Acknowledgements About this book Other Goodies Included with this Book Resources for Nikon Photographers. Part I: Capture NX2 2. Why Capture NX2?

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1 The Photographer s Guide to Capture NX2 Contents Acknowledgements About this book Other Goodies Included with this Book Resources for Nikon Photographers x xi xii xiii Part I: Capture NX2 2 Why Capture NX2? 4 Introduction to Digital RAW 10 Setting up Your Camera 18 Getting Started with Capture NX2 26 Capture NX2 Editing Road Map 42 Capture NX2 Quick-Start Guide 48 Open an Image File 49 Step 1: Fix White Balance 51 Step 2: Adjust Picture Controls 52 Step 3: Adjust Levels & Curves 53 Step 4: Add a Color Control Point 55 Step 5: Apply Sharpening 56 Step 6: Create a Version and Save the File 57 Using the File Browser 60 Basic File Navigation 61 Creating Favorites 62 Viewing EXIF Data From Images 63 Adding Keywords 64 Adding Star Ratings 65 Adding Color Labels 66 Matching Label Presets with Adobe Bridge 67 Adding Other IPTC Data 68 Creating XMP/IPTC Presets 69 iv

2 Working with the Browser: Thumbnail List 71 Working with the Browser: Thumbnail Grid 72 Working with the Browser: Filtering 73 Filtering by Star Rating 74 Filtering by Color Label 75 Filtering by File type 76 Sorting Images in the File Browser 77 Comparing Multiple Images in the Browser 79 Printing a Contact Sheet 81 The Batch Dialog 83 Advanced Batching: Watched Folders 84 Batching 101: Converting NEFs to JPEGs 85 Batching 201: Copying Settings Between Files 87 Batching 301: Pasting Selected Settings From an Open File 89 The Develop Section: Setting the Foundation 92 The Develop Section: Overview 95 The Develop Section: Camera Settings 96 RAW Adjustments: White Balance 97 Using White Balance Presets 98 White Balance: Examples 99 Custom White Balance with a Gray Card 101 Creative White Balance: The Golden Hour 103 RAW Adjustments: Picture Controls 105 Checkpoint: Choosing a Picture Control Preset 107 Picture Control: Disable In-Camera Sharpening 109 Advanced Control: Quick Adjust 110 Advanced Control: Sharpening 111 Advanced Control: Contrast Fine-Tuning 113 Advanced Control: Brightness 115 Advanced Control: Saturation 117 Advanced Control: Hue Adjustment 119 Advanced Control: Monochrome Images 121 B&W: Color Filter Effects 122 Advanced: Color-Toned Images 123 Workflow Tip: Saving Picture Control Presets 125 Advanced: Creating Custom Curves 127 Transferring Picture Control Settings to Your Camera 129 v

3 The Photographer s Guide to Capture NX2 Downloading Picture Controls From Your Camera 131 Disabling In-Camera Noise Reduction 133 Adjust Active D-Lighting (optional) 134 The Quick Fix Controls 135 The Exposure Compensation Slider 137 Highlight Protection 139 Shadow Protection 141 Adjusting Global Contrast: Levels & Curves 143 Levels and Curves: Examples 145 Adjusting Saturation 147 Camera Settings and Quick Fix : Summary 148 Camera & Lens Corrections 149 Color Moiré Reduction 150 Image Dust Off Tool 151 Auto Color Aberration Tool 152 Auto Red-Eye Reduction 153 Vignette Control 154 Fisheye Lens Correction 155 Develop Section: Conclusions 157 The Adjust Section: Introduction to Edit Steps 160 Edit Steps: The Concept 161 Edit Steps: An Overview 162 Creating a Global Adjustment in the Edit List 163 Adding More Edit Steps 165 Deleting Edit Steps from the Edit List 166 Resetting Adjustments 167 Changing an Edit Step 168 Advanced: Opacity Mixer 169 Global Adjustments to Light and Color 172 Using the Double Threshold Tool 173 Using the Black Control Point 175 Setting the White Point: White Control Point 177 Global Light and Color: Levels & Curves Tool 179 Basic Levels Adjustment 181 Levels & Curves: Auto Contrast 183 The Auto Levels Tool 185 vi

4 The LCH Editor 187 LCH: Color Lightness 188 LCH: Saturation 189 Example: Protecting Skin Tones 190 LCH: Hue 191 Other Global Adjustments 192 Local Adjustments I: Selection Tools 194 Fill/Remove Tool 195 Lasso/Marquee Tools 197 Viewing Selections 199 Base Mask 200 The Selection Brush Tool 201 Gradient Tools 203 Selection Control Points 205 Duplicating Selection Control Points 207 Interactions Between Selection Tools 209 Linking Adjustments in a Single Edit Step 211 Example: Graduated ND Filter 213 Example: Burned-in Edges 215 Example: Spotlight Effect 217 Example: Dodge & Burn Tools 219 Workflow Tip: Creating a Settings File 221 Local Adjustments to Light & Color: Color Control Points 224 Color Control Points: Overview 225 Control Points: Adjusting Size 227 Multiple Control Points 229 Advanced: Color Control Points and the Brush 231 Duplicating Color Control Points 233 Example: Fixing a Weak Sky 235 Example: Fill Lighting 237 Advanced: The Color Picker Tool 239 Other Local Adjustments 242 The Auto Retouch Brush 243 Red Eye Control Points 244 vii

5 The Photographer s Guide to Capture NX2 Final Touches 246 Straightening Images 247 Advanced: Correcting Lens Distortion 249 The Crop Tool 251 Filter Effects Menu 253 Sharpening and Noise Reduction 256 The Unsharp Mask (USM) Tool 258 Capture Sharpening 259 Suggested Capture Sharpening Settings 260 Advanced: High Pass Sharpening 261 Creative Sharpening 262 Noise Reduction Techniques in Capture NX2 263 Basics of Noise Reduction 265 Advanced Noise Reduction 267 Capture Sharpening after Noise Reduction 269 The Output Phase 272 Resizing Images 273 Cropping and Resizing 275 Soft-Proofing 277 Output Sharpening 279 Example: Resizing for Web or 281 Printing in Capture NX2 283 Saving Files 285 Opening your NEFs in a Pixel Editor 287 Streamlining your Editing Workflow 290 Creating a Settings File from an Edit Step 291 Creating Settings Files for the Develop Section 293 Applying Settings Files 295 Example: Multi-Step Settings File 297 Managing Settings Files 299 Creating Versions 301 Part II: Capture NX2 Recipes 304 Basic Portrait Recipe 305 Portraits: Fill Lighting 307 viii

6 Portraits: Whitening Teeth 308 Portraits: Softening Skin 309 Portraits: Reducing Wrinkles 311 Portraits: Sharpening Eyes 312 Basic Landscape Recipe 313 Removing Haze 315 Improving Clarity 317 Basic Wildlife Recipe 319 Basic Black and White Conversions 321 The Ansel Adams Look 323 Selective Black & White Effect 325 Digital Infrared Images 327 Part III: Integrating Capture NX2 into Your Workflow 332 Advanced Workflow: Editing NEFs in View NX 349 ing Photos with View NX 350 ing Images from Photo Mechanic 351 Extracting JPEGs from NEFs 353 Creating a Web Gallery in Photo Mechanic 355 Appendix 1: Directory of Capture NX2 Tools 357 Appendix 2: Supplied Settings Files 373 Index 375 ix