Raw.

Part Three: Processing the Image.

Exercise: Raw.

Camera: Canon G1X set to RAW/Fine jpg.

The first pair of images are of berries on a Rowan tree.  It was taken on an overcast day with the camera's WB set on auto.  When viewed separately there is little discernible difference.  When viewed together slight differences can be seen.  

The raw file has a richer quality with softer hues, the jpg has a slight acid quality in comparison.  A quick run over with the DCM shows that, overall, the RAW file has a very slight but consistent red shift.  I am not sure if this comes out in the screen shot but is it discernible on my PC.  In both versions the wall is too white and not its true yellow. 

In the processed version of the RAW image I have tried to restore the colour of the wall to something closer to its true hue.  The sky area was a total loss in both versions and I have not made any attempt to recover it.  There was slight clipping on the top of the fruit in the RAW image which I was able to recover.  Changes made: change to cloudy (4750 to 6500), recovery to 47 to rid image of clipped highlights, black to 12 to improve contrast and vibrancy to 20.

In the jpg image I used levels and curves to achieve a similar result.  The images are still different but are both closer to the actual colours.  

The second pair of images were taken in Dover Castle and are of Henry II's private Chapel.  The Stained glass was lit from outside and the Chapel's interior was lit by what I took to be tungsten lights. This was a very dark scene and took a 1/2 sec. exposure.

I again set the camera's WB to auto.  The two images gave similar differences to the earlier pair with the RAW version having richer tones, especially in the reds of the window and the gold of the christogram on the alter cloth.  The differences were again subtle and only really noticible when the two images were viewed together.  

The jgp version is as close to the scene as I think I am going to get but I will try and brighten up the rather duller RAW image.

This version is an improvement on the other two.  Changed WB from the as taken 2800 to tungsten 2850, raised the black slightly for better contrast and added a little brightness.  I increased both the vibrancy and saturation to improve the earlier dull colours.  The detail I have revealed in this image was not available to the eye at the time of taking the picture.

The last pair were taken from the top of the tower at Dover Castle and although taken on a dull day run from very deep and almost featureless shadow areas right up to a burned out sky.  Neither version is very pleasing but my intension is to make more pleasing images out of them both.

THe altered RAW version has nice soft colours that are consistent with the view on an overcast day.  I changed from the as taken 5900 to cloudy at 6500, applied recovery at 20, black 20, brightness 80, raised vibrancy to 27 and vibrancy 5.  The recovery has applied a small amount of texture  to the sky and hinted at the grey day it in fact was.  I applied no changes beyond these.

I found the jpg version more difficult to work with.  I again used levels and curves in the recovery but found I could not obtain the subtleness of the RAW image.  The result is a harsher image.  

Both reworked images are better than the original but of the reworked images I prefer the one taken from the RAW image.  

Conclusion:  For me the lesson is to use employ RAW and use the histogram to obtain as correct an exposure as I can.