I am starting to use Raw Therapee any advice muchly appreciated

[JBW]

[ajohnw]

Depends what you want. The flowers haven't got much contrast so I used the main tone curve on them. It always shows the default 45 degree line. So going 4.5 squares in from the left I set a point and dragged it down to 2.5 squares up. from the bottom. That reduces contrast up to that point and by the time it gets to he top right of the graph the slope will be higher so contrast at the bright end is increased improving the flowers. I then set another point 7 squares up and dragged it to the right so that the slope was roughly doubled that of the 45 degree line giving more contrast to the flowers again.

Then as it has LAB adjustments, L stands for luminance, and AB are colour co ordinates. The idea is that luminance can be changed without changing colour. I opened the L channel one and set a point 2 1/2 squares up and dragged it right by 1 1/2 squares. This darkens the dark end morre without changing the colours. Then set a point 6 1/2 squares up and dragged it so that it was back on the default 45 degree line. That leaves the bright end alone.

I then played with the chromaticity slider in LAB and came up with a setting of +40.. Best play with that one yourself and the others too really as that is the only way to get to grips with what changes do.



What I have done is used the decrease in the dark end to improve the contrast of the flowers so that their shape is more clearly visible. Then darkened the dark end more with the L curve in LAB and punched up the colours with chromaticity That has also boosted the red that I suspect is on the end of the petals as well. On the other hand it could be down to more use of the curves than the shot can take.

John
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[ajohnw]

Maybe I shouldn't use the word contrast really. What is happening is that the extreme white in the flowers is being left as is and dimmer whites below that are being progressively darkened slightly. If the curve was lifted up above the 45 degree like the opposite happens. Mostly useful at the dark end to reduces shadows some what.

John
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[ajohnw]

Having had my dinner there are a couple of other things that can be done.

There are 2 triangles at the top right and inwards of the window.

Click on the black one and it will show you where the black is clipped - ie can't go any blacker. These can be removed by moving the extreme lower left of the curve up a touch. With this shot I think it's best to remove any from the subject.

Click the white triangle and you will see that there is some white clipping in the flowers. Lower the top right hand corner of the curve a little to remove them.

Lastly, I thought that there was something odd about the leaves. Enable the impulse noise reduction slider. The default setting of 50 looks ok to me but try higher settings.

These are sort of finishing of touches really but it's worth keeping an eye on clipping while making adjustments. Noise should be taken out earlier on really but .......... there aren't any rules.

John
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