OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 3: Processing the image – Exercise 11: Raw
The purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate the processing advantages of raw, but at the same time put these advantages in perspective.
I set the camera to shoot in raw and high jpeg at the same time; this would then provide the two formats side by side for comparison.
I have always shot my photographs in raw only, as I have Adobe CS5 and now Adobe Lightroom 3. I also have a large internal hard drive with two external drives and only keep the better quality photographs on file.
Three sets of photographs were taken using a Nikon D300 camera, with an 18-200mm Nikon lens and Nikon 50mm lens, shooting in manual mode.
All appropriate lighting requests were met.
Daylight RAW
Daylight JPEG
I only made minor changes using levels in Adobe CS5 and also sharpened the raw image slightly. I believe the colour and details are better within the raw file, even though the sky detail in the jpeg has a better overall colour.
Dynamic Range RAW
Dynamic Range JPEG
Again with this image I used levels and a slight change to the white balance.
The colours and details look superior in the raw image file; I believe that the details stored in the raw file have helped with this. The JPEG file has lost some of the detail when it was saved to the camera’s memory card. The overall tonal range does not look as sharp.
Artificial Light RAW
There are no differences to the detail within these images; it’s purely down to the changes made with the raw file when processing the image.
The raw file has highlighted the artificial lighting better within the image, resulting in a warmer tone and brighter image.
Artificial Light JPEG
I will continue to use raw files in my photography, although on some occasions I can now understand that the JPEG files are not to dissimilar. Having the appropriate software to use raw data files is a must.
OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 3: Processing the image – Exercise 12: Managing Tone
The purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate how performing various procedures with my software of choice (Adobe CS5), the selected photograph’s results differed at all from each other (raw and jpeg).
I selected a photograph from my database from 2010.
A Nikon D300 camera, with an 18-200mm Nikon lens was used.
Original RAW
Completed RAW
Original JPEG
Completed JPEG
The original raw file kept more data within it, including the white balance and contrast. The colours were toned down though and I remember these boxes being much brighter in colour on the day. I have changed a minimal amount on the levels and curves and also added an increase in saturation.
The same was completed for the jpeg image, with less affect overall.
I consistently review all photographs and aim to keep learning throughout my time on this course.
OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 3: Processing the image – Exercise 13: Managing Colour
The purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate how performing various procedures with my software of choice (Adobe CS5) could change the colour cast (correct it). I chose to carry out this exercise in raw only, as I shoot in raw only.
I selected two photographs from my database from 2011.
A Nikon D300 camera, with an 18-200mm Nikon lens was used.
Photograph 1 - Original RAW
Photograph 1 - Completed RAW
Photograph 2 - Original RAW
Photograph 2 - Completed RAW
By originally taking these photographs in raw, it has provided me with the opportunity to change the colour balance of the photograph.
The first photograph in particular shows how to regain the supposedly loss of colour in an image. It may look too red to some, but as I took this in April 2011, I know this is how amazing the colour looked having spent some time at The Grand Canyon.
