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UltravioletPhotography

I need to update my Photo Ninja workflow


colinbm

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I haven't used Photo Ninja for over 10 years, so I need to do an up-date.

Back then Andrea gave me a few tips for initial workflow on settings etc, that was very helpful, as I am not a very savy with photo editing.

So could I ask for some starter tips again with the latest PN sofware Please ?

Col

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Basically PN hasn't changed much over the years. A valuable feature is that PN in many cases can read, and process, "unknown" files. Thus, my old version from 2014 will, for example, read files from Z50/6/7 although the software had no idea of their future existence. Colours will be off as there is no profile, but a session profile is easily made using the built-in tools and can be stored for further use.

 

Aside from using "obsolete" versions, which can have a second-hand life on Linux as the activation code still is valid, the starting point for PN is having a reasonably fast computer with lots of memory and preferably working from an SSD drive to speed things up. It is always better to browse, and process, RAW files directly from a card instead of storing files to a networked drive first.

 

As to settings, the typical sequence is this for me,

  • browse folder using the Browse tab, setting display size to (near) max. for the thumbnail view. The actual setting depends on your monitor so on a small screen their size should be less
  • load the promising file(s) from the thumbnail by double-click (auto-switch to Edit mode)
  • set white balance by finding something inside the frame that ought to be "white"
  • use detail sliders to adjust exposure, pull back/enhance highlights, adjust shadows and blacks
  • go easy on the sharpness setting, +5 usually is sufficient
  • for further processing in PS etc., set contrast to a lower value, I often use -20 or below
  • the Noise Ninja section needs to be switched to Manual as the defaults rarely work well on UV files
  • don't forget to save settings (they go into a sidecar .xmp which silently will piggy-back on the RAW later)
  • render file (in which step you also select its destination)
  • if you wish to batching, load settings from one of the files, close the file (by clicking Done. Very important), then select files to go into batch then copy settings to them and select the location to receive the output, then when the batch is running, have a nice cup of your preferred beverage
  • after processing, I use the (rudimentary, but working) file manager built-in to copy or move the RAW files to a backup destination

You'll soon be working almost blind-folded.

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Thanks very much Birna, I am sure some of it will come back to me, but after 10 or more years I am not confident.

This looks like it will get me going on the road to perfection....:-)

I have only ever used PN for processing before, I don't have PS & it wouldn't be useful to this poor old brain....:-(

Cheers

Col

 

PS, I did like using PN before..

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You probably are up to speed in no time, Colin. It's like using a bicycle -- all of a sudden you have these flashbacks and respond on automatic reflexes.

 

I forgot to mention that copying and pasting settings from a master image to the others of a shooting session will make the individual fine-tuning of an image much faster. It's on a spinal reflex level so didn't give it a second thought :smile:

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