Default RGB Colour Space
I rarely have then need for printing images these days and I have therefore set my camera to sRGB and used the Adobe RGB Colur Space in software to give, as I thought, a wider Colour Space in which to edit images. UNTIL NOW!
A picture tells a thousand words so I'll try to illustrate my reasoning.
The following image was shot in the sRGB Colour Space in-camera and opened in NX2 in Adobe RGB:
When examining the Channel Histograms with Double Threshold enabled to see how much (if any) Exposure Compensation was required the image showed clipped REDs as below:
To cut a long story short, I was persuaded to try a wider/larger Colour Space without making any other changes and the result can be seen below:
The Colour Space that I chose to use was ProPhoto RGB and it's plain to see that it accomodated the Dynamic Range available from the camera (my D700) far better than the Adobe RGB Colour Space. There were significantly less clipped (burned out) reds.
I now use sRGB in-camera and ProPhoto RGB in both NX2 and Photoshop
(for those occasions when images are sent there for processing which cannot be done in NX2).
Colour Space is set in Edit/Preferences/Colour Management in NX2.
Colour Space is set in Edit/Preferences/Colour Management in NX2.
A note about in-camera settings - it makes no difference what Colour Space is set in-camera when using RAW files. The Colour Space is only applied in software, or to JPEGs in-camera, and my reason for using sRGB in-camera is to avoid the underscore which appears in front of the file name when Adobe RGB is chosen.
NX2 Workflow
Step 1 – Camera Settings Palette
Colour Temperature – Two methods are offered “Set Colour Temperature” and “Set Gray Point”. The in-camera setting is shown.
To change the WB access the drop down box under “New WB”. Choose your starting point – Daylight etc and adjust to suit.
Tip: If a “K” value is used in-camera (e.g. 5260K) then you are starting from a KNOWN value. Slide to the left (of 5260) for a cooler rendition and to the right (of 5260) for a warmer rendition.
If there is a known grey in the image (such as a grey card or a white shirt / dress which isn't 255;255;255) the “Set Gray Point” is a good alternative using the “Single Point” or “Marquee Sample”. The Marquee Sample allows you to click and drag a rectangle over similar neutral tones and can give a better result.
Picture Control – On newer Nikon Cameras the Picture Control is a way of setting the look of your images from preset options – Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait and Landscape are the defaults with three D2X Modes being available for download from NIKON. Each Picture Control has boxes available for Sharpening, Contrast and Saturation.
The in-camera settings for Sharpening, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue are recognised by NX2 as the “Unchanged” setting in the Picture Control drop down box. These settings can be accessed by changing from “unchanged” to any other setting i.e. Neutral, and clicking on the “Advanced” arrow below Picture Control.
N.B. If Active D-Lighting has been applied in-camera, the controls for Contrast and Brightness are unavailable until the Active D-Lighting is switched OFF.
Tip: The Neutral setting in-camera gives a good starting point for NX2 and for most circumstances gives a very pleasing result.
Older NIKON cameras, which did not have Picture Control, are catered for by the option of choosing “Non-Picture Control” with its settings for Colour Mode, Sharpening, Tone Compensation and Saturation. Once again the settings are recognised by the software as the “unchanged” setting in “Non Picture Control”.
The effect of any changes can be compared with the in-camera settings by clicking on the (Current) Version Tab (above the “Camera Settings” label) and changing it to (Original).
Noise Reduction has settings for Intensity and Sharpness and recognises the in-camera settings.
Tip: Setting Noise Reduction OFF in-camera and applying it as an EDIT STEP in NX2 gives a better result because it can then be applied selectively.
Active D-Lighting – These controls are only visible in the Camera Settings Palette if ADL has been set in-camera. Control is limited to setting the level of ADL or OFF.
Tip: ADL is a more useful tool for JPEG shooters. RAW shooters should leave ADL off in camera.
Step 2 – Quick Fix Palette
The quick fix palette offers controls for Exposure Compensation, Contrast, Highlight and Shadow Protection and Saturation. The Histogram is also included here to aid editing and used in conjunction with the Double Threshold can be used to eliminate blown highlights by using the other controls in Quick Fix.
The drop down menu in the Photo Info / Histogram/ Double Threshold View allows the choice of highlights in RGB, Red, Green or Blue channels to be seen.
One scenario would be to apply negative exposure compensation to cure blown pixels on the right of the histogram and apply shadow protection or a curve to compensate for the overall loss of brightness (if necessary).
Tip: Applying a curve in the Quick Fix Palette is a GLOBAL adjustment. Curves are best applied as Edit Steps where they can be applied selectively.
Step 3 – Camera and Lens Corrections Palette
Controls are available for Colour Moiré Reduction, Application of Image Dust of Ref Photos, Auto Lateral Colour and Axial Colour Aberration, Auto Distortion, Auto Red Eye and Vignette Correction.
Colour Moiré Reduction can be applied to RAW images only and offers settings of Low, Medium or High.
“Image Dust Off Reference” images can be applied and can be a very effective method but is no substitute for having a clean sensor! If dust spots appear they can move around (especially in cameras which have vibration image sensor cleaning) so taking regular Dust Off Images is essential under these circumstances. Choosing the Dust Off Image closest in date and time to the image being processed usually gives best results.
Click on Change to select and apply a “Dust Off” image.
Auto Colour Aberration needs no settings other than to ensure that the tick box is ticked. It is very effective and is always left on (applicable to RAW only).
Auto Distortion and Auto Red Eye are applied automatically when set. For more control use Distortion Control as an edit step and/or the Red-Eye Control Point tool.
Vignette Control is useful for removing the vignette effect of filters on wide angle lenses.
