In camera settings.

[ffrank]

With all the in camera image adjustments you can make with a DSLR I was

wondering if a professional nature photographer uses any of them or does he set

them to neutral? I ask because so many professionals talk about getting the

image as close to perfect as possible in camera so there is a minimal amount of

post processing to be done on the computer. I am talking about shooting raw

files so exposure and white balance can still be fine tuned but does that also

go for saturation and contrast or clarity. I may be answering my own question

here but I would think in order to have the best color and clarity you would

have to tinker with saturation and maybe some minor sharpening, and other

picture controls in camera that might make the image more or less vivid.

Or...shoot neutral and do the rest on the PC. Does Marc Adamus make those

wonderful pictures by using neutral camera settings and his knowledge of the

weather and light in combination with filters and an extreme amount of talent,

or does he use some of those camera settings to get as close to what he

envisioned the final picture should be?

[ellis_vener_photography]

In camera adjustments are pretty limited and fairly crude. Be aware that when shootign raw you actually get more information in your raw file than you do in your histogram which is based on a very compressed 8 bit per channel JPEG the camera produces from your raw file.

 

"Extreme amounts of talent" always, in my experience with various master photogrpahers -- Gregory Heisler, Greg Gorman, Jay Maisel, Mark Bolster, Dan Winters, Seth Resnick, John Paul Caponigro, Jodi Cobb, Arthur Meyerson, et. al., translates as -- " a lot of experience, preparation, thinking, hard work and mistakes made and learned from.

[bobatkins]

Just shoot RAW. All adjustments of WB, saturation, sharpness, contrast, picture style etc. only affect the JPEG. Getting them "right" has no effect at all on the RAW file.

[Ed_Ingold]

How would you know if the camera settings were "right" if all you go on is the uncalibrated LCD screen on the camera? Just shoot RAW images - the only setting that matters is ISO.

[joseph_smith3]

You have described me. Most of my shooting is nature. I shoot with a D 200 and D 300. I try and get it right in the camera as a former slide shooter. To me that means nailing exposure, composition, and making every pixel count. I shoot Raw. Most of the time, my white balance is set at cloudy. I do not use active D lighting, vivid, and all of those other settings. I set a little sharpness. And Adobe RGB color space. And I use the lowest ISO possible based on lighting conditions and what I am shooting. That is it. Anything else I might need I do post processing in Nikon Capture NX and not Photoshop. Joe Smith

[photo_dark]

Shoot Raw. As everyone else has said. There is way too much information lost in the jpg compression, especially for landscape photography. I might take 100 pictures on a landscape shoot... but really, i only edit the 5-10 that I think are any good... so it's worth it by far in the end.

[ffrank]

I guess maybe that's what I am not understanding. I know a Raw image is a linear image with any other settings,(white balance, exposure comp), in a separate file and therefore still adjustable in ACR to some degree before the image is converted into a tiff or jpeg and embedded into one file. (Excuse me if I am using the wrong terms.) But, don't you still need to rely on your cameras LCD screen as a preview of sort in order to determine if you captured the image the way you intended. In that case wouldn't you want some in camera adjustments applied to the preview? My questions isn't weather or not to shoot Raw, but if you can't view it Raw in the field, and your preview is a very limited jpeg, how do you know what you've got. I've been shooting Raw and keeping my in camera settings as neutral as possible like you Joseph, and when I put them on my PC they are kind of blah until some tonal adjustments are made but I guess you don't really know until then. I was just curious as to how a professional uses their camera. Thanks for all of your responses.

[savagesax]

What camera body are you using? The reason for asking is my cameras show the RAW image. So it may help us to know what your camera setup is to enable us to give you advice.

[ffrank]

It is a Nikon D300. My first DSLR and a big step up from my Coolpix 8800. I have only used it a few times and am still fumbling with it quite a bit.----

"when shooting raw you actually get more information in your raw file than you do in your histogram which is based on a very compressed 8 bit per channel JPEG the camera produces from your raw file."----

I may have misunderstood what Ellis wrote above. If the camera view screen is showing me the RAW file then my question is answered. It would make sense to leave all in camera image adjustments at a neutral setting because the camera is showing me exactly what I recorded. On the other hand if I am seeing a compressed jpeg it would be of less value if the photographer is relying on it to decide if he captured what he intended. Also why wouldn't the photographer want to see a preview of his image with a small saturation boost in camera and a slight bit of sharpening or some other minor enhancements to give him an idea what his final product might look like instead of just a linear image with no adjustments? To answer my own question...I guess I never make any decisions on which file is best until I see them in ACR and do some tonal adjustments.

[joseph_smith3]

Fred, IMO the camera's LCD should not be used to evaluate the things you are worried about. I believe for the D 300 the image for the LCD is in sRGB which means that 15-20% of the actual colors are not even being displayed! And it is probably too bright compared to what the actual image is you will download. I use the LCD to evaluate only the image's histogram and blinking highlights. I never even thought about even trying to determine the level of sharpness on a LCD. Teachers say you should set the right level of sharpness when you are looking at a full size version of the image right before printing.

 

As someone new to digital I suggest you read any digital photography book by Tim Grey, http://www.timgrey.com/books/

and go to the Luminous Landscape website for general education on those tipics of interest to you. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/

 

That's what I did and it really helped when I got into digital in Dec 2005. I was a Velvia shooter too. Joe Smith

[Mary Doo]

I do use the D300 LCD to evaluate the quality of an image (e.g., composition, relative sharpness -- magnifying the image, colors, etc.). The histogram, of course, helps a great deal for exposure info.

 

Photographers work in ways that work for them. I have a full time job and other hobbies; so messing with RAW constanly appear to be time-consuming for me. So I shoot RAW with Fine, Normal, or Basic Jpeg. Then I view the Jpegs quickly to determine whether I like that image or not. If I do, then the RAW file is valuable and worth keeping. The Jpeg file is good enough on most occasions, for me, as an amateur enthusiast and not selling my work big time.

 

In-camera setting? Well, being a Velvia fan, I set it at Cloudy most of the time. In addition, I tweak up the luminous saturation(?) a bit as well. The colors of the Jpegs usually are good enough "right out of the box" with no further enhancement.

 

Mary

[lonebearimages]

Fred, I use an Olympus dSLR. Normally, I am in Aperture, Manual, and rarely Shutter priority. I always shoot camera raw; and completely rely upon the histogram to ensure I have an exposure with the appropriate lvel of dynamic range, and that I've not clipped anything at either end. After that, all of my adjustments are done in Adobe Camera Raw, in my case in Bridge in CS3. I can honestly say that I never really look at the image on the LCD screen as I am usually outside, and my eyes aren't that good anyway. If I am dealing with difficult lighting conditions, I bracket the shots (either adjusting EV or shutter speed), but I'm always watching what happens to the image histogram. Good luck with the Nikon, your work is looking good as usual. Cheers! Chris