maanantai 21. helmikuuta 2011

Photo Walk vol. 2

I spent a couple of hours today walking around in Pyynikki esker conservation area taking photos. It was incredibly beautiful up there with the sun shining from a clear blue sky. You know I love these kinds of days. Here are some of my favorite photos from today's walk.

UP
I must have looked silly when taking this...*tree hugger*

Friend
When you have no one else to model for you, Mr. Buttons comes to help. He hangs from my camera bag. :)
Personally I like this shot a lot. The DOF is pretty much perfect.

Trail

Sunny winter day
And the happy photographer herself. Now I totally get the fuzz about how hard it is to get the eyes sharp and in focus when shooting self-portraits. I had to re-do this shot a gazillion times. So much for spontaneity...

I've been wondering a lot about shooting RAW. I have read from so many photography forums that it is absolute must to shoot RAW, you'll get so much better results is you want to process them on the computer. Now that I have tried it out, I'm having mixed feelings about it, mostly because my whole PP process has to change completely if I want to shoot everything in RAW. 

I know I don't have to shoot absolutely everything in RAW, but then that just makes it even more complicated when some photos can be previewed in Windows Live Photo Gallery and some can't. And that is what I have always done first. After previewing I decide which ones are worth more work in Photoshop. 

I have tried using Adobe Bridge and the program that came along with the camera, Digital Photo Professional, but I just don't feel at home with them, so to speak. And is the quality really that different? I'd like to hear some opinions and advice. Right now I just find the JPG so much more convenient and faster. 

9 kommenttia:

  1. Howdy Milla,

    I used to shoot exclusively in high resolution JPG. I just didn't want to deal with the hassle of RAW. One too many images with blown out whites or pure blacks and I had had enough. with RAW, I can recover the data in those blown out areas.

    If you want to take a middle road for a while until you get used to RAW, set your camera's image quality setting to RAW +Fine & you will record the images in RAW and JPG. The downside is that you will use up the space on your memory card much faster. To be honest, I would start working in RAW.

    As for your work flow, I would bring everything into Bridge and then cull the bad images. Bridge and PS work really well together & in the end, you will develop good professional habits as well as work faster.

    Hope that helps.

    Tim

    VastaaPoista
  2. Thanks for your input Tim.

    Both RAW and JPG doesn't seem like a good option for me. It pretty much equals more things to delete for me...In the literature I've read lately they say a lot about how you should shoot RAW if you want to correct the white balance easily etc. Honestly, I've never really had much trouble with incorrect white balance before.

    I've had good results with recovering too dark areas in JPGs too. Blown out areas are a little different, but I guess the recovery in dark areas is even better in RAW then?

    Sigh...I guess I gotta try getting used to Bridge, but I assure you, there is nothing slow about my work flow now either :)

    VastaaPoista
  3. And one more problem with RAW photos is that I'd have to go through every photo I take and make them into JPGs if I want to put them on my memory stick, for example, and show and give copies to other people on other computers. How complicated is that??! I'm really turned off by the thought of having to post process every single decent photo I take, even though I do love PP. But I usually use Photoshop only on those which I plan on publishing online, not every single one I want to keep! :/

    VastaaPoista
  4. I've recently just dove into the photography hobby and spontaneously went out and bought a NIkon D3100 a couple weeks ago to get my feet wet. I'm still learning just about everything there is to learn, but it's been fun thus far.

    I like the pictures you've posted gives me some inspiration to get out into the snow covered woods and take some pictures myself.

    As far as shooting in RAW it's what I've started doing just because from my research it seems to be the recommended format if you want to be able to have full control over the post processing process.

    Once I get my photography blog up and running I'd love for you to stop by but until then I'll be frequenting here to get some inspiration and helpful tips!

    VastaaPoista
  5. Hey, thanks for stopping by! And congrats on a good choice of a hobby :)

    I'll be looking forward to your photography blog. Be sure to post a link at Bloggeries once it's up and I'll check it out for sure. :)

    In case you aren't familiar with this site, here's the place I've learned most of my photography knowledge:
    http://www.digital-photography-school.com/

    The forum is a great learning place too. You can get excellent critique and advice from fellow photography enthusiasts.

    VastaaPoista
  6. Thanks for that link I definitely think it will become a valuable resource for me in my learning experience!

    BTW I love the new spring-like look on your blog! :)

    VastaaPoista
  7. I tend to shoot raw and then develop in Lightroom, then sometimes edit in Photoshop. Long way sometimes, but worth.
    But then I switch to jpeg for some months, easier, faster, and the good thing: It forces me to make an effort to get a better photograph directly, SOOC, without having to use any editing software.

    VastaaPoista
  8. Hey, I agree with ana.gr. Get the Lightroom and forget the Bridge : D You can browse all your raws with Lightroom, so you dont have to shoot separate jpgs. And it's supereasy to export raws to jpgs. You can also sync your editing settings with other images. That means you dont have to edit your every image one at time.

    And get the Picasa photo viewer, you can view also raws, so you dont have to browse them every time with Lightroom if you dont want to ( :

    Nice blog you have, btw !

    VastaaPoista
  9. Thanks for the advice Ana & Marko! :)

    VastaaPoista