The Photo Thread: Week of 2022-03-20

[Jamze]

@lylegogh 's new job prompted a new weekly topic Some more Nikon pics this week. Ordered a new Windows laptop now as my main photo machine. Will be interesting to see how it handles my software.

[PHolder]

I’d check my settings (on your monitor or camera depending on your work flow) and your histogram. These 4 pics seem a little too bright to me, and I don’t know if that’s your preference or me being fussy

[Jamze]

This is a new workflow for me, Nikon RAW into Luminar Neo and I let Neo decide how to ‘develop’ them. Was very bright, mid-afternoon so kinda how it was. Bleached colours. No histogram in Neo yet, but gotta cut them some slack at the mo

I do have questions though @ant_pruitt Are RAW camera profiles important, and should I look into a custom one for my Nikon D7500?

-1 exposure and a bit more contrast on the first one…

[PHolder]

Yes I think I like the adjusted photo better. These things are personal taste, as ever, though, so make sure YOU like your results

[ant_pruitt]

Yeah if your software has a profile for your camera, you’ll get better performance in the final processing. This is why capture one is so popular with Fujifilm users as their algorithm handles the files much better than Lightroom. It’s almost night and day for that format.

[Jamze]

Thanks, Ant. Just taken a look in the Skylum and Nikon forums. A few suggestions there. If Adobe’s DNW Convertor is installed, their generic Adobe ones will show up in Luminar.

But some folks say just add another step and use Nikon’s own RAW processing first in NX Studio, then move to your software.

Edit… just seen the latest HOP title. Good timing

[Slickster]

Can you explain to me why this would be a beneficial process? I use a piece of software for editing, Pixelmator Pro. Im relatively new to this so not sure why people would choose to use two software packages on one photo.

[PHolder]

@Slickster

explain to me why this would be a beneficial process

I guess it depends on what you want out of your photos. If you like what comes directly off your camera, then you may not need to any post-processing. On the other hand, if you want to “mess” with your photos to try different looks, etc, then you may be interested in post processing tools.

If I asked you why you would use different tools to build a dog house, would that make sense? Some times different tools are better or specialized at different things. In particular Skylum’s Luminar is all about making “AI” based edits, like replacing the sky. It’s also known for different “colour palette” effects… like making a photo look “old” (sepia) or like it was taken with a specific type of film, etc.

[Jamze]

@Slickster

not sure why people would choose to use two software packages on one photo

What people are doing is cherry-picking features from multiple apps.

So in my example, I’m finding the Nikon software better for triage and initial RAW adjustments as it is quicker and also lets me see much more camera-specific metadata (focus points, camera modes/settings etc.)

But then I might want to use some of the portrait AI features in Luminar, or Aurora if I’m working with HDR and so on.

Down on the River Thames again. NX Studio + Luminar Neo.

[Slickster]

Thanks for your explanation. On a side note, this was a nice post to look at every week. It has dwindled regarding the amount of participants. You have posted some nice pics in the past.

[Jamze]

No worries. I’ve noticed this weekly thread has gone a bit quiet recently. Is everyone now on Discord?!

[Computeforloot]

The eye of Sauron!!!

[big_D]

Just no time or not seeing anything worth photographing at the moment.

[ChrisKez]

Yeah, I’ve been holed up most of winter and not taking many photos other than the kids.