How we Process an Image.

Currently all of my images are shot with a Nikon D3or a Nikon D2h digital camera. I shoot exclusively in RAW mode since I feel this gives me the best ability in post-processing to draw out the full potential of an image.

Conversion of the RAW files is done using Nikon NX Version 1.3 as I feel it does the best job at rendering colors.

Once converted, the images are adjusted for sharpness, contrast, brightness and color correctness. Then they are cropped for composition if needed. The processing (image enhancement) is completed using either Nikon NX Version 1.3, Nikon Capture Version 4.4, or Photoshop CS2. Although I had used Nikon Capture almost exclusively in the past, Nikon NX (another software package from Nikon) has some very nice features for processing (enhancement) as does Photoshop.

If you wish to see a few examples of what can be done to "enhance" an image, take a look at this example or this one. Both are extreme cases and neither would be acceptable for journalistic images, but for artistic use I find these examples very acceptable. Not all images can be "enhanced" in the way these examples have, but I am willing to attempt this type of "enhancement" on any image.

In the past I have teamed up with several artists such as Denis at Denis Digital (formerly Photopocus) to handle some of my portrait editing. Examples of work they have done for me can be seen here.

I have found it to be true that many of my low light images need more color correction than other images due to the way the camera processes the image information. If the images exhibit excessive noise (graininess) I will often add a bit of noise reduction to clean them up. This is either done using the Nikon NX program or through a program called Neat Image.

It is also worth noting, that all image processing is done on a color calibrated computer monitor to assure accuracy.

Post-processing of images has a never ending learning curve. I am always looking for new methods and techniques in an attempt to produce the best possible images. As you can see I spend a great amount of time on these images before they are posted here. That is why they are set to be viewed at "True Color." That means, the colors I intended them to be. If you wish to do a bit of image adjustment yourself, you can crop and edit images in "The Cart."