Tag Archives: #Pure Raw

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Coal Train on the Move: A Process Comparison

At Washington Boro, the signals were lined up for an eastward train, so we drove west to intercept it.

At Cola interlocking in Columbia, Pa., we waited. As the tell-tale distant roar of a heavy freight warned me of its pending approach, I made adjustments to my Z6-III fitted with 50mm f1.4 lens.

Soon, I heard symbol freight 632 call a clear signal over the railroad radio. This was an unit coal train originating in central Pennsylvania destined for Baltimore.

My exposure was set at 1/200th of second with 64,000 ISO. As the headlights came into view, I adjusted the aperture to f1.6 (from f1.4) to better capture the the detail of the lights.

As an experiment, in post post processing, I used two different systems to produce a comparison of noise suppression systems.

Below are three variations of the same NEF RAW file (all scaled for internet). The top is the un-processed RAW file that shows the high degree of noise of the photo right out of the camera. The second was processed with Lightroom’s ‘Raw Details’ and ‘Denoise’ options checked to reduce the effects noise. The third view was processed using DxO PureRaw4.

In this selection, I refrained from making cosmetic adjustments to the files.

NEF RAW file without noise suppression.
NEF RAW File following processing with Lightroom’s ‘Raw Details’ and ‘Denoise’ options.
NEF file processed using PureRaw4 to minimize noise and correct for lens defects.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Orion in the evening sky.

The other night, I used my Nikon Z7-II to capture the constellation Orion in the evening sky.

Although an amazing camera, when fitted with the Z-series 24-70mm lens, this picture making combination suffers from vignetting when used at the widest aperture.

I needed an 4.0 aperture to picture the starry sky while keeping my total exposure time to just 30 seconds, when set at ISO 200.

To minimize the effects of the vignette, I converted the NEF RAW file to a PNG file using DxO Pure Raw software. Once converted, I imported this file into Lightroom to make a few corrections.

Below is both the adjusted file direct from the NEF RAW, and the adjusted PNG file to show the advantage offered by converting the RAW using Pure Raw.

The light streaks moving through the image are from an eastward Amtrak Keystone bound for Philadelphia on the old PRR Main Line. Please note that in both versions, the images have been compressed by the Word Press platform used by Tracking the Light to display the photos via the internet.

Scaled JPG made from the NEF RAW file without DxO Pure Raw conversion. Note the constellation Orion in the sky toward the top center of the photo.
This is the same NEF RAW file as above, but following conversions to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw to denoise the image, and more importantly, eliminate the effects of vignetting inherant to the 24-70mm Nikkor lens at f4.0. Notice the more uniform rendition of the night sky, especially in the corners of the frame.

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