Post Processing Workflow

[NAILER341]

those are also very nice photos. now, lets talk about post processing a bit.
you both appear to be pretty good at it.
it would be interesting to see the original as a raw converted to jpeg side by side with the processed photo as a jpeg with a description of what you did to process it and with what software.

i am new to the whole post processing thing, and there is a lot to learn.
i have noticed that adding blacks, and bumping up the clarity helps a lot.

what are you doing to the majority of the photos you take?

we might have to start a new thread on this subject, but i'd like to see if there is some interest, and if we can get a real dialogue on the subject. let loose of some of those secrets!

[SoCalRailFan]

A new thread maybe. I don't shoot RAW. Personally I've tried for years and everytime I've processed the RAW vs JPG the final JPG wins out when for looking for the "realistic" image. Plus as much as I shoot the workflow required for a RAW file is just too time consuming. Everyone has their own opinion on this, this is just mine. Plus as much as I shoot I'd need way more HD space then I have. Also I had my backup 250gb drive fall off my desk, well I lost many years of photos, unless I wish to pay $2000 to retieve them. At least most of my best shots are somewhere online at least in 1200 pixel format. Enough rambling.

[nwoods]

Yes, a new thread would be good. I shoot almost always in RAW, unless I'm just chronicling an event and not figuring on capturing that special, glorious, life changing image.

My workflow is to start in the camera. I shoot almost all my outdoor stuff in Aperture priority to control depth of field, and -1/3 exposure to prevent blowing out the highlights, and ISO 100 for maximum color depth and minimal grain.

Once the photo is captured, I use Photoshop CS3 to process them. I ingest them all using Adobe Bridge, then rotate and rank as needed. One my "keepers" are identified, I process them in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). I keep the display mode set to indicate overexposed and underexposed areas, and then use Recovery and Brightness and Black setting to extract the info from the image. I often use the eye dropper and click on something white or neutral grey for color balance, and then tweak and tune to taste. I don't usually play with Saturate, but do often add a touch of Clarity and Vibrance. Sometimes I will tweak the Tint and Temperature also, but not very often. Depends on the photo.

Here is a sample image with the before and after settings in Adobe Camera Raw (being applied to images shot as medium resolution JPG's originally)

Before


After:


I almost always add sharpening in ACR, usually about 50%. Its non-destructive sharpening, and seems more gentle on the image and has a more natural effect on the image (to my eye), than using the Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask in PhotoShop.

Once the images are selected and processed as far I as I need them, I then use Bridge's "Tools>Photoshop>Image Processor" to batch convert my ranked (selected, filtered, and cleaned up) Raw images to JPG's in a particular size (usually 1600px wide). These JPG's are created in a new subfolder called "keepers" by the batch command.

I then rearrange the images in Bridge if perhaps the sequence of images can be enhanced to improve the story they tell. After they are arranged, I use Bridge's batch rename command to rename them all, using some sort of sequential naming method so that they sort themselves online properly.

Then I batch upload them all to my SmugMug gallery and start the captioning process. SmugMug automatically watermarks the images for me, which is nice.

It takes a few hours to cull through and process the select few out of each chunk of 200-800 images, typically. Depends on how badly I did with the original images and how much help they need. I haven't experimented with hypercolors and some of the more artistic effects yet. My processing is always to recreate the image I saw in my mind when I took the picture. I try to restore the quality of the scene to the image that provoked me to try to capture it in the first place.

Here are two photographic examples for you. The first is the basic campfire scene from above. Before shooting, I cranked up the ISO in the camera, and set the exposure compensation to +1/3, because it was pretty dark. This caused the sunset behind the trees to blow out the highlights, but allowed the foreground to at least be visible. In ACR, I pumped up many of the values and did my best to reduce the highlights, trying to restore some natural color and depth to the image. Here is the before and after. The final effects are helpful, but fairly subtle taken in context. The final image is starting to approach what I remember the scene looking or feeling like at the time.

Before:


After:



Here is a neat example of what the power of RAW can do.
I shot this way way underexposed, and crooked. I was going for a particular shot, but was lazy and didn't want to lay down in the muddy salt. So I just bent over, held the camera at ankle height and pressed the shutter without even looking through the view finder.

I fixed it in ACR and PS to turn out pretty good:

Before:


After:

[SoCalRailFan]

Post Processing Workflow

Someone asked about PP workflow. That's a tough one since every photo requires something just little bit different. Plus you also need to know how your camera shoots, and how it's settings were when you PP a photo. It took me about 2 months to figure my new 40D out when I first got it. PP'ing it was not the same as my older 20D.

Some basics for web editing a photo for me.

1. correct rotation
(these next three are one action)
2. crop
3. resize to 1024 wide or 1000 high
4. auto contrast and fade as needed
5. Lab Sharpen
6. Final sharpen with Smart Sharpen (motion blur or lens blur)if needed.
7. Adjust highlights and shadows
8. Adjust levels

All this usually takes me less than a minute. I use PS CS2.

[SoCalRailFan]

Nice explanation, but for that bottom set I don't see anything that couldn't be done with a JPG original. Is that Death Valley BTW?

[SoCalRailFan]

A couple of quick other points. You cannot batch process images unless they're all shot at the same time and same position and lens. The only time I batch process is HDR images for an HDR panorama.

Sharpening is a HUGE deal. That took me the longest to figure out with my 40D. I'll start with that I have an action called Lab Sharpen I got from a guy a long time ago. It converts the image to Lab Color, selecting certain channels, using the unsharp mask to sharpen and then returing the image to RBG. This is the best sharpening action I've made or used.

Anyways, with my 20D I used a full PS sharpen, then the Lab Sharpen action. Now with my 40D I kicked up the in camera sharpening and now use the Lab Sharpen followed by a light motion blur or lens blur sharpen, if needed, usually not.

That's my bit on sharpening.

[nwoods]

Nice explanation, but for that bottom set I don't see anything that couldn't be done with a JPG original. Is that Death Valley BTW?

Possibly, but there are more options in ACR when working with RAW images and I really like the non-destructive editing process that you can overlay ontop of RAW images. I spent some time shooting images in RAW + JPEG and compared the two, and was almost always disappointed with the JPG version straight from the camera. I messed around with the in-camera Parameters in JPG mode to see if I could get better results, but I prefer the RAW image better (on my Canon 20D). The RAW images do tend to be "flatter", but are easier to work with if the image is borderline. A lot of my images are borderline :-)

The salt flat in question is from a recent MJR run on the Mojave Trail at Soda Lake.

[NAILER341]

those are nice examples and i appreciate you doing the captures of the processing screen.
which version of photoshop are you using?

i take most of my photos in raw as well. keep the good ones and throw the rest away. the ones i find artistic i'll keep the raw file, the rest get converted to jpeg for size.

there is a lot to know as far as the processing. have either of you messed with "light-room"?

[sandjunkie]

I've been using Capture NX2 to do alot of the same work. It was really simple to learn

[dirtman13]

Nice post Nathan. The shot of your Land Rover was a great example. I have seen differences in my PP of Raw versus JPEG. I believe that is Soda Lake on the Mojave Road?

I usually only shot in Raw when I'm doing my landscape or nature shots. They are the only ones that I will usually do post processing with. I prefer to utilize the camera settings as much as possible. +2 Saturation +1 Contrast and +1 on Sharpness usually gives me the warmth I look for in my shots. I will also play with the White Balance a little.

Currently I'm using Coral Paint Shop Pro XS which I have found is loaded with features (more then I need) and was a lot cheaper then Adobe Photo Shop. Although you'll find more tutorials on Photo Shop on the Web.

Thanks for starting this Erik. Good info.

[SoCalRailFan]

I'll post some examples this afternoon. funny thing with RAW, as it's been discussed every forum I visit, when I've posted two images (RAW & JPG) I'd say 90% of the time when people thought it was the RAW image it was the JPG! LOL

I've taken almost 11k images with my 40D since mid-July 2008, try PP'ing that many images in RAW.

I will say though I have had many fabulous images in RAW. Usually when I shoot HDR it's in RAW & JPG just incase.