Seeking tips to streamline post-processing

While doing some soul searching on my photography habits & workflow, I realized that I've developed some questionable habits over time. Thought I'd share my PP workflow and some thoughts for input and feedback:

• Shoot in RAW+JPG on my D7100, or D3300
  • Thought: My default Picture Control setting is Standard, with sharpness adjusted to 7. However, I generally find my SOOC jpgs lacking *pop*. Is there a systematic way to tune the Picture Control settings, besides trying the other defaults (Neutral, Vivid, etc.)
• Import photos into "Photos for Mac" library, and mark the "keepers"
• For each keeper in "Photos for Mac":
  • Use a plug-in to open and adjust the RAW version within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Adobe Camera Raw). I use it mainly for defringing, and minor tweaks for exposure, detail, noise reduction.
  • Next, I "develop" the adjusted RAW into a JPG, still within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Photoshop). While this mode allows for major edits, I don't use it very much.
  • Send the edited JPG back to "Photos for Mac", which I use to adjust exposure, white balance, etc. to make the final images *pop*

I've started to notice that many of my PP steps are similar (with the exception of images that need extreme PP), so I was wondering if there was a systematic way to streamline it so that the majority of the tweaks can be made in-camera, so I can make the SOOC jpgs *pop* or get close enough so I can make do with minor tweaks in "Photos for Mac".

Apologies for the long-winded post Comments and input welcome!

gustafson said:

While doing some soul searching on my photography habits & workflow, I realized that I've developed some questionable habits over time. Thought I'd share my PP workflow and some thoughts for input and feedback:

• Shoot in RAW+JPG on my D7100, or D3300
  • Thought: My default Picture Control setting is Standard, with sharpness adjusted to 7. However, I generally find my SOOC jpgs lacking *pop*. Is there a systematic way to tune the Picture Control settings, besides trying the other defaults (Neutral, Vivid, etc.)
• Import photos into "Photos for Mac" library, and mark the "keepers"
• For each keeper in "Photos for Mac":
  • Use a plug-in to open and adjust the RAW version within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Adobe Camera Raw). I use it mainly for defringing, and minor tweaks for exposure, detail, noise reduction.
  • Next, I "develop" the adjusted RAW into a JPG, still within Affinity Photo (in a mode similar to Photoshop). While this mode allows for major edits, I don't use it very much.
  • Send the edited JPG back to "Photos for Mac", which I use to adjust exposure, white balance, etc. to make the final images *pop*

I've started to notice that many of my PP steps are similar (with the exception of images that need extreme PP), so I was wondering if there was a systematic way to streamline it so that the majority of the tweaks can be made in-camera, so I can make the SOOC jpgs *pop* or get close enough so I can make do with minor tweaks in "Photos for Mac".

Apologies for the long-winded post Comments and input welcome!

Click to expand...

Regarding the Picuture Profiles, each individual profile has a set of customization menus with control sliders for things like Saturation, Contrast and Clarity. You might try bumping the Clarity slider on your preferred profile to see if that helps with the "pop" you're looking for.

Regarding your processing work-flow, I do have a couple questions. I'm not familiar with the software you're using so maybe it all makes sense but...

1) Why are you adjusting exposure once when processing the raw file and then doing it again once you've converted to JPG?
2) Where in your workflow are you sharpening (assuming you *are* sharpening) and what tools do you use to sharpen?

Horoscope Fish said:

Regarding the Picuture Profiles, each individual profile has a set of customization menus with control sliders for things like Saturation, Contrast and Clarity. You might try bumping the Clarity slider on your preferred profile to see if that helps with the "pop" you're looking for.

Regarding your processing work-flow, I do have a couple questions. I'm not familiar with the software you're using so maybe it all makes sense but...

1) Why are you adjusting exposure once when processing the raw file and then doing it again once you've converted to JPG?
2) Where in your workflow are you sharpening (assuming you *are* sharpening) and what tools do you use to sharpen?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the Picture Profiles, I will tweak them and see if I can get better results. I don't recall seeing a clarity slider in-camera on my bodies though?

As for your question 1), I use Affinity for the RAW adjustments because i feel it has capabilities that aren't in Photos for Mac, such as defringing, clarity (microcontrast), and finer noise reduction. However, you bring up a good point. I could make the RAW exposure adjustments in Photos for Mac, and export the JPG over to Affinity (Photoshop mode) and do the defringing and other tweaks on the JPG there. As for question 2), I usually sharpen using the clarity slider and detail refinement during the RAW adjustments in Affinity, and make additional tweaks to the jpg once it is back in Photos for Mac. You're correct in that there is some duplication in my workflow that I need to avoid. Thanks for the input!

gustafson said:

Thanks for the tip on the Picture Profiles, I will tweak them and see if I can get better results. I don't recall seeing a clarity slider in-camera on my bodies though?

Click to expand...

Check and see... You D7100 should have a Clarity slider, not sure about the D3400.

Nikon explains in more detail what each of the profiles do here: Picture Controls Step by Step; you might find it helpful.

....

gustafson said:

As for your question 1), I use Affinity for the RAW adjustments because i feel it has capabilities that aren't in Photos for Mac, such as defringing, clarity (microcontrast), and finer noise reduction. However, you bring up a good point. I could make the RAW exposure adjustments in Photos for Mac, and export the JPG over to Affinity (Photoshop mode) and do the defringing and other tweaks on the JPG there. As for question 2), I usually sharpen using the clarity slider and detail refinement during the RAW adjustments in Affinity, and make additional tweaks to the jpg once it is back in Photos for Mac. You're correct in that there is some duplication in my workflow that I need to avoid. Thanks for the input!

Click to expand...

In my workflow I process from raw to JPG, with the conversion to JPG being the final step. It sounds to me as though converting to JPG, for you, is an intermediary step and I'm sort of scratching my head over that. I think this may be coming down to the software you use... I'm an a PC/Adobe software sort of guy, using Bridge/Camera Raw and PS for processing, and I think you would probably be better off speaking with another Mac user who better understands the software you're using.

Horoscope Fish said:

Check and see... You D7100 should have a Clarity slider, not sure about the D3400.

In my workflow I process from raw to JPG, with the conversion to JPG being the final step. It sounds to me as though converting to JPG, for you, is an intermediary step and I'm sort of scratching my head over that. I think this may be coming down to the software you use... I'm an a PC/Adobe software sort of guy, using Bridge/Camera Raw and PS for processing, and I think you would probably be better off speaking with another Mac user who better understands the software you're using.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. It seems the in-camera Clarity slider is in the D7200, but not the D7100

Good insight on the workflow. It has kind of evolved from being exclusively in “Photos for Mac” for both the maintaining the library and editing, to now including an excursion to Affinity for selected RAW adjustments. Also, the workflow has become cumbersome due the limitations and peculiarities of the two tools. Definitely needs a rethink!


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I would prefer to do all adjustments in RAW processing software before exporting the images to JPEG.


I have a D3300 and use Nikon Capture NX-D, and shoot only RAW. Here are the steps
. Copy images to hierarchical directory structure (I use USB cable and for a few hundred images that is fast enough)
- YYYY
- YYYY/MM
- YYYY/MM/DD
. Rename the images to overcome the 9999 limit of Nikon nomenclature.
This helps me keep track of RAW images as well as save them in external disk every couple of days.

. Open the relevant directory in NX-D
. Select all and apply the saved set of controls
- Vivid
- No NR
- No Distortion control
- WB = standard

This gives the all the images a "standard" setting.

. I View individual images and reject all I do not want
. Use exposure controls to get the exposure right
. Use recover shadows if required
. When shooting indoors with coloured lights, adjust WB and temparature
. Crop images
. Export them to JPEG, normally at 1000 pixels on the long side.
. If exporting for prints then brighten up the images and export at full resolution.

For larger prints I use ON1 resize (set at 300 DPI), as that resizes better than other programs, especially for A2 and larger prints.