Tag Archives: #Digital processing

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Dusk: Color, plus Film and Digitally Simulated Black & White Profiles

Let’s have some fun with photography:

It was a rainy evening at Bird-in-Hand. Amtrak Keystone 649 was approaching on the former Pennsyvlania Railroad and I made a series of digital photographs with my Nikon Z6-III.

I kept my f-stop at the widest opening, which allowed me a 1/500 shutter speed at ISO 16000. The streetlight behind the building at right supplied necessary light to better illuminate the front of the cab car.

In post processing, I used DxO PureRaw8 to transform my Nikon NEF RAW file into DNG format. This minimized noise from the high ISO setting and eliminated lens defects.

Then, I made some very nominal adjustments to the DNG file in Adobe Lightroom and imported the DNG file into DxO Filmpack 7 and converted the digital color photo to black and white images using the Fuji Neopan 400, Ilford FP-4 Plus and HP-5 Plus profiles for comparison.

For the fun of it, I’ve included an actual Kodak Plus X black & white image exposed at dusk on December 23, 1988, and scanned digitally using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner. This photo was part of a sequence that I made at Newark Penn Station in Newark, NJ. The lighting conditions were similar to those at Bird-in-Hand, but in the 1980s with I had been limited by the film’s 125 ISO.

I’m in the process of upgrading to DxO Filmpack 8, and recently upgraded from DxO PureRaw4 to PureRaw5. The DxO and Adobe software have proved very useful tools for processing my digital images.

DxO is offering a discount to Tracking the Light readers. If you are interested in buying DxO PureRaw, Film Pack 7 or other DxO programs, the discount code “TRACKINGTHELIGHT” will work for 15% off for any new customer at shop.dxo.com. 

A Jpg scaled in Lightroom from an DNG file converted by PureRaw8. This was exposed at dusk using a daylight white balance.
Lightroom work window displaying camera settings.
Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 profile to resemble Fuji Neopan 400.
Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 profile to resemble Ilford HP-5 Plus black & white film.
Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 to resemble Ilford FP-4 Plus black & white film.
Kodak Plus X black & white exposed at dusk using a Leica M2 with 50mm Sumicron on December 23, 1988 at Newark (N.J.) Penn Station. Although exposed decades earlier, the angle, subject and lighting conditions are similar which makes for a neat comparison.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Lumix RAW File Epiphany . . .

I just experienced an ‘oh wow, you must be kidding’ moment.

For more than 15 years I’ve been making photos with Lumix LX-series cameras. One of the principle advantages of these cameras is their ability to capture images using both RAW and JPG.

Recently, I’ve been reexamining my Lumix RAW files using DxO PureRaw software, which corrects for lens aberrations and converts the files to DNG format.

For this TTL post, I thought it would be neat to compare the camera-RAW file, the un-adjusted PureRaw file, and my cropped but otherwise unadjusted RAW file.

I didn’t expect to learn that all of my Lumix RAW files exposed since 2009 have had MORE image area (albeit distorted) than I was aware of!

In other words, I’d never seen the full picture before.

Below are the three variations of a single Lumix RAW image that I exposed at New York’s Grand Central Terminal in July 2018.

Each is described in the captions.

Lumix RAW file directly out of the camera without cropping or cosmetic adjustment. This was converted to Jpg, but not scaled or otherwise altered.
Lumix RAW converted to DNG format, but presented without cropping or cosmetic adjustment. This was converted to Jpg using Lightroom, but not scaled or otherwise altered.
Lumix RAW converted to DNG format and cropped to eliminate the areas without lens coverage. Compare this image with the top photo in terms coverage. Notice how much more image area is at the sides compared to the top photo. In simple terms, I’ve been getting more covereage with each photo than I had been aware of. WOW!

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Swiss Stadler at Champery.

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The ability to improve my interpretation of Fuji RAW files using Iridient X-Transformer made me curious to re-examine some of my Fuji photos from years gone by.

I selected a photo that I made on trip to Switzerland with photographer Denis McCabe in April 2017. This image was made at the Champery terminus of a TPC branch that extends into the Alps from Aigle. 

Here I’ve presented a comparison between the Lightroom interpreted RAW (scaled and converted to JPG for internet presentation) and the same file converted into a DNG file using Iridient X-Transformer. Since it is difficult to appreciate the improved sharpness when viewed on a small scale, I’ve enlarged a portion of each image that focuses on the LED lamps and rivets on the then new Stadler railcar.

The final image was derived from the Iridient converted DNG and involved nominal adjustments to color balance, color temperature, contrast and saturation that are aimed a making a more pleasing final photograph.

Unmodified Fuji RAW file imported into Lightroom and exported as a Jpg.
Enlarged crop of the above Fuji RAW file.

This image is derived from the same Fuji RAW file but converted into a DNG file by Iridient X Transformer before being scaled as a JPG file in Lightroom. There were no changes to color, contrast or level.
Enlarged detail of the Iridient converted file. Notice the improved clarity around the lights, rivets and small writing on the side of the railcar as compared with the Lightroom interpreted RAW above.

Final processed photograph using the DNG file converted from Fuji RAW and then adjusted for color balance, color temperature, contrast, saturation and level in Lightroom before being outputted as a JPG for internet presentation.

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