Anyone using Lightroom?

Want to talk about SNS-HDR, or do you have suggestions, requests, or how-to questions? Post here!
Chcesz porozmawiać o SNS-HDR, masz sugestię, próśbę, lub jakieś pytania? Pisz tutaj!

Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby tonygamble » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:04 am

I very much value the ability to run SNS-HDR Pro in a batch mode and to save the SNS files for fine tuning.

I used it on a set of triple bracketed shots, working from the original RAW files. However, some were shot at a fairly noisy ASA and I had to use Lightroom to clean the noise from the RAW's. However, LR does not write back a RAW file so I ended up with some TIF's and I ran those as a batch into SNS-HDR.

There is a discussion going on in another forum (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readf ... e=40364044) where it is being suggested that one might get better results from SNS-HDR if one lets it work on TIF's rather than the original RAWs (dcraw.exe being good, but maybe not the optimum).

So, back to my heading, does anyone around here use Lightroom and if so what settings do they use to produce TIF's or jpgs for use in SNS-HDR? I'd say one wants an image with the least clipping possible. What about sharpening. LR in default adds some - would an image for HDR be better started without any?

Any other things to consider?

Tony

PS. If fellow Brit Terry Mann is around he'll surely say I should use Qimage Ultimate to convert my RAW's. So I should, Terry, but my elderly brain can only learn one new trick at a time......
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Re: Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby Bernard » Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:28 am

IMHO , LR is far better than DCRaw for developping raw into tiff or jpeg. So I am using LR.
Bracketed photos, except maybe the middle exposures, will be clipped ! If you have a good exposure for the shadows, highlights will be clipped. SNS will handle that very nicely.
So, I don't do any exposure tweaking LR.
CA correction is probably better done in LR before SNS, with no sharpening.

What would be nice is an LR / SNS plug in , in order to go directly from LR to SNS
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Re: Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby terrym » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:45 pm

IMHO , LR is far better than DCRaw for developing raw into tiff or jpeg

dcraw on it's own is not adequate; a decent program to enhance the basic conversion is required. SNS uses dcraw but my favourite for conventional processing, as Tony hinted, is Qimage Ultimate. It demonstrates, that with clever programming, that a myriad of sliders is not required. No conversion required, make top class prints from the raw file :D
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Re: Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby Old Baldy » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:41 pm

I'm also not yet decided on the appropriate workflow with SNS-HDR, LR and CS5, my tools of choice. (Well, just starting with CS5. I love LR3 for the basic stuff, and NR, CA, etc).

UP to now, I've been importing the bracketed images individually into LR3, applying lens correction and NR only, and then exporting to disk in 16-bit TIF format for SNS-HDR to take them in, apply a standard profile, do some very minor tweaks as necessary, and then saving the output image as 16-bit TIF for LR3 to import, and apply PP tweaks in LR3 (and later, probably, CS5).

Not sure if that's a good workflow or not, but haven't yet found anything specific that points to a better alternative process.

I do intend to experiment with this process this weekend....just have to find the time to do it carefully, document the steps and results and ensure that any conclusions are repeatable, before I can say that I've got a workflow that works for me. :)
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Re: Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby tonygamble » Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:02 pm

Thanks folk,

Not much more I can add.....

Tony
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Re: Anyone using Lightroom?

Postby tonygamble » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:31 pm

On DPReview there is a thread about noise reduction in LR and someone has pointed out that one can alter pre-sets so that LR will 'develop' RAWs differently depending on the ASA used. This is the key post:-

"Michael, as indicated you can save default settings for ISO values in 1/3 stop increments. Go to Develop/Set Default Settings, and then indicate that you wish to "Update to Current Settings." For that to work automatically, you must got to Edit/Preferences/Presets and check the tick box for "Make defaults specific to camera ISO setting." If you use more than one camera, you may wish to also select "Make defaults specific to camera serial number."

Now, the simplest thing is to shoot a series of images at various ISO values; for example, set up a standard scene, and record it at all the ISO values that you're likely to use. Adjust noise (and sharpness) for each value--that should take only a few minutes to get you in the ballpark. Then for each image, make the settings at that ISO your default for that ISO and that camera. You may also wish to save a preset for sharpening and noise reduction at each ISO; simply choose Develop/New preset and save the sharpening and noise settings (only) as, say, ISO 800 sharp/noise. That's useful if you happen to (a) use auto-ISO, which will give you images that do NOT default to your settings at import, or you need to crank exposure up or down, and so affect the noise.

That takes just a few minutes, and it saves a lot of time.

BTW, the chromatic aberration correction seems much better in the new beta version of LR 4 than in LR 3. "

The thread is here:-
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readf ... d=40419223

It seems this is at least an indicator of how one could use LR to produce TIFs more suitable for SNS-HDR than letting dcraw do the conversion.

I have posted the above before going to my studio to give it a try - so foregive me if it misses the point or does not work.

Tony
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