DPP Exercises 4 and 5

OCA – Digital Photographic Practice

Project 1: Workflow – Exercise 4: Editing

The purpose of this exercise was to start with a set of recently shot images, at least 50 in total. Then you needed to follow five steps within the editing process to finally end up with just two selected images.

I visited a local zoo called Hammerton on Sunday 27th February 2011. The equipment chosen was a Nikon D300 camera, with an 18-200mm Nikon lens and a Sigma 150-500mm lens, shooting in aperture priority mode. The weather was overcast and cold, which meant that not all the animals were present for the viewing public.

Editing Step One – The Technical Edit

I started by completing a batch file rename and calling the file ‘DPP Exercise 4 Feb 2011’. The initial file had 174 photographs contained within it and after completing the technical edit, I had removed 125 photographs, leaving 49 photographs after this initial step, which was saved in a new file.

Editing Step Two – The Selects

During this next step I used Adobe Bridge to select a label for the photographs that were technically fine and also satisfied my own creativity. I rated these photographs as ** on the labelling system, this resulted in 23 photographs being rated with ** stars.

Editing Step Three – The First Selects

Working with the 23 ** star photographs, I then selected my first selects from this group. These were rated with *** stars. The final selection within this part of the process left 8 photographs as first selects. I feel that the images selected at this point in the editing process were the better technically, including a much better balance to the image. There were 2 double photographs of the same subject matter and another 4 further photographs of individual animals.

Editing Step Four – Group and Review

Using Adobe Bridge and after taking the required break, I reviewed the 8 selected images from the previous step. I chose not to add any of the earlier rejected images, but did remove 2 photographs from this group, leaving 6 photographs which were then given a **** rating. When I re-looked at these 2 photographs, the sharpness of the focus point was not quite there.

Editing Step Five – A Final Triage

Below are the final 2 photographs chosen from the initial 174 images taken on the day. The focus, balance and colour were the main reason for selecting these images.

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

OCA – Digital Photographic Practice

Project 2: Digital Image Qualities – Exercise 5: Sensor Linear Capture

The purpose of this exercise was to increase my familiarity with sensor linear capture and to show
how a digital camera processes the image before being viewed on the camera.

I used a photograph taken at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough on Saturday 12^th February 2011.
The equipment chosen was a Nikon D300 camera, with a 50mm f1.4 Nikon lens, shooting in
aperture priority mode.

The original RAW photograph was converted in to a 16 bit JPEG file; this was due to the strong
adjustments being made. A JPEG file in 8 bit mode might create banding when processed.

The 16 bit JPEG image:



The 16 bit image showing curves:

*Screen print will not work on Blogger*

This file was then adjusted using curves to show how the image looked like as it was captured
and before the camera’s processor got to work.

The 16 bit JPEG showing curves after the adjustment:

The 16 bit JPEG after using curves to show how the camera captured the image before
processing:

*Screen print will not work on Blogger*

The idea was to now re-create an image using a curve that makes the image look as close to
the original as possible.

The 16 bit JPEG showing curves to re-create original:

The 16 bit JPEG showing curves to re-create original:



*Screen print will not work on Blogger*

During this exercise I have learnt how to simulate a linear image, helping me to better
understand how a camera’s processor works before you actually see the image for the first time.