Digital workflow and post-production processing...CS6 extended $1390 CS6 student $185 Lightroom $180...

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Digital workflow and post-production

processing

Colin WhiteWanneroo 2013

Shooting/processing goals -what makes a good image?

• Contrast - light against dark, sharp against blurred.

• Position and direction - rule of thirds, use of space

• Patterns - leading lines, shapes, colours

© Copyright Colin White

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Workflow best practice

• Camera - shoot in RAW (+ JPEG for quick results)

• Storage - Label, back up and store separately RAW files each day - laptop plus portable hard drive (cloud if jpeg)

• Process to web or print image

Camera

sensorLight RAW

JPEG

Processor adjustable

Computer

Post-production

Post production workflow

Original RAW or JPEG

Add metadata

Storage

Process

Output

WebPrintsBooks

PhotoshopLightroom

Capture OneAperturePicasa


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CS6 extended $1390CS6 student $185Lightroom $180

PS Elements 11 $130-190Capture One Pro 7 $299

Picasa $0Nik Software full collection $149

Processing for impact• KISS

• Straighten and crop to optimise the position or shape of key elements

• Adjust exposure range to highlight the key element

• Erase and/or reduce the impact of distractions with dodge and burn techniques

Image editing - 2 levels

• Level 1. Simple correction of exposure, contrast or white balance - old dark room

• Level 2. Manipulating elements to enhance the image or to create a completely new image. This involves digital manipulation, of which photoshop is king


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Photoshop adjustments

•Simple - whole image

• Adjust exposure, contrast, white balance

• Crop, straighten, sharpen

•Complex - parts of image

• Layers

• Selecting, adding, deleting, adjusting individual elements


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The main reason images are rejected is the presence of distracting elements


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Examples of simple adjustments using

RAW converter and photoshop on night

shots

Night shots are difficult because they

often have a high dynamic range

To get the correct exposure for the tower, the overall image was underexposed and the

flash was too weak


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Adjustexposure

Buildings are not straight, underexposed with dynamic range wider than the sensor

Dynamic range• Ratio between black (no light detected) and white (sensor saturated with light)

• Digital cameras have a dynamic range of about 1000 (10 f-stops). The human eye can detect a range of 1 million, or about 20 f-stops

• Size counts. Large detectors have less ‘noise’ and so a wider dynamic range. D3S iso 12,800

• Night shooting poses special problems with dynamic range. One solution is take multiple exposures and use HDR


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0 (black) 255 (white)

Buildings are not straight, underexposed with dynamic range wider than the sensor

Straighten, adjust exposure


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Converging lines, blown out areas

Straighten, adjust exposure

Underexposed areas, not straight


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Adjust exposure, straighten

Daylight and portrait adjustments

presence of distracting elements


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Cropand

blur thebackground

crop, vignette

Lack of contrast, key element not highlighted


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Vignette, increased contrast, sharpened

low contrast


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too many distractions

Crop, clone out and burn distracting highlights

High level photoshop -Art vs photography• Artists work with a blank canvas and

add light, elements and colours in patterns they wish you to see

• Photographers generally work with a cluttered world and remove, by framing or in the digital darkroom, unwanted (distracting) elements from the image.

• The advent of digital imagery and software such as photoshop has blurred the boundaries between art and photography


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Photography as art

• Start with a blank canvas

• Add elements to create an image

Example - create an image that

demonstrates “smoke and mirrors”


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Uncorrected raw files - image 1

Uncorrected raw files - image 2

Background wall


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Mirror frame

Mirror content


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Unlimited imagery- use of green screen

subject

Background


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Dave drives to work

Photoshop add-ins

• Add-ins such as Nik software (now from Google) can offer an easier route to using the power of Photoshop.

Consider panoramas


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Stitch with photoshop or PTGui

Add some clouds

Remove distractions, selectively adjust exposure


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Mono

starting point

Summary• Shoot in raw (+jpeg if you are in a

hurry)

• RAW images require some form of manipulation before printing or displaying on the web.

• KISS. Cropping, sharpening and adjustment of contrast and exposure are usually sufficient. These can be done using a range of software

• For complex adjustments, use Photoshop


Digital workflow and post-production processing...CS6 extended $1390 CS6 student $185 Lightroom $180...

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Transcript of Digital workflow and post-production processing...CS6 extended $1390 CS6 student $185 Lightroom $180...