Post-processing for dummies
Find my pix on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishops/
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#1. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 0
mfphoto1 Registered since 29th Oct 2005Tue 19-Jun-12 05:19 PMI hardly ever go all the way into Photoshop anymore, most of what I need to be can be done in camera raw."Step into my world and see as I see"
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#3. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 0
esantos Nikonian since 10th Nov 2002Thu 21-Jun-12 10:41 AMI think you mean FastStone.Ernesto Santos
esartprints.com Ernesto Santos Photography
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#4. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 3
Shy Talk Registered since 12th Jun 2010Sat 23-Jun-12 03:14 PMEnesto
Indeed I did. Thanks.Find my pix on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishops/
my Nikonians gallery is here. https://images.nikonians.org/galleries/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/330319
Visit my Nikonians gallery.[/p-
#5. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 4
Shy Talk Registered since 12th Jun 2010Wed 18-Jul-12 09:25 PMI've started a file called 'Keepers' for my best pix.
I did a little pp on all of these (cropping, straightening, bit of sharpening etc. using fasttone).
After doing so, I was checking I'd filed the pix correctly, and as Nikon view is my main filing program, I saw the pix in Nikon View and Fastone.
The fastone pix were noticably better. Much better even.
What gives?
I'm planning on scrubbing Nikon view.Find my pix on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishops/
my Nikonians gallery is here. https://images.nikonians.org/galleries/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/330319
Visit my Nikonians gallery.[/p-
#6. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 5
KolinP Nikonian since 12th May 2006Thu 19-Jul-12 12:18 AM | edited Thu 19-Jul-12 12:21 AM by KolinPI also like some of FastStone's editing options, admittedly only on JPGs and TIFs, even though I mainly use NX2 and DxO Optics Pro!
The ability to use FastStone's "Adjust Lighting" tool simply and cleanly to recover lost shadow detail (in many cases) is remarkable, and very satisfying!
> The fastone pix were noticably better. Much better even.
> What gives?
I'd predict that given some extra time on those pictures in the "beefier" editing programs with their (mainly) more complex and versatile tools, you could get equally good-looking pictures - eventually
I admit that I too have used FastStone occasionally to knock-out some quick and ready-to-go versions of my sRGB JPGs, but beware that when you save an edited file from FastStone it discards a lot of the (usually) valuable EXIF and Nikon metadata that was in the original file. And it entirely omits the original XMP data-block in the output file.
The most crucial bits of data that FastStone discards are IMO the colour profile (whether it was sRGB or Adobe-RGB) and also the EXIF White Balance values! So your FastStone-edited pictures will only ever look properly rendered in applications that 'default' to the sRGB colour space. This might not be a problem ... in the short term.
It's often possible to use other programs to re-inject some of that lost metadata back into an image, but that's a bit of a black art, best used only in emergencies!
I'd also beware of the FastStone Viewer-screen's option to "Smooth" our images while viewed at less than full-zoom, as it can give an illusion of "quality" which is alluring, but (of course) false.
Once again, sigh ... there's no free lunch!! But at a cost of $0.00, FastStone is definitely worth having in my toolkit - and worth donating a few dollars to!
Colin P.
(I have no connection to FastStone except as a satisfied user.)
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Staying busy is easy. Setting priorities is harder!
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#7. "RE: Post-processing for dummies" | In response to Reply # 6
KolinP Nikonian since 12th May 2006Sat 21-Jul-12 02:15 AMApologies for "replying" to my own post ... but where I had said the following in my reply above ...
>The most crucial bits of data that FastStone discards are IMO the colour profile (whether it was sRGB or Adobe-RGB) (....)
Sorry ... but this isn't altogether accurate !!!
The following correction will be - to most Nikonians - only of academic interest, but I owe it to us all to try to clarify what I stated (mostly in error) about this still widely used and useful program, FastStone Image Viewer.
If you never use FastStone Image Viewer then please do skip all of what follows!!
I stated above that when we used FastStone to edit an image and then saved the edited file to disc, it (FastStone) discarded the "crucially important" ICC colour profile - but after I'd made some further checks, the apparent "presence" or absence of the ICC profile in those saved files actually depends a lot on which program we use afterwards to view the edited files!
Perhaps I might be forgiven for this goof, given the complexity of the EXIF format, but I had based my partially-correct assumption above (about the discarded ICC profile) on the following evidence:
1. My 'alternative' image viewer program, Picture Information Extractor (PIE), shows the "Color Space" field as absent in a file that was opened in FastStone originally as a .TIF file and which was then saved from FastStone as a .JPG file.
2. When I load a FastStone-edited image file into Capture NX2, then NX2 will perceive the ICC profile as 'missing' and will therefore assign the Default Color Space that is set in Edit | Preference | Management | Default RGB Color Space.
3. When viewing the EXIF Data for a FastStone-edited image file in GeoSetter (version 3.4.16 (Build 2119), working with ExifTool version 8.96) GeoSetter's EXIF table shows the EXIF Tag numbered 0x001E "Color Space" as absent (not 'empty', but simply not present in the file). (This 0x001E "Color Space" Tag is different from the 0xA001 "Color Space" Tag, which when it's present at all, will contain either "Uncalibrated" when there's an Adobe RGB profile present, or "sRGB", if the embedded profile is actually an 'sRGB' profile).
These occasional "peeks inside" my edited files, spanning many months trying to find what worked and what didn't work in my still-maturing colour-managed workflow, were the reason why I had presumed that FastStone Image Viewer always discarded the ICC profile when it saved an edited image.
However, yesterday I downloaded a trial copy of Qimage Ultimate (which I trust most readers know to be a respected and mature piece of software), and I see that it quite happily found an embedded Adobe RGB profile inside one of the example "FastStone edited" files that I'd used to justify my first reply to this post!!! So the ICC profile was NOT always being discarded by FastStone!
(Qimage reports very clearly and unambiguously which (if any) ICC profile exists in each image file.)
So ... while it's obvious that this whole ICC profile thing is torturously tangled, the FastStone + ICC profile situation isn't as clear-cut as I'd implied it was, and I apologise to FastStone for giving an incomplete and partially-wrong impression about it.
Colin P.
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Staying busy is easy. Setting priorities is harder!
A doorway to my other photo sites
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Couple the above two traits with general lack of computer literacy and, well...you get the idea.
Revelation!
A chum suggested FirstStone 4.6 as we were dicussing shooting in RAW.
I'm amazed how easy it is to use, even for a half-wit.
Sharpening: ( an utter revalation on its own). Most pix benefit from it.
Crop and heal: Fab. I've spent time making annoying backgound poles, benches and people vanish from my pix.
Straighten: easy peasy.
Cropping: easy again.
If you're unsure about pp'ing, get this prog. It's free (but I'm going to give them something if they ask). There's probably better , more sophisticated progs available, but I'll be sticking with this one.
I've got photoshop, but can't work it. Maybe one day.....
This is a great intro into pping, and for many, might be all you'll ever need.
FREE.