I have just started up a series of one day workshops photographing kingfishers locally to me in Warwickshire. If you are interested details can be found at
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From time to time I try out a new raw converter and compare it to my current results with Breezebrowser. For the second time I have just given DxO Optics Pro a run out. It appeals to me a lot because it describes itself as automated and that I have always liked. Autowind, autofocus, autoexposure etc. in cameras I have always welcomed and never tried to resist by insisting I can do better myself manually, which is common with photographers.
I have been forecasting for a while that raw converting would eventually be fully automated, with an override when necessary, but with my first trial of this software was not impressed. I am this time. The way I test software like this is to convert my files in the usual way during a session at the computer. When I have finished for the day I reconvert just 2-3 of the images with the new software and compare the results. I do this over several days tweaking the settings as I go through the usual learning curve with any new program.
My conclusion was that I usually preferred the result I got with the DxO software, but if I went back and redid the conversion by my normal method I could always match the DxO version. This is what I have always found with raw converters; at the end of the day they all can give me the same output. What is important here though is that at a first attempt the DxO was giving the better result quickly and easily. I was having to boost my normal process to match it.
My trial period is now up and I am going to have to fork out £269 for it. I can not say all is perfect with the software. I would not call it simple and intuitive as I had to put an hour aside to read the manual which I detest. The icons and layout of the menus does not make it easy to look at the screen and guess what you have to do.
In fact there is still one important thing I have not been able to work out. When I convert to a 16 bit Tif file they come out at 72 dpi. I can’t set it to 300 dpi without also resizing the file. There must be a setting there somewhere. You would think it would be logically placed under output settings, but no. The PDF manual mentions it only under Image resampling (why don’t they say Image resizing), but I don’t want to resize. At the moment I have to change the dpi in Photoshop afterwards.
There are many other tweaks in the settings that can be made, but I am guessing I will never have to use them. I sometimes dabble with the contrast and exposure, but usually it gets it just right automatically. Suits me. Means I can get outdoors again quicker.
Knole deer park in Kent is one of my favourites. The fairways of the golf course within the park offer nice settings for the fallow and sika deer found here. Apart from around the car park area the fallow deer are surprisingly nervous and it is hard to get close, but the sika deer are far more approachable. I left home about 0200 hrs to arrive for dawn and packed a toothbrush in case I wanted to stay over. It was bright and sunny all day, but as ever by 1000 hrs I packed up. The sun was too high and harsh and the deer mostly in the shadows of the trees. Photography did not begin again until late afternoon, which leaves a substantial part of the day to sleep after such an early start.
Fallow deer, Dama dama
At one point a line of fallow deer ran along a ridge, one after the other, but although they were moving fast they did not appear stretched. Given more time I would have tried using a slower shutter speed, but it was all over to quick.
Sika deer, Cervus nippon
Fallow deer, Dama dama
Sika deer, Cervus nippon
The best potential was close to dusk as the sun hit the horizon as a large red ball. The backlit sika deer looked great with flies buzzing around their heads. Unfortunately they never stood in the right place during that last glow.
Fallow deer, Dama dama
The fallow deer also did not pose so well in the last bit of light. A pity as they stood out well on the horizon. I underexposed them a couple of stops to make them more of a silhouette.
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