This was a nice way to share a little more about my background and thoughts. The bio on my website can only cover so much and I hope this attracts the local creative talent to my abilities in architectural photography.

Some questions come to mind. Are we to be hired as technicians that can operate a camera and hand over half finished work?  Or are we technically savvy artists who care about the entire process and utilize RAW file conversion and post-production to achieve our vision? I personally would feel like a hack if I handed over RAW files for someone else to work on.  Especially since the process isn’t simple and part of the strategy during the photo shoot is carried over to the post-production side such as layering images together.

Here are some sample images from one of my favorite photos. This is to demonstrate that the untouched RAW files before conversion look terrible and need work such as color balancing and tonal adjustments. Also take note that I photograph with many different exposures to recover blown out highlight areas and blocked shadow details. This will explain the extremely dark and the extra light photos.

Underexposed RAW Image Used For Layering

Overexposed RAW Image Used For Layering

Average Exposure RAW Image Used For Layering

My method is to layer all the images together into one. I do this one layer at a time and carefully select and add what I want for a nice readable image. This was a high contrast situation that required both highlight details and shadow details brought back.  After I have everything adjusted the way I like, I then fine tune the image with more tonal and color adjustments as needed.  Sometimes this involves more layers.  After all is done, I’ll flatten the layers and save the image as a master file using TIFF or PSD as my preference for file format.

Here is the final worked image. Of course much more can be covered with the RAW conversion portion of the workflow but I think it’s good to go beyond that and show the layering. It may have more impact on persuading the importance in leaving the RAW files to the photographer’s discretion.

Final Master File Image With Combined Layers From 3 RAW Files © 2009 Paul S. Bartholomew

What do I mean by being held back? Sometimes we tend to get tunnel vision as we become inspired. This is fine and it’s good to experiment with new styles but also take that influence and make it your own. I guess it’s a part of evolving, but what I’m trying get at is developing your own style and not trying to replicate someone else’s style. I’m constantly looking at the work of  photographers from the past and present. Of course I have my favorite photographers and gravitate toward them but I also try to find more. Other incredible influences may come from many kinds of artists such as master painters from all kinds of styles. A trip to an art museum once in a while will help and also buying books. I’m an addict when it comes to books and I tend to have them all over the place because I’m always looking through them for ideas.

We are a product of all artists before us. We take influences and integrate them into our own work. Making mistakes and going through the pains are part of growing. Making mistakes shouldn’t be though of as negative but a part of progression. If you think of it, not making mistakes may be worse because you may not be pushing your limits enough. Perhaps staying in the safe zone.

Just some thoughts.

When I deliver photos to clients I give high resolution master files set in a large color gamut such as RGB. The good thing about this is that the images can be converted for almost any purpose.  The problem is giving people more control over something they may not understand.  Yes you can size the photos down so they load quickly and look sharp on a website, but what about the color?

The RGB color space is great for photographic prints but not good for web purposes.  Why? Because web color space is limited to a smaller range of colors than RGB.  If you use RGB photos on a website, the monitor will display a bit flat with less saturation.  Some colors are affected more than others such as blue. This can be technically explained but to make this short the colors are rounded off to a small range that usually isn’t the best result.  So what can you do?  You need to convert the Adobe RGB color profile to sRGB and optimize the colors so you don’t lose that wonderful snap you’re used to seeing on photographic prints. Keep in mind that results won’t always be 100% but you can get very good results that will surprise you once a comparison is made.

First be sure to have your photos sized to the desired dimensions based on how they will be displayed on the internet such as a website.  Specs will differ based on where the photos will be displayed but most need to be set at a specific size at 72 dpi.  I’ll try to cover resizing in another post.

Now for the interesting part.  Once the image is set to the desired size I usually add a little extra saturation because some color is lost during converting.  Experiment with this.  Below is a screen shot of the “Save For Web & Devices” feature in Photoshop CS4.  It can be found under “File” where you select “Save” or “Save As”.  See the two images side to side?  Notice the colors in the sky and the rooftop?  The original RGB image is on the left and looks terrible in comparison to the optimized sRGB image on the right.  The save for web feature condenses the color information so it looks much better on the monitor.  Blue skys are often a casualty but you can see the optimized image is rather nice.  Results may vary and sometimes you won’t get it perfect but it’s sure better than no optimizing at all.

Save For Web

Something to point out about what you’re seeing with “Save For Web & Devices”.  I have the preview set for showing what the image is like on a monitor viewing a website.  You can look at the original RGB all you want as displayed in Photoshop and yes you see it on your monitor but once its on a website it gets affected.

You will see lots of features such as JPEG options and tabs that show different comparison options. You can play around to see what you prefer and of course more options are here but research and do tests.   Be sure you have the “Convert To sRGB” box checked for the conversion.

Just like anything else you do, backup before trying things out.

Digital processing is commonly known as post-production and is an integral part of creating high quality images. During the introduction of digital photography consumer camera manufacturers portrayed the new technology akin to a Polaroid camera and misguided many people. In reality the process of photography saves on film costs but the camera, software, media cards and computer hardware require an extremely expensive investment, especially on the professional level. The financial investment is only the beginning because learning how to use the constantly updated software and hardware often requires a steep learning curve.

Professional digital cameras become obsolete quickly and this is another reason for the digital processing fees. A Hasselblad medium format film camera with three lenses used to cost $15,000.00 and lasted 15 years. Today, a Hasselblad medium format digital camera is offered with different resolutions and costs $35,000.00 – $80,000.00. This camera system becomes outdated in 2-3 years.

On the professional level film was much more simplified because a lab would process the slides or negatives. The photographer only was required to edit the images and present them to the client. A major issue with relying on a lab was quality control. With digital technology everything has changed. Once the photography is complete the photographer must download all of the images and begin a time consuming process. This process has a far greater upside over film in regards to quality but the tradeoff is an investment of time, overhead and continuous training. Below is a closer look at what our digital process involves.

Download & Edit with Adobe Lightroom- Once the photo shoot is complete, we download the digital files to an editing hard drive. This is the step where the files are renamed and metadata is applied. Metadata is important information that is embedded into an image to help identify and look them up in an organized catalogue system.

Native RAW to DNG RAW Conversion- This is a little known process to most people and is an extra step to help ensure the original RAW files are safe in the future. Every professional camera has its own native RAW format. This is equivalent to a negative in film terms. Unfortunately, Native RAW formats change every time a new camera is released and after a while the older formats become obsolete. This could create major issues in the future if the photographer wishes to process older images on a new system. The solution is a file format invented by Adobe that converts native RAW files to a standard DNG RAW file. The idea is to make this the standard RAW format that will be universal and ensure future compatibility.

Backup RAW Files- This is a necessary step to ensure the photos are safe in the event of a corrupt hard drive. Hard drive failures are very common so copies are a great idea.4) RAW Processing with Adobe Lightroom- RAW files are the untouched camera data much like a photographic negative. RAW files contain a great amount of information and allow the photographer to extract detail, exposure and color beyond the abilities of any other file format. RAW Processing is a complex task and requires continuous education to keep on top of the new technologies involved.

RAW Conversion to TIFF Format- The RAW files must be converted to a common file format before in-depth touchups are possible in Adobe Photoshop. All of our images are converted to a 16 bit RGB color space to hold the most tonal and color information possible.

Adjustments & Touchups with Adobe Photoshop- This step is open to almost any type of fine tuning such as touchups, color, exposure and layering. The technique we use is a hybrid method from High Dynamic Range (HDR) that recovers highlight details and renders the images in a closer range to what the human eye sees. These are only examples of a massive range of capabilities we have with Adobe Photoshop.

Optimization- Everyone has their own usage for digital photos but not many people are aware that all files must be optimized for the final usage. Digital files require a certain resolution, sizing, sharpening and color space to ensure top quality results. Images used on websites are treated much differently than images used for print and must be prepared to display properly.

Backup Final Files- Same as step 3 but this time we are saving our adjusted files.

Create Photo Gallery in Adobe Lightroom- This is the enjoyable step because we finally get to show our client the final results for selections. We often take many extra angles and versions of the same vantage point so fine tuning the final selections to a reduced number is highly recommended. The gallery also allows the client to request any additional touchups.

Record to DVD , Print Guide Sheets and Deliver- We record all of the final selections to a DVD and ship them with 2nd day delivery. We also send guide sheets with all of the images printed 6 per page. This allows for fast viewing and color matching.

Optional FTP Delivery- This is used for fast delivery through our website. We have a server that allows us to post images for our clients to download. The downside to this method is the higher chance of file corruption during download and the limited amount of server storage in some cases.