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Technique EDITING TIPS
The benefi ts of raw
All the editing software we’ve looked at here is designed to be used with raw fi les. You
can use JPEGs if you like, but with raw the benefi ts are greater. First and foremost,
raws have a wider dynamic range than JPEGs, which means they hold more detail
in the highlights and shadows. For landscapes, this extra detail can make all the
difference. We can pull detail out of blown-out skies and recover lost detail in deep
shadows. What’s more, raws are 12-bit or 14-bit as opposed to JPEGs, which are
8-bit. This translates to an awful lot more colour information, which means that not
only are we able to change the colour space of the image, but we can also alter the
white balance after the shot has been taken, with exactly the same results as if we’d
done so beforehand.
DXO PhotoLab 2
There’s a reason why lots of landscape
photographers love DxO software:
it’s because of the way it handles raw
fi les. The latest software from DxO,
called PhotoLab 2, performs several
enhancements automatically before you
even begin editing. DxO uses its extensive
database of lens corrections and camera
sensors to apply automatic fi xes for
common problems like chromatic
aberration, distortion and vignetting,
as well as reducing noise and image
softness. You notice this immediately
upon opening the raw fi le, as the program
will often ask you to download specifi c
lens and camera modules related to the
image being opened. The result is a raw
fi le optimised for further editing and
enhancements, which you can go on
to make with PhotoLab’s powerful
array of tools.DxO PhotoLab 2 is popular with many photographers thanks to the way it handles raw files
One-click effects in Luminar 3 gives you quick results
Luminar 3 is geared
towards landscape
photographyBEFORE