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Post your Sunset & Sunrise pictures
- Thread starter OnTheBlitz
- Start date
GuyK
Addicted Member
I usually much prefer my own processing to the canned jpegs from the camera. I only use the jpegs if I'm shooting for documentation at work.I'm still working on figuring out how to manage colors in RAW processing. Shooting with RAW + JPG allows you to compare your editing to how the jpeg looks. This one actually looks a little better than the jpeg, which is rare for me.
I don't know what camera you're using, but the jpegs I get from my Sony A7R IVa are very good -- deep rich colors. I generally like to use RAW files, but when it comes to color, it would take some work for me to take a RAW and generate something similar to this. Like I said, however, the color editing side of things isn't my strong point.
Last edited:
GuyK
Addicted Member
Nikon D610 and Z8. The jpegs are pretty good from both, but that only means they are some software engineers best guess at what scenes will probably look like. I want them to be MY vision of the scene... I'm the one that was there. Same as when I shot film; I wanted to develop and print my own photos. I didn't get to very often because I didn't have regular access to a darkroom, but I wanted to. Digital post-processing is the same to me.I don't know what camera you're using, but the jpegs I get from my Sony A7R IVa are very good -- deep rich colors. I generally like to use RAW files, but when it comes to color, it would take some work for me to take a RAW and generate something similar to this. Like I said, however, the color editing side of things isn't my strong point.
Ultimately it's everyone's choice as to how they go about determining what they want to use. I almost never use jpegs, and until just a few days ago I didn't even have the camera configured to generate them. I typically generate TIFFs from RAW files and upload them to Smugmug.
I had a darkroom years ago. Anyone can develop and print black and white. Color took considerably more work. I don't miss it, and I agree that post processing in the digital age is essentially the same as what darkroom processing was to film.
I've seen a fair number of people make derogatory comments about post processing digital images here, but if they don't think the same thing went on in a darkroom they're sadly mistaken. I've also seen a fair number of images where people go crazy on the post processing trying to make something out of an image that isn't there. Oversharpening seems to be a staple process for some.
Insofar as the few SooC jpegs I've posted lately, they are a good representation of what I saw at the time I was taking the pictures. Yesterday when I looked at the skyline and saw that sliver of color on the horizon (the last picture I posted), the jpeg was pretty much what I saw.
I just ran through a quickie post process on the RAW file from that image, where I cropped it to a 3:1 aspect ratio to better balance the image, adjusted the exposure, worked on the contrast and denoised it. What I ended up with looks like the jpeg for the most part aside from the aspect ratio -- and it's a much cleaner image too. The jpeg was pretty noisy and didn't respond to denoise well. I didn't touch anything directly color related. Somewhat surprised me actually.
What really surprised me is that I shot that at 1/20 exposure (this time with IBIS turned on). I was leaning against a door frame which definitely helped.
This is the image I wanted, and the jpeg came pretty close overall.
I knew I was pushing it when I put my Tamron 17-50 zoom on my A7 II for this handheld shot, but the IBIS managed to keep it stable enough at 1/15 exposure. Not the most sharp picture but good enough for this shot. I'm trying to stay true to the actual color, and this one is pretty accurate. Just a crop, exposure adjustment, a wee bit o' sharpening and denoise.
I saw another image from this group and thought I'd see if I could run another through post that had some deeper color. It was shot before sunrise and earlier than the the other image. I probably felt it was too dark perhaps, not sure. I'm slowly figuring out the color thing in post, although I have a long way to go. This was shot on Oct 10, 2025.
