Man this has been a busy year! The best part is that it isn’t even over yet… Can you tell I am being sarcastic with that last remark? haha.
Long story short, I have been doing a lot; Aside from being a new father, I have been doing so much with my photography business and then top it all off with my inLIGHTin Workshops. So how can I make more time for myself and my family while still doing what I love to do? The only way to do this was either to outsource some of my work or change the world so I can add a couple hours to the day. Outsourcing seemed like the only logical thing so I started investigating. Now, I’ve been outsourcing my wedding album designs for about a year now and that really works wonders. But how can I save even more time? Should I outsource my post processing too?
But how can a control freak like me turn over such an integral part of my work? I couldn’t come up with an answer so I decided to give things one more chance… Instead of searching for a place to outsource my stuff, I decided to search for hardware and software options that could at least speed up my time behind the computer. Enter DQ Studio’s QuiKeys. Quikeys is the brainchild of Dave and Quin Cheung of DQ Studios. They are a husband and wife photography team over in Canada and they created the QuiKeys to do everything that I have been looking for to speed up my workflow.
OVERVIEW:
So you may be asking yourself “what the heck is this QuiKeys thing?” I’m glad you asked…
Dave and Quin state on their website that the QuiKeys is a “Workflow Empowerment System” and they couldn’t be any more correct! The QuiKeys is a 58 key programmable keyboard that Dave and Quin have customized to interact with Photoshop and Lightroom to speed up your workflow. Simple as that.
Now I am a self-proclaimed computer geek so anything that has to do with gadgets and technology is cool with me. I received the QuiKeys a couple weeks ago and it took no time at all to get installed and accustomed to.
ORDERING:
You have to specify certain things when ordering your QuiKeys. The site does a great job of holding your hand throughout the process. The two biggies that you need to inform them about are what operating system you are using and if you want the right or left hand version of the QuiKeys. I selected Mac OS X and left handed. Now, one can get away with using the QuiKeys and a mouse but it is REALLY stressed that you pick yourself up a Wacom Pen Tablet of really any flavor. So you will want to purchase the correct setup based upon what hand you use to draw/write with. I have the Wacom Intuous4 (medium sized) pen tablet and if you see in the pics below, the tablet is off to my left while my right hand operates the QuiKeys. This means that the LEFT hand version, should be used with your RIGHT hand… Got it? Good.
Excuse the messy desk BTW ;)
CHECKOUT:
You have to purchase the QuiKeys hardware base (the keyboard) and all the modules (Retouching Module, Freeform Album Design Module and RAW module) separately. I chose to go with the Retouching Module and RAW Module myself since I outsource my album designs. I believe that the Retouching Module and RAW Module are necessities so get both! Upon purchasing the QuiKeys, you receive a nice set of emails from the DQ crew that gives you a rundown on everything. They also give you links to about two dozen instructional videos to watch while you are awaiting for your QuiKey’s Hardware base to arrive. I watched those videos, did my homework and it paid off. I felt like a pro with QuiKeys before it even arrived. I actually found myself learning where the very important keys were just by watching Dave and Quin demonstrating the QuiKeys in those videos which was stellar. All in all, the QuiKeys Hardware Base is a keyboard therefore it is just like learning to type. Before you know it, you will be hitting the correct keys without even looking!
INSTALLATION:
There is no one click installer for all of the QuiKey’s setup simply because of how the QuiKeys taps into Photoshop and Lightroom. Installing the QuiKeys hardware was a snap but it took me about an hour to set the intricate stuff up. It should have been quicker but I was a jamoke and didn’t use my noodle. So I spent like 20 minutes trying to find Photoshop script files that I just installed when they wouldn’t appear. A simple restart of Photoshop did the trick which I should have known immediately. I told you it was dumb stuff like that which made it take longer than necessary…
WORKFLOW:
Within minutes I was soaring through my files with the QuiKeys. Dave and Quin have put a lot of TLC into ensuring that the QuiKeys has all the important stuff available at the press of a button. I don’t have their Freeform Album Design Module so I cannot comment on that. I can say that if it is anything remotely like their other two modules then it rocks!
LAYOUT:
The basic layout for the QuiKeys is as follows:
The Top Row (18 keys) mostly handles Actions (Photoshop) and Develop Presets (Lightroom). There are a couple other important buttons like one that toggles the keyboard layout for whatever app you are using. Each app (Photoshop, Lightroom Library Workspace and Lightroom Develop Workspace) has their own color LED associated to it so you know what one your are on. The Toggle button changes the QuiKeys so your keyboard layout applies to the correct app. You can totally swap out their canned Actions with your favorite ones. I have re-assigned maybe four of the actions buttons to ones that I use.
The Left / Right Columns (20 total / 10 on each side) are vice versa for Left and Right hand users. The basic gist of this is that the buttons you have available to the blade edge of your hand are the ones you will be using the most. These 10 keys are therefore assigned to zoom in and out of your image, shrink or enlarge your brush and arrow keys to control a variety of things; From moving around the image, to controling the height of each curve point in Photoshop. Did I mention how cleaver this is yet? The other side contains stuff like clone tool opacity, quick cropping and stuff like that. Things you will use, just not all the time. For Lightroom users, this section (and a couple of the top keys) controls your Exposure, Contrast, Brightness, White Balance/Tint and other important sliders like that to make RAW editing a snap… Press the RIGHT key there and you will increase the Exposure (or whatever else) and vice versa will decrease it.
The Center area (20 keys) handles the meat and potatoes of your Photoshop and Lightroom app. This section stays the same for both right and left hand users. For Lightroom, you have all your picking and flagging options here and there are more of those RAW editing slider adjusters here too (Clarity, Vibrance, etc…)
Photoshop has a lot more important stuff here! This section is dedicated to brush inverting and pallete color swapping (great for showing and hiding your layer masks with the brush tool), and even a great combo for the liquify tool. I can make my subjects look better than ever now with a couple clicks! This combo is all laid out in order too to make the speed even faster.
USAGE:
I shoot in RAW so the first step is to use Lightroom to import and catalog all my images from a shoot. Let’s go with a wedding for example. Now I take about 1,200 images at a wedding and have more to work with if I have a second shooter present. I did a high end wedding a couple weeks ago, which had three shooters all together, and I had 2500 images from that wedding alone! This was also the first wedding that I used the QuiKeys on. So once the images are imported, I go about picking my favorites and getting rid of the crummy shots. Within one hour, I had all those images down to about 950… I was in Lightroom’s Library module and used the Grid View to work very quickly and pick my faves. From there, I did simple adjustments for exposure and white balance where needed. The Grid View is great because you can select X images and it batch edits each one for you. So I press the + exposure button on the QuiKeys twice and all 20 underexposed images that I selected get the boost and look great. Cool huh? That took maybe 45 minutes…
From there, I exported my RAW images into high quality JPEGs and went to bed. When I woke up, I had all 950 of my final images in a folder. Now is the time for me to use the QuiKeys in Photoshop… THIS is where the QuiKeys REALLY shines!
The first step here is to open the AutoLoader script and assign a working folder and a destination folder. Why do you need to do this? Glad you asked. To answer your question, I will have to first tell you about the part of the QuiKeys that I absolutely love. The little RED button!
This little red button is the AutoLoader button. Pressing the AutoLoader button will open up image #1 in your working folder (the one that you selected in the AutoLoader script as the working folder). You do your edits and when you are happy, press the AutoLoader button again. Look here, image #1 gets saved for you (in the format and size that you specified in the AutoLoader script) to the destination folder and image #2 then pops up for you to work on… Press the AutoLoader button again, #2 gets saved to the destination folder and image #3 opens…. No more File > Save As > Blah blah blah followed by File > Open > blah blah blah. One button click and it does about 6-8 button clicks for you. Let me tell you, THAT adds up! Say one of your favorite images isn’t a favorite image anymore and you don’t want it to make the second round of cuts. Just X out of the image and then hit the AutoLoader button to open the next image for you.
Another cool perk about the AutoLoader script is that you have the option to load the images in REVERSE ORDER… Why would you need that? Glad you asked haha.
This is a perk for those who work and who do parallel editing with another photographer. One photographer starts from the top down and the other starts from the bottom up. No one is stepping on the others toes overwriting files. Instead, you just meet half way and the entire photo shoot is finished and edited.
I found myself actually “finishing” every single file for my client. That means, clone tool to get rid of distracting stuff, retouch tools to make the bride and groom look awesome and flawless and even the liquify tool to modestly remove a couple bingo arms here and there. I also got to give every photo a certain “pop” to them which I didn’t do before. I find myself using the 4 Actions buttons that I re-assigned (I use Totally Rad Actions Re-Touch action and a couple Kuboda actions religiously) and have been using the QuiKey’s Dodge and Burn buttons along with their Auto Vignette action and stuff like that. A cool thing to note is that each and every button press that makes an adjustment to your image is all done on a layer mask. This makes it easy for you to adjust the opacity of the layer and it even allows you to paint in the effect to only the areas that you want it to. Much nicer than the effect adjusting the entire image on you… When I end up with a file, I have maybe 5-6 layers so I just press their “Merge Layers” button and then I am back to one layer before saving and closing the image with the AutoLoader button.
All in all, my first time using the QuiKeys with Photoshop was about 6 hours and I went from those 950 images down to 850 AND finished every image to look awesome! That means that I edited an entire wedding containing over 2500 images down to 850 and FINISHED the files within 8 short hours! One day to shoot the wedding, one day to edit the wedding and you are literally DONE!
Now when I post the pics to Pictage, I know that every guest who purchases an image will have an amazing file to use as the basis so they will truly be happy with the print, I also know that I don’t have to touch any files no matter which images the bride and groom choose for their wedding album. I just send the files off as is to get thrown into a wedding album design.
I didn’t even get a chance to talk about how beneficial having a Pen Tablet is! Here’s a quick cliff notes version: Having a pen tablet is very intuitive since it is like you are drawing on your computer screen. I have never worked so fast as I have with my pen tablet. I am now even using it for my everyday mouse. The Wacom Intuous4 tablets have about 8 buttons on the tablet itself that you can assign features to. Furthermore, it knows what app you have open so it can dynamically adjust your 8 buttons to ones that you associated for each application you have open, Firefox can have 8 buttons while Photoshop can have another 8 and so on. The pen itself have a variety of nibs that you can use. I prefer the soft, felt feeling one since it slides over the tablet the best. The pen also has two button on it. I have both set to the Alt/Option button to make picking out my Clone and Healing brush targets that much easier.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Is this product a necessity for budding and amateur photographers? No… Is it an amazing tool for those who are professional photographers and who are looking to get their life back and away from the computer? Yes Yes Yes! All in all, the QuiKeys is an investment but how much is your time worth to you? To me it was well worth the price. The QuiKeys hardware base runs $250 while each module runs $350 to $500. All in all, it ran me $1100 for the QuiKeys and it was worth EVERY penny! If you want the QuiKeys but are on a budget then maybe ditch the RAW Module and do the Lightroom stuff with your traditional QWERTY keyboard. The Retouch Module is worth it’s weight in gold and is a MUST for Photoshop users! Nuff’ said.
The pen tablet can run $99 for a Wacom Bamboo (never tried it but it seems like a cheaper version of the Wacom tablet- expect it to have less features and won’t be as touch sensitive) up to $2000 for a tablet screen. I have the $450 Wacom Intuous4 but would recommend at least the size smaller which is $250. Don’t forget, you can always get one of these used and save cash!!!!
Now that brings me to around $1600 for a complete workflow setup. I spent that much on stupid photography gadgets that are collecting dust and I am sure many of you have as well. Therefore the $1600 to save myself a crap ton of time AND to get me more time to spend with my wife and child was well worth it!
I have been using the QuiKeys for just under a month now. I have become fluent in the usage of the QuiKeys and know where every key is without even looking. I am now killing off wedding jobs in under 5 hours (with the longest part being the Exporting of RAW to JPEGS!) and am killing off portrait jobs in under 2 hours. Given these numbers, I have knocked down my time per job by roughly 66% !!! What? You mean to say that I cut my time behind the computer AND am giving my clients better files.
As a matter of fact, that is EXACTLY what i am saying. Props to Dave and Quin for making an amazingly awesome product!
Here is some information for further reading:
DQ Studios Website: http://www.dqstudios.com
QuiKeys Website: http://www.quikeys.com
About the QuiKeys: HERE
QuiKeys Examples: HERE
QuiKeys Tutorials: HERE
QuiKeys Products: HERE
