Paul Tavares
Well-known member
I was wondering if anyone else is using silkpix for RAW processing. When I first got the GH1 in March 2010 I shot combined RAW and JPEG images. After two outings, I switched to RAW only and have stayed that way since. I find Silkypix pretty complete and simple once you get used to it although it's taken me until the last few months to learn a few more tricks. These are the settings I normally use for birds.
Sharpness: leave at natural. Once in a while I add some sharpness but never if the bird makes up a large part of the uncropped frame.
Saturation: I normally use standard colour bumped up to about 1.20 unless the bird has deep reds in which case something around 1.06 to 1.10. Film colour V2 gives rich colour as long as there are no greens or reds in which case it can look unnatural. Memory colour 2 is also OK but tends to darken the picture.
Contrast: Normally average standard. If light is harsh I may reduce it to a little low or low. In dull light I may increase it to a little strong contrast.
One observation, increasing the saturation and adjusting the contrast will make an image appear sharper.
White balance: I leave at Camera setting as I use auto white balance on the camera.
Exposure. I usually adjust a little bit up. What I find useful is the auto silkypix evaluation and then leave as is or adjust from there.
Crop: I usually use 8:5 as this displays well on screen. I will use 16:9 if I am preparing a slideshow for wide screen HDTV. I leave the camera on 3:2 as this is closer to 8:5. The native setting of 4:3 is too far from the 3:2, and 8:5 and sometimes you lose part of the image in cropping. Especially true for travel type photos.
Tastes: I sometimes use blue sky for restoring the blus in skies. Mostly on travel photos. rarely on bird photos.
Tilt: useful for correcting crooked images. More of a problem on travel shots with a horizon. I also use the angle correction for correcting perspective on wide angle shots.
I use the various user marks for sorting the images. I use the blue mark to note images that are in my photo life set, green means processed and I use the red for sorting purposes.
All in all a pretty good software package with more features than I will ever use.
Examples in the link below. most taken with the 100-300 but some also with the 14-140
http://rustyblades.smugmug.com/Natu...and-Updates/15416874_izQ3s#1401656696_SkVVbzv
Paul
Sharpness: leave at natural. Once in a while I add some sharpness but never if the bird makes up a large part of the uncropped frame.
Saturation: I normally use standard colour bumped up to about 1.20 unless the bird has deep reds in which case something around 1.06 to 1.10. Film colour V2 gives rich colour as long as there are no greens or reds in which case it can look unnatural. Memory colour 2 is also OK but tends to darken the picture.
Contrast: Normally average standard. If light is harsh I may reduce it to a little low or low. In dull light I may increase it to a little strong contrast.
One observation, increasing the saturation and adjusting the contrast will make an image appear sharper.
White balance: I leave at Camera setting as I use auto white balance on the camera.
Exposure. I usually adjust a little bit up. What I find useful is the auto silkypix evaluation and then leave as is or adjust from there.
Crop: I usually use 8:5 as this displays well on screen. I will use 16:9 if I am preparing a slideshow for wide screen HDTV. I leave the camera on 3:2 as this is closer to 8:5. The native setting of 4:3 is too far from the 3:2, and 8:5 and sometimes you lose part of the image in cropping. Especially true for travel type photos.
Tastes: I sometimes use blue sky for restoring the blus in skies. Mostly on travel photos. rarely on bird photos.
Tilt: useful for correcting crooked images. More of a problem on travel shots with a horizon. I also use the angle correction for correcting perspective on wide angle shots.
I use the various user marks for sorting the images. I use the blue mark to note images that are in my photo life set, green means processed and I use the red for sorting purposes.
All in all a pretty good software package with more features than I will ever use.
Examples in the link below. most taken with the 100-300 but some also with the 14-140
http://rustyblades.smugmug.com/Natu...and-Updates/15416874_izQ3s#1401656696_SkVVbzv
Paul
