Shooting HDR and RAW questions

[DisasterDan]

Is this right for shooting HDR?
"Dont change Aperture, change shutter speed"
And also i couldnt seem to find on any articles if i need to change my shutter speed in certain stops?

And onto the RAW question. I took a few shots of a friend a couple days ago, it was my first shoot in RAW. The pictures looked great!...on my camera. After i put them on my computer and did all the jazz with photoshop they looked "Soft" and not as clear as my camera, or when i looked at them with my photo viewer on my computer. Now i know that of course my camera is going to look clearer because of the smaller size, but i was wondering if its because i took a 16Bit Cr2 file or whatever the file extenstion was and i saved it at a Jpeg size i shouldn't of?
"you need to downconvert it to 8-bit in order to save it as a JPEG" is that true?
Thanks for any input and help!

 

[tirediron]

Generally yes, for HDR you would ajust SS vice aperture, you can always change ISO if you want to effect neither DoF nor movement.

As for your RAW question, at what quality did you save the .jpg?

 

[DisasterDan]

Thanks! Glad thats cleared up, and as far as the quality, i just did the whole process again and PS just gives you a bar to move while saving as a Jpeg(and i saved at maximum). I Just opened up one of the problem pictures and it WAS saved as a 8Bit. I was also shooting in lots of light with a high shutter speed. Im not sure what happened along the way, im guessing it was something i did in the RAW editing window PS has.

 

[vtf]

The image is viewed on most cameras in jpeg form, the RAW image must still be processed. The Raw image will need sharpening, color corrections, etc that the camera automatically does when you shoot jpeg. Its probably not soft, you've just not done the needed adjustments to the RAW image.

 

[JG_Coleman]

As vtf mentioned, the RAW file is entirely unprocessed. So, this being your first time shooting in RAW, you get a first-hand look at just how much in-camera processing really goes into making JPEGs.

Unedited RAW files, which is to say, RAW files SOOC, generally look like crap. All the data you need to make the photo really shine is buried in the loads of information recorded in the RAW file, but you need to manually address of all the aspects of post-processing that the camera's JPEG algorithm would normally handle for you.

First off, the RAW file will usually be rather low in contrast... as if there's a light grey veil that covers the entire frame. Contrast needs to be adjusted, either through dedicated contrast controls or through manipulation of curves, in order to get the scene looking correct.

Colors will also tend to be muted in the unedited RAW file. In some cases, the mere act of adjusting contrast properly will liven the colors up enough that they don't need any further touch-ups or enhancements. In many cases though, delicate applications of saturation, vibrance, or selective color control will be necessary.

You'll also apply any noise-reduction (if necessary) and tweak exposure, brightness, clarity, etc. of whichever parts of the scene you think could use attention.

Sharpening is generally my final step, since you'll want to dial in proper sharpening settings AFTER seeing what effect your other adjustments have made on the details of the photograph. At any rate, RAW files leave your camera entirely unsharpened and will look extremely soft if this sharpening is not added manually.

 

[BekahAura]

I just started shooting raw myself and I was wondering why my shots looked awesome on the camera screen and horrible when I viewed them in bridge. Thanks for the info JG.

While we're on the topic... is there any way to turn off the auto adjustments in camera raw? Most of the time they make my pictures look horrible, and it's pretty annoying to have to uncheck all of those boxes in every single conversion.

 

[DisasterDan]

Yes thank you alot! You helped answer pretty much every question i had about RAW shooting. :mrgreen:

 

[KmH]

..... is there any way to turn off the auto adjustments in camera raw? Most of the time they make my pictures look horrible, and it's pretty annoying to have to uncheck all of those boxes in every single conversion.

No, you cannot turn them off, but you can minimize them.

None of the camera image adjustment settings get applied to a Raw data file, only JPEG files are adjusted in the camera. The image displayed on the camera is a JPEG Basic that is embedded in the Raw data file

Also not, the histogram that can be displayed on the rear LCD of your camea is also from the Basic JPEG that is displayed.

Raw conversion is done outside the camera.