[LRflex] Re: TECH: Advice and experience requested

Hi David,
it does help, thanks.

Doug, Tina and you offered me the clues to better rendition on today's 
pixes (can't call them photos though) - it is a funny thing that this 
"contrast" problem only occurs when using the Angie 70 x 3 and the x2 
extender.
With the Macro Elmarit or the Angie 35 x 2 I have no probem at all, even 
less with the D-Vario. And it didn't show on film - funny as it may seem.

Thanks again to Doug and you for the lessons.
I'll try to be up to my masters. :-[

Bien amicalement.
Phil...x


David Young wrote:

>At 28/03/2007, you wrote:
>  
>
>>Hi Listers and Luggers,
>>I followed Ted's advice and went out shooting early this morning - back
>>home I started to process the files in Lightroom and didn't get what I
>>had been after, so I turned back to Silkpix and PSElements.
>>
>>With SP no apparent problem and I was quite pleased, but when I further
>>processed the files in PSE I was so disappointed that I started putting
>>the blame on myself for not knowing how to use it, and on my gear, that
>>might have had some technical problem.
>>
>>This may seem a bit fuzzy so I have posted two sample crops that may
>>give you an idea of what the issue is.
>>
>>1) Cropped after development in SPix.
>><http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Oiseaux/SilkPix.jpg.html>
>>
>>2) The same after auto adjustment for levels, contrast and colour were
>>made in PS.
>><http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Oiseaux/PhotoShop.jpg.html>
>>
>>So the questions :
>>
>>Who/what is faulty for the absolute catastrophy in color, contrast and
>>sharpness rendition?
>>
>>a) is it the photographer
>>b) the  camera
>>c) the lense
>>d) processing
>>e) none of the above
>>f) don't care, get back to film you're wasting your time and mine ;-)
>>
>>Thanks in anticipation for helping me out of this.
>>Yours
>>Downhearted Phil...x
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>Dear Downhearted:
>
>Much of the problem is that you are processing twice... this should 
>not be necessary and always risks the chance of over doing just about 
>anything.  Secondly, using Auto-anything in PS is likely to cause 
>problems unless the the file is already near perfect.
>
>Contrast is the main culprit, here.  The problem with any contrast 
>control is that while it darkens the dark areas, it also lightens the 
>light areas (increasing the contrast between the two). Unfortunately, 
>this nearly always results in blown highlights.  The secret is to 
>darken the dark areas, without lightening the light areas ... thus 
>increasing saturation in the colours, without blowing the highlights.
>
>This can be done, in PS and PSE, by using the curves 
>control.  However, I prefer Silkypix because it has a slider control 
>(found under "tone" in SP2) called "Black Level".  This is a much 
>faster, easier and more precise way to adjust the curve than is 
>offered in PS or PSE.
>
>In SP, I normally develop the RAW file, adjusting exposure, white 
>balance, as necessary.  I always set sharpness to it's highest level, 
>as SP2's sharpening is very modest.  If you've got SL3, you'll need 
>to set it as is appropriate, for SP3's sharpening is far more aggressive.
>
>When I get to "tone", I ignore "contrast", "contrast center" and 
>"gamma", and set the "black level" to what looks best, and I'm done!
>
>I use PS only for any layers, if necessary, and for adding text, such 
>as copyright notices... though more and more, I'm doing that with 
>Freestone Image Resizer.
>
>I hope this helps!
>
>Cheers!
>
>
>---
>
>David Young,
>Logan Lake, CANADA
>
>Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/
>Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
>
>
>
>
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