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Ed Knepley | profile | all galleries >> Experiments >> Nikon Capture NX 1.0 - Before & After Images tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Nikon Capture NX 1.0 - Before & After Images

A sample of image editing using the newly released Nikon Capture NX. Some changes are fairly dramatic - such as the bust of Abraham Lincoln which was shot on the underexposed side in order to deal with the bright highlights on his right side. Others are more subtle. The control provided by this program via its "control point" technology allows me to do in minutes what would take tens of minutes in other programs.

The "Before" image is as it came from the camera. I shoot using RAW format with ALL camera image enhancement settings (saturation, sharpening, contrast, etc.) turned off or to the lowest/normal setting. I am extremely conscious of the tonal range when shooting and ensure (where possible) that there are NO blown highlights. All of this results in a rather flat, dark, dull image prior to editing. I chose this approach in order to make my own "vision" and not rely on the decision made by a Nikon programmer to be applied for me while shooting. I realize that shooting RAW I could undo Nikon's decisions but prefer to start from scratch.

The editing in these images used mostly D-Lighting (shadow/highlight recovery), LCH lightness control, Curves/Levels, Control Points, High Pass Filter (for sharpening - it's amazing), and USM occasionally (for sharpening). I make these adjustments in the order listed (usually).
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After		 Where is Dust Off?
Where is Dust Off?

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Joy 21-Jul-2008 20:01
Hello Ed,
I completely agree with your usage of CaptureNX for RAW images. I think NR is the only weak feature for Capture compared to Noise Ninja. True that it is best to prevent noise by using tripods than remove it later (although tripods wont help for moving subjects or even waterfalls), but I am yet to figure out a way to incorporate NN into the workflow with RAW processing in Capture.

Sharpening further increases noise and so should be done after NR. I also like the high-pass sharpening on Capture, moreso as it is done at the RAW/NEF stage. So the only possible way is to save the unsharpened image as tiff, open it in NN for NR , save it again as tiff and reopen in capture for the final high-pass sharpening. Pretty cumbersome and memory intensive if used for most pictures.

Although, NN also dose some sharpening I suspect it is USM based and not high pass sharpening. I would be glad to know if anybody has better ideas for using NN and Capture for RAW processing.
JLR 20-May-2008 23:19
Really nice! Prefer the before images.
Ed Knepley11-Nov-2006 15:57
Kent,

I agree with you that noise should be a concern in the darker regions of an image. I also agree that my before images tend to be on the underexposed side. I shoot to keep the histogram away from both 0 & 255 whenever possible and check it *always*. I also try to keep as far to the right as possible *without* blown highlights. Nevertheless, maybe it's because of the types of shots that I make, the net result still tends toward the under exposed side as you observed.

Having said all of that, I rarely have trouble with noise. Maybe it's because I shoot 100% RAW and pick up the benefit of a few extra stops doing that. Also, I use my D70's lowest ISO value and almost never use anything higher (and always shoot from a tripod so the slower shutter speeds don't bother me). Beyond that, I just don't know. I just know that I've evolved to this style since it usually gives be better results than tending toward overexposed results.

My first step (after a white balance check in NX's base adjustments) is D-Light. This seems almost magical in recovering the shadows - although I'll admit to occasionally finding some noise. If I do see noise, I'll usually tinker with the D-light settings coupled with LCH and Curves. If it's an image that I'm going to print for a competition or exhibit and there's visible noise I'll work on that with Noise Ninja or some of the features of Picture Window Pro (I don't use Photoshop).

Hope this helps,

Ed
Guest 01-Nov-2006 22:50
My son-in-law (D J Wixx) pointed me to this gallery as being very helpful, and he is right!Thanks for sharing the secrets of your success.
Guest 19-Aug-2006 20:40
Great gallery of photos, and examples of how this program is used - thanks for sharing.
Squared C18-Aug-2006 02:46
Definitely voted for this! Excellent examples of what this program can do. Thanks!
Bryan Ramsay04-Aug-2006 02:05
Ed, this is a great example of NX, just what I've been looking for as I frequently use exactly the same logic you do on shooting RAW! how much faster do you feel this is compared to Capture 4.4 and a little PS CS2? -BJ OBTW GMV for help!
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