Snowfall in Chadron, December 14, 2019

Snowfall illuminated by a street light, Chadron, Nebraska, December 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

 This fall and early winter, Chadron has received snow more often that in years past, random 2013 blizzards and so forth aside. Every time I see snowfall in the cone of light from a street lamp, I get the urge to photograph it. The sharp line between the lit area and the unlit area makes for a strong composition element. Two variations I worked with: slow shutter speeds to accentuate the lines of snow, and fast shutter speeds. The question is finding a balance between fast enough shutter speed and the lowest sensitivity to allow that shutter speed. ISO 25,000 is just too noisy, but ISO 3200 wasn't bad at all.

Snowfall illuminated by a street light, Chadron, Nebraska, December 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

The FARcast Episode 10: Dave Collins

The FARcast Episode 9: Kim Cox

Snow in Chadron, November 30, 2019

Snowstorm in Chadron, Nebraska, November 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

 The end of November brought a great big snowstorm in Chadron. The original photos are much flatter, so I did some slight contrast adjustments. I always like the texture that snowflakes add to a scene, though you usually need plenty of light or plenty of sensitivity to freeze the movement of the flakes. The tree photo below is in the middle, with some motion blur for the flakes.

Snowstorm in Chadron, Nebraska, November 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

The original tree scene. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Steam Rising from Cascade Creek, November 27, 2019

Steam rises from Cascade Creek in the Black Hills National Forest, November 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I've wanted to visit Cascade Creek in the winter to see how it looks with snow on the ground. Following a snowfall, I took the opportunity to head up and take a look. It's wonderful to see bare trees with bright green growth in the water, plus a little steam in the cold air. This scene focuses on trees in the foreground, with the steam adding some nearby aerial perspective.

Get It Right (In Camera?)

Get It Right

(In Camera?)

Originally written in 2014. 

While meandering through some work on Photo.net, I came across this study by Lex Jenkins. He has some interesting thoughts on the idea of "get it right in the camera." Here, he turns the idea into an exercise and takes the creed to it's full conclusion, producing a JPEG out of the camera using nothing but controls available in the camera. For him, the process was less than pleasing.

This got me thinking about how I present the argument to my own students, because I do try to stress the importance of "getting it right in camera." It's important to note, however, what exactly is going on behind that phrase. It will naturally be interpreted in different ways by different people; they will contribute their own experiences and biases to their interpretation. Allow me to explain how my experiences and biases contribute to my interpretation of "getting it right in camera."

Get the photo as close as you can in camera so you can finish the work as painlessly as possible. This extended version of the aphorism takes many cues from Thom Hogan's admonition to capture optimal data.

Use all of the tricks you know, and keep looking for more, to capture optimal data. The usual tips apply: tripod, handling technique, appropriate aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, focal length, white balance, focus…

Pre-visualize the result, as much as you can. What do you want the end of this thing to be? What can you do now, in the field, to accomplish that end?

Part of Jenkins's exercise included an in-camera JPEG as the result. Naturally, this gets in the way of optimal data, because of the limited adjustments available to an in-camera JPEG. The toning and color adjustments he made in the camera are better made during post-processing.

As an exercise, trying to produce a finished JPEG from the camera, and only the camera, is useful. It helps you focus on what kind of adjustments you want to make in post, and to what degree.

The file that comes out of the camera is only half-finished. It may not need much post-processing, or it may need dozens of hours. But it's only part of the story.

The FARcast Episode 8: Scott Cavin

The FARcast Episode 7: Steve Coughlin

The FARcast Episode 6: Con Marshall

The FARcast Episode 5: Megan Northrup

The FARcast Episode 4: Aaron Field

The FARcast Episode 3: Karen Pope

The FARcast Episode 2: Josh Ellis

The FARcast Episode 1: Kurt Kinbacher

Branch on the Water, October 13, 2019

A tree branch rests on the water at the Chadron Reservoir, October 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

A quiet evening down at the reservoir. I got the tripod way down toward the water, trying to avoid too much mud, to get this branch in the foreground. Otherwise, there wasn't too much on this part of the shore to work with. The fall colors were muted this year, but I got a few from the trees on the far shore to help me out. Plenty of color contrast from the blue sky to balance the warm tones on the shore. The silhouette and reflection of the branch creates the most interest for me, with some negative space to go with the reflection.

Trees and Leaves at Soldier Creek, September 29, 2019

Trees and leaves in the Soldier Creek Wilderness, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

On this visit to the Soldier Creek Wilderness, I was shooting with a 50mm lens at f/2, looking for ways to embrace the limited depth of field and softened rendering. This lens can be sharp wide open, but the plane of focus must be just right. I found this partially fallen tree in the shade, draped with red leaves, against a background of livelier trees. Fall colors went quickly this year thanks to some early snow. The dark shapes of the foreground tree provide contrast against the more colorful background, while the spots of red up front add a useful dynamic to create an additional plane of foreground material. Plenty of chaos within the smaller branches, but the large trunk on top anchors things.

Tree Branches at Sylvan Lake, September 22, 2019

Trees on the trail at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

The trail behind Sylvan Lake has plenty of leafy trees to work with, but this gnarly gnarled specimen was certainly interesting in the mid-morning light. There's plenty of chaos in the zigzagging branches and black and white tones.

Storm over the Black Hills, September 17, 2019

A storm rolls over the Black Hills, viewed from the Mount Coolidge Lookout Tower in Custer State Park, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I keep meaning to go up Mount Coolidge, but too often the road is closed or some other reason blocks my way. This time, I was fortunate to photograph a storm as it rolled in from the distant hills and swept over me, with all the wind and rain I cared to get hit by. This is a straightforward view of the tree canopy off toward the mountains, with the clouds capping the scene. I'm not quite happy with the colors; it's a tad blue for my liking. Next round of editing will be to warm things up a bit, which should help.

That's better. A bit more neutral.

Trees in Spearfish Canyon, September 16, 2019

Trees in Spearfish Canyon, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

The fall colors are starting in Spearfish Canyon, and on the way to photograph moving water at a slow shutter speed, I was looking for opportunities to work with the colors. The birch-or-aspen-I-can-never-remember-which trunks serve as great anchors in the dark background, while the leaves take their place strongly in the foreground. I like the zigzag pattern created by the negative space around the leaf clusters.

Sunflower and Sun on the Water, September 15, 2019

Flower at Keith Cascade Springs in the Black Hills National Forest, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Working with selective focus and background placement at Cascade Springs in South Dakota. The stream in the background has sunlight glinting on it, and at 70mm and f/2.8, and at this particular distance from the flower and water, and at that particular distance between the flower and water, you get this particular sort of background. I shifted around a fair amount to see how I could arrange the background shapes, while trying to keep the flower in focus as it shifted in the breeze. It's a fun activity.

Dawn to Dark Time Lapse, September 14, 2019

When CSC completed its new football stadium in time for the 2018 season, I wanted to get a time lapse video of the first game, which would be played under the lights. I set up my camera before dawn that day, and recorded a good sunrise and daytime leading up to kickoff. About a half hour before kickoff, it became obvious that the thunderheads getting closer and closer were going to cause problems. Just before the rain came, I pulled the camera in, cutting the time lapse short just as the fantastic sunset clouds from the storm were coming in.
My goal then was to try round two the next year (round two in 2018 wasn't going to happen, since no other night games were scheduled). Come early morning on September 14, I set up the camera, this time so I could easily attach a rain cover and continue to shoot even during bad weather. Fortunately, the forecast was good, the sunset was great, and I got the time lapse.
The camera was a Canon G12 running the CHDK firmware and a time lapse LUA program at one minute intervals. I assembled the panorama in Premiere Pro at 30 frames per second, 1 frame per image, and 2 frames per image during the game.

Gnarled Trees at Fort Robinson, September 8, 2019

Smiley Canyon, Fort Robinson State Park, September 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

This spot intrigues me because it has a variety of rocky outcroppings and dead trees in stages of decay. I just hope a wildfire doesn’t blow through here, because it would be a shame to lose the wonderfully weathered branches that are building up as prime kindling. It becomes a test of arranging the branches against the right background, watching out for too much and not enough contrast. I’m still working at it.

Dam Motion Blur, August 31, 2019

Water cascades down the spillway at Tie Hack Reservoir, Bighorn National Forest, August 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Water spills down the stepped wall of the Tie Hack Reservoir. The steps are large, but you feel like you could get quite the experience trying to climb against the flow of water. I have increased the contrast to showcase the idea of graphite on textured paper, which seems appropriate for the scene. There is plenty of variety on each step. The curves and splashes of the water are all subtly different.

Flowers and Yucca in the Nebraska National Forest, August 23, 2019

Sunflower double exposure at the Black Hills Overlook in the Nebraska National Forest, August 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

This is a double exposure with a focus shift. One frame is focused on the flowers, the other on the yucca leaves. The unfocused areas in each frame create haloes of color and tone around the sharper elements. I like the sense of sharp and unsharp this technique brings. There are little details, like the stem of the foreground flower, that draw the eye as you try to make sense of what’s in the scene.

Rattlesnake at Toadstool Park, August 18, 2019

A prairie rattlesnake tests the air for danger at Toadstool Geological Park in August 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I went from 2005 to 2018 without seeing any rattlesnakes at Toadstool Park. Then I saw just a hint of one slithering away and rattling in 2018. Here in 2019, this is rattlesnake number three, the second for just this visit! Fortunately, I had a long lens and was able to take some photos from a safe distance. Probably irritated the snake to no end. It just wanted to relax and think about digesting its last meal.

Dropkicking Moth, August 17, 2019

Moths at Keith Cascade Springs in the Black Hills National Forest, August 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I have a nice, cleanly focused and arranged photo of these moths on the thistle, complete with a spider below them. But let’s talk about this shot, which is obviously a failure because of all the blur. But wait, is that moth kicking the other off the flower? What kind of moth combat is this? It’s whimsical in a violent sort of way. I’m not a fan of the stem in the background that cuts through the frame. Put that on the list of things to remove in post, along with the little bit of thistle poking up from the bottom of the frame.

Historical Photography Exhibit

A historical exhibit about Chadron State College was shown in the Fall of 2019. One of my long-term projects at CSC has been to archive the various historical photos from the college’s history. For this exhibit, I selected a number of photos and put them in a slideshow, which ran alongside various other artifacts in the show.

Moth at Fort Robinson State Park, July 14, 2019

Moth at Fort Robinson State Park, July 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I am always drawn to a cooperative butterfly or moth, and sometimes I have a lens that can focus close enough to show the critter. In addition to the great wing coloration, I like the detail of the grass, a combination of points and curves to mirror the antennae and wings of the moth.

Evening at Fort Robinson State Park, July 8, 2019

Ridge lines at Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, July 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I have been drawn to the hills around Smiley Canyon at Fort Robinson. When the sun gets low they show up as a lovely set of lines. This is a simple composition anchored by the single tree in the foreground. I like the on-off pattern of tree to hills to trees to … more hills! Capped by another set of lines in the clouds. It’s nothing but lines all the way down. Here’s something else I want to see more—the tiny line of trees on the distant horizon. I need to set up an Andreas Feininger New York skyline from 20 miles away kind of long lens. A 500mm with a double extender on a small sensor. In the end it will be a blurry heat haze mess that’s just a line of tree silhouettes, but it’ll be MY blurry hazy mess.

Crow Butte from Nebraska National Forest, June 27, 2019

Evening in the Nebraska National Forest, looking toward Crow Butte, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I’ve been exploring the relationship between near and far landmarks from ridges in the Nebraska National Forest. This shot with a long lens shows Crow Butte and the skyline beyond. The landscape takes on a variety of characters even in the course of one evening as the sun sets and the light changes. I set up this composition to show extreme foreground and background objects. The bright grass helps lighten up the middle ground, and feels like a good balance for tonal contrast.

Unfocused Circles, Black Hills National Forest, June 21, 2019

Grass, out of focus, at Keith Cascade Springs in the Black Hills National Forest, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sometimes when I’m out shooting, I’ll play with out-of-focus shapes. This usually happens when I chance to see through the lens when it’s seriously out of focus and the subject I see through it has enough contrast to warrant further exploration. Probably something I need to play with on every shoot, so I get a better idea when to try it. Anyway, this arrangement of f/2.8 circles and cat’s eye ovals has an interesting zig-zag feeling. I kept the brightest shape in the center, flanked by the rest. A bit of order in the chaos.

Sunrise, Nebraska National Forest, June 16, 2019

Sunrise over the Nebraska National Forest, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

After a fun morning shoot, I visited the Nebraska National Forest again the next day, this time a bit earlier. The sun comes up early this time of year, so you have to account for a pre-5 a.m. wake up call. These lovely pink, purple, and blue colors are worth it. I’m not entirely pleased with the foreground. There are some pleasant trees and ridges, but I need a little extra to give the composition more depth.

Morning Light, Nebraska National Forest, June 15, 2019

Morning light on ridges in the Nebraska National Forest, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

There are a variety of ridge lines in this part of the Nebraska National Forest that are dotted with trees. I was out early to get the sun lighting the ridge edges. This composition plops a tree in the front middle to establish dominance, then works backward to show all sorts of linear elements, and finishes with some lower-contrast silhouettes in the distance.

Cloud Patterns over Chadron, June 14, 2019

Clouds over Chadron, Nebraska, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

One of those evenings with a wide range of tonality and some subtle shapes to go with it. I pushed the contrast and color up for this, to emphasize the warm and cold colors.

Art Show at Mari Sandoz Center

Work in the Summer 2018 show “Come See What I Saw” at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center.

Rodeo in Chadron, Nebraska, September 2011. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Aerial view of farmland and canyons in the Nebraska National Forest, June 2018. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Horses on a hillside at Fort Robinson State Park, March 2011. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Windmill and Crow Butte, seen from Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, July 2013. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Truck on Rainy Highway 20, June 2, 2019

A truck heads east on Highway 20 in Dawes County, Nebraska, June 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Single-point perspective, with curves. The wet road has a wonderful gleam as it reflects the sky, and I pushed the tones quite a bit for extra contrast and moodiness. I like the scene well enough for the lines and tones and cloud shapes, but the truck provides the finishing touch. The high exhaust pipes and headlights evoke a menacing creature rising over the hill.

Dual Card Slots: It's the Law

The release of the Canon EOS R and Nikon Z6 and Z7 raised so much fuss regarding their lack of dual memory card slots that several photographers' heads exploded. It turns out that dual memory card slots are the most important issue for photographers. The issue certainly comes out ahead of the future of the industry, the death of photojournalism, and Uncle Ed with his smartphone who can shoot your wedding cheaper than those shysters with the big heavy cameras.

Yes, the internet photography community has it right. It's the law that real cameras for professionals have to have dual memory card slots. No professional or aspiring professional would dare be caught fooling around with a camera that can only write to a single memory card.

This is true. Professional photographers are legally obligated to use cameras that have (at least) two memory card slots, both of which are legally required to save copies of the photos being taken. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on this in 2017 when they unanimously sided with that guy on the DPReview forum who wouldn't be caught dead using an old-fashioned single-memory-card-slot camera. The case was Technology v Technique. Look it up. It's on the books.

As a Nikon user, I can attest to the real necessity of having two memory card slots. I shot with a lot of Nikon bodies prior to their bodies with two slots. It was the fifth circle of hell in the old days. I think I only completed one shoot in twenty where the single memory card in my camera didn't lose images. Oftentimes, I could tell that the memory card was losing images because there was a smell like burning plastic coming from the card.  Other times, the memory card door on the camera would spontaneously flip open, and the card would eject itself, laughing at me as it hurtled toward the ground. What I wouldn't have given for a D70 with two card slots! So many lost photos, not to mention angry clients.

To this day, I'm not sure how I got through my school years with only one memory card slot. In the early days of digital photography, I was one of the first people to shoot digital photos for my high school yearbook. Well, I liked the speed and efficiency of putting my photos directly into the electronic page layout instead of marking crop lines on 3x5 prints with a grease pencil like a schmuck. Don't get me started on the problems of film (see below)!

Anyway, I had to redo so many classroom scenes just to get a handful of shots that hadn't been mangled by the memory card gremlins. Let me tell you, everyone at the basketball games really gets upset when you ask them to redo that game-winning shot from half-court because the file got corrupted because there was only one memory card in the camera. It's not my fault. Cameras with two memory card slots simply didn't exist.

It was more of the same in college. Whether it was photojournalism or graphic design work, I barely scraped by with D's, thanks to not having two memory card slots. While the other students made do with film (which has its own problems) and paste-up, I just had to try to be on the cutting edge. I figured better days were ahead, and sure enough, students today get their photographic projects done early, thanks to having dual memory card slots in their cameras.

Today, I follow the law. When I'm shooting promotional photos and videos at work, all of my cameras have dual memory card slots and they're writing every 1 and 0 to both cards. Same goes for my personal photography. The last time I used an old camera with only one memory card slot (the new ones had dead batteries or something), I had to cover the label with electrical tape in case a cop saw what I was doing. And sure enough, only three out of the hundred-fifty photos I took were mostly free of glitches from the single memory card slot. That brochure was not the success it should have been.

Let me get started on film. Obviously, we ran into the same problems with film. There's only one frame being exposed at a time with film, so you have no opportunity to have the peace of mind backup that you get with two memory card slots. Some people would fool themselves by taking two shots, so they had two frames of film for that particular photo. Well, that sure was a false premise. For one, when the back of the camera inevitably popped open and the film canister fell out of the camera and landed on the ground and popped open, it didn't matter how many "backup" frames you took. They all got ruined. Not to mention the fact that even with a fast motor drive, you sure ain't going to get a proper backup exposure of an action scene.

Back to reality. Of the eighteen digital cameras I've regularly used over the years, four of them have two memory card slots. If I have a second memory card in the camera, it's for overflow, not backup. I might set the camera to write JPEGs to the second card for quick offload to a client.

The number of times I've had memory card issues has been minimal. Two times stand out to me. Once, I touched a memory card and hit it with a static electricity zap. Corrupted files resulted. Solution: don't handle the card on thick carpet or during a lightning storm. Second, a flaky memory card reader wasn't downloading from the card correctly, and I had to download some files twice. Solution: get a different card reader.

The number of times I've lost photos because the single memory card in the camera fouled up? None. Knock on wood. You'd better figure that you're more likely to have problems with the camera itself than the memory card, so two slots or ten won't make any difference.

I've shot weddings, sporting events, news coverage, and promotional materials, not to mention the really important personal work, all without worrying about whether my camera had two memory card slots. There are better things to worry about, such as writing a ridiculous essay on a ridiculous topic.

Evening at Cascade Falls, May 31, 2019

Keith Memorial Cascade Falls in the Black Hills National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Cascade Falls is a beautiful place, despite the signs warning about poison ivy and rattlesnakes. So far, I’ve only seen one snake, and it wasn’t one of those. I like the evening light back lighting the waterfall and throwing a shadow from the grass in the middle. This is a long enough exposure to record some motion in the water, giving it a brushed look. The foreground foliage and darker background elements anchor the central rocks and water. A few things to fix: lens flare in the top center, and a few errant lines on the right.

Butte and Clouds at Fort Robinson, May 16, 2019

Clouds over a butte near Cherry Creek Pond in Fort Robinson State Park, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

A composition on a flat plane, cut in the middle. This breaks the rule that says you can't have a real or implied line in the middle and the rule that says you have to have something in the foreground to go with something in the background. I feel like the ultimate rebel, and this would get an F in any decent photography course.

I liked the mirror effect created by the similar shapes of the clouds and butte. With the cloud positioned directly above the butte, the effect is magnified, and I find my eye jumping between the two objects, finding new details to match and compare. It's interesting to play with an arrangement that's a little less traditional.

Sunset at the Black Hills Overlook, May 15, 2019

Yucca at the Black Hills Overlook in the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset at the Black Hills Overlook, and while the sky was looking good, the sun was hiding behind the thunderheads, leaving the ground looking a bit flat. I liked the composition, which has more yucca than the usual single that I put in my foregrounds. To open up the shadows, I did some selective dodging on the yucca. The result isn't perfect, and certainly isn't realistic, but it provides an eyeline from fore to aft, and ground to sky. Plus we get two middle ground elements: the yucca group and the rugged ridge away yonder.

An Evening at the Black Hills Overlook, May 15, 2019

 

Evening clouds at Chadron State Park, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Bare tree overlooking a valley at the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Looking toward sunset at the Black Hills Overlook in the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Yucca at the Black Hills Overlook in the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Tree at sunset in the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Yucca and grass at sunset in the Nebraska National Forest, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Out on the Water, Box Butte Reservoir, May 10, 2019

Dock at Box Butte Reservoir, May 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

A study in organized elements. The clean lines of the dock and horizon are offset by the clouds and water. But even those have their own order. I am fascinated by the scale of lighting on distant objects like clouds and the moon. The principles are the same as an object 10 feet from me, but the scale makes it hard to figure the line from sun to highlight and cast shadow. If you drop too far down that rabbit hole, you might decide that the earth is flat. Obviously not. It's cylindrical.

Parenting Tips

As someone without kids, I have lots of good advice for parents.

• Your children may occasionally ask you which of them you love more. It’s important to let them know that they are equally important to you, ranking just below fishing time, quiet time, and mixed drinks time.
• Every so often when introducing your kids to people, refer to them as “My son Eddie, and my good son Mike.” Switch names from time to time to keep them on their toes. When you post to social media celebrating their birthday, say, “Happy birthday favorite son Eddie!” and then, “Happy birthday Mike!”
• If you have twins, buy them similar but not identical cakes so they can have a spirited debate over which one is better.

Morning in the Nebraska National Forest, April 20, 2019

 

Yucca and pines in the Nebraska National Forest, April 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Pines in the Nebraska National Forest, April 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Pines in the Nebraska National Forest, April 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Remnants in the Nebraska National Forest, April 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Frost on Trees at Smiley Canyon, February 22, 2019

Frost on trees at Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, February 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Smiley Canyon Scenic Drive winds between the hills, a great Sunday drive. There are good stopping points for photos throughout the route. The foreground trees here are on the flatter part before the hills really start. Normally, the landscape is brown and gray this time of year, but a layer of frost creates a whole new world. I counterbalance the round shapes of the trees with the S-curve of the road and strong angle of the rising hill beyond it. Some fog adds atmospheric perspective. I'm enjoying the warm tones from the foreground grass, which gets repeated here and there throughout the scene.

Cold trees and hillside viewed from Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, February 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

 

Lightroom Enhance Details Test Cases

The February 2019 update for Adobe Lightroom featured the Enhance Details tool, which allows photographers to vector in on fine patterns and demosaicing problem areas. Fine details have a better chance of being extra finely detailed. I was excited to see what this new tool could do for some of my old work. I thought of three examples that were worth testing.

Test Case 1: Veterans Memorial Bridge

Veterans Memorial Bridge, Sioux City, Iowa. Nikon D70 with AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. (Photo by Daniel Binkard) Click to view full size.

On a sunny August day in 2004, I went on a photo shoot with my dear mom at Larsen Park in Sioux City, Iowa. One of my photographs of the bridge showed moiré patterns on the support cables that carry the road from the overhead arch.

Processed in dcraw with -d flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

Processed in dcraw with -D flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The first two samples are using what are essentially dcraw utilities. The -d and -D flags are grayscale versions. The -d flag has no interpolation; the -D flag has no interpolation and shows the original unscaled pixel values. See the dcraw man page for details on all of the demosaic possibilities.

Processed in dcraw with -h flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -h flag in dcraw creates a half-size color image. Without taking the time to read the manual, I will make a manly (i.e., clueless) assumption that a half-size interpolation is made by averaging every four RGGB pixels into a single pixel and algorithmizing an approximatized semi-correct color. That's the way they teach it at Harvard Medical School.

Processed in dcraw with -q 0 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 0 (zero) flag in dcraw creates a full-resolution color image using bilinear interpolation. This is about as quick and dirty as you can go with demosaicing to get all of the megapixels you paid for. Note the sawtooth moiré patterns that are visible on most of the cables and even some of the more solid edges. Diagonals don't suffer as much, but anything close to horizontal or vertical gets hit.

Processed in dcraw with -q 1 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 1 (one) flag in dcraw creates a full-resolution color image using Variable Number of Gradients interpolation. The rest of the examples will be full-resolution color images, so I don't have to repeat that every time. An offhand observation I made was that VNG interpolation took longer to process than the higher-quality PPG interpolation. Might have been a transient processing spike from a YouTube video in the background, though. This is close to what I saw in 2004, when I was processing raw files with a dcraw front end, such as UFRaw. I believe it wasn't long after that the front ends gained the ability to specify which interpolation algorithm to use.

Processed in dcraw with -q 2 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 2 (two) flag in dcraw creates an image using Patterned Pixel Grouping interpolation. This does a fine job with most of the straight lines, but if you look carefully at the intersections of cables and horizontal structure elements, you'll see tiny artifacts. These will appear again below.

Processed in dcraw with -q 3 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 3 (three) flag in dcraw creates an image using Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed interpolation. This is slower than VNG, again by my rough estimation, but I do remember reading this warning back in 2004. AHD clears up the last of the artifacts, even keeping the intersecting edges clean. In that respect, it's better than what Adobe is doing with their normal demosaic routine.

Embedded JPEG from NEF, with crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

For fun, here is the embedded JPEG with the original D70 demosaic routine. It's fairly clean, aside from JPEG compression artifacts. There is some slight moiré on the cables, and some artifacts where the cables meet the horizontal structure. These artifacts take the form of one- or two-pixel offsets at the intersection. They will appear again.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw, Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

The modern Adobe Camera Raw demosaic is not terribly different than PPD interpolation. It's probably using that very algorithm as a starting point. The same nit picky little artifacts appear at the intersections.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw “Enhance Details,” Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

The February 2019 Enhance Details tool takes quite a while to process, because it uses a neural-net processor, a learning computer, some sort of evil witch's brew of custom interpolation. I know, it applies AHD to the busy areas and PPG to the clear areas. Edges and intersecting areas clean up nicely. I was hoping for clean support cables, free of magenta/green color casts, but that's not happening. However, the more I look at the differences between the regular ACR demosaic and this one, I find more good details that it brings out.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw, Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Local adjustment brush with Moiré at +100 applied to support cables. Click to view full size.

Going back to the regular Version 5 processing on the NEF. This time I used a small Adjustment Brush, painting over each pair of support cables with the Moiré +100 setting. When Adobe does de-moiré, it blurs color information. Used judiciously, this is often not an issue, but note where the support cable intersects with the cloud at the top of the image. I was sloppy with my brushwork, hitting some of the cloud along with the cable. It's entirely possible to go back in and fine-tune the brushwork to clean up this kind of side effect.

Is the Enhance Details version worth the time and disk space?

Based on what I'm seeing, in this case it is not worth the time. The original NEF is 6 MB. The enhanced DNG is 30.5 MB. It is not worth the disk space. However, keep this tool in mind for pulling out the last bits of detail in images like this. It's amazing how much detail can end up in these old six megapixel files.

Test Case 2: Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area

Yaquina Head cobblestone beach, Newport, Oregon. Nikon D2x with AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G. (Photo by Daniel Binkard) Click to view full size.

On a warm July day in 2012, I ventured up to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area at Newport, Oregon, which features a cobblestone beach and plenty of life to see in the tidepools. This scene is remarkable for the moiré in the hillside staircase.

Processed in dcraw with -d flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

Processed in dcraw with -D flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

As before, the -d and -D flags are grayscale versions. The -d flag has no interpolation; the -D flag has no interpolation and shows the original unscaled pixel values.

Processed in dcraw with -h flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -h flag in dcraw creates a half-size color image.
 

Processed in dcraw with -q 0 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 0 flag in dcraw creates a full-resolution color image using bilinear interpolation. This is about as quick and dirty as you can go with demosaicing to get all of the megapixels you paid for.
 

Processed in dcraw with -q 1 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 1 flag in dcraw creates an image using Variable Number of Gradients interpolation.

Processed in dcraw with -q 2 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 2 flag in dcraw creates an image using Patterned Pixel Grouping interpolation.

Processed in dcraw with -q 3 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 3 flag in dcraw creates an image using Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed interpolation.

Embedded JPEG from NEF, cropped. Click to view full size.

For fun, here is the embedded JPEG with the original D2x demosaic routine. It's fairly clean, aside from JPEG compression artifacts. Nikon's internal processing shows strong generational improvements when comparing the D2x to the D70. Moiré is fairly well controlled.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw, Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

The modern Adobe Camera Raw demosaic is again not terribly different than PPD interpolation. In some areas Adobe's processing deals with the artifacts better; in some areas dcraw's PPD works better.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw “Enhance Details,” Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

The results of the Enhance Details tool make for an interesting comparison. In a few subtle areas it is an improvement over the other demosaic routines; but overall the results are worse. Sawtooth edges make an appearance where they didn't before.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw, Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Local adjustment brush with Moiré at +100 applied to staircase. Click to view full size.

Going back to the regular Version 5 processing on the NEF. This time I used the Adjustment Brush, painting over almost the entirety of the staircase with the Moiré +100 setting. The saturation loss from chroma blur makes an appearance, but once again the target area is not colorful to begin with. A side effect is that I can also remove any vestiges of chromatic aberration that the Camera Raw processing didn't clear up. Note the red edges on the diagonal banisters in the earlier examples; those are gone in this version.

Is the Enhance Details version worth the time and disk space?

Based on what I'm seeing, in this case it is not worth the time. The original NEF is 12.1 MB. The enhanced DNG is 59.8 MB. It is not worth the disk space.

Test Case 3: Toadstool Geologic Park

Toadstool Geologic Park hoodoos, Crawford, Nebraska. Nikon D70 with AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G. (Photo by Daniel Binkard) Click to view full size.

On a September evening in 2006, I went with a group of friends to explore Toadstool Park at night. I brought my flash and some colored gels to work with colored light painting. These hoodoos are lit by several flash pops through a red gel over the course of a three minute exposure. Lighting like this is severely taxing for a Bayer demosaic routine, because most of the data is contained only in the red pixels. That is, only about one-quarter of the available pixels are collecting useful data, so it's kind of like shooting with 1.5 megapixels instead of 6.

Processed in dcraw with -d flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

Processed in dcraw with -D flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

As before, the -d and -D flags are grayscale versions. The -d flag has no interpolation; the -D flag has no interpolation and shows the original unscaled pixel values.

Processed in dcraw with -h flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -h flag in dcraw creates a half-size color image.

Processed in dcraw with -q 0 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 0 flag in dcraw creates a full-resolution color image using bilinear interpolation. This is about as quick and dirty as you can go with demosaicing to get all of the megapixels you paid for.

Processed in dcraw with -q 1 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 1 flag in dcraw creates an image using Variable Number of Gradients interpolation.

Processed in dcraw with -q 2 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 2 flag in dcraw creates an image using Patterned Pixel Grouping interpolation.

Processed in dcraw with -q 3 flag, cropped. Click to view full size.

The -q 3 flag in dcraw creates an image using Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed interpolation.

Embedded JPEG from NEF, cropped. Click to view full size.

For fun, here is the embedded JPEG with the original D70 demosaic routine. The JPEG compression kills quite a bit of detail in the red areas, resulting in a soft mess.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw, Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile, cropped. Click to view full size.

The modern Adobe Camera Raw demosaic is cleaner than the VNG and PPD samples. Adobe must have some black magic going on behind the scenes to treat large colored areas like this. Note how the internal shadow lines in the red areas are a bit smoother in this sample.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw “Enhance Details,” Process Version 5, Adobe Neutral profile. Sharpening, crop and exposure, contrast, saturation adjustments. Click to view full size.

Of my three test cases, this is the most obvious example of the Enhance Details tool resulting in an improvement. Definition is improved across the red areas, particularly where edges meet the sky. The original Camera Raw demosaic has blocky edges here and there, and color blurring along edges. These artifacts are greatly mitigated in the enhanced version. I also tested sharpening in Camera Raw, not shown in these samples, and it highlights the differences even more.

Is the Enhance Details version worth the time and disk space?

Based on what I'm seeing, in this case it is worth the time. The original NEF is 5.5 MB. The enhanced DNG is 25.8 MB. It is worth the disk space. 

Comments

As recommended by Adobe and 152,000 photography websites and YouTube channels, the Enhance Details tool is a worthwhile addition to the photographer's toolbox. When used on the right photo, it is capable of extracting additional details and cleaning up problem areas. Test it on your occasional portfolio photo, keep if needed, otherwise save the disk space.