Twelve Steps to Improve Your Digital Photographs Stephen Johnson

Twelve Steps to Improve Your Digital Photographs Stephen Johnson Twelve Steps to Improve Your Digital Photographs 1. Image Quality 2. Photograph in RAW 3. Use Histogram, expose to the right 4. Set jpg to low contrast on camera 5. Gray Balance 6. Image Development 7. Workspace/Calibrate your Monitor 8. Customize RAW presets 9. Image Editing 10. Preserve bit depth 11. Edit for image (tone and aspect ratio) curves for tone shaping Fix Things that have been Fundamentally Wrong 1. Lens Problems 1. Contrast and Shadow Detail 1. Exposure Guessing Digital Goobelygook 1. Intrigue of Complexity I get it, you don t 1. Understanding Your Tools 1. Photoshop is just software 1. Understand the Tools you need 1. It s not about Tips and Tricks, but about Craft and Care Image Quality In Camera 1. Focus 1. Exposure 1. Noise 1. Design & Composition 1. Use RAW Capture Rather than JPEG Real Image Data or JPEG Exposure 1. Use and Understand Histogram 1. Light meter is a guess 1. Histogram is a measure 1. Expose to the Right 1. Greatest Tonal Resolution Histogram 1. a brightness graph counting pixels

Reading Histograms 1. What The Camera Shows You 1. A histogram of a JPEG drawn from RAW data 1. Set JPEG Style to Low Contrast Basic Digital Camera Settings for Maximum Quality 1. JPEG Contrast set to Low 1. JPEG Sharpen set to Low or Off 1. Generally Lowest Numerical ISO Setting 1. RAW files (no JPEG compression) Brightness Measurements Digital Data Exposure 1. Expose for Histogram 1. Process for Appearance Exposure Change (+ or -) 1. Program modes 1. A, S, or P modes use Exposure Compensation 1. Manual mode 1. Simply change Aperture or Shutter speed Image Development 1. Your First View in a RAW editor is just a default starting point 1. It is not necessarily correct, the best, or appropriate 1. It is up to you to tune the RAW Development to your memory and desire Adobe Raw Editors 1. RAW Methodology 1. Digitizes most of what the sensor can see 1. Archive format of the camera 1. RAW format 1. real camera colorspace 1. as un-processed as possible 1. Interpret through RAW processor for fine editing in Photoshop Image Processing 1. Adobe s Camera RAW or Lightroom 1. Hold Detail 1. Preserve Data out of Camera RAW/Lightroom for further editing in Photoshop 1. use Curve Editor to open up shadows and keep highlights from getting too bright 1. Recovery (highlight) & Fill (shadow) editors 1. Adjustment Brush to control bright highlights

Hold Detail: Dynamic Range 1. HDR Pro or Photomatix 1. Bracketed sets integrated into one HDR file 1. Decode from HDR to interpret into normal file 1. Manually Combining Over & Under Exposed photos 1. Newsletter Oct. 2003: www.sjphoto.com RAW Color Balance 1. Gray Balance 1. MacBeth Chart 1. Gray Cap 1. WhiteBal Cards ColorChecker Passport Customize RAW presets 1. Check Black level 1. Little or No Sharpening (edge contrast boost) 1. Check Noise Reduction (color blurring) 1. Check Curve (medium contrast to linear) The Controls 1. Basic 1. Tone Curve 1. Detail 1. HSL / Grayscale 1. Split Toning 1. Lens Corrections 1. Effects 1. Camera Calibration 1. Presets RAW Detail 1. Noise Reduction (blurring) Lens Corrections 1. Auto 1. Manual 1. Chromatic Aberration An Approach to CameraRAW 1. Exposure (use appearance & Histogram) 1. White Balance (on real white or light gray) 1. Blacks and Contrast to Hold Detail 1. Recovery and Fill may help 1. Curve to Linear, then to Desire 1. Saturation, Vibrance, Clarity to Taste 1. Noise Reduction to only what is Needed 1. Sharpen to off or Very Low 1. Check Chromatic Aberration

RAW Checklist: Adobe Default Assumptions 1. Customize Exposure 1. Black Level: 5 change to Zero 1. Contrast: down to what is needed 1. Fill to open Shadows 1. Recovery to hold Highlights 1. Curve: Medium Contrast to Linear, then Custom 1. Noise Reduction (blur): 25 change to Zero, then Custom 1. Sharpening: Amount 25 change to Zero 1. Lens Corrections: Chromatic Aberration on edges Your Workspace 1. Neutral Gray Desktop 1. Neutral Shirt 1. Controlled Ambient Light 1. Calibrated Viewing Light Monitor Profiles 1. Monitor Calibration 1. Monitors to standards 1. Hardware Calibration and Profile 1. Software settings-characterization 1. Prints to a Standard 1. Profiled output 1. Match image on monitor Calibrate Your Monitor Image Editing Preserve Bit Depth 1. 8 bit: 256 levels of gray 1. 10 bit: 1000 levels of gray 1. 12 bit: 4000 levels of gray 1. 14 bit: 16,000 levels of gray 1. 16 bit: 65,000 levels of gray Bit Depth 1. 1 bit (on or off, 1 or 0) 1. 8 bit grayscale 256 shades of gray 1. 24 bit color 256 shades of gray per RGB channel 16.7 million colors 1. 48 bit color 65,536 shades of gray per channel 281 trillion colors 16 bit editing 1. Preserving original Camera/Scanner data 1. greater than 8 bit capture RAW file formats 1. Working in a large tonal space 1. gives tonal values more places to land as you move them around

Non-Destructive Editing 1. Camera RAW interpretations 1. Duplicate Layers 1. Adjustment Layers 1. masks 1. Smart Objects 1. Smart filters Photoshop Layers 1. Adjustment Layers 1. Burn/Dodge Layers 1. Sharpen Layers 1. Adjustment Layers 1. Edits in suspension 1. Re-edit and tweak Curves as Tone Tool 1. The Basic Appearance Editor 1. S Curve 1. film-like tone 1. Cure for gray image Tone & Contrast 1. Process for Real Image Needs 1. Explore the possibilities 1. suspend pre-conceptions of final look 1. Let the image reflect its unique moment 1. S curve very common to a pleasing look 1. But can easily prejudice interpretations Look for Color Casts 1. mid-tones 1. then highlights and shadows Edit for image (tone and aspect ratio) 1. Customize: Every image needs different treatment 1. Beware of Rules: Not all images need blacks and whites 1. Aspect Ratio: Your image determines the print shape, not the paper. Printing 1. Whites in Prints 1. Color Management 1. Print Viewing 1. Preserve White of Paper 1. Color Spaces

Color Spaces 1. Image Space (source) 1. Editing Space (Photoshop Working Space) 1. Monitor Space 1. Printer/Paper/Ink/Settings Space 1. Exhibition Space Adobe RGB /Mt. St. Helens Photoshop Color Control Print Driver Control: Black & White Epson Black & White 1. Print Driver control for Advanced Black & White controls Cotton Papers 1. Hahnemühle: Museum Etching 1. Epson 1. Sommerset 1. Arches 1. Crane 1. Moab 1. Innova Gelatin-Silver-like Paper 1. Hahnemühle: PhotoRag Pearl 1. Crane Museo Silver Rag 1. Epson Exhibition Fiber 1. Innova Fiba-Print 1. PremierArt Platinum Rag 1. new Baryta coatings Print Evaluation 1. Calibrated 1. Print Viewing Light 1. Monitor Match/Viewing Light Viewing Lights Compact Fluorescents 1. 5000k 1. 6500k Viewing Lights 1. Solux Viewing Lights 1. Blue-Filtered Quartz Halogen 1. Like the Gretag SolSource

Archiving 1. Secure 1. Ordered 1. Logical Naming Archiving Digital Photographs: Archiving Media 1. CD, DVD (gold), Blu-ray 1. hard drives (will fail) 1. In case 1. Raw drives 1. Duplicate on Different Media 1. Store at different locations PhotoDownloader 1. DNG Format: A Documented Raw Format 1. Metadata File Info 1. templates 1. EXIF camera data 1. time, date, lens, exposure 1. XMP sidecar files 1. camera raw adjustments Metadata 1. Meaningful Image Name 1. Your Name, Contact Information 1. Copyright 1. Descriptions 1. Keywords MetaData/file info 1. Ownership 1. Contact 1. Organizing/Search Real Light & Color Latest Book 1. Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography 1. O Reilly Media Next Book 1. With a New Eye: The Digital National Parks Project

Digital Photography Workshops 2016 2017 Fine Art Editing & Printing: Dec. 3-7, 2016 Death Valley in Winter: Jan. 27-30, 2017 RAW to Print Bootcamp: June 5-9, 2017 Ireland s Spectacular West Coast: July 8-17, 2017 Crater Lake & Total Solar Eclipse: Aug.16-21, 2017 Digital Photography Workshops with Stephen Johnson 1220C Linda Mar Blvd. Creekside Suites 5-7, Pacifica, CA 94044 650 355-7507 fax 650 355-0232 email: info@sjphoto.com webpage: www.sjphoto.com 2016 by Stephen Johnson