Hello everyone,
i like how the program works and it’s pretty nice.
But there is no option me to using this program.
I have a not bad shot of my computer, pretty nice one.
I load it into RAWTherapee and !
The program changes each Color, Shadow, Value of this picture possible. So i have no “original” to see what to improve, then it TILTS my Image itself.
When i upload a picture i EXPECT that there is NO Filter, Function or changed value till → i ← don’t change it.
This program has really big potential but these 2 Things KILL the program. I’m not crying here and yes some people may say “Why you don’t make this and this in each photo that you add into the program?” i load a picture into Photoshop and i don’t need to do anything. The picture is “untouched”. I see the basis and can start from there and make it amazing. So i’m sorry. But till the program “Does what it want’s” the program is on the same lvl as “Gimp”. Atleast Gimp doesn’t do anything itself.
RawTherapee doesn’t do anything to your original image that you didn’t tell it to do. That is, if you are opening a raw file, there is no “original” to actually see. What you likely mean is that you are expecting to see something comparable to the in-camera generated JPEG of the raw file?
In this case, your camera actually already processed your raw file for you. Color, shadow, value and everything else was modified by your camera to show you a JPEG. Are you unable to use your camera also?
Unless you’ve set RT to apply a particular profile by default, then you’re only going to see that being applied to your raw file. A good place to get a feel for whats happening is on rawpedia:
I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t adapt that entry into a more general article post that we can point folks to that may not realize what’s happening technically. I can understand this being frustrating to someone not already familiar with what’s going on. Plus, we could use nice language and be supportive and stuff.
But an article that clearly explains that there is nothing such as an “original”, unprocessed image if you talk about raw and that the OOC jpeg is just a raw edit that the engineers at $camcompany decided about and that there’s a preview jpeg embedded in most raw formats that may be shown as a preview/thumbnail by your raw converter and that happens to be the camera’s raw edit, that would be great .
as your raw files already contain the embedded JPEG files which you can view using the listed programs.
That means that it will show me some options that was used to make the picture look nice?
I mean i don’t know how to make a picture normal and not tilted. It seems that -0.180 is good but not sure if this is right.
I have no idea how to get rid of the vignette looks so bad
Perhaps you are getting annoyed you can’t revert to the original when you have the program performing it’s default auto-levels behavior. The original RAW does not resemble the little jpg in the file browser, which might be toned how you want it, but there is no way to revert to those tonal characteristics. They are created by proprietary algorithms only available inside the camera. Some cameras let you capture the jpg and raw at the same time which might help you. Some one posted a curve recently that mimics the behavior of the in-camera jpg generators, which works as a nice alternative to the automatic contrast level adjustment. Gimp and RT are both powerful and free applications, so they definitely belong in the same class!
~Some of us think it’s a higher class than commercially available software.
Are you sure you weren’t that much off orthogonal to the chart? There appears to be horizontal perspective distortion on the left side. Also, you are pretty wide on a zoom, so there is some inherent distortion to be appreciated
Good point. I’m sure most people reach that page when they are full of frustration or disappointment. It’s a key moment where they either say “Oh, OK, I get it now” or just give up.
On the very first invoke, you could have RT do a “Let’s get started” type wizard where it explains RT isn’t just for reproducing jpegs, and takes the new user through a bit of Q&A to establish a basic default profile (which it would put in the user’s default folder). Or just create a default anyway. I was just trying the following, seems to work quite well, with the intention of giving a punchy SOOC look:-
auto levels
white balance = camera
saturation 10
local contrast 20 (in shadows/highlights)
sharpen .5 at 175
defringe
The wizard could emphasise how easy it is to adjust profiles as they learn more about RT.
The easiest way to get a picture close to the ooc-jpg is this:
Download and install Adobe DNG Converter to get a bunch of DCP profiles.
In Windows, you’ll find them in: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles
Apply a suitable DCP profile to the image and set it as in the screenshot.
This is a good starting point for further processing.
I agree a camera-specific profile is good, however, I was addressing the new user who’s at the crossroads, struggling or a bit bemused, wondering whether to carry on or give up on RT. Downloading more s/ware and fiddling about with the ensuing files might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back! Hence the idea of a user-friendly wizard/dialogue right at the start. (Or just make something like I put above the default profile on installation and advise them to review it once they’ve found their way around RT) A wizard/dialogue could include info about DNG Converter as a further step for them to do once they have got going.
There is such a wizard - it’s the user after having read Getting Started - RawPedia which also explains that there is no correct look to a raw image and links to the aptly named “Eek!” article.
I couldn’t agree more with Morgan : please, read this page first, Damian. In fact I suggest to read the whole Rawpedia : it will provide you a treasure of information on rawconversion.
The fact that RT doesn’t touch my rawfiles before opening them, as other rawconverters do, is one of the main reasons I like it so much. It also gives me much more control then any other rawconverter I’ve tried. That’s the whole basic idea of rawconversion anyway imho.
You can start indeed using the Adobe-profiles, but don’t stay there too long, 'cause RT can do a lot more for you.
A good start imho is the method Paul Matthijsse described on his blog https://paulsphotopalace.wordpress.com/
It’s under ‘Rawtherapee’ , ‘A beginner’s guide’, ‘2. Tone curve : your single point of success’.
Are you unable to use your camera also? 
.
looks so bad 
