Winter - flat colors everywhere - my first pics, though with SD14

Well, I'm trying to get the hang of this thing! Problem is, there has been 100% snow on the ground in New England and the landscape has been relatively boring....

Oops....have to figure out how to embed pics from Picaasa.......

Nice images.. What lens?

Rich
ny

ToasterFlyer said:

Nice images.. What lens?

Rich

Click to expand...

That stock super Zoom OS thingy....
18-200 OS



More drab colors......

I am so used to the consumer cameras doing all the post-processing.....or at least most of it. I'll have to do this SD14 stuff on my good machines and monitors at home! A 4 year old powerbook with no software just does not do the job.....

craigmass, welcome and thanks for posting. I think on your SD14 photos you need to do some color editing. What RAW processor are you using? SPPx? An Adobe program with ACR4.6+ ? I'll suggest some specific workflow if you like. Your posted photos have much the same color tones as many of my SD14s before I edit them.

As a generality of workflow in SPP2.5, first I determine which white balance gives me initially best results; try several, change/keep to the best, ie closest to the scene color. Then I work the color wheel: eyedropper tool to a neutral point in the photos, sometimes I try several points and pick the one I like best. Then I work the sliders, sometimes changing exposure slightly; almost always adding some contrast, highlights and saturation, and making shadows a tad darker. Also see what fill light + or - does in relation to exposure slider.

This all takes only a few seconds per RAW when you're accustomed to editing.
With your okay, I'll download and work the stone house photo?
Best regards, Sandy
[email protected]
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischmann

if not okay to display your photo, let me know and I'll take it from my SD14 experiments gallery immediately

... I downloaded the JPEG so I really couldn't 'work' the photo as I would a RAW in SPP2.5.. you cannot edit JPEGs in SPP2.5, so I made a few adjustments in PSElements5/ACR4.6 on the color channels and contrast. Has a bit more pop, but I suspect the colors still aren't right (I'd need to start from your RAW). Plus I think you'd sharpened it way too much, as there are lots of haloes and wiggly lines.... but here's one version... if you'd like me to work the RAW and explain what I'd do with it, pls email me.
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman/image/109350403/original



Best regards, Sandy
[email protected]
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischman

craigimass: I would recommend that you do a custom WB using a 18% reflectance gray card. I did that once, in sunlight, and do not have to make any color correction on most of my Sigma SD14 files. I shoot all my outdoor photos using this custom WB. This has saved me a lot of hours of fussing with the color wheel in SPP to correct a greenish tint to my files. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. If you want to discuss further, just email me.
Cheers,
--
larryj

If you can see the light, you can photograph it
Quote from Myron Woods

Thanks for the tips.....yeah, anyone can feel free to DL and fiddle, although they are jpegs.....I have the original RAWs as that is how they were shot.

For these I used Sigma pp 3.2 Mac, although the screen I am using is so poor that I could not really look at the photos in the proper way. The day was largely overcast, although some sun was out early and then none later. When I get home I will throw a couple RAW files up and give the URL if anyone wants to fiddle.

I didn't do much in SPP, because I don't know how to use it yet. For instance, it seems to start processing the photos as soon as I open it.....rather than waiting for me to make an actual command.

craigimass wrote:
....

craigimass said:

I didn't do much in SPP, because I don't know how to use it yet. For
instance, it seems to start processing the photos as soon as I open
it.....rather than waiting for me to make an actual command.

Click to expand...

.....

there is a Sigma Photo Pro manual on the actual software, under the Help menu, which is informative as to how to use the software. SPP is a lot more powerful processor than some new users initially give it credit... but there are various other RAW processors you can use.

What you see while the photo is loading in the review window is the embedded JPEG. Each RAW file has an embedded JPEG in it (which can be extracted.. that's another post/explanation). Then you have 3 'bullets'
X3F bullet is the closest to an unprocessed RAW auto bullet is the software 'suggested' slider editing

custom bullet is any time you change anything to the above 2 bullets, it is NOT the same meaning as "custom white balance" (some confusion there often with new users.)

As I wrote above,

first I set the white balance I find 'best'..easy to change white balance in SPP RAW... on the PC version SPP2.5 it's on the Menu... the white balance option window may be on the adjustment panel in Mac version.. not sure about that. then I get my color right (eyedropper)
then I fine tune the sliders.

As you're using a SD14, note you have two versions of SPP for Mac which you can use: SPP3.2 some users find slow I've learned from posts here. The older SPP version SPP2.3 I think it is, is the preference for some Mac-users with SD14s. Other Mac users can tell you more if you find SPP3.2 slow on your computer(s).
Best regards, Sandy
[email protected]
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischmann (newest photos)

Nice shots and welcome. I live in Connecticut so I feel your pain. I got my SD14 a few weeks ago and this weekend was the first time I really got out to shoot, took a trip to Long Island sound it did not last long but for awhile I had a nice mix of clouds and blue skys boy does the SD14 shine in those conditions.
Rich
--
'Everyday is a gift but do they have to be socks' Tony Soprano
Rich

http://patandrich.smugmug.com/

Craigimass,

Nice feel of this not-quite-spring sometimes melancholy season. As some have suggested, you might tweak the colors a bit and/or use custom WB to your taste . I've honestly been too lazy to use Custom WB and frankly (to my eyes anyway) my SD14 sometimes seems a bit on the warm side vs. cyan or green. I often (more by luck than design) have something near-neutral in the scene and like Sandy do the "eyedropper" thingy to get close to my personal taste.

Nice photos and thanks for posting.

Regards,
--
Ed_S
http://www.pbase.com/ecsquires

redrobin said:

Nice shots and welcome. I live in Connecticut so I feel your pain. I
got my SD14 a few weeks ago and this weekend was the first time I
really got out to shoot, took a trip to Long Island sound it did not
last long but for awhile I had a nice mix of clouds and blue skys boy

Click to expand...

Thanks, Sandy, For the tips....I'll have to hit the books (or help files) and actually learn something. Old habits of point and shoot die hard.

As far as the white winter - you have to default to those indoor shots....my fav subjects are always hanging around.

I posted 1/2 dozen of them in a zip file.
I am releasing these into the public domain

So fiddle to your hearts content. I did notice on my big screen now that it is much easier to get them looking better. Even PS Elements opened them with a preview which allowed me to get them looking better.....

Uploading (now) zip with 6 raws at:
http://www.hearth.com/~hearth/sd14.zip

(it's 80 megs, so no dial-ups....)

You already got some good data from SPP, now just use PS to spicy it up. Like these:











Try these actions in PS: " http://touchbyphoto.com/SDIM/forumdata/DullColoFixSDino1.atn "
(click or copy and paste in your browser and save it, then import it into PS)

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SDino
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Good Photograpphy Contribute Refreshing-Touch.
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Thanks!

You made Rockys' coat shine!

Of course, it doesn't shine that much in real life.........but a certain amount of enhancement has always been what those portrait photogs do anyway!