Editing sequence

[lumix]

My editing software manuel suggest that editing should be done in a set sequence. Mainly in this order:- levels, colour balance, saturation, crop, re size, sharpen. This is apparently the best way to do things as each process reacts on the previous etc etc. No mention is made to noise reduction and was wondering where best to fit this into the sequence. Any suggestions/help with this would be appreciated.

[bigbob]

Re: Editing sequence

I always crop first , that way your not using resouces editing unwanted pixels .
Unsharp mask last of all .
Don't think it matters which order in between , except noise reduction .
I'm in 2 minds about using noise reduction with sharpening , one way your taking the noise away but sharpening puts it back again .
So i only use noiseninja if the shadows show an unexceptable level of noise .
But it makes sense to apply any noise reduction after you've altered the colour and saturation in the image .
I'm sure everyone has different ideas about editing , as always it'll be interesting to see how others approach it .

B..

[lumix]

Re: Editing sequence

I always crop first , that way your not using resouces editing unwanted pixels .
Unsharp mask last of all .
Don't think it matters which order in between , except noise reduction .
I'm in 2 minds about using noise reduction with sharpening , one way your taking the noise away but sharpening puts it back again .
So i only use noiseninja if the shadows show an unexceptable level of noise .
But it makes sense to apply any noise reduction after you've altered the colour and saturation in the image .
I'm sure everyone has different ideas about editing , as always it'll be interesting to see how others approach it .

B..

I've always cropped first and then adjusted exposure/saturation. Really done this just out of preference but having got round to reading the manual a bit more I discover that I was doing it in the wrong sequence. The manual doesn't explain why just that this is best way to get best results. I've in the past, when needed, applied noise adjustment last, that's after sharpening, and noticed that some sharpness was lost. Bit of a catch 22 situation. Not being a photoshop user I did wounder if there was a correct way to apply these adjustments.

[spl]

Re: Editing sequence

I think this is what people are talking about when they use the term "workflow". I am reading up about it at the moment but its a might complicated to get my head around but I will keep you updated - if I remember correctly from last night's reading noise reduction can take place at a number of different stages in the process.

On the question of cropping they recommend cropping be done towards the end of the process and generally I would agree with that except possibly in extreme cases where there is no possibility that you would ever want to use the chopped off bit.

sue

[Stephen]

Re: Editing sequence

I think this is what people are talking about when they use the term "workflow". I am reading up about it at the moment but its a might complicated to get my head around but I will keep you updated - if I remember correctly from last night's reading noise reduction can take place at a number of different stages in the process.

On the question of cropping they recommend cropping be done towards the end of the process and generally I would agree with that except possibly in extreme cases where there is no possibility that you would ever want to use the chopped off bit.

sue

Indeed this is all part of your workflow. However it also includes the download process and the backup process.

From the way you talk I get the feeling you are not working on a copy of your photo. Its good practice to always save the original file unadjusted. In my case the Raw file can always be returned to its original state and any jpeg is created from it, it becomes a bit like a digital negative. If you don't use Raw then the same principle should be applied and the original not allowed to be over written.

So far as cropping is concerned, I can't see a lot of difference as to when its done, my personal preference may be to crop towards the end if I do it at all, but thats maybe because I don't decide that sort of thing till later

[lumix]

Re: Editing sequence

Indeed this is all part of your workflow. However it also includes the download process and the backup process.

From the way you talk I get the feeling you are not working on a copy of your photo. Its good practice to always save the original file unadjusted. In my case the Raw file can always be returned to its original state and any jpeg is created from it, it becomes a bit like a digital negative. If you don't use Raw then the same principle should be applied and the original not allowed to be over written.

So far as cropping is concerned, I can't see a lot of difference as to when its done, my personal preference may be to crop towards the end if I do it at all, but thats maybe because I don't decide that sort of thing till later

Did not mention that but I don't have to worry. My software always saves as copy, so original is left intact.

[bigbob]

Re: Editing sequence

I've got a 500GB external drive and when i first download from the camera that is where i first save to .
The original is then catalogued in that drive , i then download again to a second 300GB internal drive from there i edit that copy and resave .
So the original is always kept on a seperate external in case of hardware failure .
Plus i then download monthly all my original files to CD .

B..

[rogleale]

Re: Editing sequence

I'm surprised to see that nobody so far has talked about using the crop tool in the selection process, i.e. first of all. I don't do it all of the time, but sometimes a picture looks as though it has possibilities straight out of the camera but they are not obvious. If this happens to me I spend a bit of time trying out various crops, and picking the most effective, before I start the processing. Sometimes I can be surprised by a picture that, on first sight, I was going to bin. Worth trying!

Roger

[Tinka]

Re: Editing sequence

I'm surprised to see that nobody so far has talked about using the crop tool in the selection process, i.e. first of all. I don't do it all of the time, but sometimes a picture looks as though it has possibilities straight out of the camera but they are not obvious. If this happens to me I spend a bit of time trying out various crops, and picking the most effective, before I start the processing. Sometimes I can be surprised by a picture that, on first sight, I was going to bin. Worth trying!

Roger

Hi,
Saves you walking around with various shaped cardboard cutouts, "like the mats used in picture frames", that used to be used by landscape photographers and artists in the field. A very good idea, so simple it is overlooked.