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What's your workflow for photography ?

RonanCork

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Hey Guys,

I'm a drone owner a few years now (MA then MA2 and now more recently the Air2S).

As regards my drone use I was typically 90% video and 10% photography i.e. in the amount of each I did

I'm getting more into the photography side now and am curious as to what other's workflows are ?

Mine is:
  1. Set to RAW+Jpeg
  2. Have Histogram and Over Exposure warning on
  3. Use an ND filter (I use for reducing glare more than anything really)
  4. Set my exposure slider to 0 or maybe a little above/below but typically 0
  5. Use AEB-3
  6. Take LOADS of photos (while keep an eye on that Histogram)
  7. In Post I typically (of the AEB-3 photos) take the underexposed one and edit in LightRoom. Do others merge the 3 ?
All the above works great for me but I'd like to see what you guys are doing so I can better my own work

Thanks Ronan
 
An ND filter for stills isn't of any use if you aren't after a special effect coming from slowing down your shutter (create smooth flowing water for instance). If the scene have too much reflections use a CirPol filter instead.

See to that you shoot with the lowest possible ISO setting to get the cleanest result ... this without extending the shutter to no more than 2sec (such a slow shutter is needed for night shoots for instance).

If you think that the dynamic range is to small, yeah you could go for HD merging those 3 stills from the AEB-3. Or you wait until the light is a bit flatter which will be easier for your sensor to capture than harsh bright light with deep shadows .

To achieve the cleanest pic regarding noise you should go for a exposure to the "right" in the histogram (Google it) ... meaning that you get a very bright pic but without being overexposed, then you bring the exposure down in post. Then you effectively have reduced the occurrence of noise ... doing it like you say with lightening up a underexposed pic will introduce more noise.
 
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Hey Guys,

I'm a drone owner a few years now (MA then MA2 and now more recently the Air2S).

As regards my drone use I was typically 90% video and 10% photography i.e. in the amount of each I did

I'm getting more into the photography side now and am curious as to what other's workflows are ?

Mine is:
  1. Set to RAW+Jpeg
  2. Have Histogram and Over Exposure warning on
  3. Use an ND filter (I use for reducing glare more than anything really)
  4. Set my exposure slider to 0 or maybe a little above/below but typically 0
  5. Use AEB-3
  6. Take LOADS of photos (while keep an eye on that Histogram)
  7. In Post I typically (of the AEB-3 photos) take the underexposed one and edit in LightRoom. Do others merge the 3 ?
All the above works great for me but I'd like to see what you guys are doing so I can better my own work

Thanks Ronan
I no longer shoot jpeg. All my shots are shot in RAW. Also, I shoot manual and try to use the lowest ISO (100) possible. Use histogram and expose to the right, and avoid clipping on the right and left. Almost never use bracketing or AEB. I edit in Adobe Photoshop CC 2021 and Bridge. I open image in Bridge, and right click to bring image into Camera RAW filter (ACR or Adobe Camera RAW). I do most of the adjustments globally (the entire image) and often use the gradient filter of the ACR to adjust the sky, which is usually brighter than the foreground. Then I bring that image into Photoshop for localized adjustments (burn, dodge, spot healing, cloning, etc) for removal of unwanted items such as people, cars, whatever.
 
I shoot only in RAW. Sometimes use bracketing, but if you do, you will find the the HDR merge in Lightroom does not offer the controls you have in Photoshop. The new RAW filter in Photoshop CC2021 is amazing. I try to underexpose a bit. It never seems to be a problem to brighten up the dark shot, but if a shot is overexposed, there is nothing you can do to recover those blown-out highlights. I find that I do most of my adjustments globally and do the minor tweaking after exiting the RAW filter.
 
I shoot only in RAW. Sometimes use bracketing, but if you do, you will find the the HDR merge in Lightroom does not offer the controls you have in Photoshop. The new RAW filter in Photoshop CC2021 is amazing. I try to underexpose a bit. It never seems to be a problem to brighten up the dark shot, but if a shot is overexposed, there is nothing you can do to recover those blown-out highlights. I find that I do most of my adjustments globally and do the minor tweaking after exiting the RAW filter.
You are exactly right. I think Photoshop is a more powerful engine than Lightroom, personally, although they say it is equal. If you shoot RAW and "expose to the right" (the old photo adage using a histogram) and prevent your histogram from running off the edge (clipping), you can recover details in the highlights (bright skies and clouds). Set you histogram to be on during the shot.
 
Lose the ND filter.
In sunny Miami it is frequently not possible to shoot without an ND filter. My default filter is ND16 and I usually leave it on except for sunrises, sunsets, and cloudy days.
 
In sunny Miami it is frequently not possible to shoot without an ND filter. My default filter is ND16 and I usually leave it on except for sunrises, sunsets, and cloudy days.
Are you talking about shooting stills?
Your shutter speed goes up to 1/8000th which should easily deal with the brightest day there.
Your ND16 filter cuts 94% of the light, allowing only 6% to get through to the sensor.
Unless you have a particular reason to force a slower shutter speed, there's no reason to use an ND filter for drone stills.
 
Are you talking about shooting stills?
Your shutter speed goes up to 1/8000th which should easily deal with the brightest day there.
Your ND16 filter cuts 94% of the light, allowing only 6% to get through to the sensor.
Unless you have a particular reason to force a slower shutter speed, there's no reason to use an ND filter for drone stills.
Of course I cannot bring back the drone to switch from video to stills. I try to get both shots on the same route. I try to keep the ISO low, usually 100, and the aperture around f/8 and slow the shutter somewhat for motion blur in the videos, but I will freely change the exposures during flight whatever I am trying to achieve.
 
Hey Guys,

I'm a drone owner a few years now (MA then MA2 and now more recently the Air2S).

As regards my drone use I was typically 90% video and 10% photography i.e. in the amount of each I did

I'm getting more into the photography side now and am curious as to what other's workflows are ?

Mine is:
  1. Set to RAW+Jpeg
  2. Have Histogram and Over Exposure warning on
  3. Use an ND filter (I use for reducing glare more than anything really)
  4. Set my exposure slider to 0 or maybe a little above/below but typically 0
  5. Use AEB-3
  6. Take LOADS of photos (while keep an eye on that Histogram)
  7. In Post I typically (of the AEB-3 photos) take the underexposed one and edit in LightRoom. Do others merge the 3 ?
All the above works great for me but I'd like to see what you guys are doing so I can better my own work

Thanks Ronan
Could you share your workflow for video?
 
Could you share your workflow for video?
Dear Kangaroboth:

Of course, you must be talking about the work flow for PHOTOS.

In my opinion, there is absolutely no need to waste your time doing 3 HDR exposures for every shot! If the scene has even lighting, why would you need to use AEB and spend time in software doing HDR processing? AEB and bracketing was designed for scenes which have a high dynamic range (HDR). This is especially the case with exposures with a bright sky and a dark foreground as in sunrises and sunsets. The camera sensors read the bright light of the sun and sky and greatly underexpose the foreground. HDSR is also used for images that have bright and dark parts of the same image, such as a room with sunlight coming in through a window, and darkness inside the room away from the window.

So, my workflow is to shoot the best histogram I can, (yes I watch the histogram and keep an eye on it at all times during the exposures). I want a histogram to expose to the right- e.g.: not to cut out the details in the night areas such as the sky. If you overexpose the highlights, you will not be able to recover them in post.

For an average well-lit scene I expose with the histogram showing the data in the center. For a scene that has a high dynamic range, I will do AEB, and then process those exposures in Photoshop or Lightroom. Since I am more used to Photoshop I use Photoshop.

I have never shot anything in JPG. RAW files have a lot more information and data. My drone settings are set to RAW only. I open the three RAW images in Adobe BRIDGE, and Adobe Camera RAW. With the three images open, I right click on one image>select all (CTRL+A)>merge to HDR> wait for the merged image to develop>then open that image in Photoshop and do the focal (not global) adjustments. The above HDR process can also be done in Lightroom. The Adobe engine is the same as far as the sliders go. Thus, right click on one of the images>select all>right click for the drop down menu>select Merge to HDR.

Do not do any adjustments in the individual images before merging them.

Feel free to ask any questions, as always.
Dale
Miami
 
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