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Author Topic: Does anyone have a catch all filter to use as a start point?  (Read 26513 times)
tonygamble
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« on: December 08, 2012, 05:40:18 PM »

I've read people, on this forum, saying that the 'out of the can' RAW interpretation works a lot of the time. I'm not disputing that but the one coming from my GH2 is certainly too flat. That is not a bad thing. I'd rather be able to add contrast and not be disappointed by burnt highlights and overdark shadows. They are also too soft, but again I can add sharpening and I can't remove it.

To cure, or at least help, the flatness there is an Exposure box to tick in Auto-Correct within Edit Image.

To deal with the sharpening there is DFS and I'm reading a general consensus that something like 5 and 100 is not a bad start point.

Back to flatness I'd wonder about using a contrast creating S curve moving the positions 4 and 12 about half way down(4) and up(12).

I am not suggesting this will produce 100% success every time. However, I'm always looking at ways of speeding my workflow after coming home with, say, 100 images to get at least acceptable enough for a web folder - the ones that really matter being re-visited later.

As Fred and Terry know I do a lot of high iso work so, for that, I'd have a special filter that ticks the extra box.

Tony

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tonygamble
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« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2012, 03:23:34 PM »

The reason I started this thread is because my photography (which I 'laughingly' call photo journalism - well what else is it?) involves taking two or three hundred shots and getting about a hundred of them up to an acceptable quality for a web site. My web site is very much a proofing medium from which friends order prints and three magazines draw images. As long as the web image looks acceptable I know always have time to 'fine tune' the chosen shots for further use. The poser was as to how I could do this in QU as quickly as Lightroom!

Someone suggested creating some web sized jpgs of the full shoot and using those frames to guide me as to which shots to junk and which to keep. As I have a copy of BreezeBrowser I'm using that. It is fast in displaying RAW's and I'm conversant with the assorted methods of tagging, the shortcuts, and so on.

Whilst I am culling my three hundred down to one hundred I let QU build its RAW caches on all three hundred. This is, to a degree I think, dead time in QU so I can usefully spend it with my BB and my culling. By the time I have finished in BB QU is fully cached and ready for action.

What I had not realised, after fiddling around with RAW refine, was just how reliable the RAWs were without tinkering with the nine rectangles and the assortment of ways of getting the selected rectangle to alter the whole image. I did around 95 images this morning and only one 'needed' some highlight recovery. I am not claiming the others could not be improved - but I'm looking for speed at this point.

I then created a filter that :-
Upped Contrast to 20
Added DFS 4 and 100
Auto-corrected Exposure
Shadow Noise - as I was shooting at around 1600 ASA (probably not needed normally)

I shall call this filter '1'

I ran this filter over all 95 files. The thumbnails all looked 'acceptable' so I took a flyer and created my set of 85% jpgs.

I looked at the jpgs in my Breeze and concluded that 13 shots really needed more work. I flagged them in BB and took my BB into a minimised screen so I could park it at the side of my widescreen monitor and work again in QU. About a third of the shots needed cropping (I had not bothered to take a second lens - lazy bones ). Most of the rest were dingy and needed plus ten of Brightness and a push from the left in the Levels box to get the blacks back. Now I know this works I can create a second filter for it and I'll call it filter '2'.

One shot needed work on the RAW and this was the one with blown highlights. I made all these changes, creating a second jpg after each change.

I went back into BB and made sure all the new jpgs with {Q} in front of them were 'good enough'. I deleted the first versions and used the batch renaming of BB to remove the {Q} suffixes - partly because the HTML browser creator in BB cannot deal with the { or }.

The two resultant folders are:-

http://www.tonygamble.org/Christmas_decorations_2012/index.htm
http://www.tonygamble.org/Family_Carols_2012/index.htm

Yes, they could be better - and yes, I'd love suggestions as to how to improve them. But I'm posting this message as I am spending quite a bit of time talking with LR using colleagues who 'need' a system that lets them process hundreds of images a day. I have to say, and congratulations to Mike, I was staggered at how effective QU is at getting highly useable images from RAW files with next to no operator intervention.

But any ideas of how I can get faster would be highly welcome.

Tony


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Terry-M
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« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2012, 04:15:08 PM »

Hi Tony
Quote
I'd love suggestions as to how to improve them
The most obvious thing is they all are very "warm" due to the artificial  lighting; some white balance correction in raw refine is in order I think.
It all looks very "Christmasy" and good fun with Santa, hope you gor to sit on his knee and get a nice pressy.  Grin
Terry
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tonygamble
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« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2012, 04:22:42 PM »

Warm. Yes, but you know me. Err on the side of too much contrast and frightened to remove the warmth!

But, to heed your comment rather than challenge it, would you have found one image with a good clean grey spot to pipette on and then saved just that WB to every other RAW? Following my quest for speed I would not want to them indivually.

No prezzy from Santa - unless you count a tincture in the Club Bar! Not still in costume I hasten to add.

Tony
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tonygamble
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« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2014, 08:14:51 AM »

I make no apologies for re-activating this 18 month old thread as I have learnt quite a lot since those days.

Firstly, removing the Shadow Noise filter almost doubles the speed when entering an edit and saving it. That is a big saving.

The Auto-corrected exposure box does not, IMHO, help a lot so I have removed it.

The other big improvement to speed I have achieved is by making the thumbnails small and of the lowest resolution. With that I can still see shots that may need changes. The spacebar preview works faster and one can get into the Edit or RAW Edit more quickly than from larger and better defined thumbs.

When I have a batch of images that look as they need similar corrections I put them into the queue and use the 'apply to all images in the queue' radio button when saving.

With these alterations to my work flow I am seeing big, big, savings in time. But any other suggestions are, as always, welcome.

Tony
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Terry-M
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« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2014, 09:44:40 AM »

Quote
The Auto-corrected exposure box does not, IMHO, help a lot so I have removed it.
It depends on how you set it up. All it does is clip the histogram at each end which increases contrast and the amount of clipping is controlled by the user.
I think an experienced user is unlikely ever to use it.
Quote
removing the Shadow Noise filter
Using noise reduction in a "catch-all" filter is bad news I think; this is used for the "exception rather than the rule". Getting your raw refine NR settings right should in many cases, sort noise before you get to the editor.
Terry
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Fred A
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« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2014, 09:54:24 AM »

Quote
With these alterations to my work flow I am seeing big, big, savings in time. But any other suggestions are, as always, welcome.
Hi Tony,
I know you like heavy contrast, and that is your prerogative, no argument at all. I have a number of your images.
So I think you understand that Qimage processes the Raw images using algorithms that try to prevent blown highlights and mud shadows... so the auto processing might not suit your taste.
But built in, there are ways to mitigate the process toward your high contrast likes.
You can use Levels or Curves...and SAVE the setting in a filter.
Check the Global filter box on the main screen, and it will apply the contrast increase to all images.

Another item is the NOISE.   Open the Editor Raw options, and move the NR slider to the right for your camera.
Then you wont have to deal with it with noise filters.

See screen snaps.
Save a Curves or a Levels filter, name it Contrast 1  (you might want stronger ones that could become contrast 2....)
You can type in numbers into the boxes for more accurate adjusting

Good Luck
Fred
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Fred A
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« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2014, 09:56:14 AM »

Here's an ON/OFF
with the filter
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tonygamble
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« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2014, 11:22:53 AM »

Thanks guys.

As always something new to learn.

I have never bothered about camera profiles. I use the Ricoh GR and the Olympus E-M5. Where should they be stored? They are not in my Prog Data, DDI etc folder.

I understand what you mean about the NR slider but I guess I need to find the profile first

I have used straight contrast enhancement in my latest folder. You'll hate it Fred, but it makes us Brits think we are in a sunny country.

http://www.tonygamble.org/Fete_Gen_14/index.html

And, yes, I see the value of saving those 's' curves and the histogram sliders.

You say "Check the Global filter box on the main screen, and it will apply the contrast increase to all images."

Which box on which screen, please?

Tony



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Fred A
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« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2014, 11:34:07 AM »

Quote
You say "Check the Global filter box on the main screen, and it will apply the contrast increase to all images."

Which box on which screen, please?

With the check in that box and the correct filter selected, it will be applied to every image.
To see that applied filter, you need a hi res image.... hover over the thumb and hit spacebar, or HQ in the page editor.

Fred

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tonygamble
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« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2014, 11:41:14 AM »

Thanks Fred,

And the camera profiles?

Tony
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Fred A
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« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2014, 12:04:54 PM »

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And the camera profiles?

Tony,
Your DH-2 camera profile should be in the Profiles folder.
See snaps.
The easiest way to get there is through Qimage... see snaps.
Qimage will apply it automatically as long as you have Enable Custom Profiles checked. See snap.
To assure yourself that the profile is applied, simply hover over the thumb from a raw image for that camera, and read the HOTBAR below the thumbnail screen.
OK?
Let me know if you have it working.
Fred
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tonygamble
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« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2014, 12:14:53 PM »

Thanks Fred,

But "I use the Ricoh GR and the Olympus E-M5."

Are the same as the DH-2?

Tony
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Fred A
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« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2014, 12:34:18 PM »

Quote
But "I use the Ricoh GR and the Olympus E-M5."

The profiles that are supplied with a Qimage Ultimate download are camera specific for RAW files made for use in Qimage Ultimate.
I don't think someone else's will work in Raw mode.
You can apply any filter to JPG or TIF images in Qimage. 
Fred
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tonygamble
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« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2014, 01:22:03 PM »

Thanks Fred,

So when you say "Another item is the NOISE.   Open the Editor Raw options, and move the NR slider to the right for your camera.
Then you wont have to deal with it with noise filters." that is only applicable if you have one of the cameras at the bottom of this page where there is quite a short Qimage Ultimate profile list.

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/tech-raw.htm#profiles

If, as in the case of my two cameras, they are not in the list the slider will not work. Yes?

Tony



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