Your raw editing sequence?

[Tachikaze]

What is your general sequence of raw file editing? I assume cropping comes first and denoising last, but between those bookends how do you like to proceed? I am using Photomator and its sister Pixelmator on my Mac but may get into Darktable soon, so general principles are what I’m after rather than specific app instructions.

 

[iamdlewis]

Global changes to colors, shadows, highlights, then crop then local changes then denoise.

 

[Tachikaze]

Global changes to colors, shadows, highlights, then crop then local changes then denoise.

“Local changes” being retouching I presume?

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Denoise is best done before minimal other changes in accordance with the recommendations from most of the mainstream package providers.....advice which in my opinion and practice works best.

Adjustment to shadows before denoise may be necessary for denoise quality review purposes with all other global and/or local post processing
carried out thereafter, including cropping.

Sequence of post processing is generally a matter of individual work flow preference the impact of contrast and other like processes in raising noise which should be considered if part of an individuals required work flow process.

As as matter of logic, global adjustments such as exposure, white balance , as necessary, are best carried out before local/ mask adjustments.

Others may have different views but the above is what has served me personally best.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I use ON1 for editing, and if I decide to use the NoNoise_AI feature, it can change the color cast ever so slightly, so I do that first. Then edit typical sliders, then I might save a few different verions cropped differently, maybe a subtle vignette effect (if it helps and doesn't distract).

 

[Tachikaze]

I found this article and video today which I found useful:

https://www.shutterbug.com/content/4-step-editing-workflow-perfect-photos-every-time-video

 

[Astacus]

What is your general sequence of raw file editing? I assume cropping comes first and denoising last, but between those bookends how do you like to proceed? I am using Photomator and its sister Pixelmator on my Mac but may get into Darktable soon, so general principles are what I’m after rather than specific app instructions.

Bear in mind this is 80%+ birds, some other wildlife, sometimes things and people. THis is what Im doing with 18,000+ images from our Namibia trip.
WARNING - there are some contentious steps here.

Lightroom Classic:
Preparatory steps

1. Import en bloc, no selection pre import
2. Rename 'date of import' folder tag to a meaningful location as well as date
3. Create a Keepers folder with the same name for each locatio
4. Go through a folders worth of images quickly, flagging those that have good poses, look to be sharp, are interesting, are 'record shots'
5. Work through these slowly as follows

Standard editing workflow (varies image to image)

1. Crop image to required frame (no point in processing pixels you'll not use)
2. Unless ISO <= 200 (Sony A1) pass through Topaz Denoise at standard setting
3. Perform a range of adjustment - gently! Typically: Dehaze/Calrity/Vibrance/Exposure
4. Sometimes use masking to select background, to enhance contrast with subject (up or down in exposure, often add saturation if colour does not meld with the subject)
5. Sometimes mask a small area (say a very black eye patch on bird) to increase visibility of eye
6. Apply Topaz Sharpen, GENTLY, to see if image is improved - often not, because it is too 'crispy'
7. Flag the edited images, and any Topaz intermediates, and move them ALL to the relevant Keepers folder.
8. Finally, export the images as jpeg and upload to our [Smugmug] site where my SO does a brilliant job of tagging and naming the birds
9. Also, export the images with the intention of setting up matrices of Mixtiles - inexpensive and really quite good
   
   
   

   • iPhone 13 Pro
   • iPhone 13 Pro back triple camera 5.7mm f/1.5
   • 5.7 mm
   • ƒ/1.5
   • 1/50 sec
   • ISO 500

The contentious steps. How do you feel about the following?

1. I shoot a bird in very yellow golden light. I rarely use WB adjustment to bring bird colours back to natural - the hue evokes memories of the time of day and warmth. So bird colours can be inaccurate.
   
   
2. I sometimes end up with a 'dead eye' with no reflected catchlight. I will export to Photoshop, add a hint of a catchlight and return to Lightroom, to give the subject a bit more 'life'. Is this acceptable (I'm not trying to hoodwink anyone)

I make no bones about this - it is a long winded process (still working through the last trip, two months later). I could probably do a lot better and would welcome advice.

Rob

 

[AlphaWorld]

What is your general sequence of raw file editing? I assume cropping comes first and denoising last, but between those bookends how do you like to proceed? I am using Photomator and its sister Pixelmator on my Mac but may get into Darktable soon, so general principles are what I’m after rather than specific app instructions.

Well, no. Some of the de-noise software works directly on RAW files, so de-noise comes before cropping.

For me, the first thing is to set the white balance, then adjust the tone curve, and de-noise - then I open the demosaiced file. That's when I crop it and remove spots, etc.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Basic adjustments in Camera Raw (Photoshop CC) like dropping highlights, dehazing, contrast etc. I often use Auto as a guide, then export to Photoshop, crop, add a border and signature, export to Jpeg, Save Jpeg and PSD file.,

 

[brphotographycanada]

Similar to what others are saying, my steps are broadly as follows. The thing is that it can vary a lot depending on what I'm shooting. Panoramas, HDR, astrophotography, timelapse or other composite type images require a different approach.

1. Import to Lightroom Classic.
2. In library view, reject/flag images. Reject images based on a few factors like you might expect (out of focus, burst shots where the bird was too fast for me and left the frame for a bit, over/underexposed, etc). Flag images where everything is already good and minimal additional editing is needed.
3. Still in library, select flagged images and hit Auto tone control. I also check that the white balance looks correct.
4. For images with *some* noise, apply Lightroom's AI noise reduction. For astrophotography, this is usually every image. Hit apply go make coffee lol.
5. Switching to Develop, start at the top of Basic Tone Control and work my way down. Depending on the image, the Auto may have done some weird things. Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Black, White may need a bit of tweaking.
6. Special consideration: For landscapes, the sky may be overexposed or the foreground underexposed. In this case, I use the Select Sky Mask and adjust the exposure of the sky independent of the foreground. The Duplicate and invert option to select the foreground is then used to ensure the overall exposure looks right.
7. Special Consideration: For wildlife, I use a preset I made called "feathers and fur". It uses the Select Subject Mask. It then applies +0.33 Exposure and +30 Clarity and +30 Texture. Sometimes these values and the mask need to be fine tuned.
8. Adjust the color mixer to bring out specific colors (ie. yellow, red, orange for fall leaves, blue, green for mountains, lakes, evergreen forest)
9. Boost vibrance by 20 or so depending on the success of the previous step. While the color accuracy of my a7RV is very good, I like a bit of a boost to vibrance.
10. Sometimes, I do cropping early if there's an obvious tilt. If not, I will crop to a specific aspect ratio depending on the intended use before exporting.

 

[khollister]

I use DXO PureRAW as my first step after initial culling of RAW images after import to LR. I then start the adjustment process in LR on the DNG created by DXO and move to eternal filters (primarily the Nik stuff with possibly a bit of Luminar thrown in) via uncompressed TIFF. Then final touch up in LR.

I find denoising before any other processing preserves the quality best, otherwise you are manipulating noise.