less editing in the first place. Below are a few ways to speed along your editing before you even sit at the keyboard. I’m talking about how you see, when you shoot, and mastering your camera settings using the right technique.

How to plan ahead:

• See the light: use the CHAI principle (Color, Hardness, Angle, Intensity) to evaluate conditions.
• Timing matters: sunrise, sunset, and golden hour often make editing easier later.
• Get it right in-camera: pay attention to exposure and white balance to avoid hours of correction later.

2. Cull and Organize First

Now, as we know, editing starts with selecting your best images. A big barrier for a lot of photographers is that you come home with thousands of nature photos, and it’s hard to go from that overwhelm to having edited images that you can share or deliver. So you need to have a plan for what the first step is going to be when you get back to your desk.

This includes simple yet very hard things, for example, like when and how you’ll import your photos. And then, how will you organize them or use metadata to organize files so that you can find them later? And what do we do with all those duplicates!?

Learning how to cull can be brutal at first because you’re making a thousand little decisions. Some people like to cull in, and others like to cull out, which is a technique that varies from photographer to photographer. This means some people are selecting their favorites, whereas others are eliminating images. Personally, I like to select my favorites because I get to focus more on the good shots than the mistakes! AI tools can help make simple decisions like eliminating blurry photos or detecting when eyes are closed, but the final decisions will be up to you.

How to cull and organize:

There are obviously a wide variety of ways to approach this, but here are some systems that are working for us.

• Import your RAW files and create an organized folder structure. This is the first step in bringing order to the chaos. Make sure you import the images with the metadata, which will provide additional information embedded in the image files that you can use to improve searchability and categorization.
  • We use a shoot type and date-based folder structure.
  • Shoot types are named by category, starting with a number (i.e., “1.1 – Lifestyle”)
  • Within those folders, there is a year and then subfolders by date (2025.09.25 Outdoor Brand Shoot)
• After import, cull your images using flags, stars, or color labels to mark the keepers quickly. Come up with a ranking system that works for you. Here is a basic outline of our structure:
  • First Pass Cull – edit in by 3-star acceptable images
  • Second Pass Cull – edit out by 2-staring duplicate or lower quality images
  • Third Pass Cull – quickly 4-star images that stand out
  • Red Color Label – Our favorites or the client selects
  • “Select as pick” – client preview images
• We also use a variety of other color labels (yellow, green, blue) for choosing images for various things like printing, slideshows, etc
• Lastly, 5-starred images go in our portfolio and add to the applicable collection for that portfolio

3. Batch for Consistency

Once you’ve chosen your images, don’t edit each one from scratch. Editing software has come too far for you to be spending all day in Lightroom. You’re here reading this post, so I assume you want to be a photographer, not a photo editor.

You need to utilize and install presets that you can use to apply global adjustments to your images. A good preset can go a long way toward saving you time editing. Many of the AI editing tools use presets or editing profiles as a starting point when editing. That’s because it’s the most efficient way to get consistent results, and that’s what we should do when editing.

If you don’t have years of edited photos to build a profile from, a good solution is to find a preset. The Presets Room is a great source for presets that will help you as you develop your unique style. Do you want a moody wedding editing style or light and airy? Maybe you want the sports or landscape collection.

The wide variety of options they offer will give you a great starting point and save substantial time to getting final edited images delivered to your clients or printed on a wall.

How to batch:

• Apply global adjustments (exposure, contrast, white balance) across a set. This is why shooting in manual is so important.
• Sync edits on similar images to keep the look consistent.
• Save time with presets like the ones found at The Presets Room as a baseline for developing your unique editing style.
• Use AI-powered batch editing software to significantly speed up your workflow. You’ll likely need to start with a preset to dial in your editing style so the AI can learn your preferences.

4. Back Up and Export

Your workflow isn’t complete until your photos are safe and ready to share. File storage is another big challenge for photographers. It takes time to process photos, sure, but moving, sorting, importing, and backing up are more challenges for you to tackle.

And then, you’ll want to finalize your photos. Revisit your edits, export the final image, and share it somewhere! Don’t let that nature photography editing go to waste by never letting anyone see it.

How to back up:

This area is boring but so important. If you’ve ever lost files, you know the panicked feeling it induces. Save yourself the headache and develop a plan that can grow with you. I highly recommend getting a NAS drive like a Synology so you have scalable capacity with partial backup built in (RAID setup). You’ll also need some disks to go with it, these are what I use.

• Always back up files locally and in the cloud.
• We use the 3-2-1 backup rule – 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite
• Create export presets (web, print, social media) to save time.
  • We have export presets for social platforms like Instagram and YouTube
  • We have export presets for clients (high and low resolution)

How to Edit Your Outdoor Photography

Let’s talk about the nitty-gritty of editing outdoor photography. Let’s talk through some of the common global adjustments like adjusting exposure, contrast, clarity, and saturation. Then we’ll mention a few of the photo-specific adjustments, like spot healing.

• Exposure: Adjusting exposure makes the photo as bright or dark as desired and helps recover details in shadows and highlights. The photo histogram is a tool that can help optimize the exposure levels during editing, but we mostly go from the look of the image.
• White Balance: Adjusting white balance can correct an overall displeasing or unnatural color tone in an image. Make sure to shoot in RAW so you can adjust this easily and non-destructively.
• Contrast: go easy on this slider, you’re much better off using something like the curves to generate contrast
• Clarity: less is more 😉
• Sharpening: Sharpening an image gives it a crisper, cleaner look and enhances detail. We generally use a preset for this unless a more detailed edit is required.
• Saturation: Increasing saturation makes all colors in a photo more intense while maintaining brightness in lighter colors. I often like the Vibrance slider more than saturation, as it focuses on the muted colors without oversaturating.

There are some adjustments you’re more likely to make photo by photo.

• Spot Adjustments: Spot cleaning can remove distracting elements from the background of an image.
• Dodging and Burning: Burning refers to selectively darkening areas of an image to emphasize shadow and shape. Sometimes this is important, but I mainly use the AI filters now.
• Linear or Graduated Filters: This is a great way to darken an area of an image to gently guide the viewer’s eye.
• AI-Powered Adjustments: Inside Lightroom’s masking tool, there are a ton of powerful masks like subject selection, sky selection, and others that let you tweak exposure in specific areas. (one of my favorite tools)

Tips to Speed Up Outdoor Photography Editing

Even with a solid workflow, you can still make editing faster. In this section, we’ll talk through a few tips you’ll want to make sure to consider. As you fine-tune your own process, some of these tips might help.

As a husband and wife photography team, you can imagine we come home from a shoot with thousands of images. We also have a storytelling and photojournalistic style, which means we’re not just snapping one perfect shot but rather shooting through the moment to capture peak action and emotion. Over the years, fine-tuning our workflow and generating new ideas to speed up our editing process has saved us countless hours.

On average, professional photographers spend hours editing for every shoot, but batch editing can reduce that drastically.

Presets Save Time:

Lightroom presets can instantly enhance outdoor photos by optimizing tones, brightness, and color. They’re especially useful if you’re just starting to develop your editing style. Check out some free Lightroom presets from The Presets Room.

I also encourage people to utilize the preset, then dive in and see what sort of changes it made. This will help you learn and develop your own style by further tweaking images to suit your vision.

Samples from the Presets Room

Here are a few recent examples utilizing some presets from the preset room. We used their Landscape preset collection as well as their Portraits collection to show you how you can get a quick edited look with minimal effort:

AI Editing Tools:

Once you’ve edited enough images (usually starting with presets), AI-powered batch editing tools can learn your preferences and apply them automatically. Most AI platforms require a lot of images to “train” on, so presets are a great way to get consistent results before you’ve built up a big library.

Check out Aftershoot, they are a leading company for wedding and portrait photographers, but we also use them for commercial work. Use code “MarcBergreen15” to get 15% off.

Another AI editing software we use is Imagen. We like their service specifically for commercial shoots of interiors because of the perspective correction and window exposure adjustments they offer.

Shortcuts & Custom Workspaces:

Learning keyboard shortcuts and customizing your editing software layout shaves minutes off every session. A few that I recommend you learn for Lightroom are:

• D – Develop
• G – Grid View
• E – Loupe view
• N – Compare
• Shift Tab – show/hide windows
• Shift F – full screen (press twice for max)
• P / X – Pick or reject
• Numbers 1-9 – Star and color ratings

Batch Editing:

Use the “sync” or “copy adjustments” features to apply edits across multiple images at once. Editing 50 or even 100 photos doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Start with a baseline preset, edit them in groups based on lighting conditions, and copy settings across each group. From there, you can select your top images and dive deeper into image-specific edits. With practice, your process will move much faster.

Stick to the Basics:

Cropping, adjusting exposure, white balance, contrast, and sharpening often do more for your photo than over-editing ever will. We always say simple is best and focus on the basics. Use the 80 / 20 rule to get most of the results (80% of your results come from 20% of your effort when it is spent on the right things).

Choosing an Editing Software

When it comes to outdoor photography editing, the software you choose will shape your entire workflow. Programs like Lightroom, Photoshop, and Capture One are popular editing software for photographers and industry standards because they combine essential tools (exposure, contrast, white balance, crop, and clarity) with advanced options for fine-tuning your images before you print.

If you’re just starting out or want to save money, there are also free editing software alternatives, such as Darktable or GIMP. While they may not have all the bells and whistles, they’re powerful enough for basic adjustments and experimenting with your editing style.

Pros and Cons of Cloud-based Options

One important thing to note: many programs now offer cloud-based options (like Lightroom CC), which make it easier to edit across devices and even collaborate with others. This can save time and keep your workflow consistent, whether you’re on your computer, tablet, or phone.

While cloud editing may work for some, I find that managing a large catalog is best done in Lightroom Classic on a laptop or desktop setup. Our current catalog is pushing 350k images, and it still runs smoothly with almost all those images stored on a NAS drive that can be accessed from anywhere with internet (albeit a little slow).

Bottom line, if you’re a working pro, Lightroom Classic is likely the solution for you.

Non-destructive Editing

Finally, always check whether a program offers non-destructive editing. This means your original RAW files stay intact while you edit, giving you the freedom to experiment without losing quality. In contrast, destructive editing writes over the original file, which can be risky if you ever want to revisit your untouched image. Lightroom is always non-destructive, while Photoshop is often destructive.

The bottom line? Choose the tool that fits your budget, your workflow, and the kind of outdoor images you love to create.

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Recommended Resources

Every photographer eventually develops their own editing style, but it takes time and practice. As I’ve mentioned, presets are one of the best tools for getting started — they give you a solid baseline and aim to ensure consistency across your images. From there, you can tweak and refine until your photos reflect your unique vision.

The Presets Room

One option I recommend for outdoor photographers is The Presets Room. Their curated collections are designed to simplify editing and keep your photos looking natural and vibrant, and they also have free Lightroom presets to get you started. It’s the kind of tool that helps you spend less time dragging sliders and more time outside, camera in hand.

For example, the Landscape collection is crafted to bring out the best in your landscape photography. There are 17 base presets and 6 modifier tools for more customized edits. These presets help enhance your outdoor shots, whether you’re looking for dramatic effects or natural enhancements. There are even specialized settings for snow-covered landscapes to make your nature photography editing a dream.

Examples from the Preset Room

Below are a few more examples of images I edited from our recent backpacking trip using the presets from the Landscape and Portrait collections:

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Conclusion: Simplify Editing, Spend More Time Outdoors

Editing is part of the process, but it shouldn’t be where your photography passion goes to die. With a clear workflow, smart shooting in the field, and time-saving tools like presets or AI software, you can make editing your nature photos efficient and enjoyable. I hope this post gave you some practical ideas to simplify your outdoor photography editing workflow.

The goal is simple: spend less time behind a screen on Lightroom and more time out in nature, telling stories with your camera. These days, we’re trying to spend more time shooting because that’s where we make our money and that’s where our skillset lies. Remember, batch editing and presets can cut your editing time significantly — freeing up hours each week to go create!

Because at the end of the day, the best workflow is the one that keeps you doing what you love: living adventurously and capturing it with your camera. Links in this post may be affiliate links, and this extensive workflow article was brought to you with the support of The Presets Room.

If you have any questions about our process, feel free to reach out. We love helping others learn and grow with their photography!

About the Authors

We’re the Bergreens, a husband-and-wife photography team based in Evergreen, Colorado. On our blog, we share gear tips, creative insights, and lessons from over a decade of shooting professionally. Dive into our favorite guides, from drone photography accessories to ND filters, or learn how to shoot with your favorite focal length.

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