Hi,
I use photoflow every now and then, like it very much and I am able to achieve most of the things I would do with Gimp to a photo, but doing them directly on the raw. The only thing I feel I am lacking is the raw development itself.
So I would like to know from the experienced photoflowers how you go about developing your RAWs?
Cheers And Thanks
What do you think you’re missing?
What, if anything, is missing from your final results?
I end up using a lot of the same tools I’d use in gimp as well: curve, masks, local contrast.
In the raw editor, exposure is something you don’t have I. gimp, as well as black and white raw points.
I think, in general, working with raw gives your changes greater lattitide.
Yeah I saw that thread and it reminded me that I wanted to ask this for a long time. This thread is not meant to put pressure on @Carmelo_DrRaw. I just wanted to ask since there are some people here on the forums who get great results using photoflow. I feel like I’m lacking in the raw basics like noise reduction and sharpening, for example. Here I would be curious how you good people do it.
I’ll chim in but not an experienced _ _ _ _ _ (any word).
To me the great thing about PF are layers. To be able to stack them and build up your own processing ivory tower. That and the fact that those layers are not destructive. As this means that PF will have to re-calculate everything together, it forces you to be aware of the resources deployed and that taken the hyper complex megalomaniac labyrinth path (hand raised) it’s going to be slow, snail slow… like those micro snails that only make 9 meters in all their lives 
after 5 meters, ScheiĂźe!! I forgot to switch off the gaaassss
Maybe that seems a bit on the side but, bear with me, is because of this “behaviour” that I try to preserve as much info as possible (read flat) in the raw dev module - sometimes I’ll even export and import the image again - and only after I put the surgeon glasses, turn on the chainsaw and make the biggest possible misuse of buffer and clone layers, gradients, path’s selection and lum/sat/hue’s masks… till is too many pips for a little room 
explosion explosinONON
PS
@McCap you developed a very useful shadow presset, I kept that one 
I really didn’t start to understand what was going on with raw until I started using dcraw. No frills, minimal default processing, and the ability to tear even that out down to the essential sensor measurements. I found this G’MIC tutorial extremely helpful:
Developing raw images with G’MIC
Yes, it’s command-line, not GUI-menu, but there’s an essentialism to that also.
I grew weary of presets, and image operations I couldn’t fathom what the controls were doing. The dcraw approach let me stack all that on the real raw one operation at a time,
You Mileage Will Definitely Vary…
A technique that’s been working really great for me is storing my raws in a safe place high up in some branch of my file tree, so far out of reach that I never process them or look at them again. I’ve been following this technique diligently for about 7 years now and look forward to developing them in the afterlife.
@McCap I’m just dropping in to say that I am reading your messages, but will take some time before I can give a detailed answer… I need my private life to calm down a bit before. Nothing serious, just horribly busy…
@Morgan_Hardwood, I just love solution oriented work ethics…
On the other hand if you read up on norse funerals…
…It was important to bury the dead in the right way so that he could join the afterlife with the same social standing that he had had in life…
…seems not much will change for you in the afterlife.
@Carmelo_DrRaw, no hurry I just thought I make it an official thread so we can collect good ideas here.
@chroma_ghost, thanks I’m happy that my preset found some usage.
I’m not counting on it
But I suspect one day archaeologists will uncover my hard drive… maybe they will have time to process the photos.