I don't know if anyone has posted a workflow for Canon DPP but it seems to get no respect (RAW for that matter) around here (no haters please). I personally find it quite fast and effective. Besides it comes free with most Canon Digital EOSes. Anyways I did this up for a buddy to get him through DPP.
Done in the first person as this is my basic Workflow for processing RAW images with Canon Digital Photo Professional. It's still a work in progress. Feel free to point out typos and any other hints will be appereicatied.
DPP is updated by Canon regularly, I am using v3.2.04
Launch DPP
Once launched DPP opens in what is called the Main window. The main window is kind of like a photo browser area. In the left hand pane (column), I browse to the directory that contains the RAW files to be processed.
Once the directory is selected, my photos will appear in the large pane on the right. If I have a large number of files in the directory it will take DPP a little time to read in the information for each file.
I could at this point open each photo individually by double clicking on a photo in the right pane, but instead I will select them all so I can preview and process them in the Edit image window which is kind of an organized digital darkroom view.
Once DPP has completed reading the file information, the Edit image window and Select All buttons on the toolbar will become enabled.
1. From the toolbar click on the Select all button. All of the photos will become a darker shade of gray, indicating that they are selected.
2. From the toolbar click on the Edit image window button. The Main window will change to the Edit image window.
Note: The Thumbnails and Tools buttons are toggles that turn on/off the represented palettes. With all palettes enabled there will be (3) visible panes (columns), the first being the Thumbs list, the middle is the selected photo preview window and the right is the Tools palette. This workflow utilizes all three palettes.
My first pass on the folder is a quick glance at each photo to determine the keepers. I click on each photo in the Thumbs list and preview each in the center pane.
Note: DPP does not allow me to delete a photo from the disk in the Edit image window, but it will let me flag it for selection and deletion at the Main window. Delete from List only removes the photo from the Thumbs list.
I assign a check mark to those I wish to delete by right clicking the photo in the in the Thumbs list and choosing Add Check mark3 (which check mark I choose is unimportant as long as I use the same for whatever action I will perform on the group of shots).
Once previewed and check marks are applied to those I wish to discard; I Go back to the Main Window
To be safe, as I would hate to delete everything, I click the Clear all button then select Check Mark3 images only from the Edit drop-down menu. Then I press the delete key, it will ask me to verify that I want to delete x number of images.
I will then click Select All and then the Edit image window buttons to get back to the Edit image window.
DPP uses what is known as recipes to quickly adjust many shots with the adjustments made to a single shot. Once I have completed my adjustments to a single shot, I copy the recipe to the clipboard, click on shots in the Thumbs list with similar exposures and paste the recipe to those shots.
Hint: If all shots in a folder have the same exposure, environment etc... later I can choose Paste recipe to all images. Meaning if I put all shots of the same exposure/evironment in designated folders when copying from memory card to hard disk, it is simplified later down the road.
RAW tab
[thumb]627783[/thumb]
Hint: While making your adjustments if you wish to see side by side comparison to the original just right click the photo in the preview pane and choose Before/After Comparison. Default they will be above/below but you changed by right clicking again on the photo and changing Up/Down/Left/Right.
Initial exposure correction.
Slide the Brightness slider (close to +/- 2 f/stops) to the right to add a little less than a stop. I generally like to have the histogram end up between -4 and 4
Initial contrast correction.
As I slide the Brightness Slider to the right the curve becomes longer, decreasing contrast, so I will drag the left vertical adjustment bar to the right. Stopping just to the left of the base of the histiogram.
Note: In the Histogram window(s) I can grab and drag any of the (4) Horizontal/Vertical lines from the corners or by clicking and dragging in the direction I wish from anywhere on each of the lines.
Fine tune the Shot Lighting/contrast.
Using the bottom horizontal adjustment bar I will drag it upward to bring out detail in the darker areas. Usually I will find an area on that histogram that is like a step and slide to just at that point.
I can drag the top horizontal adjustment bar downwards to darken the Highlights, being careful not to muddy the contrast with too much.
I also might drag the right horizontal adjustment bar to lighten the overall shot.
White Balance and Picture Style for me is a happy medium between the two settings.
I will start by setting the White Balance to a setting that matches the situation of the shot. If it works I will stick with it. I'm not too concerned about the luminance of the colors as they will be corrected by the Picture Style I apply.
BTW: If I had a gray card or something in the shot that was 18% or so gray I can use the eyedropper and click on that gray area to get pretty close as well.
I then choose a Picture Style from the drop-down to give balance to the colors of the shot. If I want to enhance the Greens I choose Landscape. If the Reds are too bright or I want more muted colors I choose Neutral or Faithful. For those so inclined Canon has Picture Style editor available for download. With Picture Style editor I can fine tune any of the Picture Styles or create my own and have it appear in the drop-down menu.
Contrast, Color Tone, Saturation and Sharpness are taken from the settings in the camera. On the older models these are the Parameters, on the newer Canons these are determined by the Picture Style that was used for the shot. Basically if I didn't get it right or didn't like what the effect of the in camera picture style, I will adjust it here.
RGB tab
[thumb]627784[/thumb]
The RGB adjustments can be used to fine tune the overall shot colors or individual RGB color channels. Unless I am doing a batch of photos I usually will do just the Tone curve assist and maybe tweak the contrast a hair. Normally on single shots I will just convert to JPG or TIF at this point and post process in my editor. But for batch processing (camera to print) I will work these settings.
Adjustments on this tab are pretty much self explainitory. Again there are 4 lines that you can drag to adjust Contrast, Highs, Overall Brigthness/Darkness but in this case it applies to the Luminance or the individual color channels. I can get creative here.
Noise Reduction/Lens tab
[thumb]627785[/thumb]
I have to admit that I have not used adjustmest on this tab much but in the case of batch processing the Noise reduction works decent. I have used Lens abberation to fix CA (purple fringing) a time or two and it does a pretty good job.
Ok so now I have a single RAW processed the way I like it.
Once a shot is processed, I right click on the shot in the preview pain and choose Copy recipe to clipboard. Now in the Thumb list I can click a shot with similar exposure right click on it in the preview window and choose Paste recipe.
If all shots in the Thumb list have the same exposure and environment, I can choose Paste recipe to all images and the processing I did to a single shot will be applied to all images. If needed, I can then tweak photos individually by click in on them in the Thumbs list and making adjustments on the tool palette.
Convert to JPG/TIF
Once I have recipes and/or tweaks applied to all images in the Thumbs list I can batch convert them to JPG or Tiffs by clicking on the Batch process button in the upper right of the dialog. Clicking the button will automatically bring all images in the Thumbs list into the batch process dialog. I Choose my save folder (important as it always remembers the last place you saved), I choose my file type; if processing for web I choose EXIF-JPG with a DPI of 72.
Message edited by author 2007-12-31 16:28:00. |
