gettin my feet wet in post-processsing

mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
Been a jpeg shooter since getting into the dslr world and only messed with tweaks and edits here and there.
My D7100 is not a good camera for shooting raw because of the buffer. I have messed now with some raw files
and been able to get basic profiles set up so they can look as good or better than camera jpeg in a lot of cases.
Still, it seems like photos need individual attention too.
Do y'all have stuff set up so that most of the photos can just be processed automatically? Or do you find yourself
messing with every one?
I am in the open source world on a linux operating system, so am playing mostly with Darktable right now.
digikam has frustrated me, and GIMP seems like a sledge hammer too. Much learning to do.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
mikeee said:
Been a jpeg shooter since getting into the dslr world and only messed with tweaks and edits here and there.
My D7100 is not a good camera for shooting raw because of the buffer. I have messed now with some raw files
and been able to get basic profiles set up so they can look as good or better than camera jpeg in a lot of cases.
Still, it seems like photos need individual attention too.
Do y'all have stuff set up so that most of the photos can just be processed automatically? Or do you find yourself
messing with every one?
I am in the open source world on a linux operating system, so am playing mostly with Darktable right now.
digikam has frustrated me, and GIMP seems like a sledge hammer too. Much learning to do.
Click to expand...

I don't use Lightroom often, but I think it has the ability to sync settings from one edited image to a collection of others. So once one image is edited, if others in the collection are taken with approximately the same exposure, then the settings from the edited image can be applied at once to them. Check with the programs you use and see if there is any way to sync settings in a similar manner. That might help speed up your editing process.

Just to clarify, the settings I'm talking about are things such as exposure, shadows, highlights, whites, blacks, etc. I'm not talking about profiles.
 
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Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
Most of the non-open source world's photo editing software has things like "presets" that perform specific editing functions that give a predefined "look" to an image with a single mouse click... From there the user can choose to accept that look or further refine/edit the image... They develop what's referred to as a "work flow" to their editing process... A lot of the editing process is dependent on several factors that are variations of the photographer's style and what they're expected end result is... Some have a goal of one or two images that might be culled from a dozen or more images... Wedding photographers shoot hundreds and process down to dozens... Some shoot thousands of birds in flight on full auto, and process down to a couple... Some process to print large framed images, and others never print an image... All of these various factors demand different "work flows" and how much time one spends...
 
nikonpup

nikonpup

Senior Member
​​​​â€â€‹ Hi, I use a D7100 a lot, I have 3. I use lightroom and ON1 for processing. They all have
long learning curves, they come out with upgrades all the time. More learning. I do one photo at a time when
processing.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
A small buffer can be a pain, and the D7100 is as painful as they come if you need to shoot many images in a row. That said, you have a DSLR, and if you are going to dive into post processing (and everyone should - it's the digital darkroom) then shoot raw. The amount of light information available to you in a raw file compared to jpeg is night and day. Literally. You get everything from every pixel and not just one interpretation, so you can pull things out of shadows and (sometimes) save blown out areas.

Ansel Adams was a great photographer, but experts will tell you that it was his prints that made him a genius. Learn what each photograph needs to make the most out of it and then learn how to apply that to it. It's the difference between a photograph and a snapshot.
 
Needa

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Still shooting d7100 here also use darktable. As for the buffer I shoot 14 bit lossless compression so I understand, be sure your are using better cards. There were lots of conversations on this site about d7100's and cards. The buffer is no worse than a manual film advance. :)

There is no reason why you can't shoot both raw and jpg for now and only process the best images. For me there are less images that get processed having become more ruthless with culling recently. Those that do get processed get individual treatment mostly, a few get the history stack copied over.

Which version of darktable are you using? As for processing I the use of the scene-refered work flow beats display-refered in version 3.2.1. Can't wait for 3.4 to hit my repo. There are quite a few resources out there for the new version already. Have you seen the recent Lightroom vs darktable comparison?

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fre...-darktables-lighttable-beat-lightrooms-537068
 
mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
I have the D7500 too, so there is no buffer problem on that one. But I am sort of interested in the D7100 too. I sometimes thought colors were flat and I can correct them with the white balance.

I am a Fedora linux user, and have Darktable 3.2.1. That's the one I've messed with the most, but I'll need to read up on it to get it well.

Needa said:
Still shooting d7100 here also use darktable. As for the buffer I shoot 14 bit lossless compression so I understand, be sure your are using better cards. There were lots of conversations on this site about d7100's and cards. The buffer is no worse than a manual film advance. :)

There is no reason why you can't shoot both raw and jpg for now and only process the best images. For me there are less images that get processed having become more ruthless with culling recently. Those that do get processed get individual treatment mostly, a few get the history stack copied over.

Which version of darktable are you using? As for processing I the use of the scene-refered work flow beats display-refered in version 3.2.1. Can't wait for 3.4 to hit my repo. There are quite a few resources out there for the new version already. Have you seen the recent Lightroom vs darktable comparison?

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fre...-darktables-lighttable-beat-lightrooms-537068
Click to expand...
 
mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
Thanks for the perspective Fred. I have been trying to use "styles" in Darktable. Seems like I need one for basic processing, and they decide what else needs to be done. The basic one I imagine would only have a few
steps then.

FredKingston said:
Most of the non-open source world's photo editing software has things like "presets" that perform specific editing functions that give a predefined "look" to an image with a single mouse click... From there the user can choose to accept that look or further refine/edit the image... They develop what's referred to as a "work flow" to their editing process... A lot of the editing process is dependent on several factors that are variations of the photographer's style and what they're expected end result is... Some have a goal of one or two images that might be culled from a dozen or more images... Wedding photographers shoot hundreds and process down to dozens... Some shoot thousands of birds in flight on full auto, and process down to a couple... Some process to print large framed images, and others never print an image... All of these various factors demand different "work flows" and how much time one spends...
Click to expand...
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
mikeee said:
I have the D7500 too, so there is no buffer problem on that one. But I am sort of interested in the D7100 too. I sometimes thought colors were flat and I can correct them with the white balance.
Click to expand...

I always check the options in Camera RAW to see how other white balance settings alter the images. Quite often I leave it as AUTO, but there are times when I override the settings and choose my own white balance.

I still have my D7100 - and the white balance for that body rarely ever pleased me. Despite owning several different bodies over the years, the D7100 had the worst balance of all of them (IMHO). Fortunately it is easily corrected during post processing! :)
 
mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
Yeah, I am thinking the raw processing will rekindle my love for the D7100! :cool:
There's an option for "camera" in white balance in Darktable...
I found the PDF for using the software.. It's pretty good.

hark said:
I always check the options in Camera RAW to see how other white balance settings alter the images. Quite often I leave it as AUTO, but there are times when I override the settings and choose my own white balance.

I still have my D7100 - and the white balance for that body rarely ever pleased me. Despite owning several different bodies over the years, the D7100 had the worst balance of all of them (IMHO). Fortunately it is easily corrected during post processing! :)
Click to expand...
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
I used a D7000 as my primary body until I bought a D750 nearly 2 years ago. Since getting the D7000 I have always shot Raw+Jpeg and have the Raw files save to the primary SD card and the Jpegs save to the 2nd SD card. Usually the 2nd SD card is a smaller-size and slower speed than the primary. I have the best of both worlds that way, a quick JPG I can share, and the Raw I can work with in post.

I also am heavily committed to open-source. I do use Windows currently on the main editing PC, but have used Ubuntu Linux of various revisions over the years. I settled on RawTherapee as my Raw editor of choice. It integrates to some degree with GIMP so you can export a file directly from RawTherapee and it loads into GIMP. You do not edit Raw in GIMP at all. RawTherapee allows you to save profiles and I do that for common subjects that use the same lens and lighting mostly. It can also be used to give a starting point with loading the color tables, lens profiles, and things like that. Feature for feature, RawTherapee does pack a lot of the expected Lightroom tools, but they are not presented in as friendly of a format. But if you don't learn on the Adobe products first, then what you expect to see no longer is a limiting factor for using the open-source software.

And as for archiving stuff, I keep those Raw files and will often revisit an image if I learn something months or years later and process differently. I tend to dump the Jpegs. I store long-term on network-attached storage hard disks.
 
mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
I have rawtherapee installed too, but have not looked too much at it. GIMP seems very complicated!
I just bought a 5TB us drive for backups, but feel I can save bigger stuff there too. Guess that was another reason I had not used raw.. (disk storage)

BF Hammer said:
I used a D7000 as my primary body until I bought a D750 nearly 2 years ago. Since getting the D7000 I have always shot Raw+Jpeg and have the Raw files save to the primary SD card and the Jpegs save to the 2nd SD card. Usually the 2nd SD card is a smaller-size and slower speed than the primary. I have the best of both worlds that way, a quick JPG I can share, and the Raw I can work with in post.

I also am heavily committed to open-source. I do use Windows currently on the main editing PC, but have used Ubuntu Linux of various revisions over the years. I settled on RawTherapee as my Raw editor of choice. It integrates to some degree with GIMP so you can export a file directly from RawTherapee and it loads into GIMP. You do not edit Raw in GIMP at all. RawTherapee allows you to save profiles and I do that for common subjects that use the same lens and lighting mostly. It can also be used to give a starting point with loading the color tables, lens profiles, and things like that. Feature for feature, RawTherapee does pack a lot of the expected Lightroom tools, but they are not presented in as friendly of a format. But if you don't learn on the Adobe products first, then what you expect to see no longer is a limiting factor for using the open-source software.

And as for archiving stuff, I keep those Raw files and will often revisit an image if I learn something months or years later and process differently. I tend to dump the Jpegs. I store long-term on network-attached storage hard disks.
Click to expand...
 
mikeee

mikeee

Senior Member
Ha! Looks like 3.4 is out!

Upgrading:
darktable x86_64 3.4.0-1.fc33 updates 5.6 M


Needa said:
Still shooting d7100 here also use darktable. As for the buffer I shoot 14 bit lossless compression so I understand, be sure your are using better cards. There were lots of conversations on this site about d7100's and cards. The buffer is no worse than a manual film advance. :)

There is no reason why you can't shoot both raw and jpg for now and only process the best images. For me there are less images that get processed having become more ruthless with culling recently. Those that do get processed get individual treatment mostly, a few get the history stack copied over.

Which version of darktable are you using? As for processing I the use of the scene-refered work flow beats display-refered in version 3.2.1. Can't wait for 3.4 to hit my repo. There are quite a few resources out there for the new version already. Have you seen the recent Lightroom vs darktable comparison?

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fre...-darktables-lighttable-beat-lightrooms-537068
Click to expand...
 
Needa

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
mikeee said:
I have rawtherapee installed too, but have not looked too much at it. GIMP seems very complicated!
I just bought a 5TB us drive for backups, but feel I can save bigger stuff there too. Guess that was another reason I had not used raw.. (disk storage)
Click to expand...

My suggestion would be to pick one editor and stick with it for a while. FYI 3.4 hit the Fedora repos sometime over night.

Some links to darktable resources.

https://avidandrew.com/darktable-scene-referred-workflow.html

https://darktable-org.github.io/dtdocs/

https://discuss.pixls.us/c/software/darktable/19
 
blackstar

blackstar

Senior Member
Hi,

I downloaded (from darktable.org) and installed darktable-3.4.0.dmg replacing the previous version on my Mac. Surprisingly, it crashed when opening. It never happened before when updating a new version. Wonder if anyone installed Mac new version and got the same problem. Any tips to resolve this issue? Thanks
 
Whiskeyman

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
hark said:
I don't use Lightroom often, but I think it has the ability to sync settings from one edited image to a collection of others. So once one image is edited, if others in the collection are taken with approximately the same exposure, then the settings from the edited image can be applied at once to them.
Click to expand...

You certainly can do that within a collection in LR. There is also a way to do between every photo in your LR portfolio, although I can't for the life of me think why you'd want to do so.

When you sync photo editing settings from one photo to others, you can also select which settings you wish to enable with the sync.

It is a useful tool when post processing a set of photos taken under the same conditions.

WM
 
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Needa

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
blackstar

blackstar

Senior Member
Thanks, Needa. But the problem on my Mac is not about OpenCL run-time error. It's the same issue reported on darktable website: "Darktable 3.2.1 works fine on my system. Darktable 3.4.0 crashes on startup. Here is the error from Console:
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSCFLocale languageCode]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x7fb371d00e40'...

Any help?
 
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