RAW and sharpening

[Andres Bonilla]

Does anybody do any contrast, curves, sharpening etc in the RAW stage or you guys prefer to do it all in Photoshop. I noticed that my Nik Sharpener 1.0 does not work in 16 bit images, does anybody uses smart sharpening to sharpen images and if so do you use gaussian blur setting etc. Do you guys use a program like Neatimage to control noise after the adjustments or before and why?
I know these are newbie questions but they will save alots of experimenting.

Thanks,

Andres

[61Dynamic]

I do as much contrast adjustment in the converter as possible in order to utilize the raw data as much as possible. Same with color corrections now that I'm using Lightroom. I turn sharpening and noise reduction off in the converter and use third-party programs as needed.

For sharpening I use PhotoKit but if you use Smart Sharpen, then Gaussian setting is what you should use unless you have motion or lens blur in the image.

I use Noise Ninja 2 for noise reduction. The noise reduction in most converters tends to soften the image too much causing a loss in detail and the color noise reduction in ACR can take the color out of peoples eyes in some cases. NN2 (or NeatImage) is far superior to a raw converter's reduction or the noise reduction tool in PS CS2. (On that note, Bibble Labs will be using integrated NN2 noise reduction in further releases)

Basically, I do as many global adjustments with the exception of sharpening and noise reduction, as I can in the raw converter. Work such as cloning or singling out a specific area for adjustment is done in PS.

[Mark D Segal]

Like Daniel, I sharpen with PK Sharpener Pro, but in the odd case where needed, I first reduce noise with Noise Ninja. Both after raw conversion. Unlike Daniel, I do most of my colour and luminosity adjustments with curves in Photoshop, but I bring blown highlights back into gamut in Camera RAW because that is the only place one can do that. With Canon 1Ds images converted to 16 bit, there is so much data it makes little difference whether one does basic luminosity/colour correction work before or after raw conversion. I think the place to do these adjustments partly depends on what one is more comfortable working with, the size of the initial image files and the bit depth one is converting into.

[Andres Bonilla]

Ok, so it is a matter of taste and preferences, not a real better way. What id after noise reduction you get a little noise from post processing?

[Mark D Segal]

Andres, you are misunderstanding my post. The part I think a matter of taste and preferences is whether one adjusts contrast and luminosity of high-resolution high bit images in Camera Raw or in Photoshop. The part that is NOT a matter of preference is the ordering of noise reduction and sharpening. One always reduces noise BEFORE sharpening, because the noise programs work with profiles, or you build custoim noise profiles - whichever, these profiles should not be confused by sharpening artifacts. Normally, once the noise is properly reduced there is no need to go back there. One should not over-sharpen images - the resulting sharpening artifacts can accentuate residual bits of noise that would otherwise not be visible or be mistaken for noise.

[Andres Bonilla]

Mark I got the part to remove noise BEFORE sharpening, I was referring to remove noise before or after levels, saturation, curves etc Some people told me they denoise right after the raw conversion, others told me to do all my adjustments the remove noise if present and ALL agree to sharpen after noise removal.

[61Dynamic]

If you are adjusting tone/color in th raw converter, then obviously that comes before noise reduction but otherwise it can depend on one's workflow.

If you use capture sharpening, then noise reduction must come before that. In otherwords, noise reduction is the first thing that happens to an image when first loaded into PS.

If you utilize adjustment layers in an non-destructive workflow, it is more logical to do noise reduction first thing to avoid the need for another layer. It aslow eliminates the need to re-apply noise reduction each time any adjustment layer is altered.

It's really more convenient to do noise reduction first but there is nothing stopping someone from doing it second to last. There is however, no technical benefit to doing it second to last that I'm aware of.

[Mark D Segal]

Andres, I agree with Daniel. Just to clarify a bit further, when using PK Sharpener Pro, it is a multi-stage sharpening process that starts with Capture Sharpen. One is supposed to do Capture Sharpening before making luminosity and colour adjustments in Photoshop. And one is supposed to do noise reduction before sharpening, therefore if a=b and b=c then a = c and anyone using PK Sharpener Pro would logically have to do the noise reduction before the luminosity and colour adjustments - unless of course one is doing the latter in Camera Raw.

You say you are using Nik sharpener that won't sharpen 16 bit files, but you want to work in 16-bit, which is a good thing to do. I recommend that you invest in PK Sharpener Pro. It works with 16 bit files. First you may wish to read Michael's review of it. I think it is one of the very best Photoshop plug-ins I have ever purchased and having tried various sharpeners I agree with Michael's assessment.