I am interested in what everyone is using to process thier pics, do you shoot only in raw or do you use jpeg or a combination of each. How about noise reduction. HELP!!
always shooting in raw, it's the way to get all the detail and make use of it, as tim is fond of saying, you paid for all that sensor and camera capability, why not make use of it downloader pro by breeze systems, allows me to download all the raw files into folders by pretty much whatever criteria i pick, usually date burn the raw keepers to dvd, this insures no loss during processing of that most valuable file, the negative if you will raw conversion using breezebrowser pro, 3rd party raw converter, allows me to view an 8x10 on the monitor, tag and delete all the throwaways, set some conversion parameters and convert on over to a jpeg folder currently using photoshop 7, although i may end up getting a newer version and adding lightroom imagineomics noiseware, a photoshop plug in for noise reduction i constantly write photoshop actions and batch process many of my trips that i end up with many photos from
I shoot raw + jpeg. I use Digital Pro 4 made by Pro Shooters LLC to download and file the images. Then I preview the images in Digital Pro and tag the keepers for editing and delete the junk. I use Capture NX2 (only works with Nikon raw files) to process the raw files and then I use Photoshop to resize, crop, etc. Gary made a great point about backing up your images. After I am finished processing my images, I put a copy on my Drobo (network attached storage) and burn a copy to DVD which I keep at work. That way I have two full copies of everything, one of which is stored off site. Once I've made those two backups, I remove everything except my final edited files from my desktop to save space on that computer.
Mostly shoot just RAW, but if the wife wants the pics too I'll shoot RAW+JPG. I only use A2 now, but I have Bibble Pro installed, waiting to see version 5 of it. I also have the Noise Ninja plugin for A2 and Bibble.
I have been only shooting in RAW mode. I use Adobe Lightroom for RAW conversions and processing including Lightroom's built-in noise reduction which has been fairly good for most of my shots. There are instances where a better noise reduction application would help out and I am looking into this. There are trial versions of Lightroom for both the Mac and PC. There is also a trial version of Apple's Aperture for the Mac which is a similar program. I do plan to try shooting in JPEG mode for some sporting events for my kids' school in the future as I am told I could capture more photos more quickly in that mode.
I will take the advise and shoot RAW and try the tips here, I have DPP that came with my Canon. Need a day off from work so I can experiment. Thanks foir the help
