ACJC.S
Hoo-oo-ooo-r-uuu
Curious Owlet craning its neck to look down directly at me as I pointed my camera skywards because that was the only opening I had amidst the thick canopy of leaves.
An old shot taken with Olympus OMD E-M5 and Lumix 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 OIS, handheld at full extension 300mm, wide opened, 1/80s and +1.3EV.
Less than ideal conditions and sensor limitations but the camera+lens setup weighed under 1kg and allowed me to record this encounter on a hike.
Portrait orientation crop of a shot taken originally in landscape format.
The SOOC JPEG was terrible; the auto WB was way off, couldn’t rely on the metering (+1.3EV in shot) either and the colors were washed out (loss of contrast) from shooting skywards into the shaded canopy (heavily backlit) made worse by strong color cast.
Post-processing from RAW rescued the shot and helped made it borderline presentable. Took the extra step to remove nasty purple fringing as well.
As it is, there’s still much fundamental misunderstanding about post-processing;
1. SOOC JPEG is NOT WYSIWYG!
=============================
People who believed that JPEG represents WYSIWYG are misguided. Some of these folks will tell you they prefer SOOC JPEG because it’s pure and unadulterated, representing what their eyes saw. Nothing can be further from the truth and frankly such belief is no different from those of Flat-earthers! Fact is, JPEG is instantaneously converted from RAW data within the camera and different camera models even from the same brand can produce different looking JPEGs. Just as our human visual system is not solely based on our eyes since 50% of our brain is also involved in visual processing. Metering, WB and all other in-camera processings are far from perfect because cameras lack the brains (processing power) to deal with the extremes and specific problematic areas within each image.
2. Selective vs global adjustments
==============================
Most casual photographers lack a proper understanding of what post-processing can really do and hence end up with the mistaken notion that SOOC JPEG will suffice. Always boggles the mind how some folks can arrive at the notion that SOOC JPEG is sufficient when they have never delved into proper post-processing? Many more cling on to thinking that post-processing will alter the image too much because they are clueless as to how the various little things that can add up to really improve on the overall image quality. Cropping, adjusting exposure, highlights/shadows or saturation are just scratching the surface, of the surface! Fundamentally there is global adjustments and then there's the all important selective adjustments, good luck with relying on the camera’s JPEG engine to perform the latter! On the flip side, there are also those who tend to mess up post-processing so bad that they are better off sticking to SOOC JPEG. Overwrought HDR can be such travesty and stuff like Sky Replacement is pure fakery, not post-processing.
3. Post-processing ability thumps new gear
======================================
Post-processing is a most worthwhile skill that takes time to acquire and refine. A good knowledge of post-processing can also influence us to shoot better to obtain a better RAW file. Once we get the hang of it, it is in fact quite quick to do, even for more troublesome/complicated shots. Personally it’s much more important than the gear we use which some tend to worship like tribal totems.
When I got started in this hobby years ago, I was a pure JPEG shooter and hence know what it means to get it right as far as possible in shot but my photos were seldom satisfactory even on the rare occasions when conditions were perfect. I had little clue of the full potential of post-processing because if I did, I would have shot RAW from Day 1. I wished cameras did not come set to default for JPEG only out of the box.
I sincerely hope that others don’t have to go through the long period of photography mediocrity like I did!
Learn to post-process better because it will make a much greater difference to our photos than that newer camera or lens ever will!
Hoo-oo-ooo-r-uuu
Curious Owlet craning its neck to look down directly at me as I pointed my camera skywards because that was the only opening I had amidst the thick canopy of leaves.
An old shot taken with Olympus OMD E-M5 and Lumix 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 OIS, handheld at full extension 300mm, wide opened, 1/80s and +1.3EV.
Less than ideal conditions and sensor limitations but the camera+lens setup weighed under 1kg and allowed me to record this encounter on a hike.
Portrait orientation crop of a shot taken originally in landscape format.
The SOOC JPEG was terrible; the auto WB was way off, couldn’t rely on the metering (+1.3EV in shot) either and the colors were washed out (loss of contrast) from shooting skywards into the shaded canopy (heavily backlit) made worse by strong color cast.
Post-processing from RAW rescued the shot and helped made it borderline presentable. Took the extra step to remove nasty purple fringing as well.
As it is, there’s still much fundamental misunderstanding about post-processing;
1. SOOC JPEG is NOT WYSIWYG!
=============================
People who believed that JPEG represents WYSIWYG are misguided. Some of these folks will tell you they prefer SOOC JPEG because it’s pure and unadulterated, representing what their eyes saw. Nothing can be further from the truth and frankly such belief is no different from those of Flat-earthers! Fact is, JPEG is instantaneously converted from RAW data within the camera and different camera models even from the same brand can produce different looking JPEGs. Just as our human visual system is not solely based on our eyes since 50% of our brain is also involved in visual processing. Metering, WB and all other in-camera processings are far from perfect because cameras lack the brains (processing power) to deal with the extremes and specific problematic areas within each image.
2. Selective vs global adjustments
==============================
Most casual photographers lack a proper understanding of what post-processing can really do and hence end up with the mistaken notion that SOOC JPEG will suffice. Always boggles the mind how some folks can arrive at the notion that SOOC JPEG is sufficient when they have never delved into proper post-processing? Many more cling on to thinking that post-processing will alter the image too much because they are clueless as to how the various little things that can add up to really improve on the overall image quality. Cropping, adjusting exposure, highlights/shadows or saturation are just scratching the surface, of the surface! Fundamentally there is global adjustments and then there's the all important selective adjustments, good luck with relying on the camera’s JPEG engine to perform the latter! On the flip side, there are also those who tend to mess up post-processing so bad that they are better off sticking to SOOC JPEG. Overwrought HDR can be such travesty and stuff like Sky Replacement is pure fakery, not post-processing.
3. Post-processing ability thumps new gear
======================================
Post-processing is a most worthwhile skill that takes time to acquire and refine. A good knowledge of post-processing can also influence us to shoot better to obtain a better RAW file. Once we get the hang of it, it is in fact quite quick to do, even for more troublesome/complicated shots. Personally it’s much more important than the gear we use which some tend to worship like tribal totems.
When I got started in this hobby years ago, I was a pure JPEG shooter and hence know what it means to get it right as far as possible in shot but my photos were seldom satisfactory even on the rare occasions when conditions were perfect. I had little clue of the full potential of post-processing because if I did, I would have shot RAW from Day 1. I wished cameras did not come set to default for JPEG only out of the box.
I sincerely hope that others don’t have to go through the long period of photography mediocrity like I did!
Learn to post-process better because it will make a much greater difference to our photos than that newer camera or lens ever will!