[Digikam-users] RAW editing

[Anders Lund]

On Fredag den 20. januar 2012, Dr. Martin Senftleben wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> After the long discussion about jpg lossiness, I have tried some
> editing on the raw files, but I do not seem to be the person for that ;-)
> Ijust can't find the settings which are best to work on, or most
> helpful to improve an image. Is there some place where a workflow
> description can be found on improving an image based on the RAW data?
> I believe that would help me a lot.
> 
> Regards
> Martin

Hi Martin,

I use digikam for raw processing. My workflow at this point - meaning I have 
decided to process a particular image - is:

* Press F4 to launch the editor. I have configure that so it will display the 
editors raw converter.

* Since I will do most of the post processing in the editor, I do little at 
this step, but sometimes it is good to change the white balance at this step 
(in the raw converting tab). If there are problems with the exposure, I also 
try to adjust in the conversion tab for that. But in most cases - when images 
are resonably exposed - I do that in the post processing tab.

* In general, it is easier to experiment when in the editor, but as you can 
import more pictures with settings in the conversion tool, fixing some things 
there can be convenient. It is possible to save presets for later use.

* Once happy, I hit Return, and starts postprocessing using the editor. Some 
of my favorites are
- Ctrl + Shift + B brings up a autocorrection tool, which is contains 
automatic levels and exposure, which can often be very handy.
- Ctrl + Shift + M brings up the curve tool, which is probably the most 
powerful color adjustment tool.
- Whitebalance tool in the Color menu
- Local contrast from the Improve menu
- sharpen in the improve menu has the "refocus" tool which is the best 
sharpener I have ever met. (Thank you CImg!)
- Free rotation from Transform menu (because I often shoot while sailing)
- Aspect crop from Transform menu

Once happy, I save a new version of the image (Usually jpeg with a high 
quality, depending on how the image is going to be used).

This workflow means manually processing each image, and fits my normal work 
mode well - take many photos, process few. Once in a while, I do need to 
process a lot of images, then I use the batch raw processor.

My most missed feature is to be able to apply a set of operations to other 
images, or to the same one again, reimporting the raw file. (*hint *hint).

-- 
Anders