All the right CURVES ....

[JordanP]

Hi all,

I'm keen to get a discussion going with members who have had experience with different tone curves in their cameras. I've read the other discussions on this forum and checked out the sites that others have posted (very helpful stuff)

What I'm interested in is hearing from people who have used a variety of these tonal curves and perhaps some feedback in terms of streagths and weakness of your particular favourites.

[MHD]

I was reading this the other day... so let me get this right (Have not bought my d70 yet) you can load curves into the camera that will dictate the way it mixes colors from the raw image?

[gstark]

you can load curves into the camera that will dictate the way it mixes colors from the raw image?

If you have Capture, you can load one custom curve into the camera, so, yes. You can, of course, load different custom curves into the camera at different times, but the camera can only hold one custom curve at any time.

If you have Curve Surgery, you can load different curves under the raw image, and change them at will. This is perhaps better than having a number of different curves in the camera, because you can load and compare images (with different curves) at the post-processing stage.

Please understand that using curves in this manner is quite a different thing from changing your curves in, say, NC or PS, whereby you're modifying the curve over, rather than under the image.

[gstark]

Craig,

Curves are something that I'm still learning and playing with. There's a great deal of flexibility there though, and I would certainly recommend getting something like Curve Surgery, if only because it's so cheap and gives you so much flexibility.

[JordanP]

Thanks Gary,

I actually downloaded a demo of that last night - but found it very awckward and it seemed to do things to my images that I found unpleasent. Do you use Curve Surgery? how do you find it? I'm probably just missing something very simple

[Onyx]

MHD: Not really how it mixes colours, but how it maps the raw sensor data into a curve representing the light levels.

I've extensively experimented with fotogenic's curves, as well as alfonso's. I forgot the link to alfonso, but google might be helpful (and fotogenic is synonymous with custom curves, you should have no trouble finding it).

Basically, the white wedding curves at any version attempts to correct the perceived underexposure of the standard tone curve. It only modifies slightly the highlights to extend dynamic range. For me, I'd rather save the custom curve spot in camera for something else and just dial in positive exposure comp when I want the 'white wedding' effect (keeping a close eye on blown highlights).

Alfonso's curve also corrects the perceived underexposure at midtones, but it abruptly cuts off the high end (shapes all values beyond 220ish to 220 IIRC, out of the 255 light levels). Which prevents blown highlights completely, but at the cost of dynamic range and ultimately overall scene contrast (even setting +3EV and shooting a white wall will render a histogram curve contained within the right hand edge). I really like the results of this curve, except from a technical point of view cutting off values beyond a certain point is not ideal in terms of optimising image parameters (i'm a technical man first, artistic/creative man nth)... reasoning came from Michael Reichman's article Expose to the Right, suggesting that half of an image's data is contained within the first stop of light levels, hence cutting these values off would imply losing alot of potentially good data. This is still a purely academic arguement, and photography being an artistic/creative endeavor, I'm sure it does not impact the perception of an image as greatly as the academic arguement makes it out to be....

Anyway, I've stuck with using fotogenic's Provia v3.4 - because I initially liked the results (paired with enhanced saturation setting), and because I'm too lazy to experiment some more. My camera settings experimental stage has long gone (it's been 6 months since I got my D70), and now I try to learn and adapt to the camera settings chosen (which I considered ideal at the time of choosing them).

[Killakoala]

I have found that after using several of the curves downloaded from the net that the contrast curves that are already inbuilt are more than adequate. I play around with the contrast and curves and setting the black&white points in Nikon Capture to get the contrast that i desire.

I have also been playing around with a curve for astronomy pics i've taken but so far the result is not so much a 'curve', but more like a jagged knife edge. (Still playing with it)

I think i have the provia3.4 installed in my D70 right now. It would be good for shooting the harbour on a sunny day.

Steve

[Raydar]

I use oldskools mtc v1 for out doors stuff & white wedding v35 for flash stuff.
Seems to work for me.
I'm going to sit down one day & have a play around with one of mine own, just have to find the time.

Cheers
Ray

[Matt. K]

Have played around with a few curves...now I'm thinking we get too focussed on this stuff and forget about the pictures. Keep it simple seems to work best every time. Hmmm curve snobbery, might be a new social ill?