tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post1112922568470583843..comments2024-03-18T01:15:17.741-07:00Comments on Better Family Photos: Recovering from Underexposure - A New Approach360 Rumorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01173469932778454315noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-13138978110869254102013-10-15T11:21:30.660-07:002013-10-15T11:21:30.660-07:00Shalom my friend. There was a time when I didn...Shalom my friend. There was a time when I didn't care about highlights either. But that changed when I started shooting with film and then later the Fuji S5 Pro. The reason I am very concerned about the highlights is because in my view it is what differentiates film from digital. See here: http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/10/exposure-for-digital-cameras.html#more When I was growing up, digital was still in its infancy, so I've subconsciously associated the digital look with being "cheaper" and lower quality. That's why I'm a stickler for preserving relevant highlights. :) But I understand not everyone cares about highlights.<br /><br />Best regards,<br />Mic360 Rumorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173469932778454315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-22755238922872857462013-10-15T11:11:13.078-07:002013-10-15T11:11:13.078-07:00that's a good technical approach, however, the...that's a good technical approach, however, the biggest problem is that the highlights in the picture do not really serve any compositional purpose. so i would argue that it shouldn't really effect the outcome even if some highlights will be burned.ויקטור קינהhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03563471738159876081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-45863090130784198582013-10-12T14:37:25.677-07:002013-10-12T14:37:25.677-07:00None taken my friend and I think it's great to...None taken my friend and I think it's great to have different perspectives! Perhaps it's just my laziness or lack of skill with strobes that I would have a hard time lighting all faces and shadows the way I've done here for the group shot. :) Anyhow, I think everyone should try both approaches and see what works for them. Thanks Marcin!<br /><br />Best regards,<br />Mic360 Rumorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173469932778454315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-16748456888750801542013-10-12T13:42:08.152-07:002013-10-12T13:42:08.152-07:00Mic, no offence, but the final results of your pos...Mic, no offence, but the final results of your post-processing still look artificial to me, the faces lack that natural glow and sparkle in the eyes that you could easily obtain with a strobe. This is especially evident in the group photo but also visible and detrimental to the other images.<br />I believe it is sometimes better to have a lesser camera because it forces you to follow best photo practices. For example, a person forced to shoot at low ISO from a tripod can often take technically much better images (of static objects) than someone relying on the brute force of high ISO and image stabilisation. In the case of your images, if you used Nikon D7000 coupled with an external flash you would get better results than you got shooting with Nikon D600 and fixing the lack of flash with heavy post-processing. Just my opinion.<br />Marcinhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/lensjoynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-68992789532935843232013-10-12T12:22:15.846-07:002013-10-12T12:22:15.846-07:00Hi Dave. Thanks for sharing your process! Between ...Hi Dave. Thanks for sharing your process! Between the adjustment brush and radial gradient i find i get better results with the rgrad. But fyi i use a trackpad. I know others who get great results with the adj brush too. Most of them use a tablet. So it might be one reason why some prefer the adj brush and others might like the rgrad. Thanks again and i totally agree we should be constantly evolving. <br /><br />Best regards,<br />Mic360 Rumorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173469932778454315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-7159569116960598942013-10-12T10:45:18.885-07:002013-10-12T10:45:18.885-07:00Hi Mic. I have the D600 and use LR5 as well. Lat...Hi Mic. I have the D600 and use LR5 as well. Lately, in situations like what you show above, I tend to increase the Exposure slider to the right about .33 to .5 and slam the Highlights. Like you, I don't mind being aggressive with it. Next I'll bump the Shadows between 20 and 50 but by now the image can start looking flat. So I move to the Tone Curve where I bump the Lights between 8 and 13 and reduce Darks and Shadows between -2 and -6. These reintroduce some contrast back into the image. Sometimes I employ the Clarity slider but have been finding with people and food I mostly leave it alone. I find, also, that I'm using the Adjustment Brush more and more to make changes only where I want them. I appreciate you mentioning the Radial Gradient. I need to use that more. So far I've mostly used it on some photos of my daughter where she asked for a pink ribbon around her waist to remain pink and make the rest of the photo B&W. It's nice to see how others use LR. I'm still learning and evolving - and to a point I hope that is always the case.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870516640349332182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-17161944712922852902013-10-11T14:47:56.021-07:002013-10-11T14:47:56.021-07:00Hi Mohammad. Yup the D7000 is excellent at recove...Hi Mohammad. Yup the D7000 is excellent at recovering shadows which is why I like it a lot and so far is the one I like best among Nikon APS-C cameras. I'm curious to see how well the OMD and RX100 will do since their sensors are also by Sony.<br /><br />Best regards,<br />Mic360 Rumorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173469932778454315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361251099864607419.post-7486566939334041862013-10-11T12:07:07.972-07:002013-10-11T12:07:07.972-07:00Very funny, that post just came in time. I have sh...Very funny, that post just came in time. I have shot a headshot session with a friend's D7000.<br /><br />During setup I had a few pictures that were almost completely black (occupying half the left-most zone in the histogram), and just for fun, I bumped the exposure to +5 to see what would happen. I was stunned. The picture opened up as if it was well-exposed from the beginning, without any banding and with negligible noise (ISO 100), and with full accurate colors. WOW! It was a first to me to see something like this, I 'll have to try the OMD and the RX100 to see what they would do and post about it.<br /><br />However, when I was processing the images, the files did not react to shadow recovery like I am used to, it didn't seem to have much of an effect, and it looked abnormal, while opening up exposure worked much better. So while doing local adjustments, I used positive exposure instead of shadow recovery like I'm used to on my cameras.<br /><br />It is really intriguing how each camera reacts to the same adjustments in lightroom. I can see why my usual post processing with Canon RAWs won't work with Nikon, and vice versa.mshafikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09178862453786826299noreply@blogger.com