Linear Workflow Thread

[Yavor74]

Greetings all-
I thought we might start a thread about linear workflows.
Everyone has their favorite method. I am sure that throngs of newbies look at these postings to try to figure out how to do this. I am also sure that people who think they know how to do it correctly- actually are making mistakes along the way (me?). I wonder if a few of you tech-savvy folks would mind re-capping your process in this area?

My process:

Shoot Raw
Import with Breeze Systems Downloader
Convert with Breeze Browser -Linear with normal Noise Reduction and use custom White Balance by shooting an 18% grey card as my first shot in the batch- and using it to set the balance. I also use Adobe RGB98 as the profile.
I then open in Photoshop and use Pekka's D60Linear Sharpen -convert HQ.
I then save them as Tiffs and use Qimage to print. I do use the correct ICC profile in Qimage- which results in GREAT prints on an Epson 1270.

I did notice that Yarc+ with it's ARF filter does actually do a slightly better job of conversion- but I am not sure I actually like the end result after using Pekka's D60LS.
http://www.esb.utexas.edu/nagy/ARFtest/

So, what are you'all doing?

Bob

[neil_r]

Bob,

This is an embarrassing (and possibly daft) newbie question. How do you set the custom white balance with an 18% gray card?

Neil

[Roger_Cavanagh]

neil_r wrote:
Bob,

This is an embarrassing (and possibly daft) newbie question. How do you set the custom white balance with an 18% gray card?

Neil


Neil,

Not a daft question at all, it's an easy misunderstanding to make. The key is to know that the reason for setting white balance is not to identify white, but to identify neutral colours to get the proper balance between the red, green and blue channels. By taking a picture of a gray card and using custom white balance, you are telling the camera that RGB values in this picture should be the same. If they are captured differently, then adjustments are made to the picture to fix that.

My D30 manual suggest setting white balance using white paper, however, the problem with this is that it is easier to over-expose white than gray. If one of the channels get blown, then WB gets shot to pieces.

If you shoot JPG, then WB adjustments are done in-camera. One of the pluses of shooting raw format is that you can adjust WB after you have taken the picture.

Regards,

[Yavor74]

Neil- Maybe you jusy want to know how to do it-

Buy an 18% grey card from a photo shop. Then , the first shot you take at a new location- shoot the grey card (with whatever WB you are set on) -then set Custom WB in the menu- and select the grey card shot...then press set. Be sure you then set the WB setting on the LCD to Custom.

If you are shooting Jpgs, that's all you have to do.
If you are shooting RAWS, then you use the grey card shot to set your custom WB in the RAW converter. The only one I know that lets you do that is BreezeBrowser (I may be wrong).

Also, if you are shooting with studio strobes, use the Daylight WB setting.

Bob

[henkbos]

Bob,

Good to start a new thread, but it might bring doubts where we were so sure that we'd found the right way.

My flow is as follows:
- shoot in RAW
- check with Breezebrowser and delete unwanted
- convert in YarcPlus
- use Pekka's D60 (just now, previous Fred's action)
- fiddle and tweak colors
- save as 8-bitt TIFF
- print in Qprint (not very fond of the user interface but great quality)
- save RAW on CD
- save TIFFs on CD

Now don't ask me why and how. I just ended up here and don't have the time or patience to test everything. I need sometime to take pictures as well :-)

[neil_r]

Roger / Bob Many Thanks..... Currently experimenting with 18% Grey card (well paper) created with MS PowerPoint (what a cheepskate:-)

[chewiebakka]

ok another stupid question from a newbie:

i shoot raw then if i wanna use pekkas action i need to convert to linear tiff16bit right? and then when i open in ps7 i shouldnt choose rgb1998 but none rbg
(hmm dont really remember the exact name of what to choose but the top one)
is this right?

is there any futher feedback on the diffrent actions (already read pekkas relese notes)? i mean like this action is for this and this action is doing this to this kind of image. Or do you guys apply this action on all of ur pictures?

another thing is that me and many newbies with me would love if some of u guys could post ur workflow. like for me i just started editing on computer so i bought a d60 and its still a big mess in my head of what to do and how to proceed with my raw files. im a poor bastard now after all my spending for camera and stuff so i wish to use freeware.

ive been looking all over the net, find one clue here and one clue there but then to summon up everything is not easy cause everybody use diffrent ways.
im looking for a complete wf for a newbie. and then i wanna develop my own technic from there...

thanks

[robertwgross]

I don't know where you are located.

About one mile from me is a graphics bureau called Calypso Imaging. They process, print, and everything else.

Anyway, every couple of weeks they have classes on this stuff done by some partner training company. One time it will be Canon. The next time it will be Nikon. Apparently they teach all of this digital workflow stuff, although I have never paid for their class (US$200 for five hours).

Some people learn best when they sit in a training workshop like that. Others learn best to sit in front of their own computer and knock it out on their own. Others learn it from a book. Take your pick.

---Bob Gross---