Help me develop at 10d workflow

[steeltoe]

I upgraded from a D30 to a 10D over the weekend.

I am having a great amount of difficulty with making a perfect image. The D30 looked great to me in .JPG mode, but I never got the same 'pop' that some of you get. Now, with the 10D, my photos look awful - I can see every defect in the .jpg compression.

So I want to start shooting RAW.

I gather most of you use BreezeBrowser.

How?

Up until now, I've been doing this:

1. Shoot in Large/Fine JPG
2. Unload the CF card, copy the files onto my hard drive.
3. Load the good one into photoshop.
4. Sharpen
5. Adjust levels (via the ^L function)
6. Resize/Crop/save.

PLEASE understand that I already know the above is wrong. I can't seem to find a primer on developing a workflow. All of these photos are overwhelming.

I need a book.. primer.. FAQ.. anything to help me get the best photos I can out of this thing.

See some of what I've produced at http://steeltoe.livejournal.com, tell me what I can do to make it better.

Thanks,
Ben

[neil_r]

I must confess that I was ever so slightly disapointed with the initial images I got from my D60, however this forum came to the rescue

An excelent place to start is with Roger Cavanagh's web site, here is a link to his workflow page:-

http://www.rogercavanagh.com/helpinfo/06_workflow.htm

Roger I know that you would have resopnded to this post but if Ben is anything like me he will want to start as soon as possible :-)

I also found that Pekka's sharpening action for PS was excellent :-

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7640#34558

I know that Pekka has just got a 10D so I am sure an action for it will be on the way.

Hope this helps

Neil

[steeltoe]

Neil:

Thanks for the prompt response, this information is exactly what i was looking for.

If anyone else wants to jump in and add their thought, I'd appreciate it!

Your pal,
Ben

[Pekka]

Hi,

I think eventually you'll get BreezeBrowser (or Yarc) for more convenient image conversion. There is a bug in linear conversion with 10D SDK so LinearSharpen can not be done yet. While waiting for Canon to note and fix that here's what I currently do:

1. Download all photos using card reader of X's Drive to hard disk, one folder per session.

2. Open RAW folders with BreezeBrowser 2.6 and convert those photos I consider worth converting with parameters:

conversion method: normal
saturation: normal
contrast: normal
sharpening: no sharpening
color space: AdobeRGB
format: 16 bit TIFF
Smart Noise Reduction: off
Tone: 0
False color filter: on


3. I open a TIFF to Photoshop (assign to AdobRGB profile!) and run sharpening action I did for 10D. It is very simple action but as 10D has very good initial noise levels and quality you don't need extra complexity. Get the action from http://photography-on-the.net/10D/10D_workflow_tools.zip

4. If post editing is something that took effort and time, I save the result as a PSD document.

One note about the action: noisereduction is needed only when you actually see disturbing noise. Even with ISO 800 photos you may get almost no noise if exposure is bright.

Note 2: due to Photoshop's old bug you may need to run the actions with noise reduction for one image at a time.

[cyberken]

Hi Pekka,

Btw, do you have the Mac version of the 10D sharpening action?

I find that the Canon File Viewer Utility for the Mac is very slow in converting RAW to TIFFs. Anyone has any better way to convert RAWs?

Thanks.


Kenneth

[Roger_Cavanagh]

cyberken wrote:
Anyone has any better way to convert RAWs?


Ken,

The Adobe Camera Raw plug-in will work, if you patch it (http://www.rogercavanagh.com/helpinfo/15_acrpatch.htm). It's not designed for the 10D, so colours aren't perfect, but generally OK and it is much, much faster.

Regards,

[cyberken]

Thank you Roger. :)

I've been following some of your postings as well. Are you currently using ACR in your workflow? Just find it a bit expensive for something which doesn't work perfectly with the 10D. Nevertheless, I'll give that a thought.


Kenneth

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Ken,

Still experimenting with the 10D, but I am using Camera Raw. I bought it when I had my D30, so no point in not trying the patch when I upgraded to the 10D.

There have been some complaints about noise, but I can't say that I've seen anything to get worked up about. I'm using a variation of Pekkas LS D60 noise reduction which works great on salt and pepper background noise.

Yes, the colour _can_ be a _bit_ off, but with a picture of a buttercup - who cares? :) I'd worry more, if my main subject matter was people.

Another issue with Camera Raw is ease of use for batch processing: some people don't like that you can adjust images individually and then batch process. With CR, you can also use one set of settings per batch.

I think Adobe are still offering their money back guarantee so you can it give a risk-free trial.

Regards,

[MrEWorm]

Roger, your website with your work flow is very impressive. I went ahead and got the Beta Downloader 2 and purchased the Breeze Browser 2.6. There are several additional settings in 2.6 and downloader 2 that you don't address with your posted workflow. Are any of these of great importance to me, the novice?

I am still trying to stay in budget, so I am attempting to use Photoshop Elements 2 (included in camera kit). Any hints on that program would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,

JCSS

[cyberken]

Hi Roger,

Where can I get Pekka's LS D60 noise reduction variation? I've been using Lab colour sharpening, but the effect will increase a bit of noise on portraits. I'm trying to come up with a edge sharpen action, but not successful yet. Do you have any idea or tips?

I'm not sure I should be getting the ACR because I'm shooting lots of portraits. However, if I can get my money back if it won't work, then should be fine.

Thanks a lot for sharing. Appreciate that. :)


Kenneth

[Cal Maier]

cyberken wrote:
I'm trying to come up with a edge sharpen action, but not successful yet. Do you have any idea or tips?


Hi Ken,

Sorry to jump in here, but you can find a good tutorial on selective sharpening using an image mask at www.digitaldog.net. This shows you how to make an edge mask of your image and sharpen on a layer using USM. Good for sharpening edges without increasing noise or producing harsh looking skin texture.

Hope this helps you out.

Cal

[Roger_Cavanagh]

cyberken wrote:
Hi Roger,

Where can I get Pekka's LS D60 noise reduction variation? I've been using Lab colour sharpening, but the effect will increase a bit of noise on portraits. I'm trying to come up with a edge sharpen action, but not successful yet. Do you have any idea or tips?

Ken, have a look at http://www.rogercavanagh.com/actions/11_acr_menu.htm. It includes my variations of what was originally sharpening in LinearSharpen and noise reduction in LSD60.

There's also some other stuff on the site wrt sharpening.

Regards,

[Pekka]

cyberken wrote:
Hi Roger,

Where can I get Pekka's LS D60 noise reduction variation?

There is one version for 10D in http://photography-on-the.net/10D/10D_workflow_tools.zip

[MrEWorm]

Pekka,

Do you set the on camera settings to Adobe RGB or sRGB?

Thanks,

JCSS

[Pekka]

I think it's sRGB. I use RAW so this is something I decide afterwards.

[cyberken]

Thank you, Roger and Pekka. :)

[seamansroost]

This info is great stuff!