I’m currently working on a long term software project that I’m mostly trying to keep under my hat, though a couple of other photographers are aware of it. I’ve reached a stage where I think it would be beneficial to chew the cud with someone who understands very well the concept of black and white points and how they relate to image histograms. On the surface this seems relatively simple but I think the truth is far more complex.
I need to break through a couple of issues that I’m having. Firstly I would like to discover exactly what the big players (Adobe, Nikon etc) do to raw histogram data before rendering it as a plotted graph. I’ve come to the conclusion that they do not simply plot the data values when rendering a particular colour channel or composite RGB histogram. I’m thinking they first perform some data smoothing or apply some other algorithm to reduce data spikes and perhaps other things. The histograms I am producing are often the same as those produced the big players, sometimes similar and sometimes quite different and my histograms are produced from the raw image data so something else is going on after the gathering of the data and before the plot.
Secondly I need to find out a little more about the actual meaning of Black and White points in relation to raw histogram or image data. I am assuming that the concept of Black and White points relates directly to the luminosity histogram and I would just like to have this confirmed.
If any readers can help and are willing to chat either over the phone or online I would be very grateful.
UPDATE: Well, the RAW vs Smoothed histogram issue seems to be solved or at least improved significantly.
I was very keen on Phase One’s raw workflow offering. Capture One 4 offers a seductive set of features and, as I said here, really can be a time saver. What was clear to me was that it was designed with a speedy workflow in mind and it is true to say that it dealt with the large number of images I had to process reasonably well (with one exception).
There is, however, a problem and for me it’s a show stopper.
The C14 feature set is rich and the interface, though a little different from other offerings, is a joy to use once you get into the flow of things but, and here’s the thing, the RAW processing abilities of the package when coupled with Nikon D300 RAW files is poor.
Now I’m used to non-nikon software offering raw processing solutions that are less capable than Nikon’s own Capture NX. That’s the nature of impenetrable proprietary formats. But I found that the default results from C14 with the D300 profile left me with far too much in the way of adjustment to do to get anywhere close to the results offered by Capture NX.
So there it is for now. C14 may well remain part of my workflow, particularly for image selection and handling, but for now my raw images are going through Capture NX.
I posted recently on my brief experiences with Phase One’s Capture One 4 and I think it’s worth revisiting it now that I’ve had more experience.
I’ve been extremely busy this month shooting for a commercial client almost daily and that has lead to a large number of images requiring processing. I’ve used Capture One 4 as my primary workflow tool and I can say, without hesitation, that it has been a real benefit.
From RAW to TIF to JPG to client web galleries, it has withstood the assault of literally thousands of images and has performed extremely well, saving me oodles of time. The unreliability issue I was experiencing has not manifested itself again.
So a thumbs up to the guys at Phase One. It looks like a great product and will be a part of my workflow for the foreseeable future.
Workflow, workflow, workflow. Millions of words have been written about it and there are, no doubt, many millions to come. Here are a few more.
I’ve never really been happy with my pre-DAM workflow. It’s been a little too clunky and disjointed for my liking and that is probably as a result of failings within the RAW products I have used and my understanding of how best to use them. I’ve tried a few different products and always stumbled at one hurdle or another. Capture NX does a great job of Nikon NEF files but is distractingly clunky and slow. I quite fancied Adobe Bridge’s metadata functionality which I used for initial annotation but that’s pretty much where my love for it ends. I’ve tried many others and have never really been satisfied.
I hear some good things about Lightroom but am yet to try it but what I have tried recently is Phase One’s offering, Capture One 4. The interface is unlike the normal Windows style of application but it’s hard to express succinctly why. Things just don’t seem to be where I would naturally expect them to be which, I guess, is not a great start. Keyboard shortcuts and shift key functionality seem to be the way things are with the product and that, coupled with some unreliability issues (ImgCoreProcess.exe errors anyone?) put me off somewhat but I persevered and I’m glad that I did.
Once I gained a little experience on the way the product should be used I’ve had a great deal of success taking my images from the RAW, through to selection and adjustment, cropping and finally to the satisfying derivative stage. I love the way output recipes are defined and used and the crop tool works just how I want a crop tool to work, allowing me to define my aspect ratio and to crop my images knowing that they can be used for print work without further messing about.
So far so good with the exception of some reliability issues. I hope Phase One get on top of them sooner rather than later.
For two days now I’ve been trying to access the Adobe web site to download the latest version of their DNG converter with no luck whatsoever. It keeps timing out which makes me suspect that they are either extraordinarily busy or they are experiencing a denial of service attack. Either way it means that I’m not going to be able to convert the NEF files from my new Nikon D300 to DNG for a while. If anyone reads this and has the latest and greatest free Adobe DNG converter for Windows I would be grateful for a copy.