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Author Topic: The Digital Negative (book)?  (Read 37158 times)

Bob Rockefeller

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #60 on: October 14, 2012, 08:15:55 am »

Even though I use Aperture for most of my work, I bought this book from Amazon to learn more about RAW image processing in general.

It turned out to be a good choice as most of the book was applicable to my Aperture use either because it was common information about the RAW image format or RAW processing workflow, or because many of the adjustment tools in Lightroom have close equivalents in Aperture.

I'm working up a blog post to show what I mean and I've emailed Mr. Schewe asking for permission to use one of his images from the book to demonstrate.

Bob
« Last Edit: October 14, 2012, 01:46:18 pm by Bob Rockefeller »
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Dave Millier

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #61 on: October 14, 2012, 01:30:25 pm »

I bought the book, very useful, thank you Jeff.

In book you briefly mention the DNG flatfield plugin which is my excuse (however contrived) for bring my question to this thread.  I've installed the plugin but it doesn't work. I get the following error:

Plug-in error log for plug-in at: C:\DNGFlatField.lrplugin

**** Error 1

An error occurred while attempting to load this plug-in.
Info.lua: bad header in precompiled chunk


Anyone got any ideas?

(Vista 32bit, LR 4.2)

Thanks

Dave
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Bob Rockefeller

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #62 on: October 27, 2012, 12:44:44 pm »

Here's my take on The Digital Negative from an Aperture users perspective:

http://www.bobrockefeller.com/2012/10/27/the-digital-negative-for-aperture-users/

I find that an Aperture user can learn a lot about post processing from Lightroom oriented books. Which is a good things as there are relatively few Aperture focused books!

Bob
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dgberg

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #63 on: October 27, 2012, 02:44:05 pm »

Just received mine today.
Cannot wait to dig into it but will have to wait a few days.
Headed to MCO for annual flight simulator training and am supposed to be studying aircraft systems. Yuk!


Natvander

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #64 on: October 30, 2012, 06:14:53 pm »

Mine arrived a few days ago (a few days after "Workflow, not Workslow) and it's been a great read so far.  I like that it appears to have been written for someone who already has some knowledge on what they're doing (it doesn't go through all the absolute basics of LR etc).

Thumbs up Jeff.
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Schewe

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #65 on: October 30, 2012, 08:30:03 pm »

I like that it appears to have been written for someone who already has some knowledge on what they're doing (it doesn't go through all the absolute basics of LR etc).

Thanks...that was a conscience decision...there are already very good Photoshop & Lightroom books out there (Evening, Resnick, & Kelby) that have to cover the basics...but I wanted to go deeper. Martin is a bit envious because he can't cherry pick the topics like I did :~).

It's the same approach I'll be taking with The Digital Print...it won't cover EVERYTHING, just what I think is important.
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Leszek Piotrowski

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #66 on: November 03, 2012, 09:42:13 pm »

Bob--

I recently bought "The Digital Negative (book) and find it extremely helpful and well written. Jeff really knows this stuff. I am beginning to capture images in RAW only and the material covered in the book will help me start on the right path. I received the book from Amazon.ca this week.  Other books on LR4 and CS6 I am reading are also from Jeff, Bruce Fraser (Real World Image Sharpening, Camera Raw with Photoshop CS5)  and from Martin Evening ( Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers).

My learning path is steep right now,... but much fun. Also having a good understanding of what one can do in post, will, I believe, help me take better images.

I recommend this book!

cheers,

Leszek

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Schewe

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #67 on: November 04, 2012, 12:46:34 am »

My learning path is steep right now,... but much fun. Also having a good understanding of what one can do in post, will, I believe, help me take better images.


Thanks for the kind words, and yes, going from a standstill to 90MPH is a rush...the key here is the "fun" part...I still have fun finding images that at first glance kinda sucks and knowing how to deploy Lightroom or Photoshop to make something out of not much. That's fun...just know that while the path is steep now, it gets easier (and more fun) the longer you work at it...
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Malco

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #68 on: November 04, 2012, 11:07:17 am »

I would also like to add my appreciation of The Digital Negative. Although a lot of the techniques I had more or less worked out for myself or gleaned from this site, there was plenty more to pick up and it was also good to confirm that I wasn't way off the mark. Very nicely written and to the point. If your Digital Print is anywhere near as good, I will definitely be ordering it!
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MarkH2

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #69 on: November 04, 2012, 12:24:04 pm »

...the path...gets easier (and more fun)...

Another delightful find from your book - using paths to make selections!  I have never been fully satisfied with the selection tools.  Paths are a great answer, thank you for your motivating discussion.

The pen is a bit tricky but I'm getting the hang of it.  I found Martin Evening's brief tutorial in his Photoshop for Photographers especially helpful.
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vulture

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #70 on: November 09, 2012, 11:05:44 am »

After having worked with LR 4 (coming from Aperture) now for some time I find the book enlightening, although with most of the processing I was on the right track after Jeff's & Michael's tutorials.
But after reading Jeff's book I see & find much more potential in my materials and work on most of them a second time.
Especially Jeff's local adjustments & advanced RAW processing hints are brilliant and fun to work with.

Thanks, Jeff!
If you ever happen to surface in Vienna/Austria, let me know, I owe you at least a good bottle of white wine.
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William Walker

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #71 on: November 26, 2012, 02:29:20 am »

Hi Jeff

Would you please define "tone-mapping" in the context that you use it in the book?

Most of the definitions I see are related to HDR, and I'm pretty sure that is not what you are referring to.

Regards
William
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Schewe

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #72 on: November 26, 2012, 12:26:04 pm »

Tone mapping is simply taking the linear capture and mapping it to some sort of tone curve that makes the image look good (since a linear images doesn't).
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walter.sk

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #73 on: November 28, 2012, 11:15:34 am »

I have, and have used, both versions of Camera To Print as well as the LL's tutorial on LR4.  I bought "The Digital Negative"  to help my wife get the most out of ACR, and I decided to have a look through it before giving it to her.

Well, I started with the first page and so far have gone page by page through the segment on sharpening and noise reduction.  My wife will not see the book until I have finished the rest of it.  Thanks to Jeff's explanations...the "why" behind the "what," I have finally ousted my older ways of thinking about seemingly self-evident controls such as Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, etc, and reorganized my way of working with my pix.

While Jeff's sense of humor is evident throughout the book it does not become the "tail wagging the dog," and his purpose of giving enough technical explanation at each point remains prominent.  I'm a person who can grasp needed concepts yet can also find myself swimming (more like drowning) if things get so technical that my eyes cross as I read. Jeff has hit just the right level of technical discourse so that I understand his points and methods in LR and ACR.

So far, the few notes to me I have written in the blank pages at the beginning of the book have made the book well worth the cost.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #74 on: November 28, 2012, 12:02:35 pm »

Jeff has hit just the right level of technical discourse so that I understand his points and methods in LR and ACR.
Absolutely! Ansel would be proud of Jeff.
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Tom Montgomery

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #75 on: December 02, 2012, 03:23:29 pm »

Setting aside the wealth of good information, techniques and tips contained in this book, the section on Creative Progressive Sharpening alone is worth the price. A client came to me with all that remained from a botched job: some slightly blurred test shots. Progressive sharpening produced usable files, and I think the client was going to cry when he saw the result! Now he thinks I'm a Photoshop wizard. Ha!  Thanks, Jeff!
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mvsoske

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #76 on: December 02, 2012, 05:13:02 pm »

Setting aside the wealth of good information, techniques and tips contained in this book, the section on Creative Progressive Sharpening alone is worth the price. A client came to me with all that remained from a botched job: some slightly blurred test shots. Progressive sharpening produced usable files, and I think the client was going to cry when he saw the result! Now he thinks I'm a Photoshop wizard. Ha!  Thanks, Jeff!


I believe it was in the Lula Camera 2 Print 2 Screen videos that Jeff included a Photoshop action for Progressive Sharpening which I have found extremely useful!

Mark

Tom Montgomery

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #77 on: December 02, 2012, 08:11:30 pm »

I believe it was in the Lula Camera 2 Print 2 Screen videos that Jeff included a Photoshop action for Progressive Sharpening which I have found extremely useful!

Mark

Huh, you're right about that, but I forgot I had those actions from C2P2S; somehow I never installed them after upgrading to CS6. There were a number of other things I had forgotten about in Photoshop that the book brought back to mind. Useful, that way!
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Schewe

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #78 on: December 02, 2012, 09:33:56 pm »

A client came to me with all that remained from a botched job: some slightly blurred test shots. Progressive sharpening produced usable files, and I think the client was going to cry when he saw the result!

Yep...actually that's what happened when I discovered progressive sharpening...a photographer friend of mine begged me to take a look at a shoot his did where most of the shoot was shot front focused (the model was actually out of focus). I tried all kind of things to try to get the model sharper...I finally hit on the progressive sharpening. It couldn't completely fix the out of focus but it did get the model sharp enough to get a good halftone repro from it. Necessity is the mother of invention :~)
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vulture

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Re: The Digital Negative (book)?
« Reply #79 on: December 14, 2012, 04:07:09 am »

"...Progressive sharpening produced usable files..."
Is there a way to automate the LR-PS roundtrip for say, Creative progressive sharpening, midtone contrast, Blue edge fix, etc. ?
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