First time post processing - Advice

Messages
542
Name
Joe
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello, today I took my first RAW image and have attempted to processes it in Lightroom Classic. However i wondered if anyone would be happy to offer some comments/advice as to how I did and what I should do next time for similar images. Many thanks in advance :)


lightroom test.jpglightroom test.jpg
 
You crushed the whites :eek:
I would crop out the background highlight & the right side a little and restore the white slider.

Also - Vibrance is a better way to boost colour.
The saturation slider is generally more aggressive than the vibrance slider in that it affects all colors in the image, regardless of how saturated they already are.
The vibrance slider only affects muted colors and leaves skin tones and already-saturated colors alone. This creates a much more natural-looking image.
 
Last edited:
You crushed the whites :eek:
I would crop out the background highlight & the right side a little and restore the white slider.

Also - Vibrance is a better way to boost colour.
The saturation slider is generally more aggressive than the vibrance slider in that it affects all colors in the image, regardless of how saturated they already are.
The vibrance slider only affects muted colors and leaves skin tones and already-saturated colors alone. This creates a much more natural-looking image.

Thank you very much for this feedback, its very helpful.

I was a little bit worried I may have over done the whites & I can see now that I have almost made the bird look fake looking. Also thanks for the advice regarding the vibrance/saturation.

I think tomorrow I will go back into the original image and try again, but I suppose its trial and error that's the key.

Thanks again :)
 
A general comment: although the sliders will go all the way to either the left or right, you should very rarely move them that far. If you need to move the sliders very far, you are moving the wrong slider.
 
Following your very helpful advice & comments I wanted to ask if my thinking below is correct?

Before this I thought that RAW meant it was an un true image & the idea was to process it to essentially look like what a jpg would be but better..

However after doing it and reading your comments I realise and hope i'm right in saying that,....

A RAW file is actually a true representation of the image your taking, i.e. the bird in my original image is actually the true colours of what I would see by eye & that the post processing is all about just sharpening the edges/vibrance ect... but focusing on localised whites/blacks/shadow/highlights issues & not playing too much with the main subject. (Unless of course your trying to use post editing to create a creative shot).
 
Last edited:
A Raw image is essentially green and very dark. What you see when you open a Raw file is not the Raw image - it is the Raw processing software's default rendition of the file. It has nothing to do with jpegs which is just a file format. My images are never jpegs. They start as Raw and end up as PSD files. While in the computer memory they are neither.
 
Last edited:
A RAW file is actually a true representation of the image your taking, i.e. the bird in my original image is actually the true colours of what I would see by eye & that the post processing is all about just sharpening the edges/vibrance ect... but focusing on localised whites/blacks/shadow/highlights issues & not playing too much with the main subject. (Unless of course your trying to use post editing to create a creative shot).

John is right about the raw file - it's just sensor data, interpreted into an image by the processing or viewing software. All images, whether digital or film, are not 'true' captures of the scene, but are processed in various ways according to human design. That may be the various presets built into cameras or software, or choices made about formulations and filters in film (not to mention the processing when making prints or scans).

The key thing is that a raw file arguably gives you more options and control about how the image will eventually look than any of the other formats.
 
Okay so after taking in all your helpful comments and advice, I have had a second attempt at the original raw image.

Hopefully this time I have done a little bit better...

2nd lightroom test.jpg


As I say hopefully I have done a bit better this time (I feel it look better myself), however following doing this a second time...

The first thing is with this particular image I think I would completely crop out the white area next time, as it is quite a large complex/ugly area, but I wanted to try using the local brush on my second try.

The second thing is actually a question for some more advice if that is okay. The next step I would like to look at, would be how i should approach the actual bird in terms of sharpening, as I feel the edges & feathers don't seem to be that sharp.. I also understand that I probable didn't use the best setting on my camera at the time for the image so that has probably played a part, however any advice on how to approach this part would be much appreciated.

Thanks again guys,

Joe
 
Birds are soft. They are covered in downy feathers. What I said above about only moving sliders a little bit particularly applies to the sharpness slider or you will end up with a bird that looks like it has been carved in something solid. When using the sharpening slider, press the Alt key to mask the sharpening. The screen will go blank and then move the slider until just the bits you want sharpened are visible.
 
Birds are soft. They are covered in downy feathers. What I said above about only moving sliders a little bit particularly applies to the sharpness slider or you will end up with a bird that looks like it has been carved in something solid. When using the sharpening slider, press the Alt key to mask the sharpening. The screen will go blank and then move the slider until just the bits you want sharpened are visible.

Ah brilliant tip, thank you very much for that :)
 
You’re going too far I’d say - why so much dehaze and positive black? Wildlife often benefits from negative dehaze and negative clarity, but go gentle!
 
You’re going too far I’d say - why so much dehaze and positive black? Wildlife often benefits from negative dehaze and negative clarity, but go gentle!

Thank you for the advice, I will bare this in mind next time. :)
 
Thanks again to everyone for your help and advice, I think I am starting to get somewhere now with LR & understanding what things do & I am also using a more simple image to learn with, which is helping a lot. However I am now a little stuck with the 'Details Panel'.


Can anyone kindly offer any hints/tips as to where to begin with noise reduction & sharpening, I know you have very kindly given some tips above but i'm now talking in a general sense rather thank just the bird image i used above.


I have been reading a lot about adaptive ISO presets? or is there a standard setting for most images? or is it again a case of every image will be different?


Am I also correct in saying that; you actually want to apply as little NR as possible & that it is better to shoot at as low ISO as possible to avoid NR & sharpening loss in the image, to which if your then need to bring up the exposure this can be done in post processing (ie not affecting NR or Sharpness).


Hope my thinking is correct & as always thank you for your help, its all very much appreciated.


Thanks, Joe :)
 
Can anyone kindly offer any hints/tips as to where to begin with noise reduction & sharpening, I know you have very kindly given some tips above but i'm now talking in a general sense rather thank just the bird image i used above.

Assuming you're not using Fuji, I'd suggest setting Sharpening to about 55-65 APS-C or 65-80 FF, Radius to 0.7 or 0.8, leave detail alone, hold down the alt key & adjust masking until the bits with detail are still white while the bits without detail aren't. Normally I'd suggest leaving luminance noise reduction alone unless you're using really high ISO & the noise is worse than losing fine detail. Colour noise reduction can be useful however to get rid of the technicolour pixels caused by high ISO.

Am I also correct in saying that; you actually want to apply as little NR as possible & that it is better to shoot at as low ISO as possible to avoid NR & sharpening loss in the image, to which if your then need to bring up the exposure this can be done in post processing (ie not affecting NR or Sharpness).

Yes - apply as little change as possible, as much as necessary (and then perhaps back off a bit).
 
Last edited:
Assuming you're not using Fuji, I'd suggest setting Sharpening to about 55-65 APS-C or 65-80 FF, Radius to 0.7 or 0.8, leave detail alone, hold down the alt key & adjust masking until the bits with detail are still white while the bits without detail aren't. Normally I'd suggest leaving luminance noise reduction alone unless you're using really high ISO & the noise is worse than losing fine detail. Colour noise reduction can be useful however to get rid of the technicolour pixels caused by high ISO.



Yes - apply as little change as possible, as much as necessary (and then perhaps back off a bit).

Thank you very much for this, very helpful & much appreciated. Only thing is I'm not using Fuji, but I'm using an Olympus M4/3 so would I be right in saying using the lower end of your APS-C recommendation for the Sharpening amount (say 50-55)?

Thanks again, Joe :)
 
Thank you very much for this, very helpful & much appreciated. Only thing is I'm not using Fuji, but I'm using an Olympus M4/3 so would I be right in saying using the lower end of your APS-C recommendation for the Sharpening amount (say 50-55)?

Thanks again, Joe :)

That should be fine. There are times you might use a bit more, but watch out for edges looking un-natural.
 
Back
Top