May 3, 2016, 15:51
Good image, Graham, showing appropriate use of the HDR technique. It's a wonderful structure - what is it and where?
Cheers.
Philip
Cheers.
Philip
(May 4, 2016, 03:50)GrahamS Wrote: Philip, it's St Albans Cathedral.
(May 2, 2016, 15:06)Jocko Wrote: Jeff,
I do my conversion from raw using Lightroom 6.5.1. I have all the noise reduction and sharpening switched off in Lightroom and I have all sharpening switched off in camera.
My first edit in Nik is Dfine 2 Noise Reduction. I do all my Nik processing in TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bit and 300 resolution. I find that the default setting for Dfine is perfect for all bar noisy images. I then use Sharpener Pro 3: RAW Presharpener. I usually use the default setting, but sometimes I increase the Adaptive Sharpening to 55 or 60% and may also increase the Sharpen edges.
I use Viveza 2 if I have an area I want to either increase or decrease the Structure. I use Structure decrease to throw background that little bit out of focus.
I use Color Efex Pro 4 quite a bit for the Graduated ND filter. Great for slightly darkening the top of the sky (or sometimes the immediate foreground). I sometimes use the colour Grad filter for sky effects.
Silver Efex Pro 2 is great for creating Black and White conversions. Or for "old fashioned" looks and making images look like old faded images.
To finish off I use Sharpener Pro 3: Output Sharpener. I use this in two stages. I do any Creative Sharpening first, turning Output Sharpening off altogether. I then export that image as a 16 bit TIFF file. This is my default storage.
When I come to use the image, either for printing, for display, or for posting here, I first resize it for the use I intend it for, then, using Sharpener Pro 3: Output Sharpener, I sharpen it for the output medium (usually display). I then convert to JPEG, and use that image for the output.
John.
(May 6, 2016, 15:16)Freeman Wrote: My questions now are:The reason I use noise reduction before RAW Sharpening is because any noise that is there is sharpened and enhanced. It was either a YouTube video or one of the books I bought, on Nik Software, that told me to do it that way round. I am not adversed to a further round of Dfine 2, later in the process, if required.
1. John, why employ define 2 before pro sharpener 3? I though sharpening in itself could produce a little noise so t'other way round would have been intuitive.
2. Do you use PS print mode for your final export? What resizing process do you use?
(May 2, 2016, 01:01)Jocko Wrote: I use Nik Software for all my post processing. My wife BOUGHT it for my Christmas, last year! I think their Noise Reduction and Sharpening software is the best available. It is just that the over produced images most photographers associate with HDR is not for me. This HDR image of mine, posted previously on the Critique thread, uses the effect to increase the dynamic range and nothing else.
This HDR image was Merged in Lightroom 6.5.1.
(May 6, 2016, 16:02)Jocko Wrote:(May 6, 2016, 15:16)Freeman Wrote: My questions now are:The reason I use noise reduction before RAW Sharpening is because any noise that is there is sharpened and enhanced. It was either a YouTube video or one of the books I bought, on Nik Software, that told me to do it that way round. I am not adversed to a further round of Dfine 2, later in the process, if required.
1. John, why employ define 2 before pro sharpener 3? I though sharpening in itself could produce a little noise so t'other way round would have been intuitive.