Exercise : Managing tone.

Outline: Using any image, follow the two procedures;
Jpeg 

• set the black and white point
• assess and adjust the brightness of the mid-tones if necessary
• assess and adjust the contrast if necessary
• make corrections to localised areas if necessary

Raw

• using the highlight clipping and shadow clipping warnings, set the black and white points by adjusting the exposure
• assess and if necessary adjust the brightness of the mid-tones using a choice of methods including exposure, brightness and tone curve.
• assess and adjust the contrast if necessary.
• Make corrections to localised areas if necessary. 

This was the image I chose to use for this exercise. I tend to use RAW when I shoot anything nowadays so I had the two versions of this image.

original jpeg version

Jpeg:
This is the jpeg version of the image after I have altered it. The only changes I made were to increase the brightness of the mid-tones and also decreased the contrast slightly. When comparing the altered image to the original jpeg (above), there are minor differences. The shadows are slightly lighter and the colours are a little more vibrant due to that. Other than that, they are almost identical.

processed Jpeg image

RAW:
This is the raw version after processing. While amending this image, I had to decrease the exposure by 1 fstop to correct the shadow and highlight clipping. But following that I increased the brightness slightly and then had to decrease the contrast. In comparison to both the original jpeg and the processed jpeg, I am very aware of the background in this image. The image is nice and bright although I feel some of the vibrancy of the colour has been compromised, and there is more shadow on the background which is showing up unwanted detail.

processed RAW version

Conclusion:
I am happy with the original image however, I do prefer the processed jpeg image. It has a bit more colour and a little less shadow than the image as shot and I like the slightly overexposed version which makes the background nice and bright white. I am enjoying experimenting with the features of processing though, and am fascinated with the fact that the raw version can be a blank canvas to create the best outcome of the image, which could be completely different to the camera processed image through using the camera settings.