Some random Mac PP tidbits

Hey folks,

I came across a couple of interesting Mac post-prod workflow nuggets that I thought I'd share:

1) iPhone color:

http://www.colorwiki.c​om/wiki/Color_on_iPhon​e

includes an icc color profile for the iPhone. Try the workflow outlined by the author, it makes for an interesting change to the typical results one gets from iPhone camera images.

2) Automator workflow tools for Photoshop:

http://www.completedig​italphotography.com/?p​=339

I was interested in scripting Photoshop at the OS level to automate workflow, but it is a little more difficult than I initially imagined. Then, I found this nifty set of tools that permits the non-Automator-friendly Photoshop to be, well, Automator friendly. Pretty cool. So, if you have that great image that you want to post to POTN, but it is a 2400 px wide TIFF, create an Automator workflow to do all of the adjustments, resizing, and even posting via OS level control of the process! You can even call Photoshop Actions from within Automator. Watch the video tutorials and I think you'll find that these tools are super useful for OS level control of automating your PS workflow. The "Pro" version of the tools is $20.

Enjoy!

Kirk

Another nugget of gold:

Raw Photo Processor:

http://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/Over​view.html

I have really been looking for a stripped down, utilitarian raw conversion tool that gives me the direct control of dcraw, but with some more access to the data and, frankly, a GUI. Not only does Raw Photo Processor (RPP) provide this, it gives the user a whole new level of access to raw data that I have not found elsewhere. Granted, this is appealing to a nerd like me, but nonetheless, you will really find this kind of tool useful - at least I do.

The histogram is one of the most useful tools in the app, including luminance, rgb and the adams zone system, with the ability to click on the image and have the histogram show you the location of that pixel on the histogram (L, R, G and B and EV in each color channel) as well as the amount of exposure compensation required to shift that pixel to all of the other zones. There are also other great features like a gamut diagram to check your image data against the color profile of your choice (need to know if your image fits into your working space in PS or into the gamut of your printer-paper profile?). Also, there is a nifty "Optimize for post processing on Save" option that will automatically compress the tonality of the image to give you room in the ends of the histogram, as well as reduce the saturation so that you can bring the image to its final state in post - like PS. Having WB in terms of multipliers is also more informative if you want to know what the converter is doing to your data. The amount of EXIF the app reads is extensive, to say the least.

In addition, should you make a donation to the developer, you will unlock additional tools, like integrated ICC profiling - the developer has integrated ArgyllCMS profiling into RPP. It is really a snap to develop ICC profiles with a GMC Color Checker. The unlocked version comes with some film profiles as well, emulating the tone curves of some classic color and black and white films.

Download it and give it a shot. See what you get in terms of image control and quality - i think you will be impressed. I am still exploring the various output options and such, but take a few minutes to read the user manual and the developer's website and get an idea of his design philosophy and motivations for the application.

Kirk

Screenshot:

Wow, Kirk, I'm bummed 'cause it's Mac only...

Here is a 50% crop, straight from RPP, with a touch of output sharpening due to the change in resolution. RPP does NO noise reduction, which is interesting for a number of reasons - one, because most images really don;t need any and, two, it blurs the image. There is the choice to do chroma blurring and single pixel suppression, but that's it. Pretty interesting approach. One thing I get from your posts is you like to do most of your adjustments (if not all) in LR/your raw conversion tool of choice. The philosophy behind RPP is more of a preparation of the negative, for further processing and finalizing outside of RPP. So, best to start with the best quality you can get from the raw. Also, the editing process is semi-interactive, in that you need to rerender the preview after each adjustment. This may seem somewhat awkward at first, but becomes routine and no big deal once you start working within the interface. Images I used to fiddle with in LR for minutes are now done in seconds. The below image was WB with the "cloudy" preset, as it was cloudy during the race I shot. This WB is spot on, while most cloudy presets in other converters make the whole image way too warm. This was also rendered within RPP with the kodachrome 64 film curve, well, just for fun!

It is a bummer indeed Tony. There is no DAM and none of the bells and whistles, but it does come with a LR plug-in if you unlock the advanced features.

Kirk

Wow. I still had 3.5.8 on my Mac. They sure came a long way

Yeah, I had messed with it a while ago and revisited it recently to find that it had been well developed.

Kirk