10 April 2012

Photography Musing

I've been thinking about RAW photos recently, even though I can't remember what put them in my head. Possibly post-processing all the photos from Miami. So I reinstalled CHDK on my camera (a cool little program that gives Canon point and shoot cameras the ability to record RAW photo data, and a bunch of other cool stuff) and messed around with it. I finally got it working today and the difference in photo quality is spectacular.

The one on top is the JPG.





See the way the carpet and the bag are over-exposed and the shadows around the table are quite dark. The RAW file smooths all of this out and gives a really balanced light. That's really impressive. It also saves the image at a higher resolution, but I think that could be because I don't have my camera set to the absolute highest resolution.

I just wanted to post my findings here. Now I'm off to clean the kitchen.
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7 comments:

  1. davidnarbyApril 11, 2012 at 1:32 AM

    CHDK Cool

    Hello Ria,

    that's a really cool kit. Makes a huge difference in the photos.

    I want one.

    Love, Brian.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 11, 2012 at 10:28 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    You don't need it. Your camera can take raw photos by itself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. riaApril 11, 2012 at 10:34 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    Actually, there's a really interesting article on raw photography. It explains quite well why raw photos look so bad at first and why they need more post-processing than jpg photos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. davidnarbyApril 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    I was thinking for my Canon rather than for the Nikon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. riaApril 11, 2012 at 10:38 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    You have a Canon? Well, I can help you set it up in 2 and a half weeks :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. davidnarbyApril 11, 2012 at 10:59 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    Yea, I have a Canon, that would be great. Did you see the CHDK video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETzljip7dKo

    ReplyDelete
  7. riaApril 11, 2012 at 11:06 AM

    Re: CHDK Cool

    Oh wow. This video would have saved me a day of frustration. He missed one step, though. See the way there are many different versions for some camera models? You have to get the right version for the Canon firmware currently on your camera.
    The CHDK wiki explains how to do this using a file called vers.req. Other than that, you should be okay following the steps in the video to set it up yourself.

    ReplyDelete

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