The D7000 and NX2 guide to PP...

As per request, I'll describe my main workflow with some samples.
For the ones that dont follow my threads, plz first read this one:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=37815130

And lets begin with some portraits I made this weekend with the D7000, 70-200mm f2.8 VRII, SB-600, auto-iso got pretty high in some of them:
ISO 500

ISO 2000

ISO 2000

With the 24mm f1.4 G at ISO 640

First of all I shoot RAW and open the file in NX2, SO I KEPT ALL MY IN-CAMERA SETTINGS , SPEEDING UP THE WORKFLOW!
Basic Corrections :
1- Go to Camera settings tab, correct White Balance if necessary;

2- In Quick Fix tab, pull slides so they touch the histogram (on shadows you may go further inside, but on the highlights side look at the pic and dont go to close to the tip of histogram (I dont trust in auto corrections btw)

3- Use Highlight and Shadow protection at taste but dont exagerate -> up to max 30-50% of the slide range ( later you are going to correct worst areas in pic using the Nik control points)

3- In camera and lens corrections tab, pull Axial color Aberration slide to max right
4- Apply auto distortion control
5- Rotate image if in portrait position; fine tune rotation

6- Apply selective control points to correct dark and bright areas of pic -> I use a lot of them; apply brightness slide, and later correct saturation as it increases when you dark the area; increase contrast if you increase brightness a lot; etc

7- Apply as many auto-retouch brushes as needed (very easy in some cases but in extensive areas or complicated ones, I use clone tool in CS4)

8- Apply a touch of highpass sharpening : 2.5 radius, opacity at 70% at luminance channel only, overlay blending mode;

9- I use Nik Color effects filters a lot so if in a portrait, apply now the filter darken/Lighten Center at taste (dont exagerate again)

10- Sometimes I put a white and/or black control point (see Jason Odell's lesson on how to do it )
11- Change color profile to srgb
13- Crop at taste
14- Save your NEF
15- Save as JPG 100% or TIFF 16 bits/LZW if other PP is needed in other software

To be continue...

--
Ray Soares

See my pictures at http://www.pbase.com/raysoares