Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The recommended sequence of image processing operations

Found this information in RAW Therapee manual

Q:What is the recommended sequence of image processing operations?

A: The recommended sequence is the same for all image manipulation software. First of all do
White Balance, then do all the Transform operations if necessary, e.g. Resize, Rotate, Distortion,
C/A Correction, Vignetting Correction etc., because these settings influence the image most.
Only cropping could be done later. Then do the basic stuff. First correct Exposure and use a
curve (or Luminance curve) for more pleasing exposure correction. Now change the Color to
your taste (Color Shift, Color Boost, Channel Mixer etc.). Then check the Shadows/Highlights,
do Highlight Recovery where needed. After that do Luminance Noise Reduction (and Color
Noise Reduction where needed). And as very last thing do Sharpening.
Or simply do all operations first that change the image most. And just do Sharpening last!
On the other hand it's always best to get the image right when you're taking the photo. The less
you have to change within RawTherapee the more details will be kept.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting blog! If you had a RSS feed I would love to subscribe and watch for updates

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