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SD14, red flower, ISO50, ETTR, SPP recovery

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xpatUSA

xpatUSA

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Having got my SD14 back, I thought I would look at ISO settings more closely on it.

As expected, ISO 50 has very little "headroom" but looked promising for suitable scenes shot with some care. I'm saying that in the forlorn hope that this thread will not devolve into another ISO discussion - "best", "base", etc.

Out of three shots, this one had a raw histogram suitably exposed to the right:

4e85873cf42741dc80999f77702d31e7.jpg.png

EV0 above is set at where my camera saturates - just under a raw level of 6700. Yes, the ADC's are 12bit.

Opening it in SPP does not look pretty at first:

934efecc950049ab85c31a671b66dba2.jpg

Particularly, please note the solid line of blown reds (arrowed) on the histogram!

A great argument for always shooting raw, not in-camera JPEG !!!

Just for grins, I tried Kalpanika and FastStone conversions:

6512709e3e254a04af875d9afaa5aef6.jpg

Not too hot, either!

So, onward to the oft-lauded SPP "highlight recovery":

21282baaa88a420dbc129c98297d5fb6.jpg

I am seriously impressed!

This is ISO 50, fully exposed to the right (at the sensor), and a really difficult subject exposure-wise.

--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
 
Very impressive, Ted. In similar circumstances, I desaturate by 0.1-0.2. I shall try highlight recovery to see if it is a better method, i.e. without losing a shade of colour.
 
Good demo. SPP has questionable default settings, but otherwise is a good program for getting from X3F to TIF.

I presume you are working in ProPhoto space.

I find it is worth trying the Neutral colour mode when processing shots of saturated flowers. Possibly lowering Saturation has the same effect. My impression is that Standard boosts saturation slightly.

(This from experience with the Merrill, not the SD14.)
 
D Cox said:
Good demo.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Don.
D Cox said:
SPP has questionable default settings, but otherwise is a good program for getting from X3F to TIF.
Click to expand...
Yes. With no Merrills now, I am back on SPP 3.5.2. I should have mentioned that in the OP.
D Cox said:
I presume you are working in ProPhoto space.
Click to expand...
All my output is sRGB, so that's what I use. I'll export in ProPhoto to RawTherapee but in SPP I stick with sRGB working space - especially for flowers.

The shot I posted does have some bottomed greens but I was really talking more about recovery.
D Cox said:
I find it is worth trying the Neutral colour mode when processing shots of saturated flowers. Possibly lowering Saturation has the same effect. My impression is that Standard boosts saturation slightly.

(This from experience with the Merrill, not the SD14.)
Click to expand...
Yes, a pity that color modes are not available on the SD14.

--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
 
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otumay said:
Very impressive, Ted. In similar circumstances, I desaturate by 0.1-0.2. I shall try highlight recovery to see if it is a better method, i.e. without losing a shade of colour.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Osman. I can post my X3F if you would like.
 
eac9369d6881415485d4cd97046c29a9.jpg

Converted to TIF in the current version of SPP. It just needed about -1.4 on the Exposure slider.

Taken into Adobe Camera Raw. Greens brightened a bit. Mild adjustment of luminance curve.
 
D Cox said:
eac9369d6881415485d4cd97046c29a9.jpg

Converted to TIF in the current version of SPP. It just needed about -1.4 on the Exposure slider.

Taken into Adobe Camera Raw. Greens brightened a bit. Mild adjustment of luminance curve. . . .
Click to expand...
. . . . plus other adjustments not mentioned here, according to the XMP.

Then, for some reason, it doesn't look quite right in FastStone Viewer . . ;-) . . but seriously, why was it posted with a ProPhoto profile?

--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
 
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xpatUSA said:
D Cox said:
eac9369d6881415485d4cd97046c29a9.jpg

Converted to TIF in the current version of SPP. It just needed about -1.4 on the Exposure slider.

Taken into Adobe Camera Raw. Greens brightened a bit. Mild adjustment of luminance curve. . . .
Click to expand...
. . . . plus other adjustments not mentioned here, according to the XMP.
Click to expand...
xpatUSA said:
Then, for some reason, it doesn't look quite right in FastStone Viewer . . ;-) . . but seriously, why was it posted with a ProPhoto profile?
Click to expand...
Why not ?

Here it is in sRGB. They look just the same in Chrome on my monitor.

61c05d5643984f0fab93313b36b74db1.jpg

xpatUSA said:
--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
Click to expand...
 
D Cox said:
xpatUSA said:
D Cox said:
eac9369d6881415485d4cd97046c29a9.jpg

Converted to TIF in the current version of SPP. It just needed about -1.4 on the Exposure slider.

Taken into Adobe Camera Raw. Greens brightened a bit. Mild adjustment of luminance curve. . . .
Click to expand...
. . . . plus other adjustments not mentioned here, according to the XMP.

Then, for some reason, it doesn't look quite right in FastStone Viewer . . ;-) . . but seriously, why was it posted with a ProPhoto profile?
Click to expand...
Why not ?
Click to expand...
I'm sure that you know the standard advice for posting on the web is to use sRGB, because not everybody has color-managed browsers/viewers. You chose to post with a ProPhoto profile and I asked you why.

Your smart response to the question ends our discussion, I guess.

--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
 
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Is this a Ferrari red flower Ted?

;)
 
Red is always hard to work with using a Foveon chip. Here's my best rendition (so far):



SPP then ACR
SPP then ACR
 
Interesting! Thanks!

What do I learn from this:

- SPP highlight recovery can sometimes indeed recover highlights, although it is widely said to be unable to do so.

- RAW digger opens X3F! I've tried it once, but it did not work. Maybe this was an issue with WINE (no windows computers in my home) or the test version of RAW digger does not fully work with X3F.

Greetings!
 
beaverpond said:
Interesting! Thanks!

What do I learn from this:

- SPP highlight recovery can sometimes indeed recover highlights, although it is widely said to be unable to do so.

- RAW digger opens X3F! I've tried it once, but it did not work. Maybe this was an issue with WINE (no windows computers in my home) or the test version of RAW digger does not fully work with X3F.

Greetings!
Click to expand...
Thanks. It's up to V 1.2.14, build 491, for what that's worth. I use the Research Edition, Windows x64. Opens them all, including Quattro.

I sympathize with the Mac thing. Bought my first in '85 and my last Performa (System 9.0 :-D ) just died a few weeks ago :-(

Been on PC's for a while now - the Mac was for music (always off-line).

--
"What we've got hyah is Failyah to Communicate": 'Cool Hand Luke' 1967.
 
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