I've got 100 raw photos -- now what?

[Vautrin]

Hi,

So I just bought an Olympus EVOLT 510, and decided to put it through its paces when I took a trip to NYC.

I set up my camera to save both the RAW file and a JPEG.

So now that I have 100 raw photos, what do I do? I've got a couple that I think could really be great if I could tweak the colors if I could only figure out how.

Like these, I think if I could make the sky blue-er it would look very impressive:

This building was very colorful, very interesting:

The thermometers broken, but it felt that hot:

Any suggestions on learning post shoot (besides just printing photos) is greatly appreciated

 

[Overread]

http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm
There is a whole series of articles there which can help you with editing shots in RAW - its based round photoshop the full version, but most edting programs operate to the same basic principles so you can adapt the advice to suit your needs.
I recomend lookup up levels, curves, sharpening, saturation, noise reduction and layers for a good grouding in editing (being as those are the most used editing tools)

 

[Don Kondra]

Uh, did you load your Olympus Master 2 software that came with the camera?

FastStone Image Viewer is another good free program.

Cheers, Don

 

[Vautrin]

Uh, did you load your Olympus Master 2 software that came with the camera?

Yes, but with that first image if I try to change the colors and make the sky bluer I just make the building blue.... I was just looking for post shoot tips / tricks...

 

[Don Kondra]

Try using the brightness and contrast. And see what changing the exposure does.

Sooner or later you need to learn how to use the tools and the best way is to experiment with all of them :mrgreen:

Nothing you do will change the original raw file, so go for it....

Cheers, Don

 

[TheJakeyl]

Did you install Olympus Master with that E-510? You'll be able to do it all with that and really work with those RAW files. I think its the best free program out there to work with RAW files. How do you like the e-510? Especially now that the 520 is out I recently brought mine with the ED 14-42mm and 40-150mm (the f/4.5 lens) to Sandusky, OH on my recent vacation. Never took it out once though, I was just too busy on the roller coasters. I like your photos though, NYC is one big place. I'm surprised you don't have more than 100!! :mrgreen:

^^^^ Sorry just realized you did install it, I just missed that part the first time around. You should look into Paint Shop Pro for something like that. Its affordable and you will be able to do what you were looking to do .

 

[H.M.]

Here's a comprehensive listing of graphical photo editors.

I suggest you try a couple of the FREEWARE alternatives (on the right) before you splash out for an app brimming with features you'll never use.

Or even try an online editor: snipshot.com or Photoshop Express.

Have fun!

 

[Atropine]

Pic 2 and 3 are over exposed to the extent that you probably won't be able to recover any sky at all. You might be successful adding another sky in photoshop though.

 

[macdsean]

I use Aperture (for Mac OS X) to edit my RAW photos. I am pretty happy with it. Typically once I have the RAW photo I make sure it has the proper levels and then manually adjust color balance and contrast a little bit. It just takes practice and is something you will have to spend a lot of time experimenting with.

Try playing around with one aspect at a time. For example just mess with contrast to try and get it looking correct for a while. Messing with too many settings all at once when you first start out can often make the photos look unnatural and sometimes even worse than the original.

 

[Tyjax]

I have had some success with detailed adjustments of the hue/Saturation and curves adjustments to make the sky a little better when I fail to use a polarized filter. Try pushing the blue range into the darker range and saturating near the color of the sky. I use Adobe camera Raw 4.0 but your Olympus software should allow you similar developing options. A judicious use of the HSL settings is one of the MAIN benefits to shooting raw, along with the leeway it gives for exposure compensation. If you are not familiar with your Olympus RAW software an investment in a good digital darkroom is going to pay off for saving those "aw nuts" shots.

Good work by the way.

TTL
Tyj