The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX2

The Photographer’s Guide to Capture NX2
Contents
Acknowledgements x
About this book xi
Other Goodies Included with this Book xii
Resources for Nikon Photographers xiii
Part I: Capture NX2 2
Why Capture NX2? 4
Introduction to Digital RAW 10
Setting up Your Camera 18
Getting Started with Capture NX2 26
Capture NX2 Editing Road Map 42
Capture NX2 Quick-Start Guide 48
Open an Image File 49
Step 1: Fix White Balance 51
Step 2: Adjust Picture Controls 52
Step 3: Adjust Levels & Curves 53
Step 4: Add a Color Control Point 55
Step 5: Apply Sharpening 56
Step 6: Create a Version and Save the File 57
Using the File Browser 60
Basic File Navigation 61
Creating Favorites 62
Viewing EXIF Data From Images 63
Adding Keywords 64
Adding Star Ratings 65
Adding Color Labels 66
Matching Label Presets with Adobe Bridge 67
Adding Other IPTC Data 68
Creating XMP/IPTC Presets 69
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Working with the Browser: Thumbnail List 71
Working with the Browser: Thumbnail Grid 72
Working with the Browser: Filtering 73
Filtering by Star Rating 74
Filtering by Color Label 75
Filtering by File type 76
Sorting Images in the File Browser 77
Comparing Multiple Images in the Browser 79
Printing a Contact Sheet 81
The Batch Dialog 83
Advanced Batching: Watched Folders 84
Batching 101: Converting NEFs to JPEGs 85
Batching 201: Copying Settings Between Files 87
Batching 301: Pasting Selected Settings From an Open File 89
The Develop Section: Setting the Foundation 92
The Develop Section: Overview 95
The Develop Section: Camera Settings 96
RAW Adjustments: White Balance 97
Using White Balance Presets 98
White Balance: Examples 99
Custom White Balance with a Gray Card 101
Creative White Balance: The “Golden Hour” 103
RAW Adjustments: Picture Controls 105
Checkpoint: Choosing a Picture Control Preset 107
Picture Control: Disable In-Camera Sharpening 109
Advanced Control: Quick Adjust 110
Advanced Control: Sharpening 111
Advanced Control: Contrast Fine-Tuning 113
Advanced Control: Brightness 115
Advanced Control: Saturation 117
Advanced Control: Hue Adjustment 119
Advanced Control: Monochrome Images 121
B&W: Color Filter Effects 122
Advanced: Color-Toned Images 123
Workflow Tip: Saving Picture Control Presets 125
Advanced: Creating Custom Curves 127
Transferring Picture Control Settings to Your Camera 129
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The Photographer’s Guide to Capture NX2
Downloading Picture Controls From Your Camera 131
Disabling In-Camera Noise Reduction 133
Adjust Active D-Lighting (optional) 134
The Quick Fix Controls 135
The Exposure Compensation Slider 137
Highlight Protection 139
Shadow Protection 141
Adjusting Global Contrast: Levels & Curves 143
Levels and Curves: Examples 145
Adjusting Saturation 147
Camera Settings and Quick Fix : Summary 148
Camera & Lens Corrections 149
Color Moiré Reduction 150
Image Dust Off Tool 151
Auto Color Aberration Tool 152
Auto Red-Eye Reduction 153
Vignette Control 154
Fisheye Lens Correction 155
Develop Section: Conclusions 157
The Adjust Section: Introduction to Edit Steps 160
Edit Steps: The Concept 161
Edit Steps: An Overview 162
Creating a Global Adjustment in the Edit List 163
Adding More Edit Steps 165
Deleting Edit Steps from the Edit List 166
Resetting Adjustments 167
Changing an Edit Step 168
Advanced: Opacity Mixer 169
Global Adjustments to Light and Color 172
Using the Double Threshold Tool 173
Using the Black Control Point 175
Setting the White Point: White Control Point 177
Global Light and Color: Levels & Curves Tool 179
Basic Levels Adjustment 181
Levels & Curves: Auto Contrast 183
The Auto Levels Tool 185
vi

The LCH Editor 187
LCH: Color Lightness 188
LCH: Saturation 189
Example: Protecting Skin Tones 190
LCH: Hue 191
Other Global Adjustments 192
Local Adjustments I: Selection Tools 194
Fill/Remove Tool 195
Lasso/Marquee Tools 197
Viewing Selections 199
Base Mask 200
The Selection Brush Tool 201
Gradient Tools 203
Selection Control Points 205
Duplicating Selection Control Points 207
Interactions Between Selection Tools 209
Linking Adjustments in a Single Edit Step 211
Example: Graduated ND Filter 213
Example: Burned-in Edges 215
Example: Spotlight Effect 217
Example: Dodge & Burn Tools 219
Workflow Tip: Creating a Settings File 221
Local Adjustments to Light & Color: Color Control Points 224
Color Control Points: Overview 225
Control Points: Adjusting Size 227
Multiple Control Points 229
Advanced: Color Control Points and the Brush 231
Duplicating Color Control Points 233
Example: Fixing a Weak Sky 235
Example: Fill Lighting 237
Advanced: The Color Picker Tool 239
Other Local Adjustments 242
The Auto Retouch Brush 243
Red Eye Control Points 244
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The Photographer’s Guide to Capture NX2
“Final” Touches 246
Straightening Images 247
Advanced: Correcting Lens Distortion 249
The Crop Tool 251
Filter Effects Menu 253
Sharpening and Noise Reduction 256
The Unsharp Mask (USM) Tool 258
Capture Sharpening 259
Suggested Capture Sharpening Settings 260
Advanced: High Pass Sharpening 261
Creative Sharpening 262
Noise Reduction Techniques in Capture NX2 263
Basics of Noise Reduction 265
Advanced Noise Reduction 267
Capture Sharpening after Noise Reduction 269
The Output Phase 272
Resizing Images 273
Cropping and Resizing 275
Soft-Proofing 277
Output Sharpening 279
Example: Resizing for Web or Email 281
Printing in Capture NX2 283
Saving Files 285
Opening your NEFs in a Pixel Editor 287
Streamlining your Editing Workflow 290
Creating a Settings File from an Edit Step 291
Creating Settings Files for the Develop Section 293
Applying Settings Files 295
Example: Multi-Step Settings File 297
Managing Settings Files 299
Creating Versions 301
Part II: Capture NX2 “Recipes” 304
Basic Portrait Recipe 305
Portraits: Fill Lighting 307
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Portraits: Whitening Teeth 308
Portraits: Softening Skin 309
Portraits: Reducing Wrinkles 311
Portraits: Sharpening Eyes 312
Basic Landscape Recipe 313
Removing Haze 315
Improving Clarity 317
Basic Wildlife Recipe 319
Basic Black and White Conversions 321
The “Ansel Adams” Look 323
Selective Black & White Effect 325
Digital Infrared Images 327
Part III: Integrating Capture NX2 into Your Workflow 332
Advanced Workflow: Editing NEFs in View NX 349
Emailing Photos with View NX 350
Emailing Images from Photo Mechanic 351
Extracting JPEGs from NEFs 353
Creating a Web Gallery in Photo Mechanic 355
Appendix 1: Directory of Capture NX2 Tools 357
Appendix 2: Supplied Settings Files 373
Index 375
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