I enjoyed the last play raw that accompanied my darktable tutorial, so here’s another one for my latest one! Darktable text tutorials - #11 by nish
The challenge with this image is that it’s hard to know what the focus should be, but the lighting was very interesting that day.
OOC JPEG
_6130108.ORF (14.2 MB)
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I cropped this one a little, but I’m unsure whether I prefer this or the full frame. I love the drama in the clouds.
_6130108.ORF.xmp (8.0 KB)
Hello,
Here is my proposal, I tried to create a contrast between the warm colors of the valley and cold colors for the sky and the top of the hills.
ART 1.21.1
I tried several things, some of which no doubt probably (at least partially) cancelled out each other. And, the icing on the cake: After I was done I realized my Canon camera profile had been auto-applied, which was wrong for this image. But it’s getting late, I have 700 miles to drive tomorrow and I don’t feel like starting over now. 
I wasn’t able to satisfactorily deal with the noise, but I muted it a little with some subtle smoothing. I also brought up the house a little bit for a focal point in the foreground.
Just curious – Given the majority (if not all) of the scene is likely at infinity re: focus / DOF, why shoot it at f/14? A less pinched aperture might have boosted the IQ a little bit, maybe, while still being sharp. Again, just curious.
Great atmosphere!
To be honest I’m just not great at picking the right settings! What is IQ? This is a micro 4/3 lens, and I learned pretty recently that that affects diffraction limits.
IQ == image quality
At extremely small apertures (f/22 and smaller) the effect of diffraction is pretty obvious when compared side-by-size with the same image shot at something wider (e.g., f/8). Without a direct comparison it’s less obvious but still there. It can be sometimes be significant enough to make the difference between an OK image and one that ‘snaps’, from a detail / apparent focus point of view. At f/16, etc., it’s not so dramatic and sometimes the DOF advantages of those smaller apertures will more than offset any potential loss of sharpness.
That said, I tend to mostly work at f/13 or below if possible. My f/4 lenses tend to be sharpest at f/5.6 to f/8, but keep in mind that applies only to the in-focus parts of the image. If the aperture won’t deliver the DOF you need, then what does it matter if part of it’s very crisp but other (desired) parts aren’t even in focus?
It’s all a trade-off.
But my point was since (apparently?) most or all of that image looks basically at infinity, IMO it’s worth taking at least some additional shots at an aperture more in the sweet spot of the lens. You can determine where that is by taking a series of shots. I recommend:
…in other words, do everything you can to maximize sharpness. Then in aperture-priority mode (Av) shoot a series of shots from wide open to smallest aperture. There’s really no need to even shoot raw for this, just a good high quality JPG. Besides you don’t want post-sharpening influencing what you see.
You’ll be able to see which apertures look best. And while you’re at it, if it’s a zoom lens why not shoot a series of shots at several focal lengths (at its best aperture)? For this you might use auto-focus just for convenience, but auto or manual, make sure you’re focusing on the same point each time.
You’ll end up with images that will be quantitatively (well, sorta) useful. At least you’ll learn your lens’s best focal lengths and apertures.
