File type, Post Processing?

[Dan - 99 TA]

So are you shooting in RAW or JPG?

Also what software are you using to do your post processing? What typically are you doing or adjusting when processing?

Are you using presets in photoshop or lightroom? If so, are they custom?

can you post before and after processing photos and let us know what it was you did?

Thanks

[OUTLAW PHOTO]

For me, I shoot j-peg. Processing done in CS3. I try to do as little as possible. Depends on the day (clouds,overcast,sunshine,night) but I generally batch process everything. Nothing is preset do to differant conditions.

[TMC]

I posted this shot earlier in the non-automotive topic so I'll break it down for you here.

First, I shoot RAW 99% of the time as I did here. I use lightroom as my raw converter and generally don't even open pictures in PS unless more work is needed/wanted. I do use presets in LR, both the supplied and custom presets because using them speeds up my processing time. I can always go back and tweak the changes that were made by the preset so your not stuck with exactly what is there, it's just a starting point.

Also, this shot has more work done than most would but it needed it. For most shots my main concerns are exposure, WB, contrast, and saturation adjustments as required. I mostly use the lightroom default sharpening settings unless I'm looking for something in particular.

Info for this particlular shot:

The day was overcast and being Jan the foliage was pretty dead and brown without much pop, as can be seen in the original.

Canon 1D mkII
Sigma 50mm f1.4

Manual exposure settings of 1/13, f14, ISO 100
auto WB

the original - lightroom default settings
http://carterimaging.smugmug.com/photos/473804405_qRc7x-M.jpg

post processed shot

http://carterimaging.smugmug.com/photos/473804410_oQxie-M.jpg

conversion adjustments to bring out some color - exposure +.67, vibrance +40, Saturation +10

split tones adjusted to add a little blue hue to the water and sky, also helped bring a touch of detail to the sky.

medium amount of vignette added to bring attention to the water and trees at the top that had more color than the edges.

[TMC]

Here is a more typical edit for me. Not really much difference between the two, but if I needed to I could.

This was shot for a corporate news letter. Luckily it was going to be a reletively small print because this was the shoot that I found out my camera was back focusing, BADLY. Most of my shots in this setting were useless because of the camera issue but this and a few others were fine for the smallish picture that would be used.


camera info:

Canon 1Ds mkII
Canon 85mm f1.8

Manual exposure settings of 1/80th, f2.2, ISO 1250, manual WB setting off a grey card. no flash

original - LR defaults
http://carterimaging.smugmug.com/photos/473829455_mmQ7C-L.jpg

post process adjustments in LR - contrast +39, highlight recovery +51, clarity, +10, vibrance +8

I also added a touch of extra sharpening trying to save this shot since is was a little out of focus.
http://carterimaging.smugmug.com/photos/473829453_ZQxpN-L.jpg

Oh yes, and $311 later Canon had that camera all fixed up! That really hurt!

[Tim Adams]

Remember that Lightroom and PS use the exact same RAW converter, only the sliders are different.

[shiney]

i only shoot in raw, the file contains so much more iq that way. if i want to turn it into an hdr or do really wierd stuff with it later down the road i can. the options are endless.

besides that when i open all the raw files i open them in lightroom 2, in lightroom its a lot easier to go through and zoom in on the pictures and thats typically where i choose the ones i like and then click on the develop tab and slide away. after that i transfer the file to ps3 where i add whatever text and or border, and whatever small touchups i want burn tool etc.