What picture adjustmet do you use? (digilux 2)

[oskarhhh]

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Hi!

 

What picture adjustemt do you set your camera on. sharpness, saturation, contrast?

In color and B&W?

 

I dont`t want to PP my pictures. I wanna get them as good as they could be straight out of camera.

 

Any tips?

 

thanks oskar

[AlbertoDeRoma]

Hi!

 

What picture adjustemt do you set your camera on. sharpness, saturation, contrast?

In color and B&W?

 

I dont`t want to PP my pictures. I wanna get them as good as they could be straight out of camera.

 

Any tips?

 

thanks oskar

 

A great suggestion from John Thawley was to keep them standard and make all changes in post-processing. Since you don't like to do PP, if you MUST change them, make sure you don't go back and forth once you've decided - or you'll never know what to expect when you take a photo.

 

I followed John's advice (i.e. kept all settings standard) and, as promised, I developed a VERY good sense for what will come out of the camera.

[stuny]

It would be helpful top know what camera. Regardless, until you bite the bullet and do at least some post processing you will not be getting the most out of your images. I'm at the point now in which I can do all the PP I need to do on the vast majority of images (jpeg) in well under one minute each.

[AlbertoDeRoma]

It would be helpful top know what camera. Regardless, until you bite the bullet and do at least some post processing you will not be getting the most out of your images. I'm at the point now in which I can do all the PP I need to do on the vast majority of images (jpeg) in well under one minute each.

 

Hi Stuart,

 

He mentioned the D2 in the post title.

 

I am with you on the PP. While it's hard to save a really bad photo, it can make the difference between an OK picture and a GOOD picture and, occasionally, take a GOOD picture and make it a GREAT picture.

 

Oskar, I am not sure why you are "against" post processing. It's not a form of cheating. In the days of dark-room you had no choice but to make some decisions on how you wanted to print the negative. Not doing PP with digital photos is, to me, the digital equivalent of taking your roll of film to be developed by one of those 1-hour photo places. Fine for snapshot, but kind of a waste for photos you care about.

 

Why don't you want to do any PP? Just curious.

 

There are a lot free tools that can take care of basic fixes (exposure, shadows, highlights, cropping, etc.) Tools like Picasa and iPhoto make it really easy and the difference is noticeable.

 

Alberto

[John Thawley]

Hi!

 

What picture adjustemt do you set your camera on. sharpness, saturation, contrast?

In color and B&W?

 

I dont`t want to PP my pictures. I wanna get them as good as they could be straight out of camera.

 

Any tips?

 

thanks oskar

 

Here's a tip.

 

Post process your photos. There is no such thing as "out of the camera".... unless you simply don't care. If you're a photographer, you need to post process images in order for them to be "finished."

 

It's not that difficult.

 

Changing settings in the camera is inviting trouble. Sharp facial features for baby pictures? I don't think so. Soft details for architecture? Not so much. High contrast for sunny days at the beach? Good luck. Low contrast for early morning mist? Are you with me? ....

 

I'm really trying to be gentle here... but if you want good photos, you can't be lazy.

 

JT

[stuny]

Oskar -

The D2 (sorry - I missed that in the title) produces amazingly good jpeg files right out of the camera, but as Alberto and John more than just suggest above, the photo is not finished without some post processing. The D2 came with ACDSee, an easy to use and effective application which should meet all of your post processing needs for quite some time (I still use it 6 years after getting my first digital camera - the D2).

To amplify a bit on what Alberto wrote: When I used to process in a wet darkroom, even though my negatives were developed and ostensibly good I'd still select overall enlarger exposure time, which grade of paper to use for each negative, possibly dodge and burn, possibly fill-in negative scratches, and pull the prints from the developer when it looked right to do so. Digital post processing in most cases is not much different than that, but you do avoid contact with and disposal of chemicals.

[oskarhhh]

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Thanks for your replies!!

 

I guess I have to learn some post processing. Photography is quite new to me and never really used post processing tools.

 

Do you shoot JPG or RAW?

 

/oskar

[John Thawley]

Thanks for your replies!!

 

I guess I have to learn some post processing. Photography is quite new to me and never really used post processing tools.

 

Do you shoot JPG or RAW?

 

/oskar

 

Whatever software you use... even Google's Picassa (free), all you need do is open up a photo, look at it on your screen and start playing with the adjustment tools. Push them from one end to the other and watch what each does. You'll most like learn that like any endeavor, a gentle hand is all you need. Slight adjustment to the brightness (up or down) slight adjustment to the contrast (more or less) and a touch of sharpening. Those are the basics. You'll start noticing that you'll be able to make things a little bit richer and "fatter" and that a touch of sharpening all combine to make your photos "pop."

 

Experiment....

 

Good luck.

 

JT.

[nigelb]

Thanks for your replies!!

 

I guess I have to learn some post processing. Photography is quite new to me and never really used post processing tools.

 

Do you shoot JPG or RAW?

 

/oskar

 

It's not worth shooting RAW with a D2/LC1. There is little (if any) IQ benefit, the JPGs are excellent and RAWs take an age (6 secs - ish) to write to memory due to the lack of a decent size buffer in the camera. I agree with everyone above that a little PP is essential but due to the quality of the JPGs with the D2 this can be kept to a minimum. In my case the PP amounts to minor adjustments of Levels, Shadows/highlights, sharpening and a little 'burning in' in places - nothing that I wouldn't have done in the darkroom. This gives me the results I want and like Stuny I can do it in under a minute.

 

Good luck

Nigel