Let me share a few more words about workspace settings and presets…
Although the two are basically independent of each other, we can use both in combination under certain conditions. I’ll illustrate this by a way that might (or might not) serve you as well as it serves me to a) operate PhotoLab and b) declutter the interface:
Left Dock
- Tools for management and information rather than for editing
Right Dock
- Three palettes: almost always used, often used and almost never used
- Put each tool in one (or two) of the three palettes
- Sort tools by what could be a sensible sequence in customising
- Collapse the almost always used and almost never used palettes
Presets vs Workspace setting
- I mostly use my own presets, some of which I derived from DxO’s presets, changing settings that I find to be too strong or weak in the originating (DxO) presets
- Tools that are common to my presets and mostly need no change go into almost always used
- Tools that are not used by any of my presets go into almost never used
- All other tools go into often used
A few exceptions
- I use my “All-In” workspace mostly for testing and setup of the “Normal Use” workspace (that I build according to what I wrote above)
- I put the HSL Tool into the left dock because I often use the tool and because the left dock has space, which the right dock most often has not.
- I put tools in two palettes if I’m unsure where it belongs
A few hints
- Order of the tools: carefully think of how you customise images. Ask yourself questions like “If I do X, will I have to redo the things I’ve done before doing X?” Example: I find that “Colour Rendering” should be done as a very early step. Example: I find that HSL works better on B&W than channel mixer, therefore the latter goes to almost never used.
Once you have established a workspace setting that fits your needs, there is no need to change the workspace. Sticking to a workspace setting makes PhotoLab more usable for general photography. Nevertheless, if someone is into e.g. portrait and bird photography, setting up dedicated workspaces might be helpful.