MODULE 8: PHOTO IMAGING AND

POST PROCESSING
Overview

Opening Photoshop® for the first time is like cracking open a fantasy novel that opens up an
entirely new world of strange creatures, opposite natural laws and a completely new language.
That new fantasy world is bursting with exciting possibilities yet bogged down by so many
unknowns.

Photography post processing opens up big potential for transforming an image, whether that's
to make it just as vivid as you remember or something that even defies the laws of gravity.
Digging up tutorials on specific photo edits is great but building an understanding of
photography post processing techniques allows even rookies to learn concepts that can be
applied to any image. These fundamental photography post processing techniques, from
exposure to composting, give photographers the tools to hone their craft in Photoshop®,
Lightroom® and other photo editing programs.

Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
• Define photography terms and the effect each adjustment has on the image
• Make basic photo edits and keep image quality
• Learn the workflow of Post Processing

Photography

Photography is an art form like drawing and painting. Photographers use their camera to make
us see life in a different way, feel emotions, and record stories and events. Greek for “Painting
with Light” and can be considered both an art and science. Photography is a science, because
there are basic principles of physics that govern success and Photography is art because its
beauty is subjective.

The world’s first photograph made in a camera was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore
Niépce. The photograph was taken from the upstair’s windows of Niépce’s estate in the
Burgundy region of France. This image was captured via a process known as heliography,
which used Bitumen of Judea coated onto a piece of glass or metal; the Bitumen than hardened
in proportion to the amount of light that hit it.

Fig 1. World first Photograph by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826

Exposure
An exposure is a measure of how bright a photo is as it saved to your memory card.
Sometimes referred to as finished image.
Overexposed vs Underexposed

The Photographic Triangle

A correct exposure is as simple combination of three important factors: aperture, shutter
speed and ISO.

Aperture
It is the size of the hole in the diaphragm that allows light into the camera. The larger the hole,
the more light that enters the camera in a given time. Aperture comes from the Latin for
‘opening’. f/stop values : f/1.0 f/1.1 f/1.2 f/1.4 f/1.6 f/1.8 f/2.0 f/2.2 f/2.5 f/2.8 f/3.2 f/3.5 f/4.0 f/4.5
f/5.0 f/5.6 f/6.3 f/7.1 f/8.0 f/9.0 f/10 f/11 f/13 f/14 f/16 f/18 f/20 f/22 f/25 f/29 f/32

Aperture and depth of field

The aperture does more than just control the amount of light that hits the sensor – the size of
the aperture affects the way an image looks well. Specifically, it affects the depth of field you
can achieve. Depth of field is an expression describing how much of a photo is in focus. If you
use a large aperture (a smaller f-number), you get shallow depth of field, which means that if
you take a portrait photo, your subject will be in focus, but the background will be out of focus.
Aperture (Av) are measured using F-STOPS, shown as f/# (i.e. f/16)

Av & Tv Together
The wider the aperture used, the less time – i.e. the faster shutter speed – needed to properly
expose the image. Conversely the slower the shutter speed the smaller the aperture needs to
be. For any image, there number of combinations that will make a correct exposure.

Shutter speed

The function of the shutter mechanism is to admit light into the camera, and onto the digital
media or film for a specific length of time.
B=Bulb

Note: Faster shutter speeds mean less light on the image sensor. Slower shutter speeds mean
more light.

Shutter Speed and motion capture

Control the amount of time the shutter or curtain is open. Shutter speed is measured in fractions
of seconds. Depending on the camera, it may show the shutter speed without the numerator,
i.e. 250 instead of 1/250. A doubling or halving of the time value (Tv) represents one stop of EV.
Like with aperture, shutter speed affects more than just the amount of light. It also affects
motion in photo, which makes sense, when you think about it. Your camera chip is measuring
light as long as the shutter is open. If the shutter is open for a second and if scene changes in
the duration of that second, the light reflecting off your subject will also move across the frame
Film Speed / ISO

It is the measure of the sensitivity of the film sensor in a camera. It measured in values using ISO
numbers. ISO simply stands for International Organization of Standardization. With both analog
and digital cameras, ISO refers to the same thing: the light sensitivity of either the film or
imaging sensor. ISO numbers are linear in their relationship. The higher the ISO number, the
more sensitive the film/sensor and also the more noise or grain in the image.
ISO: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800

Shutter speed: B 1” 0”8 0”6 0”5 0”4 0”3 1/4 1/5 1/6 1/8 1/10 1/13 1/ 15 1/20 1/25 1/30 1/40 1/50
1/60 1/80 1/100 1/125 1/160 1/200 1/250 1/320 1/400 1/500 1/640 1/800 1/1000 1/1250 1/1600
1/2000 1/2500 1/ 3200 1/4000 1/5000 1/6400 1/8000

Stops
The amount of light that strikes the film/chip is measured in stop and is also known as exposure
value (Ev). A difference of 1 stop is a doubling or halving of the light making the image. It is
used to measure differences in Ev of apertures, shutter speed and film speeds. “Fast” means
the camera expose a photo too quickly.

Lighting
Light is the essential ingredient of photos. One of the skills that separates photographers
from snap shooters is the ability to solve lighting problems. There are two primary factors to
consider SCIENCES for light: Direction and Colour.

Lighting – Direction
The direction the light comes from can make the image seem flat or 3-Dimensional. Front
lighting is easy to photograph, but images are generally flat. Top lighting, such as from the sun
overhead, also makes image flat and shadows are short and dark. Side lighting will emphasize
texture and contours and create long shadows.

Lighting – Colour
The colour of light is measured by temperature in Kelvin (° K). Natural light changes through
the day and humans respond psychologically to different colours, therefore the colour of a photo
will affect emotional responses. Light that is in the reds, oranges and yellows is said to be
“Warm”, conversely, “Cool” light is blue in tone.

Lighting – Colour
When taking a photo with digital camer, the while balance setting of a camera will affect the
colour cast of the image, balancing the lighting of the subject. Typical while balance settings of
a camera include tungsten, florescent, shade sunny, cloudy, flash, auto and manual. Filters can
also be used to affect the colour of light in the image
Top Ten Tips in Taking Great Pictures

1. Get down on their level.

Hold your camera at the subject eye level to capture the power of those magnetic
gazes & mesmerizing smiles.
2. Use a plain background.
Before taking the picture, check the area behind your subject.
Lookout for trees or poles sprouting from your subject head.
A cluttered background will be distracting while a plain background will
emphasize your subject.
3. Use flash outdoors.
Even the outdoors use the fill flash setting on the camera to improve your
pictures. Use it in bright sunlight to lighten dark shadows under the eyes and
nose, especially when the sun is directly overhead or behind your subject
Use it on cloudy days, to brighten up faces and make them stand out from the
background
4. Move in close.
To create impactful pictures, move in close and fill your picture with the subject
Move a few steps closer or use the zoom until the subject fills the viewfinder.
You will eliminate background and distractions and show off the details in your
subject For small object, use the camera’s macro or ‘flower’ mode to get sharp
close-ups
5. Take some vertical pictures.
Many subjects look better in a vertical picture from the Eifel Tower portraits of
your friends
Make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical
pictures. (sample Water Falls)
6. Lock the focus.
Lock the focus to create a sharp picture of off-center subjects
1. Center the subject
2. Press the shutter button halfway down
3. Re-frame your picture (while still holding the shutter button)
4. Finish by pressing the shutter button all the way
7. Move it from the middle. (rule of thirds)
• Bring your picture to life simply by placing your subject off-center
• Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid in your viewfinder. Now place your subject at one of
the intersections of lines.
• Since most cameras focus on whatever’s in the middle remember to lock the
focus on your subject before re-framing the shot.
8. Know your flash range.
• Pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be to dark
• For many cameras that’s only ten feet – about four steps away. Check your
manual to be sure.
• If the subject is further than ten feet from the camera, the picture may be too
dark.
9. Watch the light.
• Great light makes great pictures. Study the effects of light in your pictures
• For people pictures, choose the soft lighting of cloudy days. Avoid overhead
sunlight that casts harsh shadows across faces
• For scenic pictures, use the long shadows and color of early and late daylight
10. Be a picture director.
• Take an extra minute and become a picture director, not just a passive
picturetaker
• Add some props, rearrange your subjects, or try a different viewpoint
Post Processing

Post processing is process of editing the data captured by camera while taking the photo to
enhance the image. Better the data captured during clicking of photo better is the enhancement
possibility. There is more and more camera which have come into market which can capture
RAW files. Raw files have much more data at pixel level which and help in post processing and
enhancing the image.

Post processing can surely help in enhancing the image but might not be able to convert a really
bad exposure to excellent one. There are various stages of post processing based on what is
the final result that one wants to achieve.

1. Fine tuning of RAW file.

2. Converting RAW file to easily readable formats like jpg/png/tiff.
3. Editing of jpg to remove unwanted features.
4. Mixing of various files to achieve creative result.

Post Processing Software

There are basically two things that are done in post processing:
1. An algorithm is run on all existing data of pixel and minor changes are applied to
pixel data.
2. Manually selecting and Replacing the pixel data with total new data.

There is software by camera manufacturers, specialist software vendors and there are also
freeware and free software available for taking care of post processing needs. RAW file
handling and conversion is possible in RawTherapee, UFRAW, darktable, Adobe Lightroom,
Adobe camera RAW, FSViewer and many more.Jpg file editing is generally done in image
editors that have various features such as grain and red-eye removal, for example, the
Gimp(free), or Adobe Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements.

Workflow of Post Processing

There are lot of changes possible during post processing. Sequence of these changes is
important as change made at one stage can affect the effectiveness of next stage. Most of the
software are also organized in a fashion to guide the users through a smooth work flow.
Few actions can achieve great results when applied in RAW file. These can also yield result in
jpg files in case you do not have RAW file.

Some of actions that may be preferred while editing RAW file are
1. Exposure Value adjustment
2. White balance adjustment
3. Hue and tone adjustment
4. Highlight and shadow recovery
5. Vibrance and saturation adjustment
6. Cropping & Rotation

Some of the actions that can be done at RAW or jpg stage are

1. Noise reduction
2. Sharpening

Some of the actions that are preferred after conversion to jpg files are
1. Red-eye removal
2. Local touch up of cloning to erase unwanted object in frame
3. Adding of frame
4. Mixing with other jpg files like changing the background.