workflow & RAW
all the best
Roy
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#1. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 0
esantos Nikonian since 10th Nov 2002Thu 11-Nov-04 09:55 AMMost people shooting in RAW (NEF) do so in order to take full advantage of the editing capabilities in post process. This is for critical work and when white balance, exposure, and tone must be spot on. It also gives you the benefit of allowing wide image adjustments without damaging the image data (within reasonable limits).
For famliy snapshots and when file size is a concern it may be better to shoot in a compressed format like jpeg. You lose the ability to make certain adjustments like white balance but you benefit from image portability and less required post processing.
I shoot primarily in NEF and use Adobe RAW Converter in Photoshop CS to adjust my images to get me about 90-95% "there". Then a few minor adjustments in Photoshop and saving as a layered PSD file completes my workflow.
I would say the two most important adjustments that you have at your disposal in NEF is white balance and exposure. These two alone can save a lot of bad shots that otherwise would be difficult to correct in Photoshop.
Ernesto Santos
esartprints.com Ernesto Santos Photography
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#2. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 1
bobj Charter MemberThu 11-Nov-04 10:08 AMDitto.
Bob Johnson
Earthbound Light
Nature Photography from the Pacific Northwest and beyond
http://www.earthboundlight.com - lots of new images!!
Bob Johnson - Earthbound Light
Nature Photography from the Pacific Northwest and beyond-
#3. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 2
archivue Registered since 26th Mar 2002Thu 11-Nov-04 10:19 AMDitto too...
I would just add that coming from film "culture", I tend to shoot only in NEF (RAW) in the "negative" spirit, I then "enlarge" a print through PS... I file (burn) the negatives and not the prints, unless in a final use format (web, printing, etc..)!
Jacques
"Architecture and Photography are following the same goal ... To sculpt with light !"
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#8. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 2
Brian Heminger Registered since 08th Dec 2002Sat 13-Nov-04 06:57 PM
ditto, ditto...
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"You never know what's around the next bend in the road..."
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#4. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 0
#5. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 0
I save edited files as layered TIFF for industry compatibility replacing the original NEF file as I do so. Eventually I back up the original folders now composed solely of TIFFs to DVD. All the time, i'm maintaining consistent file-naming.
So far so good. It all begins to fall down now, because I'm finding that I need files for different purposes and keeping track of things from there is difficult. There's only so much that can be done with aliases & I think I could do with a program like iView Media Pro to manage my images with less bother.
Well that's me. I'm UK based too. I don't mind helping out, but you might find yourself helping me out as much as I do you!
Andy
#6. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 0
1. I shoot almost everything in RAW (NEF). Only time I don’t is if I’m going to run out of room on the card.
2. Like others above, I use Adobe Camera Raw to adjust primarily white balance and exposure. I’d rather underexpose slightly when shooting instead of risk blowing out highlights.
3. I save the NEF files with the ACR adjustments (in an XMP sidecar file in the folder) to another hard drive or CD or DVD as backups of the original “negative”.
4. Then, as I do the final tweaking on an image in Photoshop (using adjustment layers), I save the result, with the layers, but before sharpening or sizing, as a PSD file. If I’m going to print it, I’ll add a layer set containing tweaks for the type of paper I’m going to use. This lets me later turn off that layer set and create a different one if I choose to print on a different type of paper. Doing the adjustments in saved layers lets me go back and further tweak the file once I’ve stared at a print of it for awhile, or as I learn more techniques.
5. If I’m printing it, I’ll re-size to the print size and save that as a separate layered file. If I don’t do that and I later choose to print as a different size, I may have cropped to the wrong aspect ratio.
6. Sharpening is the last step before printing. In theory, I should save the sharpened file as a new version, because I may use the file for some other purpose later (e.g., for the Web) and find the sharpening is wrong for that purpose. But I usually just save and worry about that later.
Anyway, this is my work-in-progress plan for what I might consider important pictures. If I’ve got a bunch of snapshots I want to print off quickly as 4x6’s to give to the family, I usually shortcut all the savings of layers, etc., and use batching and actions to adjust, re-size, sharpen, and then save as a separate file just for that 4x6 print.
Doug G.
Doug G
#7. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 0
1. I use Bibble 4.0 to convert from NEF fo TIF, cropping and adjusting white balance and exposure with Bibble. From my experience, the Bibble raw converter is by far the best, significantly better than Adobe's and Nikon's (and also C1's). It is also very elegant and powerful to use.
2. I then use Photoshop for fine tuning the image, using pre-sharpening, layers, resizing for printing and final sharpening for printing. I set up a calibrated workflow within Photoshop, using appripriate ICC profiles (from Epson) for the 2 Epson papers that I use (Archival or Enhanced Matte and Premium Semi Gloss).
Shooting in raw has the advantage of being able to restart the process at any time in the future for small image adjustments, without interfering with previous work. It also provides by far the best images in the end.
I am not in the UK, but in Portugal, but I will be happy to interact with you if you wish.
Jose Salcedo
http://homepage.mac.com/ja_person/album/
Best regards,
Jose Salcedo
http://tinyurl.com/mx9x77
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#9. "RE: workflow & RAW" | In response to Reply # 7
mgsylvestre Registered since 27th Jan 2003Mon 15-Nov-04 03:11 PMThe only reason not to shoot raw I can think of is that the files are larger than JPEG and the dowload time to the card is therefore slower. Everything else is a reason to shoot raw and to forget about shooting JPEGs. (Don't shoot TIFF, the files are even larger than RAW, there is no quality advantage and you loose a lot of flexibility).
One of the limiting factor was CF cards which used to be slow and very expensive.
Considering the availability of fast CF cards with large capacities at reasonable prices, the availability of devices to dowload the files from the card in the field (meaning you only need one or two of those cards) and the availability of larger and larger drives at lower and lower prices, there is no longer any reason to shoot in any other file format.
IMHO, it makes little sense to pay a lot of money for an advanced digital camera and to ignore one of its most useful and powerful feature!
Regards,
Michel G. Sylvestre
Nikonian from Montréal, Canada
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G
How many of you take your shots in RAW format, just wondering who uses what formats. If you use RAW then what workflow you using and is there anyone out there from the UK who may be able to provide some 1 to 1 support ?
thanks Roy