Practicing with RAW

[MrGibbage]

I now know enough to be dangerous. I know when it looks right, and I know when it looks wrong, but I don't go from wrong to right very easily. Here is a picture that I converted from RAW in CS1. I think I did a decent job, but I would like some feedback. I have also included a link to the actual RAW image and sidecar file. I tried getting similar results in RSE, but I couldn't come close. If some of you guys could take a look at the RAW files, and make your own adjustments, I really appreciate it.
My Settings in CS1 are as follows:
Temp: 4750
Tint: -7
Exposure: +0.95
Shadows: 32
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +43

I'd be really interested to see what settings you come up with in RSE.

Here's the picture:
http://pelorus.org/BreakfastTime.jpg

Here's (http://pelorus.org/CRW_3911.CRW) the link to the RAW file (I hope this doesn't kill my web server)
Here's (http://pelorus.org/CRW_3911.CRW.rws) the .rws file.

Thanks for all the help, guys!

Skip

[EOSAddict]

Skip,

Like you I am just dabbling in RAW and I believe there is a great temptation to change things for the sake of it. I think you said it youself perfectly, you know when it looks right.

Your pic looks great to me, nice skin tones, nice whites. Just reminds me what is to come when our second arrives in October! Thanks!

[MrGibbage]

Thanks. What's more, even though I know when it looks right, even if I got lucky and got it "right" after a few hours of tweaking, I think that because I have been looking at it for so long, I don't realize myself that it looks right. Know what I mean? Either that, or maybe I'm just too hard on myself.

Skip

[EOSAddict]

I have posted several images on here with absolutely no work done out of camera, not even any sharpening which seems to be the holy grail of DSLRs! And the comments I received were about my image taking not the pic quality!!

[RAitch]

Was that picture with the 50 1.8?
It seems a little front focussed. Her hands and nose seem a bit sharper than her eyes.

As far as colour correctiveness, it looks good to me. You really can't tell sometimes unless:
A) you're familiar with the subject and what you saw at the time, or
B) have a second image to compare it against. This one looks great, but another correction *could* look better. If you spent a long time adjusting the image, I'm sure this is the closest to perfect that you can get.

Although there is a lot of science behind Photoshop, it's impossible to know what settings will be correct for every situation. It truely is a trial and error art. It helps to know what each of the settings in the RAW converter will do, but beyond that, you just keep going back and forth and repeat.

It's just like the optomitrist... "better 1... better 2?"
Just keep changing the sliders back and forth and pick the spot that works best... much like manual focussing. Then when you're at the end, start again and make sure you don't need to change anything after all the settings were adjusted.

[Hellashot]

Did you apply USM after conversion? Image looks kind of soft for that size image. You should know that RAW images have no sharpening applied to them, unless you slide that bar over. I always leave sharpening at 0 and I do it later. If you save it as a TIFF I always save it unsharpening so that I can apply it for whatever use I want and don't have to deal with an image sharpened for a 4x6 and now I want to do an 8x10 or bigger.

[PhotosGuy]

OK, here's the file just as it came out of RSE, only converted to jpg in PS. It could use a touch of Levels at the black end. (Why in the world did you append .tif to the raw file?)
PM me an email address & I'll send you the .rws file.

[yb98]

Here is my try
File converted with capture one and processed (levels and sharpening in photoshop)
http://bellik.free.fr/baby_1.jpgAnother variation with a soft effect in photoshop
clic here (http://bellik.free.fr/baby.jpg)for the 100% size file

I'll try later with RSE.

Yacine.

[MrGibbage]

Strange thing is, I *DIDN'T* add .tif to the end of the filename, and I rarely, rarely ever use tif for anything. Sorry about that. I will check it out when I get back home.

I only did USM around the left eye. I have tried it using the edge mask technique, and I guess my eye isn't good enoug because I couldn't really tell the difference.

Thank's so much for all the great feedback. It will help a lot.

Skip

[PhotosGuy]

Strange thing is, I *DIDN'T* add .tif to the end of the filename, Just another of those little WinDoze mysteries!:D:D

[MrGibbage]

Yacine, both of your versions look nice. I definitely like the color better. What settings did you end up with?
PhotosGuy, your version out of RSE looks a lot like mine did - it looks kinda flat to me. Should I be able to get images out of RSE that look the same as the ones out of PS RAW?

Oh, and yes, I did shoot it with the 50mm at 1.8. I had her set up next to an east facing window on an overcast day, and used my 420 bounced off the wall and ceiling. Even still the photo came out a little underexposed.

Skip

[yb98]

Here is a try directly issued from with RSE, just resized in Photoshop

The settings are :
Color Temperature : 4450
Tint : -7
Shadow contrast : 25
Highlight contrast : 25
Sharpness : 50
everythin else : 0

I have noticed that I can always improve the pics by adjusting the levels inside photshop after the conversion. The second pic is the result after adjusting levels with the following values :
Black point : 15
White point : 235
Middle : 1,13

Yacine.

[MrGibbage]

Yacine,
I definitely like the second one (post PS) better.

Skip