As Amtrak Keystone 667 glided through Gap, I made a series of night photos aiming to stop the action and capture the pouring rain.
To do this, I used my Nikon Z6-III with ‘Fast Fifty’ and the ISO sensitivity racked up to 64,000. This resulted in a very noisy NEF RAW file. I imported the NEF file into PureRaw and processed the image to reduce noise and correct for other lens defects before converting the image into DNG file for final cosmetic adjustment using Lightroom.
The sequence below shows the series of changes during this transformation, including the final processed image.
This is scaled image was made directly from the original NEF RAW file without noise reduction or cosmetic processing. Computer screen shot of the PureRaw review window; the original NEF RAW image is at the left, the PureRaw conversion is at the right.Full frame image following PureRaw corrections and noise reduction before cosmetic adjustments.Lightroom work window showing correction sliders affecting contrast and exposure.Final scaled image following PureRaw and Lightroom adjustments. Notice that the noise in the sky has been minimized while retaining the effect of the falling raindrops.
Tracking the Light Shares Night Photography Technique!
August 20, 2016: Pan Am Railways operated the company office car train on the Fitchburg Line west toward Mechanicville, N.Y.
I made this view of the train passing through the crossovers at CP-AY in Ayer, Mass., before following the train west.
Yesterday, I reprocessed the original FujiFilm RAF RAW file using DxO PureRaw to see how this modern software could improve the image.
Below are some examples of the orignal file (scaled and saved as JPG) and after conversion to a DNG file.
The last image-pair is an adjusted variation of the DNG file intended to correct for exposure, contrast and color, while applying digital sharpening. Each photo is described in the captions.
FujiFilm RAF RAW file scaled as a JPG without adjustment or significant post processing.Enlarged section of the top version (FujiFilm RAF RAW file scaled as a JPG without adjustment or significant post processing.).FujiFilm RAF RAW file converted to DNG format with DxO PureRaw which corrects for lens defects and re-interprets the data of the original file. This is scaled as a JPG but without cosmetic adjustment.FujiFilm RAF RAW file converted to DNG and following processing in Lightroom with cosmetic adjustments to color, contrast, exposure, saturation and sharpness.Enlarged section of the final interpreation of the FujiFilm RAF RAW file following conversion to DNG and cosmetic adjustments to color, contrast, exposure, saturation and sharpness.
On this day in 2016, I photographed an SBB Pendolino descending the Gotthard Pass near Erstfeld using my first FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm Fujinon zoom.
At the time, I wasn’t 100 percent satisfied with the photographic quality of the image. Recently, I returned to my original Fuji RAF files from this trip and re-processed some of the images using DxO Pure Raw software. Significantly, this corrects for lens defects and other problems. The results are much better than my earlier un-corrected RAW files.
This was further adjusted using Adobe Lighttoom to make the most out highlight and shadow detail. I had an 8×10 print made from the improved file and it looks outstanding.
There’s lesson in this exercise. Improved image processing software can make a big difference with older digital files. Try it, you might be surprised!
SBB near Erstfeld, Switzerland on 15 April 2016.Greatly enlarged portion of the Fuji RAF Raw file without DxO conversion.A portion of the same Fuji RAF Raw file following conversion to DNG with corrections with DxO PureRaw. Notice the improved contrast and sharpness, with minimal chromatic aberration when compared with the unconverted file.
