My Lightroom Workflow After a Game Drive
My Lightroom Workflow After a Game Drive
A productive game drive can easily produce hundreds or even thousands of photographs.
Coming back to camp with full memory cards is exciting.
It can also become overwhelming.
Over the years I have developed a relatively simple Lightroom workflow that helps me move from hundreds of images to a small number that I actually want to keep and work on.
The most important part of that process is not editing.
It is selection.
Step 1: Back up first
Before doing anything creative, I want the photographs safely copied.
On safari I try to maintain more than one copy whenever practical.
Memory cards can fail.
Laptops can fail.
Drives can fail.
Photographs from an extraordinary wildlife encounter may be impossible to replace.
I therefore regard backup as part of the photographic process rather than an administrative chore.
Step 2: Import into Lightroom
I import the RAW files into Lightroom and organise them consistently.
A simple folder structure is usually sufficient.
For example:
Kenya
Maasai Mara
2027-06-14 Morning Drive
There is no perfect filing system.
The important thing is choosing one you understand and using it consistently.
Step 3: First selection
My first pass is deliberately quick.
I am looking for obvious rejects:
out-of-focus images;
accidental frames;
closed eyes;
awkward expressions;
frames where grass or another animal has ruined the photograph;
and unnecessary duplicates.
I don't spend time editing at this stage.
The objective is simply to reduce the volume.
Step 4: Find the moments
On my second pass I become much more selective.
If I have 20 photographs of the same lion turning its head, I don't need all 20.
I look at:
expression;
eye contact;
body position;
background;
light;
sharpness;
and whether one frame simply feels stronger than the others.
Usually it does.
The difference can be very small.
An ear in a better position.
A slightly cleaner background.
The eye catching the light.
The head turned another few degrees.
Those tiny differences can determine which image survives.
Step 5: Crop for composition, not rescue
Cropping is an extremely useful creative tool.
I use it to refine composition, straighten horizons and remove distractions near the edge of a frame.
But I try not to use cropping as a substitute for getting reasonably close or composing properly in camera.
Extreme crops reduce image quality and often reveal focusing errors.
Step 6: Basic adjustments
My initial Lightroom adjustments are normally straightforward.
I may adjust:
Exposure
Highlights
Shadows
White balance
Contrast
Blacks and whites
I am usually trying to recreate what the scene felt like rather than dramatically changing it.
Wildlife does not need to be oversaturated to look impressive.
Africa provides enough colour of its own.
Step 7: Local adjustments
This is where modern Lightroom has become particularly powerful.
Masking allows very controlled adjustments to specific areas.
I might subtly lift an animal's face.
Reduce a distracting bright area in the background.
Add a small amount of texture or clarity to the subject.
Or make the eye slightly more visible.
The key word is subtle.
If the viewer's first thought is "that photograph has been heavily edited", I have probably gone too far.
Step 8: Noise reduction and sharpening
For higher ISO photographs, Lightroom's noise reduction can be extremely useful.
I generally apply enough to control distracting noise without removing natural detail from fur, feathers or skin.
Sharpening should be equally controlled.
Too much sharpening can make wildlife photographs look artificial.
Step 9: Leave it and come back
One of my favourite editing techniques costs nothing:
I stop.
After looking at the same photograph for several minutes, it is remarkably easy to lose perspective.
I may return later that evening or the following day.
Often I immediately notice something I didn't see before.
Sometimes I reduce an adjustment.
Sometimes I abandon the image altogether.
The objective
My Lightroom workflow isn't about transforming an average photograph into something spectacular.
The most important decisions were made earlier:
where the vehicle was positioned;
what the light was doing;
when I pressed the shutter;
and what was happening in the background.
Editing should support those decisions.
For me, Lightroom is the final part of the photographic process — not a replacement for it.
And after a great day on safari, selecting and working through those images is part of the enjoyment.
It is where a few brief moments in the bush become photographs that can stay with you for years.