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Is there a recommended order for applying edits in C1?

Francesco Guerrieri
Hello,

this is my first post to this forum. I have searched but have been unable to find the relevant information, please let me know if it has already been discussed (maybe it's a FAQ?).

I would like to know if there is a recommended order for applying edits to a (raw) image or the engine takes care of that by itself (as I hope :-) ).
In particular, do I have to remember to apply sharpening as a last step, or does the engine intelligently apply the edits in the best order (e.g. it first applies WB, curves, ... and then applies noise reduction and sharpening in the most effective way).

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!

Francesco
ps: I take the opportunity to say that I'm really happy with C1, it is usually able to give me the results that I look for in a very short time! But I'm sure that you all already know it.
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Comments

12 comments

Date Votes
  • Paul Steunebrink
    First and foremost, there is no relation between the order of adjustments you make and how the preview looks and the engine processes the adjustments. The engine has its own order of processing.

    But...

    ... there is room for debate about the order in which you make adjustments!
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  • Francesco Guerrieri
    Hi Paul, thanks for your reply.

    Could you clarify what you mean?

    If the engine reorders the various adjustments at it sees fit (let's say, for example, that in order to produce an image (jpg, tiff, or a print) sharpening is applied as a last step even if I dialed in more or less sharpening before doing anything else), what role does my precise ordering play?

    Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

    Francesco
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  • mli20
    Hi Francesco

    You ask: "...In particular, do I have to remember to apply sharpening as a last step, ..."

    In the userguide, the section on Sharpening and Focus, it is recommended that "aggressive sharpening" is applied after the image has been resized for print. I understand this to mean creative/selective sharpening.

    However, there is no tool for resizing images in CO7 before creatice/selective sharpening applied as a local adjustment.

    So the answer to your question quoted here is yes..., but you cannot do it in CO7.

    Cheers,

    Mogens
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  • Francesco Guerrieri
    Hello Mogens, thanks.

    Actually, as far as I know, in C1 Express there aren't local adjustments, at all. I am still learning the layer tool in C1 Pro which I am trialing...
    I had searched for some reference like the one that you quote, I will look again. Thanks for the pointer.

    So you answer in the affirmative to my question, but what about the larger topic ? i.e. : what is the recommended order for processing a (raw) image?

    Thanks !

    Francesco
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  • Christian Gruner
    For the user, there's no order with regards to quality. But it might be easier to explain, if you provide an example? What's your flow?
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  • Paul Steunebrink
    [quote="Francesco from Rome" wrote:
    Hi Paul, thanks for your reply.

    Could you clarify what you mean?

    If the engine reorders the various adjustments at it sees fit (let's say, for example, that in order to produce an image (jpg, tiff, or a print) sharpening is applied as a last step even if I dialed in more or less sharpening before doing anything else), what role does my precise ordering play?

    Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

    Francesco

    Hi Francesco,

    What I meant is this.

    For example, you make adjustments with Exposure and set the black and white point with Levels. I would recommend to do the Exposure adjustments first because this affects the histogram that the Levels tool uses.

    If you change the Exposure slider after a Levels adjustment, I suggest to evaluate the Levels again. You can easily test this for yourself. Set an exposure slider (or leave it as is), do an auto adjust of Levels and reference the settings. Next, change the exposure slider and do a Levels auto adjust again. You will notice that the Levels black and white point will have changed.

    This order is not related to the order of processing. It has to do with adjust your image efficiently, effectively and correctly.
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  • Permanently deleted user
    Hi Francesco,
    there's no hard rule for the editing but most adopt a sequency (workflow) which works best for them. For example one of the first steps is usually checking the WB and if necessary perform adjustment. Or at a very first step a crawling through the files to identify technically bad shots (unsharp / camera shake / unwanted subject movement) just to avoid spending time with editing of photos which are for the trash bin (some classify their shots at this step already with the help of the star-system). After WB I'm normally verifying / correcting any tilt, adjusting the desired crop. Next step is exposure correction / contrast / saturation / eventually highlight and shadow recovery and so on (considering that sometimes the auto function for these seetings provide a good starting point for further tweaks). Local Adjustments with layers or other special tweaks as needed.
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  • Francesco Guerrieri
    [quote="Christian Gr" wrote:
    For the user, there's no order with regards to quality. But it might be easier to explain, if you provide an example? What's your flow?


    Hi Christian and everybody who took his time time to reply. Thanks everybody.

    I usually follow a rather "linear" edit order, I first adjust the WB, then tune exposure, shadows and highlights. Instead of working on contrast I usually prefer to set the white and black points and work with curves.
    Then I crop, and move to the detail section, with noise reduction (if needed) and sharpening.
    I don't expect that this order be problematic.
    The "problem" comes if at any step I would like to try a different solution, maybe I can go back and add clarity or structure (by the way, wonderful tools both of them), or I can decide that after all I went too contrasty. And so the "linear" order can be subverted. Hence my question, which could be summed up like this: is it a problem if I "change my mind" after I have already applied sharpening?

    I hope that now my question is clearer. From you answers (and reading the image professor blog) I am coming to understand that (as I expected) C1 takes care of the correct order for me and so I can go on experimenting as much as I like. But it's nice to know for sure!
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  • Permanently deleted user
    Hi Francesco,

    for expermenting with different edits one simply can create a copy under Image / New Variant or Clone Variant. I'm using normally a clone when the previous already had been a pretty satisfying edit. This doesn't copy the original image file so not demanding much storing space. When the tweaked version finally pleases me more than the previous then I sometimes end up deleting the earlier version(s).
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  • Christian Gruner
    [quote="Francesco from Rome" wrote:
    [quote="Christian Gr" wrote:
    For the user, there's no order with regards to quality. But it might be easier to explain, if you provide an example? What's your flow?


    Hi Christian and everybody who took his time time to reply. Thanks everybody.

    I usually follow a rather "linear" edit order, I first adjust the WB, then tune exposure, shadows and highlights. Instead of working on contrast I usually prefer to set the white and black points and work with curves.
    Then I crop, and move to the detail section, with noise reduction (if needed) and sharpening.
    I don't expect that this order be problematic.
    The "problem" comes if at any step I would like to try a different solution, maybe I can go back and add clarity or structure (by the way, wonderful tools both of them), or I can decide that after all I went too contrasty. And so the "linear" order can be subverted. Hence my question, which could be summed up like this: is it a problem if I "change my mind" after I have already applied sharpening?

    I hope that now my question is clearer. From you answers (and reading the image professor blog) I am coming to understand that (as I expected) C1 takes care of the correct order for me and so I can go on experimenting as much as I like. But it's nice to know for sure!

    You can play around as much as you like. Quality will not be degraded. Same thing if you use layers. Going +2 in expo and -2 in another layer will not degrade quality, as the engine will make sure the layer will sure to sum them all up before processing.
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  • Francesco Guerrieri
    [quote="Christian Gr" wrote:

    You can play around as much as you like. Quality will not be degraded. Same thing if you use layers. Going +2 in expo and -2 in another layer will not degrade quality, as the engine will make sure the layer will sure to sum them all up before processing.


    Hi Christian, that's great. Thanks for spelling it out explicitly!

    Best,
    Francesco
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  • Francesco Guerrieri
    [quote="Michael11" wrote:
    Hi Francesco,

    for expermenting with different edits one simply can create a copy under Image / New Variant or Clone Variant. I'm using normally a clone when the previous already had been a pretty satisfying edit. This doesn't copy the original image file so not demanding much storing space. When the tweaked version finally pleases me more than the previous then I sometimes end up deleting the earlier version(s).


    Hi Michael, thanks. In fact I do use variants. My question was about the possible degradation of the variant itself, but now I am satisfied that the engine will be smart and "do the right thing".

    Thanks for sharing your input!

    Best,
    Francesco
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