Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

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dkfotas
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Joined: 22.12.2016 05:00

Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by dkfotas »

I was wondering what is recommended re:

- Make changes to the RAW files in Lightroom first (highlights, white balance, blacks, contrast, etc.), synch all files in Lightroom and then export them to Helicon Focus

OR

- First export them to Helicon Focus as TIF's, do focus stacking and bring back into Lightroom as a single processed TIF file and THEN do Lightroom adjustments?

Or any other recommendations?
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

I would recommend to use the second workflow. With the exception if tiff are in linear color space or are very underexposed. In that case, I would recommend to normalize brightness first.
Glynnr
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by Glynnr »

dkfotas wrote:I was wondering what is recommended re:

- Make changes to the RAW files in Lightroom first (highlights, white balance, blacks, contrast, etc.), synch all files in Lightroom and then export them to Helicon Focus

OR

- First export them to Helicon Focus as TIF's, do focus stacking and bring back into Lightroom as a single processed TIF file and THEN do Lightroom adjustments?

Or any other recommendations?
When you say "First export them to Helicon Focus as TIF's" is there a specific method for this in Lightroom or do you mean export the images as TIFs and then use those as source files for Helicon Focus?
dkfotas
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by dkfotas »

I probably did not use proper terminology Glynnr - I am just trying to figure out what others do when doing stacking in Helicon. Do you first do Lightroom adjustments OR first do stacking in Helicon.
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TheDocAUS
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by TheDocAUS »

One of my cameras stores it images in the DNG format. So I export from LR to Helicon as DNG, then stack and then import the stacked DNG image back into LR for processing.

You can also export other forms of RAW file as they will be converted to DNG in the export process. Helicon describes the process as the RAW-in-DNG-out mode, link here: http://www.heliconsoft.com/raw-in-dng-out/
dkfotas
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by dkfotas »

TheDocAUS wrote:One of my cameras stores it images in the DNG format. So I export from LR to Helicon as DNG, then stack and then import the stacked DNG image back into LR for processing.

You can also export other forms of RAW file as they will be converted to DNG in the export process. Helicon describes the process as the RAW-in-DNG-out mode, link here: http://www.heliconsoft.com/raw-in-dng-out/
Thanks for the reply!
gordone22
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by gordone22 »

I am thinking of using Helicon to stack landscape photos. I heard that Canon DPP is a better RAW convertor than others out there, so I was thinking of first using DPP to optimize lens aberrations and select landscape profile and export as a 16 bit tiff; and then pull into Helicon for stacking and combining into a .DNG out. Does this seem like a proper workflow? I am assuming the camera should be in manual mode and can AWB be used or do I need to set a common white balance for all pictures? Should some image sharpening be done in DPP or is it adequate with what is done in Landscape profile?
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Recommendations on workflow - Edit RAW in Lightoom first OR do Helicon first

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

I can't advise you on the details or how to shoot the best images possible to begin with, but I don't see anything wrong with the general workflow.
If all the source images are taken during a short time in the same lighting conditions, AWB should do fine (but there is also no reason not to select a preset like "Sunny" or "Cloudy" to be sure that the camera will not change color temperature settings mid-shooting).
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