DXO Challenge - Please prove me wrong

[Digital Nigel]

To me it's not natural look, but I've not seen it in person.

The challenge was to replicate something like the OP's C1 processing but using PL. It wasn't to produce a natural look. Of course, only the OP knows what Durdle Door looked like on that bright, sunny day in Dorset.

It was a very sunny day with strong harsh light. I had troubles looking at the scene without sunglasses. So, I definitely wouldn't like natural and realistic rendering. Not sure why some people are so obsessed with realistic photos. Btw I am sure you know that, but all movies are colour graded.

There's no doubt that Capture One makes it easy to produce landscapes with pleasing colors, especially deep blue skies and bright green foliage.

But what about portraits? Are they oversaturated, or are skin tones nicely rendered?

I thought C1 has always been specifically targeted at professional portrait photographers?

 

[Digital Nigel]

Here is my take at this challenge.

I tried to replicate your C1 processing, this is not necessarily how I would have treated this picture but I tried my best to be as close as possible to your rendering.


Processed in PL7

To me it's not natural look, but I've not seen it in person.

The challenge was to replicate something like the OP's C1 processing but using PL. It wasn't to produce a natural look. Of course, only the OP knows what Durdle Door looked like on that bright, sunny day in Dorset.

It was a very sunny day with strong harsh light. I had troubles looking at the scene without sunglasses. So, I definitely wouldn't like natural and realistic rendering. Not sure why some people are so obsessed with realistic photos. Btw I am sure you know that, but all movies are colour graded.

Its not the colors that are an issue for me. Theres too much contrast/micro contrast that make it look unnatural, would be too much for any scene imo.

Here's another PL rendering, with reduced micro contrast for a less crunchy look (as an aside, this rendering captures more of the scene than the Adobe and C1 versions — look at the bottom right-hand corner, where more people are included):


PL6, reduced local contrast

 

[CAcreeks]

There's no doubt that Capture One makes it easy to produce landscapes with pleasing colors, especially deep blue skies and bright green foliage.

But what about portraits? Are they oversaturated, or are skin tones nicely rendered?

I used the colour picker tool. There's several people wearing white garments.

Edit:

I've just checked, and find that I simply selected 'Daylight' in the WB box.

Aha, I'll try that. I did not notice people wearing white clothing, but rather used the white parts of the cloud.

I thought C1 has always been specifically targeted at professional portrait photographers?

Yes, because of best-in-class tethering features.

It must make adjustments for skin tones. I tried C1 Express for Sony because DxO did not yet support new Sony cameras. (Didn't like C1 Express due to its mandatory catalog.) Skin tones seemed better with Astia emulation in PhotoLab, but C1 Express worked fine.

 

[IanYorke]

There's no doubt that Capture One makes it easy to produce landscapes with pleasing colors, especially deep blue skies and bright green foliage.

But what about portraits? Are they oversaturated, or are skin tones nicely rendered?

I used the colour picker tool. There's several people wearing white garments.

Edit:

I've just checked, and find that I simply selected 'Daylight' in the WB box.

Aha, I'll try that. I did not notice people wearing white clothing, but rather used the white parts of the cloud.

I thought C1 has always been specifically targeted at professional portrait photographers?

Yes, because of best-in-class tethering features.

It must make adjustments for skin tones. I tried C1 Express for Sony because DxO did not yet support new Sony cameras. (Didn't like C1 Express due to its mandatory catalog.) Skin tones seemed better with Astia emulation in PhotoLab, but C1 Express worked fine.

How things change. With C1's Black Friday deal C1 Pro, at £149, is cheaper than DXO-Photolab at £159.

That's going to tempt some.

Ian

 

[maltmoose]

Here is my take at this challenge.

I tried to replicate your C1 processing, this is not necessarily how I would have treated this picture but I tried my best to be as close as possible to your rendering.


Processed in PL7

To me it's not natural look, but I've not seen it in person.

The challenge was to replicate something like the OP's C1 processing but using PL. It wasn't to produce a natural look. Of course, only the OP knows what Durdle Door looked like on that bright, sunny day in Dorset.

It was a very sunny day with strong harsh light. I had troubles looking at the scene without sunglasses. So, I definitely wouldn't like natural and realistic rendering. Not sure why some people are so obsessed with realistic photos. Btw I am sure you know that, but all movies are colour graded.

Its not the colors that are an issue for me. Theres too much contrast/micro contrast that make it look unnatural, would be too much for any scene imo.

Here's another PL rendering, with reduced micro contrast for a less crunchy look (as an aside, this rendering captures more of the scene than the Adobe and C1 versions — look at the bottom right-hand corner, where more people are included):


PL6, reduced local contrast

Looks more pleasing to me eye.

 

[bahamot]

Hi all,

I own DxO PhotoLab 6 and Capture One v22. I really like the NR in DXO, but everything else and especially the dinamic range is so much better in Capture one. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there are photos that are simply impossible to save with DxO PhotoLab 6 and they are perfectly fine in Capture one with just a few sliders moved.

So, here is a chalange for the DxO PhotoLab masters (I think DigitalNigel is quite good):

I have this overexposed Sony A6500 image:

wetransfer.com link to the RAW file that will expire in 1 week

https://we.tl/t-e2lPjgCuic

here it just exported from Capture one with no adjustments at all



In Capture one, just by moving a few sliders (literary took me 30sec), no curves, selections, no local adjustments, no layers. I was able to get this:



I then furter polished the above image and got a pretty decent result.

For me, DXO just can't handle images like this. No matter what I try, the result from DXO is far worse than what I could easily get from Capture one.

So, please download the RAW, play with it and show me what you can get out of it.

Thanks, I hope its my mistake and I learn something new.

Here's my attempt







--
my filckr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51555031@N06/

 

[tbcass]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we? We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

--
Tom

 

[Reilly Diefenbach]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we?

Should have written : "Those of us (such as the OP) who prefer to enhance our pics with software as opposed to settling for what was actually there if what was actually there would make for a boring (murky in this case) snapshot."

As we see above and below.

We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

As a plugin to C1, one of the programs now under consideration, it requires exporting the pic, opening it and then exporting. Not worth $149/99 extra to me, that's for sure.

 

[Az5]

Thanks to everyone for providing their opinions and especially to the few people who provided .dop files that I tried and learned from.
After trying all the new tips/settings etc, I still concluded that I could achieve the desired result much faster with Capture one.
I'm absolutely sure some people can produce amazing images with DXO (and I'll still use it for noise reduction), but for me it just takes significantly longer. I work full time in front of my computer and want to minimize the amount of time I stare at my monitor as much as I can.

 

[CAcreeks]

Thanks to everyone for providing their opinions and especially to the few people who provided .dop files that I tried and learned from.
After trying all the new tips/settings etc, I still concluded that I could achieve the desired result much faster with Capture one.
I'm absolutely sure some people can produce amazing images with DXO (and I'll still use it for noise reduction), but for me it just takes significantly longer. I work full time in front of my computer and want to minimize the amount of time I stare at my monitor as much as I can.

Good point. Capture One does produce excellent color balance and saturation out of the box. (Not that software comes in a box any longer.) I disliked the mandatory catalog in Capture One Express, so it's not for me.

In many cases, Darktable produces better colors than DxO. It's not as simple to use, with the plethora of modules, some hardly ever useful. Lightroom has easiest highlight recovery. It is noise reduction and customized lens corrections that are DxO's strong points.

 

[IanYorke]

Thanks to everyone for providing their opinions and especially to the few people who provided .dop files that I tried and learned from.
After trying all the new tips/settings etc, I still concluded that I could achieve the desired result much faster with Capture one.
I'm absolutely sure some people can produce amazing images with DXO (and I'll still use it for noise reduction), but for me it just takes significantly longer. I work full time in front of my computer and want to minimize the amount of time I stare at my monitor as much as I can.

Good point. Capture One does produce excellent color balance and saturation out of the box. (Not that software comes in a box any longer.) I disliked the mandatory catalog in Capture One Express, so it's not for me.

In many cases, Darktable produces better colors than DxO. It's not as simple to use, with the plethora of modules, some hardly ever useful. Lightroom has easiest highlight recovery. It is noise reduction and customized lens corrections that are DxO's strong points.

Yes, one of the advantages of C1 is sessions mode which don't involve a catalogue.

Ian

 

[Ernie Misner]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we? We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

True. I think your raw data is converted to a tiff the second you leave PL6 though.

 

[tbcass]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we? We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

True. I think your raw data is converted to a tiff the second you leave PL6 though.

You can choose JPEG or DNG as a save as. Once you process a RAW image it has to be converted to some other format. That's true with any RAW editor.

 

[IanYorke]

True. I think your raw data is converted to a tiff the second you leave PL6 though.

Yes, PL converts the raw image to whatever RGB format you choose. PL's dng's are like Lightroom's dng's from HDR or panos, a linear dng ie effectively a Tif in a dng wrapper.

Ian

 

[Digital Nigel]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we? We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

True. I think your raw data is converted to a tiff the second you leave PL6 though.

You can choose JPEG or DNG as a save as. Once you process a RAW image it has to be converted to some other format. That's true with any RAW editor.

Yes, but it's only needed in this case because NIK isn't integrated with PhotoLab. Your image needs to be exported from PL via a transfer file, and then imported into NIK. After that, you only have access to NIK Tools, not PL tools. So, you couldn't, for example, change the smart lighting settings inside NIK.

That's nothing like FilmPack, which is built right into PhotoLab. Its tools can be used, in any order, alongside the normal PL tools. It's all part of the seamless, non-destructive workflow. Your PL presets can include FP tools, and your PL palettes can too. So, you can, for instance, choose an FP film replacement before choosing the PL NR method or the VP tools also built into PL.

NIK is better integrated with Photoshop than it is with PhotoLab.

 

[Ernie Misner]

DXO can handle it and give good results.

Don't like the DXO colors at all.

Your edit looks too HDR and unrealistic to me.

We don't want realistic, which would be the subject Durdle Door plunged into mid afternoon shadow murk. Without a certain amount of shadow push it would be just another totally boring snapshot.

I'm sorry. Who is we? We all have different opinions yet you seem to think yours is more important than mine. I was careful to let others know it was my opinion.

If you have the NIK collection installed there is an HDR function that can give results very close to this.

C1 in this instance made all that import/export business unnecessary with just a few clicks.

No "import export business". NIK is integrated into PL6 and requires a single click to access.

True. I think your raw data is converted to a tiff the second you leave PL6 though.

You can choose JPEG or DNG as a save as. Once you process a RAW image it has to be converted to some other format. That's true with any RAW editor.

Yes, but it's only needed in this case because NIK isn't integrated with PhotoLab. Your image needs to be exported from PL via a transfer file, and then imported into NIK. After that, you only have access to NIK Tools, not PL tools. So, you couldn't, for example, change the smart lighting settings inside NIK.

Surprisingly, the newer versions of Nik now have Smart Lighting and some FilmPack selections pinned to the top when you open any edits in Efex Color. I find it really handy to have Smart Lighting there to use as a dehaze type of touchup once in Nik. Of course there are advantages to using Smart Lighting while still in the raw space in PL.

That's nothing like FilmPack, which is built right into PhotoLab. Its tools can be used, in any order, alongside the normal PL tools. It's all part of the seamless, non-destructive workflow. Your PL presets can include FP tools, and your PL palettes can too. So, you can, for instance, choose an FP film replacement before choosing the PL NR method or the VP tools also built into PL.

NIK is better integrated with Photoshop than it is with PhotoLab.