RAW Workshop I

Critiques [Translate]

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• red45 (26909)
• [2005-11-09 5:40]

Hi Gerhard!

Amazing note.First part not very usefull for me now [my Canon haven't got RAW] but I'm sure it'll be very usefull for many TNers and for me too after buying dSLR. Photo Shop can make wonders to poor images! Subject is well known but pose is just superb. This is gull which can eat elephant in one piece :-) Great post my friend!

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• ellis49 (28879)
• [2005-11-09 5:55]
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Hi Gerhard,
It's a great picture, and you did a good PP.
Your WS shows very well how Raw-file looks before any PP.
Great and informativ note.
Very well done.

You will have my WS soon.

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• sandpiper2 (11987)
• [2005-11-09 6:17]

Gerhard, this is an amazing result. Especially when you look at the original and final versions side by side (in the workshop for those who haven't looked).
The note is excellent and provides much food for thought. The end result is superb. I am truely amazed that you were able to exract so much detail and sharpness out of the original image. Well done and thanks for sharing this fantastic methodology. Now all I have to do is retire so I have time to play with PS.

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• wallhalla15 (13787)
• [2005-11-09 6:30]

Hello Gerhard, thanks for note Step 1. Great!
This is an excellent Picture. Great colours, excellent sharpness, a very nice composition. Well done. Thanks for posting.

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• marhowie (34803)
• [2005-11-09 7:47]
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Great post Gerhard. You've made a very good point here. Get it in the ballpark to start with ;-) Even shooting raw, I've found this basic fact cannot be escaped. The software should be used to enhance an image. Not pull it out of a hat :-) Makes life a whole lot easier!
Color NR as I understand it is broken into two parts. Luminance noise and Chroma noise. You can target your NR for a certain color range also. I stay away from working in the adobe colorspace..I use the sRGB setting on the camera. I've tried working the adobe colorspace but 95% of the time I screw it up worse! I do use the histogram in DPP to check my photos and sometimes make slight individual color adjustments there.. Since I use the Canon DPP software for raw, and don't have CS 2, I can't really comment on your CS 2 work..
I can tell that I use camera presets of +1 contrast, sharpness and saturation and I think it helps..
BTW - can you send me the link to your photo site..I seem to have deleted it in error :-(
Thank You my friend.

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• dew77 (13069)
• [2005-11-09 10:24]

Hello Gerhard!
Wonderful shot.I liked moment you caught,clear details,POV,framing and composition a lot.TFS..:-)

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• manyee (19880)
• [2005-11-09 10:59]

Great pose, Gerhard. Fantastic timing. Sharpness and light are excellent. This RAW business is way over my head, but I really enjoyed the end result. TFS. : )

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• Nico (1313)
• [2005-11-09 11:25]

I don't understand the technical things, but it is a good photograph. And I just love the warm colours. (My camera is also able to do whatever on RAW, but I do not understand - too ald fashioned I think)

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• Signal-Womb (10966)
• [2005-11-09 12:51]
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Great post Gerhard, and a very informative read. Comparing all three workshops plus the original on screen simultaneously I give my opinion. All three are excellent each with their own strengths. Gert's WS reveals great details in the black plumage (best of three)as does Howard's but I think Howard has brought more details out of the whites and it looks the most balanced of the three. Your WS defiantly has the "pop" with increased Saturation but lacks the plumage details of other two WS. I would say Gerhard if you could enhance a little more detail from black plumage your WS would be the best, as it stands I think Howard's is. Kind regards Steve.

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• gopi (335)
• [2005-11-09 13:54]

Gerhard
The yawn of the gull is superbe. I am still a beginner in the Digital Darkroon, so the note is very helpful.
Thanks
Gopi

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• thistle (9264)
• [2005-11-09 14:21]

Very valuable post Gerhard!
My camera has only JPGs and I usually don't spent much time on PP, but it's nice to learn something more. Good to have people like you on TN.
Oh, nice shot too ;)
I like it very much.
VERY WELL DONE & TFS

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• Toni (2034)
• [2005-11-09 16:16]

Hi Gerhard
Funny shot. Well composed. Good POV. I like the result of your work on it.
Regards Toni

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• PDP (11761)
• [2005-11-09 18:07]
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Hi Gerhard, this is a great idea. I'd like to give it a go myself, where can I download the RAW file from?

The picture is a nice one, I don't think it is as bad as you say. It's an excellent pose and the exposure is pretty good.

I've given it a go...it was a little noisy so I used Neat Image at the expense of some details. I may try again tomorrow If I have time.

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• hummingbird24 (64)
• [2005-11-09 20:21]
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Hello Gerhard,

I liked this photo earlier today, I hope you will understand that now my feelings have changed....:-)

Wonderful details, colors and pose.

Great composition, thank you for the opportunity to try my hand at it...

We had a storm today which took the power out earlier, sorry I am late with the ws that I posted.

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• jossim (11890)
• [2005-11-09 21:14]

Bonne prise de vue, beau Bg et belle action de l'oiseau.

Félicitations et merci pour l'envoie!

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• iglootrek (1615)
• [2005-11-10 2:21]

Gerhart,

This picture IS simply excellent if you compare with the original. I think more people should post the original of their picture, so we could see who master PS ;-). Sometimes it would give more hint also about the way the image was cropped and people could do a better workshop by having the entire picture at once.
For now I think Gert is winning the WS as he was able to make the black feather be seen the best, not too dark. Well done.

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• Runnerduck (1847)
• [2005-11-10 3:06]

Incredible when compared to the original. I have the RAW facility on my camera, but not the software. Will definitely look into it after seeing this.
You should add this post to the tips and techniques forum page.
Aside from that, she is still a great bird, and you've captured a superb pose (as always). Thanks for posting.

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• TAZ (10922)
• [2005-11-10 3:33]

Beautiful and well done photo with an interesting complementary note ! Congratulations Gerhard and thanks for sharing.

" Life is so rare in the universe and Nature so precious, we must take care of them! " Christian...

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• scottevers7 (12259)
• [2005-11-10 6:15]

Hi Gerhard,
Excellent shot here. Great timing to get this shot in full yawn. Beautiful colors, with very fine detail. The DOF and exposure are perfect. I am currently taking advance photoshop in college level class, It has benn helping me alot.
Scott

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• traveller (171)
• [2005-11-11 1:31]

Great capture, colors, sharpness.

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• AdrianW (710)
• [2005-11-12 9:58]
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Good shot! To be honest I think you've done a good job with the RAW conversion too - there's only one thing I think would really improve it, and that's some colour (Chroma) noise reduction. As it stands I can see some visible red speckles on the dark plumage here, and a bit of noise in the sky too. If you go to the Detail tab in ACR you'll find the Color Noise Reduction setting - that'll fix the problem :) Basically noise comes in two main forms, color (RGB speckles) and luma (light/dark speckles) - experiment with different settings until you're happy with how it works. I've posted a Workshop, which I hope you'll like - I probably could do better, but CS2 only arrived last week and this is my first attempt to use it! Anyway, a very nice shot :-D

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• duckpond (323)
• [2005-11-14 15:49]

Nice shot. The workshopping on this is very good. The white balance seems spot on and the unsharp mask is not visible at all, well done.

O yes and well captured too :-)

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• sAner (4742)
• [2005-11-16 14:11]

Good shot Gerhard. Maybe a little too centered, but pose is excellent and exposure is spot on. Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter