Her highness

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Kurt_Horne

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2024
Messages
46
Location
British Columbia
Z62_0330a.jpg

A chilly sunny morning with a skim of ice on the lake. The mallards were just waking up and this lady just looked so regal with her reflection.
 
163008-Z62-0330a-Edit.jpg

Hi Kurt, overall it's too saturated, not sharp (any sharpening applied to the output?) and its clipped, no detail in the darks, plus it has no sRGB profile for web presentation.

If you back off in saturation, open up the darks & shadows, but this could well add noise which you will need to address and apply some sharpening to the subject, you do get to see more of what you captured, albeit this is from your posting which limits what you can do. The blue water can vary subject to recollection but not to the extend as in the OP.

TFS
Steve
 
Thanks Steve, no sharping applied, I'll give a run with that. I've honestly not noticed a difference with my eyes when I use it and not. My program is set to export in sRGB and the embedded profile is sRGB ICE61966-2.1. I don't know how to pull out more information than that honestly. Googling around just takes me to endless pages on how to chose sRGB as your export or embedding options.

Thanks for the edits. Your version is much closer to the colour pallet of my raw. I didn't mess much with saturation but I tend to have a heavy hand on the shadow sliders which I think was the main culprit here.
 
Hi Kurt, the Contrast slider is the biggest ‘culprit’ overall, but heavy handed with the Shadows will just kill any detail, remember all your detail is in the mid tones.

Sharpening, unlike film days, ALL DIGITAL files require sharpening, fact. So, you can either add some pre sharpening whilst processing the raw and or at the Export stage, post sharping. Note, both are different, and Post sharpening is ‘perceptual’, you sharpen at the actual size you are exporting too and where it appears sharp to the eye.
 
In hind sight, as I go back to pick at this again, I have a fault in my program where about 1 in every 30 images I chose to edit goes awol when opened in the editor. This is one, the colours get really wonky and I was trying to correct. In this case it seemed to make everything very green - mind you it's true about the heavy handed shadow slider too. I keep thinking about Lightroom but the continual cost keeps putting me off. So here is a version processed with Nikon's NX studio, it doesn't have as many tools, and I'm not as familiar with it but it doesn't screw up 1/30 images :) Processing is : square crop about 25% of the image, global sharpness increase, +10 on the contrast. dust removal tool to get rid of a spot and part of stick in the ice.
Z62_0330a_031V3.JPG
 
Kurt, you have to be happy in whatever Raw converter you use. Over the years I’ve tried C1, Canons DPP, ACR, and finally Lr in ‘08. Lr & Ps dovetail together nicely and the cost per month $10 for both isn’t that steep, albeit cost on a monthly plan have increased. Plus if you ever leave you can’t access your converted Raws and Tiffs. You also have to be vigilant in your housekeeping and be methodical in keeping your library & catalogues correct.

No idea on what you are experiencing but it does sound odd, plus you should be calibrating you monitor around once a month to ensure consistency in colour.
 
Hi Kurt ... need bird reflection in sweet light !!
Pose is ok .
Biggest issue for me is your chosen color contrast , quite heavy overall ... ending up in clogged up darker tones . I would prefer a smoother tonal contrast .
A lower shooting angle would have been nicer .. as well. Easy to say from my side ...

TFS Andreas
 
Thanks Andreas. I have been mulling over this contrast thing. The raw is quite contrasted, actually more than Steve's repost. So here's a learner question for me, at what point should someone dial back what's captured in camera? I'm using a Nikon Z6ii with the Nikkor 70-200 lens (2x teleconverter). The colour profile in camera is set to SD (standard) with no sub adjustments.
 
Thanks Andreas. I have been mulling over this contrast thing. The raw is quite contrasted, actually more than Steve's repost. So here's a learner question for me, at what point should someone dial back what's captured in camera? I'm using a Nikon Z6ii with the Nikkor 70-200 lens (2x teleconverter). The colour profile in camera is set to SD (standard) with no sub adjustments.
Well Kurt ...
there is no " official " point when and how to dial back of what´s captured in your camera !!!! It is all down to personal preferences ... IMHO. And these do vary a lot .... from folk to folk .
Forget about rules in general .... as photography is a kind of art and each and every artist has different views to his/her/somebody else's work !!!!
I know some will now say ... for sure there are rules to follow to be " successful " , they are right as well . Following some rules might get you some nice comments or more thumbs up etc ....
I for myself do also follow certain " rules " ....

Now my technical answer .... to your question .
I try to keep it simple .... the major thing that counts is a good or perfect exposure during capture and a fast enough shutter speed to get a sharp base image .
As long as you shoot in raw .... the settings does not play a big role ( White balance , tone curve , color profile and so forth ) , as these can be changed in the raw converter once you process the image . I know some will say .... this should all be already dialed in in the camera menu !!! And I would agree with that .... doing it myself as well !!!
I have no idea which raw converter you use .... but basically I would start with a profile that does not contain a lot of contrast and or saturation !!!
Trying to build up contrast .... gently , instead of letting the software dictate the contrast ( created by the chosen profile or picture style ) .
Man this could go a long description .... and a thread like this is not the best place to explain it all .

Just one more thing ...
Your profile ( SD ) is actually not a color profile it is more a tone profile or picture style .
A color profile is containing basically color information ... i.e. sRGB , Adobe RGB etc .

Hope this helps ... at least a bit .

Cheers Andreas

I would recommend some research ... of how to edit raw files and very important how to shoot " expose to the right " !!!
 
Well Kurt ...
there is no " official " point when and how to dial back of what´s captured in your camera !!!! It is all down to personal preferences ... IMHO. And these do vary a lot .... from folk to folk .
Forget about rules in general .... as photography is a kind of art and each and every artist has different views to his/her/somebody else's work !!!!
I know some will now say ... for sure there are rules to follow to be " successful " , they are right as well . Following some rules might get you some nice comments or more thumbs up etc ....
I for myself do also follow certain " rules " ....

Now my technical answer .... to your question .
I try to keep it simple .... the major thing that counts is a good or perfect exposure during capture and a fast enough shutter speed to get a sharp base image .
As long as you shoot in raw .... the settings does not play a big role ( White balance , tone curve , color profile and so forth ) , as these can be changed in the raw converter once you process the image . I know some will say .... this should all be already dialed in in the camera menu !!! And I would agree with that .... doing it myself as well !!!
I have no idea which raw converter you use .... but basically I would start with a profile that does not contain a lot of contrast and or saturation !!!
Trying to build up contrast .... gently , instead of letting the software dictate the contrast ( created by the chosen profile or picture style ) .
Man this could go a long description .... and a thread like this is not the best place to explain it all .

Just one more thing ...
Your profile ( SD ) is actually not a color profile it is more a tone profile or picture style .
A color profile is containing basically color information ... i.e. sRGB , Adobe RGB etc .

Hope this helps ... at least a bit .

Cheers Andreas

I would recommend some research ... of how to edit raw files and very important how to shoot " expose to the right " !!!
Thanks Andreas,

Lot's to digest for sure. As far as camera setting go, I do try to keep it as simple as possible, not choosing any of the picture modification or enhancement options. I did explore exposing to the right using the on screen histogram for a while, but still found whites frequently blown out so am a little more conservative on that front now; mid right quadrant vs up to the edge :)

Raw converter is ACDsee 2023 - probably not something many are familiar with but I started using it a decade ago and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Bad experience with PhotoShop learning curve and cost is keeping me away. ACDsee is set to sRGB but seems the profile doesn't come through when posting here for some reason. I do as much editing as I can on the RAW before converting to JPEG
 
Kurt, which ‘Picture controls’ have you set? Have you also engaged ‘Creative picture controls?’
Hey Steve, I've never liked those in camera features, they sounds cool but turn out gimmicky IMHO so have left everything default. That is SD picture control and no creative options. I was looking around on some Nikon forums after your comments on saturation and anyone wanting to dial things back suggested ensuring its set to SD and not adding any more than +2 under the sub menu (despite SD, you can add more saturation - I have left everything at 0). Someone else also complained about Nikon's RAW converter adding saturation but I wasn't using that, and my RAW is what looks over saturated, not after conversion :)
 
OK Kurt, good to know that is all disabled as I was thinking that's where the addition stuff was coming from, plus using Nikons own brand for Raw conversion it may have boosting everything.

So, if you are shooting Raw, with no additional input to the Raws in camera, then can you uninstall your program with the glitch, then re install a fresh download and then see how the file look?

Why not download Lr or Ps as a trial, then import a few files and see how they look, then decide, or forward a file to someone and they can check it. I think its a case of drilling down and eliminating the various stages from cradle to grave, ie from raw to viewing, to ascertain what and where your issue lies.
 
Thanks Andreas,

Lot's to digest for sure. As far as camera setting go, I do try to keep it as simple as possible, not choosing any of the picture modification or enhancement options. I did explore exposing to the right using the on screen histogram for a while, but still found whites frequently blown out so am a little more conservative on that front now; mid right quadrant vs up to the edge :)

Raw converter is ACDsee 2023 - probably not something many are familiar with but I started using it a decade ago and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Bad experience with PhotoShop learning curve and cost is keeping me away. ACDsee is set to sRGB but seems the profile doesn't come through when posting here for some reason. I do as much editing as I can on the RAW before converting to JPEG
Hi Kurt ... i know it is quite complex at times , talking about the editing of images .
Some folks dive deep into this ...others do want to have quick solutions for this . using a lot of presets and/or automated processes . It is up to the individual how far to go with this and how much of time one is liking to invest .
Also cost does play a role for some folks ... if cost is a factor , why not going and use one of the open source programs . And try to play around with them ???!!!
They are good if not better than i.e. Lightroom , Capture One , DPP , Luminar etc .
They might be a frightening at first look .... just take your time and experiment with one of them . Nothing to loose .

Cheers Andreas
 

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