batch workflow for stills?

ushere wrote on 6/13/2016, 3:32 AM

i've been given a series of raw (.nef) files straight from the camera to be stitched together as a whole (there's 10 frames in each 'stitch) for use in a video (complete picture to be panned and zoomed in / out following narration).

not having dealt with this situation before (i've done simple landscape with no problems) what order should i proceed with?

a. individually or batch correct exp / wb / etc OR stitch THEN correct?

b. when to nr and sharpen?

btw/ posted over at magix too.

i did a test run with photomerge and it did a spectacular job though the resulting file was 600mb

any advice most welcome indeed

Comments

set wrote on 6/13/2016, 3:58 AM

I would find the most contrast part of picture first, and use that photo for base setting of exposure and color correction.

Grazie wrote on 6/13/2016, 5:45 AM

i did a test run with photomerge and it did a spectacular job though the resulting file was 600mb
Then why not use that? If size is a problem then do a DI for VP13? - Don't fully understand your problem.

G

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/13/2016, 9:59 AM

ushere, I think you should be able to take the photomerge result and compress it nicely to PNG format. I've done similar with huge 15-20 nefs using Photoshop raw merge.

Jerry
http://www.takeonesolutions.com
Photography • Video

ushere wrote on 6/13/2016, 6:28 PM

maybe i should rephrase my question, though i appreciate the replies so far:

creating and using the images as a pano isn't the problem.

the images i've been given require some initial work; wb, exposue, nr, etc., and my problem is i'm not sure which order, and when to do the various processes. as i wrote originally:

do i do the images individually, or batch correct when possible, the exp / wb / nr / sharpening, etc OR stitch them as raw THEN correct?

i got this reply over on ps forum:

Do all global adjustments on the raws, including NR. Anything local, do that on the finished pano. You can do the stitching in ACR/Lightroom, or in Photoshop. I don't think one will produce very superior results over the other. Most people will still use PS for that.

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/14/2016, 5:37 AM

ushere, your response from the PS forum is exactly how I have done the stitch using PS. All of my shots were on full manual exposure, locked focus and without polarizer so no problems matching up in stitch. Going forward I will try LR.

Jerry
http://www.takeonesolutions.com
Photography • Video

ushere wrote on 6/14/2016, 7:41 AM

hi jerry, would be great to read your opinion re lr. i've been thinking about using it, or dxo, or some other form of raw processor outside of ps's own raw processor.

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/15/2016, 5:33 PM

ushere, I just now played around with LR CC 2015.6 using Camera Raw 9.6. It worked fine for me. I merged 17 NEF's into a 23,845 x 9,257 pixel DNG. It apparently uses the lens profile because when I first tried it on some TIFs I had, it suggested I manually assign the lens profile because it couldn't recognize the lens for those files. I don't remember for sure, but I don't think PS and Camera Raw use lens profiles so that might be a plus for LR's ability to handle distortion.

I didn't time it but I would estimate it took about 10 minutes. Once finished you have all the LR edit capability, and of course you can still take it to PS which I would need to do because I have a custom mat and artwork that requires working in layers. I'll start my next real pano in LR.

Jerry
http://www.takeonesolutions.com
Photography • Video

ushere wrote on 6/16/2016, 6:23 PM

thanks jerry. am trying the demo of dxo. looking very interesting indeed.

imaginACTION_films wrote on 6/16/2016, 11:05 PM

Here's a possible alternative: I've had great success using the Graide Color Match plugin to dynamically grade shots that vary due to clouds etc.

Here's my review:
https://vimeo.com/126999067

You put the stills on the timeline, choose the ideal frame as the target, then match each clip using Graide.

I would probably render the stills to high quality MXF (or Cineform) then do the Graide Color Match being sure to set it to Continuous rather than Constant.
David

ushere wrote on 6/17/2016, 7:51 AM

i'll have a look, thanks. however, i'm doing all my grading in resolve nowadays - just love the node method....