Start from Zero

When you photograph something, do you really want your camera or computer to have a say as to the final look and feel of your image?

I have said this before, and I am sure I’ll say it again – post processing your digital images is not something you should think of doing.  It is something you should do.

You see, some people process their images.  Other people do not process their images.  Some do and say that they don’t.  In whichever group you fall the reality is that is something you should do.  It is a natural part of the digital photographic process and is the final step in your creative journey.

So…

You know how to use your camera.  You know how changing the aperture and shutter speed will influence your image and you cannot wait to show the world your amazing photographs.  But then, after all the shutter clicking and the frenzied Lightroom and Photoshop activity…

It just does not quite feel right.

Something is wrong.

The images you are showing everybody does not quite reflect the beauty you saw and (tried to) photograph.

The reality is that your camera and computer will make adjustments to your images.  You have control over all the settings up until the moment you click the shutter but after then things happen.  Your camera and computer influence the way you see your images and most of the time you will start processing your images with a number of changes already applied to the image.

Yeah, if you are shooting RAW format you keep more control, which you can play with during post processing, but when was the last time you really started with a digital negative?  A digital negative which reflects how you took the photograph and without any adjustments, however small, made by your processing software.

If you are working in Lightroom, and you should be, it is very simple to start from zero.  To start from a true digital negative without any adjustments by either your camera or your computer.

Be warned though, when you see your real digital negatives you might be a bit disappointed.  The images will look flat and lifeless but this will leave you in the perfect position to process your images to reflect your own visual goal for the scene.  Your own vision.

Hey, in days of old we had to go into a darkroom, work with chemicals in a room with dim red lights so spending five minutes to get the most of your digital negatives is a small price to pay.

So here goes…

In Lightroom, after selecting your digital negative (RAW), go to the Develop module and in the lefthand working panel scroll down the available presets and click on ‘General – Zeroed’.  This will remove any and all adjustments made by the software and show you your image as you captured it.  RAW, all the information and ready to be processed.

In the above image you can see how all the various adjustments, such as Blacks, Contrast and Brightness has been set to zero.  Now you are ready to start working.

For this exercise I selected an image of a rhino I recently photographed in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.  He was feeding quite close to the road and my goal was to get in close with the focus of my image being the large animals horns.

This is my zeroed RAW file.

Pretty flat but a great starting point for me to work from.

Remember that my goal, from the beginning, was to draw attention to the rhino’s horn so all the adjustments I am going to make is specifically aimed to draw attention to that part of the image.

The first thing I needed to do was to add some contract to the entire image.  I did this by moving the Contrast slider to +51.  (The number is pretty irrelative as the best way to judge your image is visually.)

Already an improvement.

The next thing I wanted to do was to add some more contrast and details to the mid-tones of the image.  To do this I moved the Clarity slider to +50.

Not as dramatic as the first step but you can see a little more detail starting to some through on the rhino’s face.

My next feeling was that the dark areas in the image needs to be darker.  In other words, the blacks needs to be blacker and to do this I moved the Blacks slider to +8.  Small change but adds quite a bit of punch to the image.

As you can see the front horn is a bit darker and the shadow behind and on the sides of the rhino, being darker, makes the face pop out a bit more.  Still on track with my original goal.

Now even though there is not too much color in the image I decided to push the Vibrance up to +50.  This pushed the orange tones up just a touch which makes for a slightly warmer image that closer looks like the scene I saw and photographer.

So far so good.

All the adjustments so far has been made in the Basic panel and are allowed as a part of the digital darkroom process.  I make these adjustments, in varying agrees to all my images.  You should to.

But for this image I felt I needed to draw more attention to the centre of the image so I decided to add a slight vignette around  rhino’s face in order to make my focal area stand out even more.  But PLEASE do not overdo your vignettes.  It is a great way to help lead your viewer’s eyes to a certain area of your image but it is SO easy to overdo it.  In this instance, less is more!

Makes a huge difference and just darkens the outside of the image enough to not distract from the rhino’s face. I added the Vignette by moving the slider to -25 and, to make for a smooth vignette transition, I moved the Feather slider to 70.

That is pretty much what I was hoping to achieve but before I saved the image I sharpened it ever so slightly using the sliders in the Detail panel.  Viewing the image at 1:1 I moved the Amount slider to +29 and the Radius slider to 0.8.

Done.  This is what I wanted to achieve.  This is what I saw.  This is what I photographed and the whole process took no more than about 4 minutes.

Sure, simply having the computer software decide how to proces smy image would have saved me about 3 minutes and 55 seconds, but personally I don’t think the results are worth it.  You took the time to click the shutter so take a few minutes to realize your vision.  Make your image come to life.

Here is a quick rundown of the sliders I used to take my digitial negative from beginning to end.

The sliders on the left shows my final adjustemnts (as mentioned above).  Compare it to the zeroed version of the slider on the right.

In the Effects panel, the above image shows the sliders I used to add the vignette around my image.  PLEASE remember not to overdo it!

The last step, and it should always be your last step, was to sharpen the image.  The above image shows my sharpening sliders.

You still with me?

After all of that I suppose the results will speak for themselves.  The following image shows my zeroed RAW file and then the final, processed image.

Considering the time it takes to get the results that YOU want, it is definitely worth zeroing your digital negatives and process them from there.  Your images will only benefit from it.

Perhaps a post for a different day but another great thing about approaching your post processing like this is that you can check out the histogram while you are working, recover any lost or clipped information, and make sure that you use as much of the digital information as possible.  Push the blacks, recover the highlights, check the exposure.  Basically, complete control.

Oh, and in case anybody wanted to start a discussion as to whether it is allowed to process wildlife images please fire away.

I still feel that up until I added the vignette to the image I was still true to the original scene I saw and photographed out in the field.  And to be technically correct even adding a vignette could be considered creative dodging and burning so it could be argued that it is also part of what is ‘allowed’.

I did not add anything.

I did not take anything away.

I simply chose not to let my camera or computer make any adjustments to my image.  Don’t you want the same?

It is a real wildlife photograph and…  I like my version better.

When you have a chance try it.  Zero one of your digital negatives and take control of the entire photographic process.  It will make a difference!

See you tomorrow!

Gerry