Intro
I had a decent search to see if such a club/page exists here for people wanting to share their SOOCs from whatever camera they like really (Canikony's are welcome!). I've been playing with Jpg a lot more recently, by doing so we can get navigate some of the pitfalls that many of the Pentax cameras suffer, such as vastly improved buffers. More than that however, if you get things looking great on the back of the camera then if you do take the image off for some proper post processing then typically I spend far less time tweaking the image. Getting it right in camera is always preferable whichever way you look at it.
My own personal journey with photography has seemingly been the opposite to many. I never started off shooting Jpg, not once, not ever. From the first dlsr I ever owned (K-50) I was shooting RAW, and I was very inexperienced. I shot this way however because everything I had ever read about RAW vs Jpg was that you have more room to breathe with a RAW edit and mistakes easier salvageable. It's only 2-3yrs in shooting more professionally have I actually started to have the guts to shoot some shots in Jpg (because I believe I have gotten to know my camera really well and tend to make less rookie mistakes at the time of the shot). I find it quite bizarre that the opposite seems to be very common place, newbies are scared to shoot RAW (don't know what it is) and use Jpgs instead, perhaps not realising they are actually hampering themselves somewhat. I personally believe that editing RAWs teaches you a lot, I think perhaps more than editing Jpgs...
But anyway...
The Rules (what is going to be accepted as a SOOC?)
I've had a think about this, and I am open to having my mind changed, but I think we may restrict a lot of the entries in this thread if we don't allow one specific post processing (computer based) clean up, Spot Removal. I have taken a few recently and have literally had to scrap the better f8 versions due to dusty sensor or lens at the time of the shoot, and instead be a purist and only submit the f2.8 version (which shows no spots but is not as nice as the f8 version). There was one other shot I took whereby I used a single spot removal to remove a strong blemish that otherwise ruined the shot, so it wasn't to treat a lens/sensor spot but just something very distracting. I think if we allow the use of this external tool then we will see more submissions whereby the shot is 99.999% derived from what the camera can do on it's own, and I think that is really the point. My fear is if we don't allow some Spot Removal in PP we will limit the amount of entries and I think that would be a shame.
I will give you examples;
This shot below is 99% SOOC;
The only distraction was a very bright and out of place white spot on the window that really ruined the tone. It wasn't a reflective droplet, just a stain I think so I took it out as it was really distracting. Everything else was done in camera (KP).
This next shot below is a 100% SOOC, it is however the f2.8 version rather than the superior f8 version (which I have not yet edited in camera or properly tackled in PP software). The f8 version has quite a few distracting lens/dust spots in the sky that really ruin the shot. It's my opinion that we should allow that part in PP so that we can still enjoy the best version of the shot taken and the results where 99% came from the camera. Spot Removal is a 10-20sec fix, something I think hardly sabotages the idea or spirit of SOOC shots;
Like I said, it's just a bit soft because it is the f2.8 version, I'd like to extend others to submitting their SOOCs, their best versions even if it meant for some spot removal.
Having said that I think that's the only exception (unless someone has any other valid ones?). Lens correction, effects and all that stuff can be set up at the time of the shot or after, that's perfectly fine. It could start off as a RAW file and then the Jpg preview of the RAW extracted if you like in camera, and tweaked further in the camera tools, that also is totally fine.
All bordering, vignette, crops etc, all has to be done in camera.
People may find this resource useful;
http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/custom_image/ Shall We Begin?
I'll get the ball rolling...
Last edited by BruceBanner; 09-27-2019 at 07:31 PM.