I went back to the Oregon Coast to shoot a feature called Thor's Well. I shot a 2-frame panorama and the final image will have a 3:1 aspect ratio (about 16x48). I'm curious what order people would do things in when processing. Here is what will need to be done:
Manage in RAW: I was pushing the exposure due to the bright sunlight. I will need to dial back and try to reign in highlights. there will also be some CA at the edges. Color balance won't be off by too much, but you can always tweak.
Combine two images into one panorama: I have been using CS5 for this. The computer will need to fudge because the images are obviously not from the same wave action. If I combine from the RAW images, does the program take the sidecar info (ie. manual adjustments) into consideration?
Noise reduction: probably not a bit deal, but could go through a cycle. I shot at ISO 50.
Nik HDR pro 2: Again, if I tonemap off the RAW images, does it take the sidecar info into account? Would you do this before or after creating the panorama? The panorama becomes a jpg or tiff, am I losing something by doing this?
I guess the most important question is to know if the manual adjustments in the RAW converter are utilized by the programs when they either tonemap or make a panorama.
What I would do is process them exactly the same in RAW conversion, and save as 16-bit TIFF. Then do the stitching and any other tweaking and save as a PSD. Flatten and save a copyas a TIFF. Finally, do any additional processing such as tonemapping on the TIFF. At this point you may find that you have color mismatches that were not apparent. If so, you'll need to go back to the PSD and tweak to correct.
I guess the most important question is to know if the manual adjustments in the RAW converter are utilized by the programs when they either tonemap or make a panorama.
Processing software can't work on RAW directly (except RAW converters, obviously, for example ACR or Lightroom). When you stitch images together or tonemap them, the first thing the program will do is convert the RAW in a standard image (usually 16 bits TIFF for highest quality) then start working on them.
In your case, I would recommend to:
1) Process your RAWs yourself. When done, export them in 16 bits TIFFs or PSDs.
2) Import those in your stitching program and create your panorama. Stitching is usually done at the beginning of the processing, so that overlapping parts are still looking similar (which could become false after different processing on the different photos, making the stitching very difficult). Again export in some sort of 16 bits format files (TIFF or PSD)
3) Tonemap
I would combine the two as soon as possible, otherwise any adjustments just won't match well between the two.
I think CS5 will merge RAW files, if not convert them to 32 bit tiff's. They will be much larger than the RAW's but at that bit depth you shouldn't lose anything.
ETA: Yea, what they said, looks like I'm late to the party again :)
Go into the expanded iso range and when you scroll down past 100 it shows up as L. According to LR that is iso 50. Haven't really noticed a difference so I rarely use it but nice to have the option.
Go into the expanded iso range and when you scroll down past 100 it shows up as L. According to LR that is iso 50. Haven't really noticed a difference so I rarely use it but nice to have the option.
Go into the expanded iso range and when you scroll down past 100 it shows up as L. According to LR that is iso 50. Haven't really noticed a difference so I rarely use it but nice to have the option.
I'll be danged...
R.
You actually lose a bit of image quality by doing this, one reason why I bought my D3x was so I could have native ISO 100, because taking my D3s down to 100 which is L, I was losing contrast and some image quality.
Go into the expanded iso range and when you scroll down past 100 it shows up as L. According to LR that is iso 50. Haven't really noticed a difference so I rarely use it but nice to have the option.
I'll be danged...
R.
You actually lose a bit of image quality by doing this, one reason why I bought my D3x was so I could have native ISO 100, because taking my D3s down to 100 which is L, I was losing contrast and some image quality.
Matt
Having done the research here, the exact problem is that you lose one stop of highlights.... Noise is excellent, but you do lose a stop of DR.
I was doing it to gain a stop in slowing down the water not out of any noise quality issue. It was 4:00 in the afternoon with few clouds and I was already getting highlight blinkies at 0.5" f/22 ISO 50 with 4-stops of ND filters. I missed my 9-stop filter (which I left the last time I shot at this location).
Go into the expanded iso range and when you scroll down past 100 it shows up as L. According to LR that is iso 50. Haven't really noticed a difference so I rarely use it but nice to have the option.
I'll be danged...
R.
You actually lose a bit of image quality by doing this, one reason why I bought my D3x was so I could have native ISO 100, because taking my D3s down to 100 which is L, I was losing contrast and some image quality.
Matt
Having done the research here, the exact problem is that you lose one stop of highlights.... Noise is excellent, but you do lose a stop of DR.
I didn't say anything about noise. I said Image quality. There is a lot more to image quality then noise.
I worked the image up again last night and sent it off to the printer. I should have posted a copy here. I'll do that tonight. It worked nicely doing it in the order mentioned above. I'm excited to see it at 16x48" and get it in the frame.
Your shot turned out sweet Jason! Maybe this is what you ordered, but it would look great printed glossy on aluminum and floated.
I use ISO 50 on my 5DII sometimes too in order to slow down the shutter. I haven't observed any reason to use it otherwise as the images are no less and maybe slightly noisier as a result, and now that others have mentioned it; the highlights seem to maybe blow a little easier too.
Your shot turned out sweet Jason! Maybe this is what you ordered, but it would look great printed glossy on aluminum and floated.
I use ISO 50 on my 5DII sometimes too in order to slow down the shutter. I haven't observed any reason to use it otherwise as the images are no less and maybe slightly noisier as a result, and now that others have mentioned it; the highlights seem to maybe blow a little easier too.
I am printing and putting it in another reclaimed wood frame. I'll shoot a pic when it's done hopefully tomorrow.
Do you know that from your link someone can "save" your photo from a direct link at the top? That doesn't seem too cool of smugmug to allow that. Especially since it's not watermarked and a decent size. Edit to add it's ORIGINAL size that it lets you save. I'd remove your link and find a way to stop that.
Do you know that from your link someone can "save" your photo from a direct link at the top? That doesn't seem too cool of smugmug to allow that. Especially since it's not watermarked and a decent size. Edit to add it's ORIGINAL size that it lets you save. I'd remove your link and find a way to stop that.
