Recognizing a good (or at least acceptable) capture in the RAW converter

[Gary Roberts]

I have recently started shooting full time in RAW and am looking for some input about some questions I have.

RAW converter is DPP. In-camera settings: Standard style, Constrast 0, Saturation 0, Sharpness 3

When viewing an image in DPP:

If it doesn't look very sharp at the in-camera setting of three should it be tossed.

Is an image acceptably sharp if it needs to be sharpened past a setting of 5 or 6 (0-10) ?

If I adjust the exposure up or down more than 2 stops does it degrade the image (or just mean my exposure technique stinks) ?

Is it better to adjust the saturation in RAW or do it in PS ?

Is there some very general criteria to look at and say keep or toss ?

Thanks for your advice on any or all of these questions.

[Alfred Forns]

H Gary You do have some good questions

Basically the image has to look good as it comes up in the viewer If it looks dark, out of focus etc just toss Remember the RAW will give you the ability for some leeway but not for a full stop under Difficult to recover from that situation Best to expose properly

All the in camera settings do not affect the RAW image

Try doing as much as you can during the conversion phase You will find the most important thing is to have a good quality image sharp and well exposed Normally I don't take more than two minutes to finish processing Many times even less

For tossing it is your call I'm sure images that you will be keeping now will not make it a year from now Your will be making better images and be more selective

Get some good instruction book I think one of the easiest to fallow with great substance is Arties digital basics or the book which includes as a chapter Good luck and will be helping you !!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Gary,

Artie's Digital Basics PDF file will help you out a lot but to answer some of your questions:

Many of us are using Breeze Browser Pro to Edit and Convert RAW images to TIFFs for further processing in Photoshop.

The in camera JPG setting for sharpness of 3 can be applied to the RAW during conversion, this is what I would call Capture Sharpening (Google "Thoughts on a Sharpening Workflow" by Bruce Fraser for more details). It is only meant to restore sharpness lost in the digital process. You will then have to sharpen the image creatively which for example you sharpen a bird in flight against a blue sky but not the sky. Check out these threads for some info on this:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6040
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6334
Lastly, you do an output sharpening appropriate for a JPG web image, print, etc. SInce the output image can be a very different resolutions (Web 72 or 96 ppi -- Prints 240 or 360 ppi).

Artie's thread at http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5598 speaks to his available resources and includes the steps to create a JPB for web use.

Back to Breezebrowser: It has what is called a High Quality mode that sharpens the image so you can see what it will look like once it is sharpened. It is a preview and does nothing to the image. I lke this feature as i can edit for sharpness faster then any other program. Other programs you have to go into whatever routine they may offer an apply sharpening in the RAW converter - this is slow IMO. So this is how I normally choose images that will be acceptability sharp for processing later. My current workflow is to aly a mild sharpening to the RAW conversion and then all other post-processing in PSCS. However, there are many good arguments for doing more post-processing during the RAW conversion and generally Adobe Camera RAW is going to be best for that as it has many advanced controls to processing the RAW file.

The advantage is that the ACR processing is doen to the RAW info before it is converted into a pixel based TIFF file.

I don't use DPP, but a similar idea can be applied to it as I am suggesting with using ACR. I hope this helps.

[Gary Roberts]

Thanks for the information. I have been wanting Artie's PDF file for awhile, but my
slow dial-up connection :( is a concern--he indicated on BAA that this was a sizeable download.

Gary

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks for the information. I have been wanting Artie's PDF file for awhile, but my
slow dial-up connection :( is a concern--he indicated on BAA that this was a sizeable download.

Gary

Gary,

I was in process of working on my response and lost connection. I have added more.

[Ed Okie]

[quote=Gary Roberts;43007]I have recently started shooting full time in RAW and am looking for some input about some questions I have.

RAW converter is DPP. In-camera settings: Standard style, Constrast 0, Saturation 0, Sharpness 3
Gary - try Neutral, Contrast -4, Saturation 0, Sharpness 0; don't be afraid to use ISO numbers higher than 100 or 200. I often start at ISO 640 using a Canon 5D

When viewing an image in DPP:
If it doesn't look very sharp at the in-camera setting of three should it be tossed.

In DPP apply Sharpen via the second tab, try 400 and see what you think.

If I adjust the exposure up or down more than 2 stops does it degrade the image (or just mean my exposure technique stinks) ?

It means your exposure technique stinks. No getting around it. At camera level you need to hit it within a half-stop. Try setting your LCD screen to view the histogram in RGB. Any line that runs off the right side means you overexposed; don't expect to "recover" data, highlights in particular - virtually impossible. Far more recovery is available, though, on the shadow end of the spectrum.

Is it better to adjust the saturation in RAW or do it in PS ?

I do it during the raw conversion, better or not, I do not know. It helps me judge - is this a good or bad image? If your camera adjustment is good, very little saturation adjustment is typically needed during raw conversion... a good indicator of how well you're managing your camera.

Is there some very general criteria to look at and say keep or toss ?

Composition and subject matter. If it is portrait or people photography... "the expression" captured is the holy grail. If Composition, subject matter and/or expression is noteworthy... then the image is worth pursuing, whatever it takes to bring out the best. Otherwise, toss it.
Biggest secret: when an image isn't good or noteworthy... figure out why. Learn from your mistakes. We all make 'em, and always will.

[Gary Roberts]

Thank you Ed for sharing your insights with me.

Gary

[philipdonaldson@mac.com]

Hi Gary. I read your recommendation regarding Artie's Digital Basics PDF File. Are you referring to Arthur Morris on his Birds as Art website? And do you know if it is up-to-date? The description on his website looked like the last update may have been 12/16/03. Thanks for the information. Phil

[Robert Amoruso]

Artie's Digital Basics is currently up-dated to January 2008. I received one then.