Help with some fuzzy thinking please

[jwcat]

Always with digital cameras, I shoot RAW only, if available. I have searched this forum and still am not clear.

I have Aperture 2, Lightroom 2, Epson's program, RPP, and trial copy of CaptureOne 4.

According to the latest Photo Techniques, for quality it is:

1. Captureone 4
2. Lightroom 2
3. Aperture 2.


I have a backlit head and shoulders portrait of my wife for example shot.

Now comes my confusion:

With CaptureOne, The non Pro version seems sparse with not much support. The support is my biggest worry here. I am not going to pay for the Pro version. I could get a good picture without blowing out the background though.

With Epson's program, I could not get a good result.

My problem with Aperture and Lightroom is the cataloging function that is inherent with them as their main purpose. I do not shoot thousands of shots, even with a digital camera. I shoot almost the same as film. :bang:


I am using a Mac and my CS3 is windows only. I just tried RPP? and could only see changes made after hitting Apply button. I have to see what I am doing while I am doing it.

I see Adobe is coming out with PSE 8 for Mac the end of October, one possibility to simplify things.

I am going to start shooting RAW+jpeg for now and just store the RAW files till I figure it out.

I want a simple workflow, with not a lot of post processing being done. Levels, Curves, and minor Healing Brush corrections. Besides having too many programs, what am I doing wrong?

Thank you

 

[Al Kaplan]

Sheeesh! You just described exactly why I'm sticking with film! Have fun.

 

[uhligfd]

I always think the best option is to shoot properly exposed and lit.

Backlit portraits need a bit more exposure than front lit ones. Your meter is easily fooled with backlit subjects. So try again giving 1-2 light values more exposure or use fill-flash with reduced flash output, by maybe 1-2 stops and see the results.

Clearly you will have the background then close to white out. That is just natural.

Unless you fire up your computer and do HDR or such. But that is the art of digital manipulation and quite different from the actual photography, where one exposes for the subject correctly in the first place.

With the help of digital manipulation one can achieve miracles for ill exposed shots. But then the pics generally do not look natural because they are not. A blazing middle red sun with your partner's rosy cheeks in front looks ghoolish to me because I know and have seen the huge natural contrast of such a scene on earth.

Your choice, definitely yours!

 

[Al Kaplan]

After the first hundred rolls of Kodachrome you got pretty good at figuring correct exposure, especially with sports where you couldn't bracket.

 

[jwcat]

Sheeesh! You just described exactly why I'm sticking with film! Have fun.

Al, it is all relative and I am having more fun with the R-D1 than I have had in photography for a long time. The only reason I asked in this forum is there may be more concise answers concerning R-D1. I wake up now wondering where to go to shoot something. I do have an M3 and a Rolleiflex if I want to shoot film again.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi, I mean this kindly but try thinking of post processing as repair work most of the time and only use it now and again. Digital or film, it's best to get the exposure right and it then all drops into place. It's just a bit quicker to be disappointed with digital.

Regards, David

 

[jwcat]

The backlit scene was my first outside shot. I know that I should compensate the exposure, just wasn't thinking.

Al, this question was similar to asking on the Film development forum, which product should I use, Rodinal, Diafine, HC-110 etc. They are all tools for a certain situation. I am just looking for the most useful developer.🙂

 

[LCT]

...With CaptureOne, The non Pro version seems sparse with not much support...

What do you mean by this if i may ask? I'm using C1 v4 for most of my pics. Quite simple to adjust blown highlights with it before using PS or PSE as usual. At least for color. For B&W i still use the Epson raw converter when i need grain but C1 v4 is excellent in reducing noise without smearing effect at all sensitivities. This one has been shot at 1600 iso and developed through the default settings of C1 v4 with no further noise reduction. I could not dream of better results when i bought my first R-D1 5 years ago. Larger file here.

 

[bobbyrab]

A few thoughts, if you don't need to bulk process or want to incur further cost, you can transfer over your version of CS3, which will do everything you need, I can't remember exactly how it works, but I know Adobe used to transfer your photoshop registration from a PC version to a Mac version free, or for a small admin fee, I imagine you download the mac version and they supply you with a product code. The cataloging function on lightroom is one small part of what you can do with it, I probably do 95% of my work in lightroom and CS4 for the rest, but I don't catalogue with lightroom, I import the images, work on them, export, then delete the library. The dodge and burn function is so much quicker than doing the same thing in photoshop......Robert.

 

[jwcat]

Thanks for the info on changing over from Windows to the Mac version, I will look into it. I bought CS3 to make digital negatives so I needed that. I got grandfathered into Lightroom from RawShooter Pro that Adobe gobbled up. My only real mistake was buying Aperture, I thought I could do it all there, then I bought a Lumix G1, not supported and no word on when.


LCT, I meant that when I checked with CaptureOne web site, all info was pushing me to Pro. Most of the talked about items are not available. I did get the best results from it though. I downloaded it because of some comments on here. The forums were mostly complaints and not a lot of positive feedback, though that is normal for most product forums it seems.

If I can upgrade to CS4 Mac that will be the long term solution for me. For now, I will check out how the jpegs look when I use perfect exposures.🙂

 

[jwcat]

Well, it has been moved here. I wanted specific info on the R-D1, that is why I posted there. I admit the topic digressed to generics.

Mod you can delete the whole thread and save a few bytes on the server.