OWL

I need some advice Please. I have the software that came with my K200d I am shooting both Raw + JPG. My question is where do I start to process a raw image? This image has had nothing done to it apart from a slight crop and posting and resizing on photobucket.
Any help would be great.
[IMG]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z307/50crates/Owl2crop.jpg[/IMG]

... with software. Load the pictures into your software and start working with it... like setting your Whitebalance, correct the exposure and then maybe get a handle on what curves can do for you.

I have absolutely no idea what you want to do, what your user level is (competent?), what operating system you're using or what you want the pics for. Without that, it's a bit flying blind.

Bret

Taking the image I tried to post (i'll try again) how would you start to improve this image? This image is straight from the camera so to speak with no processing at all.
IMG]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z307/50crates/Owl2crop.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z307/50crates/Owl2crop.jpg[/IMG]

There's not that much wrong, the light was obviously OK.

Probably increase blackpoint. Were you behind chainlink, by any small chance? Also minimal saturation increase, maybe a little USM.
However, none of this helps without the software.......I'd process this first automatically and then refine. But I a) know what I want and b) I'm a computer guy anyway, so the software is the lesser evil.

Bret

Pete - you are missing a [ before the first IMG. Maybe one of the Mods could correct this.

I've deleted the duplicated thread with the least number of replies and corrected the link.

I wasn't behind chain link. Thank you John for correcting my incorrect post.

The main thing it's lacking is some contrast. I've done a quick slap-dash job on the image just to demonstrate. (I also took the green reflection from the birds belly feathers, but that's more advanced)

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/Owl2crop2.jpg[/IMG]


I'd give RAW a go, by all means shoot RAW+Jpeg until you've cracked it, as it will take some time to get it looking as good as straight out of camera jpegs. Once you get a feel for it though, you'll have control over the appearance of every shot you process. Different images require different treatment.

RR I wouldn't have a clue how to start beginning to remove the green reflection from the feathers. Having seen your image though it does look better. Did you process everything in the raw image then convert or did you photoshop aswell once converted?

I just used photoshop on your original small crop, that's why it isn't too great. Obviously working with the RAW file or even A large Jpeg would have yielded a better result.

there's no comparison with working on a JPG and on the original RAW file, and I'll argue that's true up to photoshop expert level.

If you want to get the most out of your photos, you have *no choice* but to learn how to post-process.

Bret