All Blog Posts, Post Processing
Food for professional post processing thought
Last night I stumbled across the blog of an exclusive iStock photographer, Joshua Hodge. IMO, Joshua, like the most downloaded stock photographer Yuri Arcurs, shoots close to “perfect” stock type images – so what he has to say carries a reasonable level of credibility.
Sadly, almost as soon as the blog article had been read, that the site was updated and the page vanished. The article was all about how to shoot the “correct” exposure for digital and was here:
The blog itself also points to a Luminous Landscapes article on the same subject here:
http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
Since the page is now missing, here are some of Joshua’s observations in the original article:
1. The correct exposure for digital is not “bang on” but to the right, just before the highlights blow.
2. Shoot in RAW, expose to the right and then straighten out the histogram with RAW sliders. (Note: I they don’t seem to mention the exposure slider but rather contrast, brightness etc).
3. Process the file at 12 bits or more.
While this image may look fine on scree, the histogram looke like a mess after post processing.
What are your feelings about this kind of workflow? What is your own workflow?
The blog got me thinking, because up until now I’ve done all my post processing “by eye”, 8 bit and with post processing gadgetry.
For my own stock processing, I’ve got custom PS actions lined up, tips on standard sliders from people like Laurin Rinder and all kinds of 3rd party filters and do dah plugins.
But . . . only a few of them leave the histogram intact. Processing like Joshua mentions above, with only slight tweaking with standard enhancement sliders keeps the histogram intact.
While exposing for film is old hat, there is probably room for much more work and understanding around the exact technicalities and “best practice” for digital.