Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Daibutsu Hiking Trail - Kita-Kamakura, Tōkei-ji and Jōchi-ji - Part 3

This set of photos from my New Year hike reveals some behind the scenes processing. I used to use Adobe Photoshop, but for the last few years I have been using Nikon NX2 to process the RAW files (NEF) from my Nikon. Usually I avoid over-processing since it slows down my workflow, and try to get the final shot in camera. However for first shot of the bell at Tōkei-ji and the two shots from Jōchi-ji, I wasn't satisfied and needed to bend the digital pixels to my will.

The temple bell or Bonshō at Tōkei-ji just didn't "pop" as I thought in would. The usual adjustments to curves and levels, contrast, and exposure, left this image a little too flat. However, I then tried B&W and finally selected a sepia version as the preferred version of this image. What do you think of my choice? Does this have more impact than the color version?


Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f4.0, ISO 800, 1/125 sec.



Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f4.0, ISO 800, 1/125 sec.

The next shot is some colorful autumn maple leaves. The leaves remaining on branches were thinning out and starting to lose their vivid fall colors. The colors in the original RAW file were also a little flat. The processing was a little more straight forward, curves were adjusted, color saturation boosted and contrast increased.



Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 35 mm, f4.5, ISO 400, 1/20 sec.



Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 35 mm, f4.5, ISO 400, 1/20 sec.

The last shot is of Hotei, god of happiness at Jōchi-ji temple. The highlights in the original are almost blown out; however, since I shoot in RAW, there is still some hidden detail that can be coaxed out of the digital pixels in the file. The work on this image is basically a straight forward dodge and burn job. Darken the highlights, but not too much, and keep the shadow areas from receiving any additional exposure. In NX2, it is fairly easy to select and mask the areas to be dodged or burned-in using color control points.



Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 31 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec.




Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 31 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec.

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