Curious if anyone can tell me the order of operations between curves, exposure, film simulation?
Thanks
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Thank you!
Exactly. I had no idea what to search…‘tool-chain’, got it.
Okay, so the order of process(es) I’m concerned with is below. My challenge is that i would like to be able to adjust tone & channel curves after film simulation has been applied.
Since film simulation happens after tone & RGB curves in the preceding ‘process RGB’ this Implies that i must make these adjustments in a module that exists in the lab process flow/set. Can any one suggest a tool analogous to a luminosity or RGB curve in that set? I’m very much a RGB curves guy, so Im not so familiar with those tools.
A. Process RGB
- Channel mixer
- Tone curve
- Highlights
- Shadows
- RGB curves
- HSV curves
- Color toning
- Film simulation
- Black-and-white
- Lab* color correction grid (Lab)
- Shadows/Highlight (Lab)
- Local contrast (Lab)
B. Process Lab
- (locallab branch) blur and noise, denoise, vibrance, cbdl, soflight, local contrast,
sharp, retinex, exposure, color and light, avoid color shift - Lab adjustements
- Vibrance
- Lab* color correction grid (Lab)
- Vignette filter
- Graduated filter
- Tone mapping
- Impulse noise reduction
- Defringe
- Edges
- Microcontrast
- Sharpening
- Contrast by Detail Levels
- Wavelets
- Soft light
- CIECAM02
- Resize
- Post-resize sharpening
Why is the order important?
Im applying a Haldclut to the image (with no colour management profile) to get the colour and luminosity patches of a Macbeth chart to line up exactly.
I was thinking that if i wanted to make luminosity adjustments other photos in the set that don’t have a Macbeth chart–to get them perceptually closer to the reference photo–that it might be better to apply the LUT first.
Of course now that you ask the question i realize i have no good reason to assume that is the way to go.
I would think, and I might be totally wrong, that if you’re applying the same lut to everything, then it shouldn’t matter. The pipeline is fixed.
If the image set was captured in the same light and same aperture/shutter speed and ISO, I don’t see why you couldn’t just apply the same toolchain to the others as you applied to make the chart image…
If the exposures are different, then you’d need to subsequently crank in the appropriate EC to drag each of the other images to the same light value (LV) as the chart image.
I see why you might want to adjust tone after applying the Haldclut, but I think consistent processing is probably more important…
IIIInteresting…
Well its finicky work, and light can change from moment to moment.
I shoot textures for CG and photogrametry. So the idea is to nail the luminosity as well as Colour for every shot. And I’m talking getting the photo RGB values to the Macbeth reference values here. Very finicky.
I shoot the Mcbeth chart then use 3d Lut Creator to ‘solve’ the luminosity as well as Colour for a reference photo that has the Macbeth in it. I then use 3d Lut to generate a Haldclut, which basically acts as a profile (DCP) and LUT to bring into RT.
However, I must move onto the other shots ( with no chart) after calibrating with the reference photo. I apply the same tool chain, copying the reference photo RT profile to the others in the set.
BUT… if i see the luminosity has changed between shots (sometimes 100 outdoor shots) then ill want to make an adjustment to bring it into the same perceptual range as the others.
All this opens the question, should the luminosity of the shot be adjusted then fed into the LUT, or fed into the LUT then adjusted???It must produce two different outcomes.
Now Im starting to think the LUT should come second. So use a luminosity curve to bring the shot in question into a closer perceptual range as the reference shot… so that the LUT will fit it the same way it does the reference.
hummm… tricky
Yes, that resonates. That way, all the colors have a consistent starting point for the LUT.
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