CF Cards
After problems with other brands, I have standardized on Sandisk Extreme III cards with no regrets. I have sizes from 1 - 4 gigabytes. I had not intended to use cards this large since even on the 1Ds2 this meant hundreds of images in raw format on a single card which could be corrupted. I have rethought things and decided that the constant switching of cards introduces more problems than the storage of all my eggs in one basket so have gradually gone up in size. 6 GB is a full day's shooting in almost all situations so now I have surplus given the recent addition of 2 4 gig cards. No more carrying a portable drive in the field (I suppose I could for backup purposes, but I don't)
In Field Storage
When away from home I rely on my Epson 2000 portable drive with it's lovely 3.5 inch screen both to store and peek at my images.
Same Night Storage
I quite enjoy going through the images on it in the evening and this sometimes affects the plans for the next day's shooting.
Multi Day Shoot
When away for more than a couple of days, I take my Mac laptop and transfer the images from the Epson to the laptop for burning DVD's of images.
Loading Computer
When shooting near home and only storing the images on the CF cards, the cards are fed into a Firewire card reader and quickly transferred to the computer. Transfer from the Epson P2000 to the computer is unfortunately a lot slower and can take several hours after a two day shoot.
Cataloguing
At this point I really don't have a good system. My raw files sit in folders which are named for the location of the shoot and poss. the year and or month. As I work on images, they are stored in folders marked Documents XXX. It's not a very efficient system but I rely frequently on Spotlight, the wonderful search engine built into OS X to track images as needed and so far Adobe Bridge is all I have needed for cataloging. I'm sure that if I didn't have spotlight, I'd have to invest in cataloging software.
Raw Processing
I have used Camera Raw from version one. I have played with others and never found a good reason to switch. Every time a switch has been tempting, Camera Raw has been updated to keep up with the competition. The look can be quite different with the various raw processors but I'm not convinced that any other ekes out any more detail. With the 4.X series Camera Raw, we have a really good system. It is worth noting that as raw processors improve, it can be well worth returning to old image and starting over. In one case, I was able to double the size of the print (2X length, 2X width, 4X area) because of improved raw processing and sharpening algorithms.
Photoshop
I rely heavily on local editing of my images so software that won't provide that local control is of no interest to me. Likewise, software that makes things easier but not necessarily better is of no interest to me. I can see that it would be for someone who earns his living in photography and has to process thousands of images, but if I can come up with a single really good image from a shoot, I'm delighted. I use the new Black And White adjustment layer for my monochrome conversions. I never use colour tints in Photoshop for my monochrome images since I want to minimize metamerism through using the dedicated black and white print drivers either supplied by the printer maker or through Roy Harrington's Quadtone RIP. I used to use Imageprint but switched from the $1000 programme to the $50 one as I preferred it.
Until recently I did all my work with the mouse, but I do now have a tablet - for some things it's clearly more accurate, for others I still quite like the mouse. I certainly don't think that a tablet is necessary.
95% of the image editing is done with a curves adjustment layer, usually with a black mask into which I paint. If I'm working with colour images, I will sometimes use the luminosity blend to avoid changing colour saturation as I change contrast and brightness in various parts of the image. I use hue/saturation, sometimes with specific colours only to get the right colours for the image. I occasionally use selective colour to fine tune things. I use colour balance less often as it changes colour over the entire image which shouldn't really be needed since I worked on the image in Camera Raw.
I avoid using the burn and dodge tools until the image editing is almost finished, and then generally use those tools sparingly and on an image copy layer so I can fade effects through playing with the mask. It's my feeling that too much work with dodging and burning leads to cumulative errors in the image which cannot be undone later. I do like at the end to use dodge highlights to pop the highlights up a tad. I am careful of the burn shadows as it too easily drives things into pure black - but used cautiously and on a copy layer, at 3 - 5% opacity...
Sharpening
Although others are very pleased with Photokit Capture Sharpener, I have found Smart Sharpen in Photoshop to do a good job on the images from my 1Ds2. My normal setting is 300/.5/0. I do sometimes make use of Creative Sharpening in Photokit Sharpener and all my matte prints get Photokit Output Sharpener. Of late and working with Harman FBAL Gloss paper, I have been foregoing output sharpening entirely as the dot gain (ink spread) with this paper is the lowest I have yet found.
Contrast Control
I have been generally pleased with Akvis Enhancer, which both enhances local contrast throughout the image, while at the same time taming shadows and highlights. I almost never use the full effect, preferring again to duplicate the image in a new layer and work on that so that I have more control on fading the effect, both globally and locally, both now and later in the image processing. If I want just local contrast enhancement, I am experimenting with Outback Photo's new Detail Enhancer or simply with unsharp mask 25/50/0 as recommended a few years ago by Michael Reichmann on Luminous Landscape.