Post processing images - The final step to getting that awesome click

[izzikio_rage]

A thread to discuss post processing software and techniques. Post processing basically involves taking the image from the camera (jpeg/Raw) and adjusting various settings in a software like lightroom or photoshop. Often a specialist software like Photomatix for making HDR shots or Startrails for getting star trails is also used.

Post processing is almost necessary if you are shooting in RAW, but even if used with a jpeg it allows you to get a shot which has more details than the image that came directly from the camera and is more in line with what you saw or had in mind when taking the shot.

I guess that's a little too much text, so some visual examples of what postprocessing does

*farm4.staticflickr.com/3545/3407679277_3e7b1123f5.jpg
Post Processing - Before and After by marv117, on Flickr

*farm5.staticflickr.com/4126/4966399075_af1babe7eb_z.jpg

*www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/images/HDR.jpg
An HDR shot, although similar effects can also be achieved by processing RAW files.

I guess a lot of people consider post processing, cheating since you are essentially using a computer to change what actually came out of the camera. However every camera will do quite a lot of postprocessing by itself and doing this in a computer just gives you more control over the process.

 

[sujoyp]

ok soo lets start ...I am waiting for your tutorial amlan

 

[harshilsharma63]

subscribed

 

[izzikio_rage]

Editing images

I understand that most of you would be more interested in the very basics of post processing. So a short video on what a typical post processing looks like.

*www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Gh9LYrzp8

Copyright info and keywording

Starting with the slightly boring topic of copyright and key wording of images.

The basics: images store two types of information within the image file. one is your EXIF data, which is mainly the camera settings that were used for the click (ISO, aperture, shutter speed and all), this the camera fills out automatically.

The other part is the IPTC information, this includes things like copyright information, creator name, creator email address, keywords, title and caption. This is very important as it allows your images to be traced back to you if needed. For example, if someone comes across an image that you've allowed your friend to share on his blog, he likes the image and would like to have some more images from the same shoot. The IPTC will tell him who shot the image, whether they see it as a copyrighted thing and their contact details. Granted that for most of us this would be a very rare occurrence but you never know about the status 5-6 years from now.

A more practical use is the title, caption and keywords. Filling these out means that sites like flickr, 500px and all will automatically pick up this information. And even if the image is put up on a blog or a forum it is still searchable using the keywords.

How to do this in Lightroom

Keywording in lightroom : Adding & Editing keywords in Lightroom 4 - YouTube

Adding copyright and creator information to all imported files: Add copyright info in Lightroom - YouTube

 

[sujoyp]

youtube links i want screen shots...ur screen shots

 

[izzikio_rage]

I'm sitting on a crashed hard disk plus I've been going a little easy on the PP for the past few weeks. Still here is the before and after for my latest flickr upload.

Changelist
- Histogram
- lens profile correction (the nex6 stock lens has a lot of distortion and vignetting)
- slight increase in clarity, vibrancy and saturation (to compensate for the increased lighting of the picture)
- Curves (changed it to a more S shape to lose the details in the background and have higher contrast in the image)

That's it I guess, will post a few more when I edit them out.

View attachment 12125

 

[izzikio_rage]

The main advantage of shooting raw is that you have more control over the processing that is normally done by the cam. I have the same issue that Raws are much noisier than the jpeg, but that is only because the camera automatically runs a noise reduction, color correction and saturation process on them when making a jpeg. I would rather do this myself on an image by image basis rather than a one size fits all.

Also raw files generally have a lot more color depth, 12bits compared to the 8 of a jpeg (will confirm the numbers), all that info is lost by the cam if a jpeg is made. And it can make all the difference when shooting a scene with a high range.

So raw is not necessary, i wouldn't want to process all images from a home function for example, but for artistic shots, it may be worth the effort.

 

[sujoyp]

when you have 100 RAW files to edit, I dont think you will ever have enough time to process RAW one by one...and converting RAW file with a created profile is just similar to in camera jpeg creation.
Also RAW file take lots of space ...if I would have saved the RAW file of 1.2 GB pics which I like it will sum up to 4-5GB easily...that too once edited I will never ever touch them again.
And lastly burst speed of RAW file buffer is too limited. my DSLR can take 3.5fps till 8 pics only but can take jpeg by 3.5fps unlimited ...what if I am shooting a bird and go out of buffer in RAW ...opportunity lost.
I agree most professionals shoot RAW to squeeze out max details from the pic...but JPEG are not that bad and retains 80-85% of details.

 

[izzikio_rage]

@sujoy: there is always the option of a batch process. Since all the images will be similar just post process one and batch process the others with the same settings. It's still much better than letting the camera run a default post process on all of them.

I guess most of us feel that as a computer saturated generation we are the first ones who manipulate images to make them better. Check out this like and see how post processing was done way way back in the ero of the film.

How Photos Were Edited in the Darkroom Days | Fstoppers

 

[sujoyp]

ok I will try next time and edit RAW ....lets see how much detail it can extract

 

[izzikio_rage]

Was going through some videos on how to edit raw files, basically bringing out the information that is present in the picture but does not show up untill proper post processing is done. I had this camel picture that I had shot quite some time back and decided to try it out on that. Now this was a bad picture to begin with (one that I would not plan on putting up) but it could be improved by a lot in post. So given a great picture to begin with you can make an amazing amount of difference to what the final image looks like.

*i.imgur.com/jMipabw.jpg

 

[Gen.Libeb]

The only extra thing I prefer in RAW is the white balance correction that can be applied (if you got that wrong). Most other times I prefer to edit jpegs.

 

[sujoyp]

Today I will try to show my process flow of image editing . Guys please dont laugh at it..its too simple

This is the original file

*farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/9831894786_503a4de304_z.jpg
DSC_9088 by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

1.Now I first use Picasa to crop the pic and rectify any tilt in the pic.

*farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/9831841536_53ea9c965d_o.jpg
picasa resize by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

Crop according to ur style, and composition. Dont crop too much or the image will become noisy.

Rectify the tilt
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/9831841946_ba80108265_o.jpg
picasa tilt by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

Correcting the tilt reduces the sharpness. It's better to use it with landscape.

2. Use photoshop to remove any un-necessary things from the image.

*farm6.staticflickr.com/5330/9831842626_2b2a4f515a_o.jpg
photoshop by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

use clone tools to smoothly remove.

Image after removing spider web
*farm4.staticflickr.com/3821/9831853176_9cb07fee45_z.jpg
pic after photoshop by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

3. Now open lightroom and import the pic.

*farm4.staticflickr.com/3666/9831794214_0b5c5329fe_o.jpg
lightroom by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

Go to develop section. And change according to your taste
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/9831824895_fd5d3d7fe4_o.jpg
light sett1 by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

I love warmish looks soo move slider towards yellow temp.
Clarity option is awesome and it really improves the clarity...but notice that it also displays more mistakes in ur pic like bad focussing etc...decreasing clarity make the pic look more dreamy...maybe landscapes will use that.

*farm4.staticflickr.com/3744/9831842476_05708e6682_o.jpg
light set2 by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

Increase the sharpness with caution...sharpness dont make up for poor focusing...and increases the noise.
Now, export the pic from light room . And upload it on flickr, facebook, picasa webalbum, copy.com (my backup of original).

Final Image

*farm8.staticflickr.com/7419/9833573465_e915b8983d_z.jpg
RedGreen by sujoyp, on Flickr
Hope you enjoyed it

here is the pic for comparision

*farm8.staticflickr.com/7305/9832240734_d51858d991_c.jpg
collage by sujoypackrasy, on Flickr

 

[nac]

Thanks for sharing what you do in PP Amlan and Sujoy.

I guess you have compared with RAW and PP image. I would also like to see a comparison of camera processed jpeg with PPed RAW image.

 

[sujoyp]

I shoot in jpeg nac ...I dont shoot in RAW ...for your sake I will shoot something in RAW and compare

 

[izzikio_rage]

I guess you have compared with RAW and PP image. I would also like to see a comparison of camera processed jpeg with PPed RAW image.

For my cam the raw file itself looks pretty decent straight out of the camera. Quite unlike my CHDK modded Sx120 and some of the DSLRs I've seen. I'm not sure that there is a way to do a 1:1 compare of the camera processed jpeg and a PPed raw, will give it a shot though.



Found two articles that I though you all might like. They tell you the advantages of a Raw file over a normal jpeg with some actual examples

Understanding RAW Files Explained
RAW vs JPEG

 

[raja manuel]

If you are only looking to compare an out-of-camera JPG with a processed RAW, there is quite a simple way. As a Canon user I just need to open the RAW file in DPP and load the camera's standard picture style. The result is the same as when the camera bakes the JPG using the same picture style. I can try out any of the 120+ picture styles I have to see how the image would have been if I shot a JPG with that picture style loaded in the camera. I assume that there must be a similar process for other brands.

I would post an example but I would have thought that the camel picture made the same point.

 

[nac]

For my cam the raw file itself looks pretty decent straight out of the camera. Quite unlike my CHDK modded Sx120 and some of the DSLRs I've seen. I'm not sure that there is a way to do a 1:1 compare of the camera processed jpeg and a PPed raw, will give it a shot though.

We can put them both jpeg processed and RAW processed next to each other in PS or Gimp.

I shoot in jpeg nac ...I dont shoot in RAW ...for your sake I will shoot something in RAW and compare

We need to compare RAW processed image vs Jpeg processed image to realize how much we are missing. It would help us to decide whether the extra time you put to process RAW is worth it or not.



I watched few videos around the time I started trying RAW for the first time. I am still trying to mimic what he did in this video to almost all of the photographs (If I do PP in LR) irrespective of the genre.

 

[izzikio_rage]

Comparing Raw and jpeg after post processing

*farm4.staticflickr.com/3722/10001796633_cf9f205842_c.jpg
RAW vs jpeg example by Amlan Mathur, on Flickr

A comparison of what Raw files offer over the normal jpeg file.

Notice the bands formed in the blue of the sky, this is since the jpeg captures less shades of the same color. Similarly there is loss of detail in the clouds on the left and on the details of the stones. This gives a fair idea of the advantage of Raw over jpeg if post processing in going to be done.

I took this shot with the RAW + jpeg option, post processed the Raw to match the processing that the camera normally does and then processed both RAW and jpeg similarly (synced in Light room)

 

[nac]

Top Jpeg - PPed Jpeg
2nd Top - PPed RAW
3rd Top - SOOC Jpeg
4th Top - SOOC RAW

Am I correct here?

And even after the 4th Top, I see few more layers (If I am right, 3 layers), what are they?