Kirislin Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Do either of you lovely people shoot in RAW? If so, what do you find are the biggest benefits of doing so? I only have the Canon Digital Photo Professional that came with my camera(s) that will edit RAW format... and I find it very confusing as to what I'm really supposed to do with it anyways... errr! I use it to maybe punch a little bit of contrast or sharpness into photos that are taken through glary glass and the like... apart from that, there's no other editing done at all. I downloaded Irfanview once, but that's even more confusing to work out... T. this is all I use Is there a halfway readable manual for DPP Kirislin... I'm confused enough just using it to adjust contrast/sharpening... lol! T. I just muddle along trying things out. You can get updates for it too and some of them have been good. What has got you confused? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 What has got me confused? Ummm... everything... lol! I don't find the interface all that interactive/easy to use for a start. You wouldn't think that I'm an IT person at all when you see me muddling away with various types of software... give me a hardware issue, and I'm all over it, but software... nup! I used to play around with Paintshop Pro 9 - before Corel bought it and stuffed it up for v10... THAT had a nice interface and was really quite easy to come to grips with when I was dabbling in Fractal Art for a while a few years back. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I use Lightroom and Photoshop - like pretty much everyone else I know in the industry. LR is fantastic for culling and when I do a wedding and have to cull from 1500-2000 images, it is brilliant. Same for batch processing. Copy and paste the settings from one image to another. I use PS for sharpening (even though LR does this too, I don't like it though) and anything small - cloning, skin softening, liquifying (if needed). LR is pretty easy to use, but I've only scratched the surface of PS. Again though, it's not something you are good at right away - it takes a lot of images and evolution to get where you want to be with processing and even then, I'm still not entirely happy with my processing a lot of the time. Another thing (as mentioned earlier), if your monitor is out of whack, your images will always look badly edited on someone elses monitor (especially if theirs is out too). Thanks Pers :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Flying Furball Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 So everyone ends up buying a program...is that the general gist if you are serious about photography? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyCresties Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I shoot in RAW and use Lightroom. I found LR pretty intuitive to use and love the fact the image changes are 'nondestructive'. It is also a great catalogue system. http://thelightroomlab.com/2008/12/understanding-lightrooms-non-destructive-image-enhancement-system/ You can buy and download LR from here where it is a bit cheaper than the Adobe au site - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983326-REG/adobe_65215298_photoshop_lightroom_5_software.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Can teachers buy lightroom cheap or is it just students? I have a friend who's a teacher who would probably buy it for me if I asked him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Today I shot down at the refuge, which I do once a week. I always want my edits to be minimal, so I can get them back to the refuge as soon as possible and get on with my other work. The trouble is, the cattery has lots of different sections of light and if you've ever tried to photograph a cat, you'll know how much harder it is compared to a dog. I tend to wait for them to settle and just follow them around until I get the shot, except sometimes I don't change my settings in time and will get over and under exposed images. These are before and afters from today. The befores are all SOOC RAW files, all I've done is convert them to jpg for posting. This one was over and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have recovered the highlights like this if it wasn't RAW. It's had the exposure fixed, the colour corrected, cropped slightly and a sharpen. This one is obviously under exposed. If I'd corrected this on a jpg, it would have come up super noisy. It's had the exposure corrected, a bit of fill light and a sharpen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Today I shot down at the refuge, which I do once a week. I always want my edits to be minimal, so I can get them back to the refuge as soon as possible and get on with my other work. The trouble is, the cattery has lots of different sections of light and if you've ever tried to photograph a cat, you'll know how much harder it is compared to a dog. I tend to wait for them to settle and just follow them around until I get the shot, except sometimes I don't change my settings in time and will get over and under exposed images. These are before and afters from today. The befores are all SOOC RAW files, all I've done is convert them to jpg for posting. This one was over and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have recovered the highlights like this if it wasn't RAW. It's had the exposure fixed, the colour corrected, cropped slightly and a sharpen. This one is obviously under exposed. If I'd corrected this on a jpg, it would have come up super noisy. It's had the exposure corrected, a bit of fill light and a sharpen. so Huga is that all done in lightroom, or do you do the fill light etc in photoshop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 All LR, besides the sharpen :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hmmmmm I sure could use that fill light :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Fill light is great for dark animals or those with dark faces (hello, Lola). And for funsies, one that was taken much further than normal - it was entered into the APPAs last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 You could always just download the 30 day trial and see if you like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) You could always just download the 30 day trial and see if you like it? Where do I go to do that? I need moron simple instructions. 's OK, found it. I'll have to wait until next month, my computer's too slow at the moment. Edited January 29, 2014 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Flying Furball Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) Thanks guys for all your info and opinions. I might look at the Lightroom price for students as I am still a student this year. I am amzed now how many photos I am taking once I get going...so now to dive into the editing side too. Huga I like your editing style too and following you on Flickr loved one of your recent kitty shots... They always look clean and as if you mess with them minimally! I need to look for the raw switch on my Nikon! Tdierkx I shoot the animals in Sports too Edited January 29, 2014 by Flying Furball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Well - I went out to the local mini lake and set the camera to RAW+JPG... boy that eats a LOT of your card, and is a lot slower transferring the huge RAW files from the camera to the card! 295 photos later, and I really can't see too much difference between the RAW images and the JPG ones... and have no idea what I should be looking at adjusting on the RAW ones anyways... HELP! I really need a complete idiot's guide as to what to do with DPP... *sigh* I was shooting in the Sport preset as I was trying mainly for birds in flight or moving... have quite a few really blurry ones that even editing won't be able to save, but that's OK... I have plenty of pretty nice ones too. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) Editing will never be able to save anything that's out of focus or fix motion blur. RAW files will look crappier than jpgs. They are raw, they need processing :) They will look softer and more dull, because when the camera creates a jpg, it sharpens and adds contrast, throwing away info that RAW keeps - which is why they can be manipulated further. Again, not a big deal at all unless you need all the info there to begin with. Edited January 29, 2014 by huga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 So - for the decent photos I have in RAW, what should I be looking at in the editing phase to make them really "pop"? T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 what should I be looking at in the editing phase to make them really "pop"? from a non tech person ? experiment !! open teh pic - save a copy .. and move sliders etc to your heart's content - see what happens!! IMO it depends on what's lacking - usually some detail ...BUT don't rush for a sharpen tool , as some missing detail can often appear when contrast /lighting is at its best ; after all light & shadow is what creates texture, etc :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Haha! The only editing I currently do is a bit of contrast and maybe a little sharpening... I might look into obtaining a "free" copy of Sagelight... it looks less scary than Photoshop (I have CS4 here somewhere... err!) T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumCorner Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) So everyone ends up buying a program...is that the general gist if you are serious about photography? Yes and yes. I think it has to be. Although the definition of "serious" can get a bit woolly - just like all the nonsense talk about whether a photographer is or is not a professional. It is a case of you get what you pay for. Shooting in Raw then processing via lightroom and photoshop is generally considered the best of the best, there's no argument against that. Doesn't mean cheaper programs cannot give lovely results. Or that jpeg cannot cut it. Good though to be aware of the differences when making choices. Tdierikx, if you have CS4, try to get hold of a couple of the Scott Kelby books to flick through, he keeps it simple and doesn't rely on "prior knowledge" of basic steps. Perseph I love your edits using SageLight, and I did get around to buying it, but need to motivate myself to use it more. I do like that it edits in Raw and automatically keeps the original, just need as you said to sit down and use it more. Edit for identity error, sorry FF that was td's post. Edited January 30, 2014 by PossumCorner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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