RAW Developer by Iridient Digital updated to 1.8.8

For all of you Macintosh users shooting RAW files I highly recommend you try the demo of RAW Developer by Iridient Digital. It's a powerful RAW converter with some nice touches. Version 1.8.8 was released this week adding a couple more cameras and squashing a couple bugs. The control this converter allows makes it well worth reading the comprehensive Help section. Iridient Digital is fast to add new cameras. Their list of supported RAW capable cameras is exhaustive.

One of the often mentioned benefits of RAW Developer is the high level of detail this converter can pull out of a shot. I must agree. DNG files are supported and the input profile can use the DNG metadata style camera color rendering. The camera profiles can be tweaked for those wanting advance control. Batch processing is in there too. The workspace layout options allow for plenty of customization. You are not limited to 3 output profiles, like Adobe restricts us to. There are numerous color space profiles included or you can add your own as I do. I use Joseph Holmes' DCam4 RGB color space as my working space and use the DCam Chroma Variants to adjust global saturation on my important shots. It sounds complicated but is extremely simple and addictive. Adobe's workflow would require I export to 16-bit ProPhoto RGB and then convert to the DCam space, one more step. There are a set of Chroma Variants sold for 16-bit ProPhoto use. I just stuck with DCam4 since it works so well for me. See the link below to Joseph's site for more details on the Chroma Variant approach.

RAW Developer includes multiple sharpening methods (R-L seems even better than USM for RAW sharpening), noise reduction controls, and highly flexible black and white conversion options. These tools are winners. The Chromatic Aberration control with RAW Developer is great without any sliders. About the only tool I find missing is the Vignetting slider which I only use as a creative effect for the cropped sensor shots I take. Give it a try! pw
RAW Developer features link
RAW Developer demo link 
DCam RGB info link

A perfect location for a Toxic Landscape

Toxic Landscape

When I cropped this image in the viewfinder I was imagining a fall landscape, blue sky, and silhouetted trees at the edge of a lake. The shapes are loosely formed by the rust and paint remnants. I love this shot on so many levels. For weeks during the construction of the small building that would eventually become my studio I walked past the portable trailer dumpster only to look inside for useful scraps. I was too focused on the construction project to see past the contents. At one point we moved it to help a subcontractor and the imaginary scene caught my eye. I only took a few shots and went back to work. Now I wish I had shot an extensive study of the surface. The next day we had to move it again and the light was never the same and the leaves had moved.

I've had the print hanging in my studio since a photography show. It looks fantastic with the acid stained concrete floor. A few months ago I decided to rehang a watercolor print by Robert H. Way featuring the downtown square of Keene, NH where I grew up. My brother's family was making a trip to that very spot and since I couldn't be there the watercolor was the next best thing. My Toxic Landscape needed a new home. I carried it around the corner and found the perfect location (hint: read the lettering on the Toxic Landscape photo. - thanks Ron!). pw

photography, art, and the occasional luna moth

Welcome to Drawn By The Light "the blog"
Hey, wait... "What about your design firm with a similar name?" you ask. The photography and fine art focus for this blog easily fits under that umbrella name which I incorporated under well over a decade ago. The design firm remains my main focus. I plan to explore and share many of my odd interests and obsessions right here. Amazingly they don't all involve pushing pixels and letter kerning but do have a tie to light in some way. I hope you will enjoy my ramblings. pw