Digital Light & Color

Sorry, I have no problem posting the raw file on yousendit. Here is the link. I'd love to see how you use PWP to make it look better than I did.
https://www.yousendit.com/download/ZUd0 ... TWxjR0E9PQ
BTW, the file expires in 7 days.

Thanks 'mbondy'. I was able to download using Firefox5 as apparantly I may still not understand fully all of the filter settings for IE9 which I normally use... ...will give it a 'play' and advise...
...the image and any derived variation is yours and will not be used for any other purpose than DL-C message board discussion and web resolution illustrations without further specific request for additional permissions... ...signed: IMAGEs by DEN

See http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/mbondy/ ... /index.htm for a possible PWP5 RAW Dialog conversion of the P7280185.ORF file... the sidecar file (wfl) used is "P7280185_den1.ORF.wfl" and is downloadable from the web page.

To use it: (1) download the wfl file and save to a folder; (2) open the PWP5 browser to the P7280185.ORF folder/file location; (3) right click on the P7280185.ORF thumbnail and select 'Open Image in RAW Dialog'; (4) from the 'downward pointing arrow' (to the left of Apply) drop downs, select: "Reset to Workflow file"; and (5) browse/open the "P7280185_den1.ORF.wfl" file. The RAW Dialog will reset to the settings that are suggested...

The settings and the sequence through the RAW Dialog tabs are close to those suggested in my previous post. This raw file was an excellent example of RAW - ETTR ("exposure to the right" in the raw converter where access to the linear data is available). The RAW Dialog settings were completed between 2 to 3 minutes...

Ask if there are questions... the presented solution is one of many and of course not having been there for the capture, the conversion is imprinted with my own preferences...

...[The linked web page above will expire in 30 days]...

Den,

Thanks so much for this last post! I cannot wait to get home tonight and try it on some of my ORF files.

Bruce... caution: the RAW-ETTR settings for the suggested RAW conversion workflow are image specific. mbondy's scene capture has low dynamic range [less than 0-->255 gray tones (0%-->100% tones)] so a significant shift to the right was made [Exposure=+0.75 stops]. This may not be typical for other images... ...the RAW-ETTR sequence is the first set of adjustments to be made before other Gray, Color, and/or S&N tab settings when using the RAW Dialog [repeated for reference]:

e) click the 'Gray' tab
f) click the "+" button on the histogram display to obtain its maximum resolution
g) change 'Dyn. Range:' to 'No Change'
h) move the Gamma slider left to 1.00
i) move the Exposure slider until there is a slight gap between the right most histogram vertical bar and right side vertical [100% tone] grid line.
h) reset the Gamma slider to 2.20
i) change 'Dyn. Range:' to 'Full Range' or 'Medium' -- usually 'Full Range' if no subsequent BrightnessCurve or ColorCurves is needed or planned.

Note... this adjustment set is 'trumped' when Highlight recovery is needed/used...

Additional info regarding the RAW Dialog preview as suggested by Kiril in an email to me...

I think the best way to judge sharpening is to use the 1:1 image. [S&N tab...den]

There are basically two ways to make the preview fast -- either skip bayer interpolation and apply the changes to a subsampled image or apply the changes to a small section of the full image. The first is appropriate for judging brightness contrast and color. The second is best for such operations as sharpening and noise, which cannot be applied with fidelity to a subsampled image.

Thank you for appreciating the work that has gone into the raw dialog -- we have spent a great deal of time on it to make it more responsive and to improve the quality of the conversion.

To fully analyze [pixel peek--Histogram/ReadOut tools] and/or to try subsequent transforms/tools of an intermediate 'full' conversion image version, use 'Apply' before 'OK'.

I found this discussion very interesting.

If Den is still willing, please find the link below to download a Fuji s9500 Raw file. (18MB)
I would be very interested to see what you make of it - my attempts with PWP Raw dialog have not been sharp or without noise in the sky.

Whereas the Fuji HS V2 Raw Converter is painfully complex to use and very slow, but does seem to produce very good results...

If I could get good results from PWP I would be much more inclined to use Raw on the Fuji.

Thanks, Mark.

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1199315361/7 ... cda1b4a15c

mark_hay... others...

I have downloaded your RAF file... and you are right re Noise vs Sharp for this file. I was able to get near preference tone/colors/sharpness out the RAW Dialog but could not find a good compromise in the RAW Dialog to reduce noise, yet retain moderate detail... so I used:
(1) the RAW Dialog to near preference tone/colors/sharpness with no noise reduction... resulting image is noisy...
(2) the resulting (1) image needed a flatter toed gamma expansion curve then is currently available, so I used a RGB Brightness Curve transform to slightly decrease brightness and increase contrast for the 0-->70% tone range...
(3) the resulting (2) image was processed with a freeware program made available to me some years ago by 'couman' called Noiseware Community Edition v1.2.1 Build 1210 (c) 2004 Imagenomic, LLC at its 'default' setting. This is a 'gem' of a noise reduction program and will produce full-sized, 100% quality Jpeg filtered image versions... [One could also use the Noise Reduction of AdvancedSharpen or Bilateral Sharpen with initial settings: BR=5, BT=10, SF=0.50, ST=0.00, and Amt=100; then adjust to preferences]
(4) the resulting(2) image [48-bit] was Composite - Blend-ed with the resulting (3) image [24-bit] with a mask that applied 100% noise reduction blending for the sky and deep shadows and 38% noise reduction blending to the mid-tones. The resulting 48-bit image has greatly reduced noise in the shadows and sky with good mid-tone detail...

See: http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/mark_ha ... /index.htm for illustrations and links to download the Raw conversion wfl and a full sized final image [90% Jpeg quality, 2.775KB]

Ask if there are questions... probably could have removed the noise completely but my preference is to keep 2 to 3% noise for a more photo-realistic image, otherwise the ambience becomes too 'plastic'...

[...web page will expire in 30 days...]

Den - thanks for the tutorial!
Looks like I will be using the Fuji RAW more often!
regards, Mark.

Den
could you please explain a little more about how you created and applied the mask?

Does the one mask have a shape to cover the dark shadow end at 100% and the sky brightness also at 100%, leaving the mid range at 0%?
Or should the mid range be a flat line at 38%?

Also your mask seems to be nicely black and white - my attempts seem to be grey! Could please tell me how you are getting the nice, dense mask?

Thanks, Mark.

Mark...

Just curious... are your sunny, outdoor images typically this noisy? Usually, these types of images have good signal to noise ratios, so noise would not be so obvious unless a high ISO setting is used...

If using the Fuji HS V2 Raw Converter does not have an initial intermediate noisy preview(s)... ...then it is doing something that is proprietary that a 3rd party convertor may not be able to access.

Testing with 'dcraw' and expanding from linear settings, the noise [chroma/luma] is present... ...so the PWP5 converter is not adding the noise... also the colors seem to be more saturated initially when compared to CR2 files... so this would emphasize the chroma noise as well.

The Noise_Mask: It was formed by opening the Mask Tool - Brightness Curve on the RGB BrightnessCurve image version and using a StairStep curve = [0,0], [23,0], [23,100], [70,100], [70,0, [100,0]; lower-left Apply Add; Invert; and lower-left Apply a Blur = 10. When Composite-Blending the no noise image with the RGB BrightnessCurve image, use a mask white setting of 100% and a mask black setting of 38% where the RGB BrightnessCurve image is the Input image with Amount = 100 and the no noise image is the Overlay and the Noise Mask is the Overlay mask.

For the RGB BrightnessCurve image version, the histogram minimums at the 23% and 70% tones separate the shadows and highlights [sky/clouds] from the mid-tones [mainly grass], i.e., shadows = 0-->23% tone range; mid-tones = 23-->70% tone range; and highlights = 70-->100% tone range.
Your image version should show similar histogram minimums...

Thank you Mark and mbondy for making your raw files available. It has been personally informative to be able to work with differing camera raw files than my own...