Shot RAW - Now What?

IronDogPhoto

I shot my first event today in RAW (CR2). I now have 195 files and I'm wondering how to deal with them in PP.

Do I make the desired corrections directly to the RAW files and then convert to JPG or do I convert to some other format before making the corrections.

The post production software I have is Digital Photo Professional and Paint Shop Pro X2. Whatever I do, I want to do with one (or both) of those programs.

DPP will let me convert to EXIF-TIFF 8 bit, EXIF-JPG, TIFF 16 bit, or a combination of either TIFF format with the JPG format.

As always, thanks for the help.

- Gary

toadlet

Hi Gary

This is a hard question as everyone's workflow is different and its a matter of what works best for you.

I too use Canon DPP and my workflow is as follows:

*Load RAW files into folder on my PC.
*Open in Canon DPP and delete 'bad' shots
*Make some adjustments in Canon DPP such as contrast, exposure and WB
*Now I am ready to save my image and I save it as a 16BIT TIFF file as this is lossless quality and there is more tonal information in a 16bit image as compared to 8bit esp when doing mono conversions.
*Now I open my image up in my photo editor and if needed I do more adjustments here such as curves,levels,layer adjustments etc.
*When happy I then save the image as a layered 16BIT TIFF file.
*Later upon leaving the edited image for some weeks if I am happy with it I will flatten the layers.
*I then convert this 16BIT TIFF file when needed for different applications which could be for print (convert to 8bit jpg and sharpen) or web.

IronDogPhoto wrote:

I shot my first event today in RAW (CR2). I now have 195 files and I'm wondering how to deal with them in PP.

Do I make the desired corrections directly to the RAW files and then convert to JPG or do I convert to some other format before making the corrections.

The post production software I have is Digital Photo Professional and Paint Shop Pro X2. Whatever I do, I want to do with one (or both) of those programs.

DPP will let me convert to EXIF-TIFF 8 bit, EXIF-JPG, TIFF 16 bit, or a combination of either TIFF format with the JPG format.

As always, thanks for the help.

- Gary

catspaw

Lightroom has a 30-day free trial, btw.

IronDogPhoto

Not sure why this didn't make it the first time I replied, but thanks for the input toadlet.

At what stage of the game to you deal with noise?

I shot this event under available flourescent light (WB in camera) @ 3200 ISO, F2.8 @ 1/500th second. Needless to say, there is a fair (understatement) amount of noise.

- Gary

toadlet wrote:

Hi Gary

This is a hard question as everyone's workflow is different and its a matter of what works best for you.

I too use Canon DPP and my workflow is as follows:

*Load RAW files into folder on my PC.
*Open in Canon DPP and delete 'bad' shots
*Make some adjustments in Canon DPP such as contrast, exposure and WB
*Now I am ready to save my image and I save it as a 16BIT TIFF file as this is lossless quality and there is more tonal information in a 16bit image as compared to 8bit esp when doing mono conversions.
*Now I open my image up in my photo editor and if needed I do more adjustments here such as curves,levels,layer adjustments etc.
*When happy I then save the image as a layered 16BIT TIFF file.
*Later upon leaving the edited image for some weeks if I am happy with it I will flatten the layers.
*I then convert this 16BIT TIFF file when needed for different applications which could be for print (convert to 8bit jpg and sharpen) or web.

Candid Arts

IronDogPhoto wrote:

Not sure why this didn't make it the first time I replied, but thanks for the input toadlet.

At what stage of the game to you deal with noise?

I shot this event under available flourescent light (WB in camera) @ 3200 ISO, F2.8 @ 1/500th second. Needless to say, there is a fair (understatement) amount of noise.

- Gary

Ouch. What camera do you have?

I'll bet you could have dropped your ISO to 1600, or even 800 and shot at 1/250th or 1/125 and would have been fine. Depending on the event obviously. Do the noise step in whatever program deals with the noise the best. I just have CS3 and LR2, neither of which I have figured out yet how to get rid of noise. There are noise software's though that help a ton if you shoot high ISOs often. I have never used them as I try to keep my ISO below 400 when possible, ideally at 100.

pathfinder

IronDogPhoto wrote:

Not sure why this didn't make it the first time I replied, but thanks for the input toadlet.

At what stage of the game to you deal with noise?

I shot this event under available flourescent light (WB in camera) @ 3200 ISO, F2.8 @ 1/500th second. Needless to say, there is a fair (understatement) amount of noise.

- Gary

Noiseware comes as a stand alone program that will de-noise jpgs, tiffs, pngs and bmps. It is fast, easy, works great, and is relatively inexpensive. If you have a lot of images with noise, you will be happier with it. There is eave a free version of sorts.

IronDogPhoto

Shooting a 40D with a 70-200L IS 2.8.

This venue is like shooting in a cave. I was 1 stop under at 3200 / F2.8/ 1/500.

As for slower shutter speeds, I shoot dog agility. Imagine highschool basketball at 5 times the speed and half the light.

- Gary

Candid Arts wrote:

Ouch. What camera do you have?

I'll bet you could have dropped your ISO to 1600, or even 800 and shot at 1/250th or 1/125 and would have been fine. Depending on the event obviously. Do the noise step in whatever program deals with the noise the best. I just have CS3 and LR2, neither of which I have figured out yet how to get rid of noise. There are noise software's though that help a ton if you shoot high ISOs often. I have never used them as I try to keep my ISO below 400 when possible, ideally at 100.

pathfinder

Canon has a lovely 200mm f2.0 L that will help.......................





:hide

Fortunately, Noiseware is much cheaper than a 200 f2.0 L

IronDogPhoto

Yeah I know, but I've really gotten accustomed to sleeping indoors with the lady of the house and the dog makes a lousy roommate.

pathfinder wrote:

Canon has a lovely 200mm f2.0 L that will help.......................





:hide

Fortunately, Noiseware is much cheaper than a 200 f2.0 L

Tee Why

I'd recommend making all the adjustments to the RAW image in DPP and convert to JPEG, unless you specifically want a Tiff file.

IronDogPhoto

Thanks Tee Why.

Can you explain the noise reduction process in DPP?

- Gary

Tee Why wrote:

I'd recommend making all the adjustments to the RAW image in DPP and convert to JPEG, unless you specifically want a Tiff file.

bgopal

thread on raw processing
You might want to check this thread...
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2592

IronDogPhoto wrote:

Thanks Tee Why.

Can you explain the noise reduction process in DPP?

- Gary

Tee Why

IronDogPhoto wrote:

Thanks Tee Why.

Can you explain the noise reduction process in DPP?

- Gary

Sure on DPP's you select the thumbnail and go to "edit image" and then make sure that the "tools" button is clicked. The tools window should appear on the right of the screen and on it you should see three tabs, RAW, RGB, and NR/Lens/ALO.
Hit the NR/Lens/ALO and then use the luminescence slider to the right and hit "Apply" to see the noise reduction. The same can be done to get rid of the Chroma or the color noise.

Unfortunately you cannot see the Noise Reduction as you move the slider and have to hit the Apply button which takes a few seconds. If you want to undo it, you have to slide it back to 0 and then hit the apply button again. I'd recommend doing the noise reduction towards the end of your processing as making adjustments tends to introduce noise and you don't want to reduce the noise, make adjustments which will introduce more noise and have to reduce noise again.

IronDogPhoto

Thanks a lot. I'll give it a go.

- Gary

Tee Why wrote:

Sure on DPP's you select the thumbnail and go to "edit image" and then make sure that the "tools" button is clicked. The tools window should appear on the right of the screen and on it you should see three tabs, RAW, RGB, and NR/Lens/ALO.
Hit the NR/Lens/ALO and then use the luminescence slider to the right and hit "Apply" to see the noise reduction. The same can be done to get rid of the Chroma or the color noise.

Unfortunately you cannot see the Noise Reduction as you move the slider and have to hit the Apply button which takes a few seconds. If you want to undo it, you have to slide it back to 0 and then hit the apply button again. I'd recommend doing the noise reduction towards the end of your processing as making adjustments tends to introduce noise and you don't want to reduce the noise, make adjustments which will introduce more noise and have to reduce noise again.

Rocketman766

Not sure if this is the right place to post/ask this, but I think it fits...so, as the title states, I shot an event in raw, now I need a little assistance in how to convert all the photos to jpeg so I can post on smugmug. I have about 400 shots to covert in different folders. One folder needs the WB set to auto (I forgot to change it...) Is it possible to change the WB AND convert to jpeg in the same step for all shots in the folder? I have LR2, CS4 and all the software that came with my camera (Canon Xsi). I tried this last night but all I got were jpegs, the WB change did not take effect. Thanks in advance...

arodney

Rocketman766 wrote:

Not sure if this is the right place to post/ask this, but I think it fits...so, as the title states, I shot an event in raw, now I need a little assistance in how to convert all the photos to jpeg so I can post on smugmug. I have about 400 shots to covert in different folders. One folder needs the WB set to auto (I forgot to change it...) Is it possible to change the WB AND convert to jpeg in the same step for all shots in the folder?

Download a demo of Lightroom. First, selecting all the images and using the Export Preset for web (or one you configure) would convert all the images to a fixed size, color space and in JPEG while you read the morning paper. Affecting WB is super easy and fast too. You could alter one and assuming all the others need the same correction, copy and paste to all the others in a second. Even if you don't decide to buy it, you'd have 30 days to get that work done and more.

Rocketman766

arodney wrote:

Download a demo of Lightroom. First, selecting all the images and using the Export Preset for web (or one you configure) would convert all the images to a fixed size, color space and in JPEG while you read the morning paper. Affecting WB is super easy and fast too. You could alter one and assuming all the others need the same correction, copy and paste to all the others in a second. Even if you don't decide to buy it, you'd have 30 days to get that work done and more.

Thanks for the info, I must have done something wrong. I will try again when I get home. I have already purchased Lightroom 2, but it was late and I could have easily overlooked something.

Candid Arts

Rocketman766 wrote:

Not sure if this is the right place to post/ask this, but I think it fits...so, as the title states, I shot an event in raw, now I need a little assistance in how to convert all the photos to jpeg so I can post on smugmug. I have about 400 shots to covert in different folders. One folder needs the WB set to auto (I forgot to change it...) Is it possible to change the WB AND convert to jpeg in the same step for all shots in the folder? I have LR2, CS4 and all the software that came with my camera (Canon Xsi). I tried this last night but all I got were jpegs, the WB change did not take effect. Thanks in advance...

What you'll want to do, is import all of the 400 photos into LR2. From that point, go through each image and do all your adjustments. WB, contrast, exposure, any saturation or hue adjustments, whatever. Once you're done, select all the photos, go to File>Export. Select your export options, download location, etc... and select export. Next step is very important, don't skip this step. You'll have to wait for all the photos to export.

Then you're done. LR2 is super easy to use, it's what I use as well.

mercphoto

Rocketman766 wrote:

I need a little assistance in how to convert all the photos to jpeg so I can post on smugmug.

Aperture has a plug-in that will allow an export directly to a Smugmug gallery. This makes life much simpler because you don't have to export JPG's to your hard disk, and then upload that directory to Smugmug. I would be surprised if you could not get a similar plug-in for Lightroom.

catspaw

mercphoto wrote:

Aperture has a plug-in that will allow an export directly to a Smugmug gallery. This makes life much simpler because you don't have to export JPG's to your hard disk, and then upload that directory to Smugmug. I would be surprised if you could not get a similar plug-in for Lightroom.

Yup, LR has just such a plug in as well. Information on the SM upload page.