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02-21-2012, 08:52 AM   #1
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What sort of post-processing do you typically do?

Hi all,
Not sure if this is a sensible question or not because it may be too vague, but here goes. As background, I'm familiar with using programs like Irfanview to crop images, rescale/resize, apply default color correction. I've also done work with Gimp fixing images at a pixel level (not often - and more for a badly scanned image someone gave me.)

What I'm curious about is what sort of corrections and modifications do you find you routinely apply to images? Do you find you selectively tune one of the color channels? Do you find that default color enhancements as picked by whatever program do a good job, or do you rarely use them? What is you typical goal in correcting an image - making the colors more vivid, the image sharper or less sharp, smoothing skin tones, or something else altogether? Do you regularly only edit a subset of the image, or mainly apply changes to the whole picture? Do you find you might apply two very different sets of corrections to a single starting image in order to create final images with different artistic feels to them?

Thanks,
Marc

02-21-2012, 09:10 AM   #2
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As little as possible, crop or rotate image, maybe selective saturation, a curves adjustment, and a final sharpen because I shoot entirely in RAW. Copy save original and then resize for web or Flickr.
02-21-2012, 09:20 AM - 1 Like   #3
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In my case, it all depends on what kind of photography I am doing, usually for landscape photography I like my colors to look vivid and saturated (Fuji Velvia anyone?), I also do a lot of adjustments to allow for the most dynamic range possible, sometimes that even means I may blend 2 or 3 images together in Photoshop using luminosity masks (although most of the times the use of grad filters saves me from having to do this very often). Contrast, highlight recovery, shadow fill is what I adjust the most in LR for this type of photography. Sharpness is also a big deal so a considerable time is taken to ensure maximum sharpness. Adjustments are pretty balanced in the sense that I apply as much local adjustments as overall adjustments.

For social and event photography, I go instead for more subdued colors to keep skin tones as accurate as possible, a lot of the times I have to shoot at high ISO, so noise reduction is important in this workflow. When shooting formals I take the time to remove blemishes and to soften the skin slightly (but not too much). Here I mainly focus on overall adjustments, although sometimes local adjustments are necesary

For comercial and fashion, consistent WB is a must, as well as sharpness, so that takes time in my workflow, for fashion the skin must look absolutely perfect so skin retouching is what takes the most time during processing, all done in Photoshop. Most of the adjustments are local adjustments.

That is in a (very small) nutshell how my processing is focused. My workflow varies depending on the type of photography I'm doing. This of course all depends on the planning and execution of the photos. If done properly, it'll save you lots of work in post.
02-21-2012, 09:36 AM   #4
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Let me start by saying my photography is characterized more by enthusiasm than skill (in all phases--including pp) My photos almost always get a bit of tweaking: exposure, contrast & sharpening. Since I'm not a very disciplined shooter (I try--really I do) I often have to correct white balance &/or adjust shadows/highlights. Also, because I often shoot in low light and generally eschew flash, I often have to do a fair amount of noise reduction. I use FastStone, PSE, and Topaz tools in an arcane and inefficient workflow. With the exception of cloning touch-ups, all my adjustments are applied to the whole image. And yes, I will occasionally do multiple versions of the same image--most commonly, color & B&W--but generally settle on one as the finished product.

02-21-2012, 09:52 AM   #5
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As little as possible. Mostly fixing underexposed shots when required. Occasionally I'll try to sharpen images or shift color if I think it's beneficial. I'm a noob to the RAW universe, though, and noise reduction methods. I do find when cropping long-range shots it's better to use the RAW and manipulate there. Frequently, though, the JPG is usable as-is from the K-5.
02-21-2012, 09:53 AM   #6
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Import RAWs into Lightroom, using Dates for folders
Using the Library apply star rating to good images, delete bad images
If its a HDR or Panorama I export the group of images to TIFF
Do any external processing on HDr/Panoramas and import resulting TIFF back into Lightroom
Then into Develop module
Apply a star rating Filter (3 star or higher only get developed)
Crop and/or Rotate to ensure horizons are level
Fiddle with the basic sliders (Exposure/Fill/Recovery/Clarity/Vibrance) and maybe the Black & White button
If the white balance looks out I adjust that
If its shot with the 10-20mm I usually apply some Vertical distortion correction
If its high ISO I apply some noise reduction
If its soft I might change the default sharpening, usually I do not
If it has any dust spots or something really easy to fix with the Heal brush I do that
Export all images (with filter still applied) to Web JPG (1280px max)
Export any images I want in larger JPG to 1920px and full size JPG
Done!

Last edited by jezza323; 02-21-2012 at 11:12 AM.
02-21-2012, 10:10 AM   #7
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OP, don't even know what all that is. Just trying to figure out Lightroom. So far just contrast and tones. Don't even know how to crop. But even if I was great at Pshop, I am not one to assemble fake photos. I prefer real photography more so over artisitc make ups.

Same thing with movies. All this fake unrealistic crap is a turn off.

02-21-2012, 10:40 AM   #8
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First, I calibrate my monitor. This is important.

Then, in Photshop Elements 8, I stick the card in my PC and import.
Catalog by keyword
Delete the really crappy ones
One by one, open in Adobe Camera RAW, check WB, adjust for levels (highlight/shadow clipping) and noise reduction as needed
Open in the Elements Editor, make a curves adjustment (layer and adjust sky if necessary). Correct any perspective, barrel, or pincushion distortion. Unsharp Mask. Save as jpg.
Repeat.
Go back, cull some more.
Stare at a few for a while, decide I don't like the way a shadow or highlight area looks. Try again.
Look at the photos I think don't suck - around 5-10% of what I started with - and upload about half of those to smugmug.
Drink whisky.

You can move that last step up a few spots if necessary.
02-21-2012, 10:51 AM   #9
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Okay, I'll put Drink Whisky first. Happy to share one with you too.

After that can you elaborate on a couple of steps - what do you use to calibrate the monitor (although I'm sure this has been covered in other posts). When you check for white balance (WB) what are you looking for? When you adjust for levels and noise reduction, is that to find something that is more pleasing to the eye, or are there specific targets - specifically for the highlight/shadow clipping?


QuoteOriginally posted by grainbelt Quote
First, I calibrate my monitor. This is important.

Then, in Photshop Elements 8, I stick the card in my PC and import.
Catalog by keyword
Delete the really crappy ones
One by one, open in Adobe Camera RAW, check WB, adjust for levels (highlight/shadow clipping) and noise reduction as needed
Open in the Elements Editor, make a curves adjustment (layer and adjust sky if necessary). Correct any perspective, barrel, or pincushion distortion. Unsharp Mask. Save as jpg.
Repeat.
Go back, cull some more.
Stare at a few for a while, decide I don't like the way a shadow or highlight area looks. Try again.
Look at the photos I think don't suck - around 5-10% of what I started with - and upload about half of those to smugmug.
Drink whisky.

You can move that last step up a few spots if necessary.
02-21-2012, 10:56 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by snappychappy Quote
As little as possible, crop or rotate image, maybe selective saturation, a curves adjustment, and a final sharpen because I shoot entirely in RAW. Copy save original and then resize for web or Flickr.
Yep.

QuoteOriginally posted by TER-OR Quote
As little as possible. Mostly fixing underexposed shots when required. Occasionally I'll try to sharpen images or shift color if I think it's beneficial. I'm a noob to the RAW universe, though, and noise reduction methods. I do find when cropping long-range shots it's better to use the RAW and manipulate there. Frequently, though, the JPG is usable as-is from the K-5.
Yep.

Basically, as little as possible.
02-21-2012, 11:48 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by MSL Quote
Okay, I'll put Drink Whisky first. Happy to share one with you too.

After that can you elaborate on a couple of steps - what do you use to calibrate the monitor (although I'm sure this has been covered in other posts). When you check for white balance (WB) what are you looking for? When you adjust for levels and noise reduction, is that to find something that is more pleasing to the eye, or are there specific targets - specifically for the highlight/shadow clipping?

I use the Pantone HueyPro to calibrate my monitor. It plugs in via USB, and after taking a reading of interior light levels, you suction cup it to the monitor. The software directs the monitor to show varying levels of white, gray, and black, then red, blue and green, which the little suction cupped sensor 'sees'. The software then sets the color, contrast, and brightness, and white balance of the monitor. There are various calibration tools on the market, and I'm sure there is a thread here listing them somewhere.

I tend to use custom white balance when I can, and the in-camera presets when applicable. If I completely screw up the white balance in-camera, I'll use a preset in Adobe Camera RAW as the baseline, or use the dropper on a neutral (white or black) part of the scene and tweak from there. I'm typically looking for any suspect green or purple cast to the scene, and if there are people involved, I'm looking at skin tones.

Adjusting for levels has to do with maximizing the dynamic range of the image. On dreary, low-contrast days, I'm making shadows darker and highlights brighter. In high-contrast images, I'm trying to lighten the shadows and darken the highlights to capture as much detail as possible. Sometimes getting the best exposure for the subject will clip some background highlights or shadows, and there is nothing you can do.

Noise reduction is primarily to taste. Any noise that is left in the image may end up being enhanced when I sharpen the image later, so I try to reduce as much as I can without losing detail.

Below is an example of an image I tried to take at sunset, of a lighthouse, a park light, and a park bench. Tried really hard in camera to preserve as much shadow detail as possible without blowing out the sky.

In the As-Shot RAW image you can see by the Histogram that I barely kept the shadow detail and still blew out some of the highlights. The red channel is clipped.



Using the 'Recovery' tool (which darkens highlights) I was able to bring that back down. The 'Fill Light' tool brought up some shadow detail. I believe I also set the white balance off the sailboat, as the preset for 'cloudy' was too red for my liking.



And here is the final image after a slight crop/leveling of the horizon and a curves adjustment.




There are times that a JPG will give an accurate, detailed rendering of the scene. When the light is more challenging, I am always very glad to have the RAW file to work with.

I don't buy the 'I don't like to manipulate images' argument with regard to processing RAW files. Trusting the JPG settings of the camera to perform the JPG conversion simplifies things, but it doesn't make one any more accurate than the other. In fact, nothing that I did above would keep that image from being printed in a newspaper - it is all the digital equivalent of working in the darkroom.
02-21-2012, 11:51 AM   #12
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I spend a lot of time post processing. I shoot RAW so I have to do some PP anyway. I use Lightroom for 95% of processing. I crop, adjust WB if necessary, adjust contrast, adjust color if necessary, sharpen, and noise reduction (if necessary).

I'd like to get good enough to just shoot jpg and let it fly. LOL! But I find RAW is a nice security blanket and I love having that extra bit of control over the final product.
02-21-2012, 12:05 PM   #13
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If nothing else I make sure the horizon is level when it should be - especially water shots.

I usually bump the contrast a little. Crop if beneficial.

Check for distracting items that can be cloned out - like strollers and orange traffic cones...
02-21-2012, 12:36 PM   #14
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Fabulous forum, much to learn here...thanks to ALL for your help!

Never thought about calibrating the monitor. Will have to add that to the list of 'need to learns'.

Is it important to calibrate if I'm only doing BW?

Last edited by slackercruster; 02-21-2012 at 12:42 PM.
02-21-2012, 12:50 PM   #15
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BAsicly B&W conversion, not much more
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