On 1/7/2017 4:32 PM, Ken Norton wrote:
I stand by that statement. It is pretty much agreed upon by the
"golden eyes" in photography that ACR is the Toyota Camry of raw
converters. It may be the most popular, and it's a very fine car, but
that doesn't make it better than a BMW 5-series.
Is the 5-series better in any significant way for the purpose of getting to where I can make photographs? I drove fast
and hard for much of my life, BMW, Porsche, Audi Quattro. But as a photographer, that's counterproductive; all I see is
the road, not the wonderful things along it that are often worth a photograph. Sure, Acadia is beautiful, and wildly
photogenic, but many of my best images of Maine have come by seeing something along a back road and pulling over to
shoot it. Come to think of it, that's true of Mt Desert Island, too, all the famous sights aside. The cover of my book
about it is from a perfectly ordinary spot along a road from some famous sights to others. But I was 'seeing' and stopped.
I drove a Camry for a month in 2015; it's a very fine car, and got me where I was going for both visiting and
photography, with ease and comfort (especially after the awful Altima a couple of weeks before.) Then again, last fall's
Taurus was a fine, maybe even better, car. I've not owned a BMW since around '75, nor driven a 5-series in over 20
years. I'm sure they are even more wonderful than then, but find it hard to see how they could serve my purpose better.
I'm perfectly happy driving a beat up 20 year old econocar around town to the store, library, etc. (Smarter than a Smart
Car) OTOH, I'm pretty juiced at what I can get out of even older lenses. :-)
But the advantage of the Camry (ACR) is that it is comfortable, reliable, does everything you need it to do and
doesn't present any surprises.
The question then becomes what I expect/want from Raw conversion. If, as with the car, I just want to get to where I can
start making images . . .
Depending on what you are photographing, a selection of raw converters
can make a dramatic difference in the photograph. An example of this
would be SilkyPix which is likely the best raw converter on the planet
for flower photography. Capture One has no equal (as a general purpose
converter) for skin tones. ACR is very good, but at times it's like
kissing your sister.
Here, we may part ways based on what we do. My final result will almost never look like the initial conversion,
sometimes wildly different, while at the same time not generally looking extreme in any way. I'm pretty happy with the
ACR(Camry) starting point; from there, I can go anywhere. You want something that will churn out similar looks in a
large number of images quickly and efficiently.
Neither is right or wrong
This is NOT a matter of just color/contrast adjustments. It boils down
to the basics of how the raw converter actually applies the secret
sauce in merging information from the RGB pixels BEFORE any profile is
applied.
Again, you want the secret sauce to come in the software, to be applied broadly. I want to make it myself, slightly
different each time. :-) The cooking for which I am famous in a small circle is never exactly the same. If nothing
else, that would be boring. :-P
I've been doing a lot of cooking for Carol of the one working foot. She wanted lox and bagel. We were out of bagels, so
I made lox and Tofutti on toasted GF multi grain bread. The message exchange thereafter:
CF: The balance in those sandwiches was perfect! Forget the bagels.
M: Heresy!
CF: This was better. Thank you.
As she can do more all the time, she made herself one a day or two later, "the same way I did", except, it wasn't as
good. As she puts it "No Moose essence."
I feel that way about my images, good ingredients are important, but it's what you do with them that makes the
difference. If other people also like them, that's great, but I do them, individually, for me.
Gotta Be Me Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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