Photography

[AtomFun]

When I was at Brands a couple of weeks ago I took quite a few pictures. I've got quite a good Canon digital camera that takes interchangeable lenses.

On returning home I viewed my pics, dumped some as they were just to crappy and thought the remainder were good ......... until I viewed those taken by a professional!!! They were all together better, more vibrant in colour and clarity, so I had to find out the secret.

Firstly, there was nothing particularly impressive about the equipment the pro used, so I had to enquire further, this was his reply:

1) Shoot RAW
2) Develop in RAW Shooter Essentials - changing exposure, highlight and shadow contrast - use RAW shooter's default sharpening - touch of extra saturation.
3) Crop, slight adjustments to white balance and a minor amount of sharpening in photoshop to get back the sharpness lost in the resize.

So I started shooting in RAW format and downloaded the Raw Shooter Essentials software. RAW produces files about 4 times bigger than the standard jpeg format usually used.

The combination of shooting in RAW together with RAW editing software certainly is the answer - it changes 'flat' looking uninspiring pics into something very impressive!

Many of us commented on the photos posted to the forum by dezoris (I think), well, his secret is also to shoot in RAW etc etc

[Dezoris]

For real ops I shoot in RAW and use Photoshop CS2s Bulit in RAW converter adjust each image manually.

1. Levels
2. Shawdows/Highlights
3. Contrast (I used pro contrast plugins)
4. Saturation
5. (Brillance filters in some cases)

Here is a quick example of some more extreme correction. But you can see with the difference.
I have been over doing many of my images lateley in attempt to find the right balance.

UNCORRECTED RAW to JPEG


CORRECTED RAW to JPEG

[Dezoris]

Here is another great example.
I enhanced this image to make it a more vibrant wallapaper


SEMI CORRECTED



MODERATELY CORRECTED


When shooting in RAW it is most imporatant not to under or over expose the shot too much, makes it easy to work with after

[AtomFun]

Tremendous difference.

I've been messing with both Photoshop CS & RAW Shooter and obtained similar changes - seems to make a picture more like 3D.

Cheers

PS What font did you use for the label?

[Dezoris]

[quote="AtomFun"]
Tremendous difference.

I've been messing with both Photoshop CS & RAW Shooter and obtained similar changes - seems to make a picture more like 3D.

Cheers

PS What font did you use for the label?
[/quote]

Its a custom font, I made from a variation on another one.

[AtomFun]

Do you ever sleep??

I thought the font looked similar to that used for some of the Atom publications!

[Dezoris]

[quote="AtomFun"]
Do you ever sleep??

I thought the font looked similar to that used for some of the Atom publications!
[/quote]

haha I wish I have to do maintenance on several websites tonight, and keep up with work, and my hobbies.
It sucks!