My Wildlife Photography Editing Workflow Using DXO PureRaw 2.

[@chadpeterson2033]

I love FastRAW Viewer. I would strongly recommend customizing keyboard shortcuts (Command-K), I set the Delete key to Reject photos, and left click for quick zoom. I also use the 'E' button on the bottom to help assess focus, 'S' to peek at Shadow detail. You can also use the number keys to rate and advance image.

[@WILDALASKA]

good info

[@Cornflakes7]

I use X, then you can use right hand for arrow keys between shots + mouse and left hand to press X, the other keybinds I had not even thought about, thank you!

[@GlennBartley]

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing your workflow and I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying the prosets!

[@WILDALASKA]

Glenn, Glad you enjoyed the video. The PROsets are great timesaver. they are used on pretty much all my images now.

[@PhotoGearFun]

Thanks so much for the tip on FastRswViewer I have been looking for something like this for my Mac for a while. Thanks for another great video. Cheers.

[@WILDALASKA]

Happy to help!

[@johnnyduke9756]

Just wanted to say this video (and your other videos) have been a massive help. Got my r7 and rf 100-400 yesterday and spent all day in the woods. When I got home to start editing, my photos looked pretty terrible...but I had watched this video before getting my camera, and recalled you mentioning how bad the photos can look without DxO. I Processed through DxO and then into lightroom and was quite relived! Thanks for your camera reviews, settings tutorials, and all your other videos!

[@WILDALASKA]

Great to hear!

[@honeybadger1656]

Did yours have a lot of noise when viewing the raw photos before dxo? I just got the r7 on Friday and don't know if it's a problem as I don't see the noisy image on the camera screen

[@johnnyduke9756]

@@honeybadger1656 the camera screen looked pretty good, but when I would bring the photos up on my computer they would be noisy, grainy, and lacking sharpness. DxO processed the raw images and made them look so much better before I even started in Lightroom. I am shooting in raw, so if you’re shooting jpeg you may not have any issues.

[@honeybadger1656]

@@johnnyduke9756 yeah I had the same issues and was quite disappointed as I upgraded from a 1300d and was expecting more 🤣 have you noticed that some of the images aren't sharp after processing?

[@johnnyduke9756]

@@honeybadger1656 I haven’t. I’ve been using the same DxO settings suggested in this video, and they look really good after DxO is finished, but still need color adjustments and sharpening in Lightroom after dxo, but not a ton. If I have my settings and exposure dialed while taking the photo the end result after Lightroom seems very high quality. There are certainly some photos I under or over exposed and tried to fix in post that don’t look amazing, but still passable. You’re getting photos from dxo that look flat? Are you going to Lightroom or similar afterwards?

[@johnjuby6184]

Thank you Scott. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Import. Apply DXO. Send to edit which for me is Photoshop. This is a huge help.

[@WILDALASKA]

Excellent!

[@davebeebe9066]

My editing tip is to cull through your images sorted newest first. In a series of images, your best ones are most likely at the end of the sequence. This prevents saving a bunch of "not bad" earlier images in the first culling pass. Once you've identified the best images, you won't be as tempted to save those OK versions that came before. I use Capture One Pro for Raw editing but they won't support R7 until September. On that body, I shot both Raw and JPEG. I retained the matching Raw for the keeper JPEGS and will import them in once supported. Since getting the R5, I sold all my Canon DSLRs and most of my EF lenses. Scott, I also wanted to thank you for an earlier video where you photographed at Potter's Marsh. We had a day in Anchorage on our way through Homer to brown bear camp at Lake Clark NP and we went to the Marsh. Found moose and calf along the boardwalk and trumpeter swans further down at a pull out.

[@WILDALASKA]

good info and thanks

[@unknownKnownunknowns]

A few shortcuts: Imports.. @ 19:40 , hit Enter key twice (or click green box "export") to begin importing to LR rather than closing out and manually clicking around in Lightroom to import. Deleting: @ 21:20 just hit delete on your Mac keyboard and then choose "delete from disk"

[@WILDALASKA]

AT 19:40 I stated you could export to a program but I don't as I want to import to LR later and not right then. And at 21:20, nice tip as there are a lot of ways to do the same thing. I use keyboard shortcuts a lot but don't mention those much s not everyone os on a MAC, etc. Thanks for the tips.

[@aeroptical]

Fantastic workflow, Scot. Another very informative and well presented video, great work!🙂👍

[@WILDALASKA]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LeoDodier]

Thanks for the reply Scott, I appreciate it. And happy Thanksgiving to you. If you’re ever planning a trip to Hawaii, you have to let me know.

[@WILDALASKA]

Thanks and will do. Happy Thanksgiving.

[@CrazyBlueMood]

Great video, and picked up some very good insights of how one can setup a process workflow for editing images which is a challenge when starting new. But the best part was that got to know about some new apps like FastRaw and DXO and the custom presets which i wasnt aware of even though i have been using lightroom for a while now. One small tip i might add is if you do the processing of the photos from the local harddrive of the mac, you will save some more time in the first two steps of FR and DXO as the local system bus is faster than the usb. But thanks for this great video.

[@WILDALASKA]

Thanks. Glad it was helpful

[@IanJames56]

Great workflow Scott, i go the lazy route and let Lightroom directly input my raws, and am more than happy with the DNG’s LR creates. I will definitely try Fastraw viewer to quickly cull the bad shots, Thank you, as i had not heard of it before.

[@WILDALASKA]

very cool

[@KrisLuckPhoto]

Awesome, might have to check out the fastrawviewer

[@WILDALASKA]

its a life changer for culling those 2-3k bear photos on kodiak :P

[@georgemccormick1247]

I’d love to be able to do editing like you do it but I was lost a quarter of the way through this video, I just need to do one step at a time I’ve already started and bought the MacBook Pro with the M1 chip but mines not like yours I don’t have a card reader in the Mac so I’ve to get a card reader, it’s getting real complicated real fast, so I just have to slow down. I got alot of good tips from the vid and will go back and watch it again and again. Your just at a different speed right now and I can’t stay with you and retain what you say, your like my son who has a degree in computer science and work as an IT director, I can’t watch him use the computer cause it’s just a blur.Thanks again for the vid.

[@WILDALASKA]

Just use the chapters in the video and jump to where you need to figure it out and mutate it t your needs.

[@artisticpicture]

Thank you for the video!! DXO does give a sharper and noise free picture. One thing I do not like is the huge DNG file size. So I only use it as the lightroom plugin for a few high ISO pictures, output the jpg files, and then delete them. I can always reprocess the raw file in DXO if I need it later. Sometimes, I just use Topaz, which process the lightroom fixed files (in jpg, much smaller file size).

[@WILDALASKA]

If your using Canon mirrorless then id suggest using it at all times myself, but we all have different workflows. Thanks for the input, always god to hear others processes.

[@jocelyngalipeauphotographe]

Great video..! Thanks a lot !

[@WILDALASKA]

Glad you liked it!

[@jan_wegener]

Hi Scott, Great to see our Prosets are a part of the workflow! We use them every day as well and they have sped up the workflow for sure to get to a quick starting point Is there a keyboard shortcut to get rid of the unwanted files in fast raw viewer?

[@WILDALASKA]

Jan, Yes thanks for making those presets, I mean PROset ;), they are a huge timesaver. I still have to watch your masterclass when I can get in from the field ;) I don't see a shortcut for deleting the unwanted but there is a File>Clear_Rejected folder. There is also a keyboard shortcut for adding to rejectedon Mac > Up Arrow + Command + Delete. Its listed under the File menu for the shortcut.

[@jan_wegener]

@@WILDALASKA cool, thanks. The right click is quite tedious it seem

[@jonzmoviebar7580]

I tried PureRaw 2 after watching this video, not sure if I do like. On all my samples photos I tried, Topaz Denoise on RAW denoise method came miles above PureRaw, especially with furry/feathery critters. DeepPrime was the worst offender in my testing making the soft furs on animals just blurry spots. I compared them with Topaz RAW treatment and feathers/hairs came out very clean and sharp and denoised just right with moderate denoise settings. I was hoping that DxO would have been coming on top because the process workflow seems a bit more bearable than Topaz, which I have to individually open raw files using the external program, otherwise it won't work as LR open up Topaz with a TIFF copy which then lose all the RAW flexible data.

[@WILDALASKA]

Exact opposite with my use. Topaz puts too much extra and the feathers/fur is artificial. DXO is using camera profile and you can turn off global sharpening and lens distortion correction and get JUST the camera profile which has manufacturer noise reduction. I have the exact opposite results with feathers and fur after duo. I have never seen it blue anything. Topaz no matter what setting you do it will still sharpen which a lot of times I don't want. I used to use top to clean up, but all I really want is the correct camera profile. If I missed in camera on sharpness, stop, etc. then I just toss it. Im not saying you do this but across the board I see almost everyone over denoting photos. Its getting as bad as wedding portraits with skin smoothing. if you watch me edit in the very few I have done, I add noise back in sometimes. We just are having different experiences in our photos with the software and that could be a lot of things in how we shoot also which will cause those editing/processing apps to affect them differently. Test the software and gear and see what works best for your needs. It so varying in experiencence

[@williambakkernl]

Thanks for the insight you have given us with this video Scott. It's completely different from what I do right now (basically: Lightroom to cull, then to Topaz DeNoise and then back to Lightroom to develop), but due to this video I might reconsider my workflow... I've already considered to start using DxO, but FastRawViewer might be very helpful as well. Keep up those excellent vids and all the work you do! Do you have a 'list' with topics for upcoming videos, btw?

[@WILDALASKA]

Were always leaning and adjusting how we edit and move through the workflow. Im currently re-adjusting my Lightroom/photoshop process myself.

[@macontene]

Hi! How do you deal with those dng files generated with the denoise feature from lightroom? Great videos! Thanks

[@WILDALASKA]

Storage is cheap. 40 tb DAS for storage

[@Savage1776_]

Quick question. Do you still use Lightroom after for editing images? If you click that secondly I like the fast raw viewer. But I really wish they would let you dedicate a key like possibly the X key instead of right clicking and going all the way down for rejected. That would make life so much faster and simpler. Is there a way to dedicate a key?

[@WILDALASKA]

Not sure on key mappings. If you look in the menu you will see if it has a keyboard shortcut. Yes I do all my 'pre-processing' then import to Lightroom then photoshop and back and then export edited inmate as jpeg

[@WernerBirdNature]

Hi Scott, thanks a lot for sharing your workflow ! After returning from Iceland I have over 26000 cr3 yet to cull, and you have given me a big backlog of R7 video's still to watch ;-) So far I have been using FastStone viewer, but your FastRawViewer seems to be interesting as well .. in its Multi-window view, is it possible to individually reposition one of the images, and then quickly flip between them to get a better view which image from a burst has the better focus and/or pose ? That's a feature FastStone I really like, but FastStone is a little slower when filling a multi-view and when rejecting one of the images it doesn't feed a next photo. I'm not using Adobe (yet) because I didn't like the subscription thing, so I'm using the DxO PhotoLab Elite instead, which has the amazing DeepPrime embedded so I don't have the huge intermediate DNG files. What I can tell you is that it's good to have all DxO corrections active when intending to finish after DxO PL (or probably Adobe) editing. However, when I intend to proceed towards Topaz for a finishing touch (extra Denoise or more often Sharpen or Gigapixel (given my R6 is low on mpix)), then I keep the lens correction but I turn off the DxO Lens sharpening because when DxO lens sharpening was active the Topaz results look way too artificial.

[@WILDALASKA]

very cool info. After using DXO deep prime I haven't ever needed topaz after that.

[@WernerBirdNature]

@@WILDALASKA I know also Jan Wegener turns off the Dxo lens sharpening in PureRAW. Depending how you process, things like brightening might introduce new noise. In such case Topaz Denoise can improve things without having to work real hard, and this way with less risk of introducing artifacts. But outsourcing the main noise removal to dxo based upon raw before any other processing is a no-brainer. My R6 and EF100-400Lii (according to Duade rather just giving ~ 370mm) was not providing much reach for distant tweety birds, and extenders increased the need for denoise. Last week I got a great deal to swap them for R5 and 100-500 .. I bet they will reduce my need for using Topaz ;-)

[@dolphinclassical]

I use Photo Mechanic for culling and I love that I don't have to use the mouse (and it is also extremely fast). There should be (maybe there is) a keyboard shortcut to reject a file. In my opinion culling should be keyboard only. In Photo Mechanic I rate the image as 1 star on the first pass to get rid of it. It also auto advances to the next photo. When done I display all the rejected photos and can move them to the trash (or delete them). I edit in LR and PS, but if a photo has too much noise I will send it to DXO PhotoLab 5 (or sometimes RawTherapee which is more complex but has a lot more flexibility on where to apply noise reduction).

[@WILDALASKA]

nice info.

[@jonlindemann2797]

Cmd-Delete moves the file to the rejects folder.

[@jonlindemann2797]

Oops! That just tags it as rejected.for LR.

[@chadpeterson2033]

Delete key sends a file to reject.

[@LeoDodier]

Hi Scott, I’m trying to find software to cull the images and thought to check out how you do it. I ran across this video that you did a couple years ago. Are you still using FastRaw viewer? Any thoughts since you asked me this video? Thank you in advance.

[@WILDALASKA]

Yes I do. still love this software for culling my images.

[@jdiamond9513]

What do you do with your reject folder once you’re done? Do you keep it or delete it and free up disk space? In the past, I used Apple’s Aperture and when culling images, on the first pass I selected any images that were OOF or were otherwise totally useless for anything and deleted them off the drive. Second pass I used the stars to rate images that I wanted to further process (4 or 5 stars) and anything that I don’t think I’ll use but may have some redeeming quality in the future (3 stars).

[@WILDALASKA]

I keep them for a couple months then delete after that.

[@jonlindemann2797]

Another advantage of FastRawViewer is that you get the actual RAW histogram, over- and under-exposure data, not the jpeg data..

[@WILDALASKA]

good info

[@briantodd6903]

holy crap this is all new shot my first pictures with R7 and 18-150 kit lens in c-raw need to learn my camera first of all shot in M fumbled around only took about 100 pics wasn't real comfortable with camera but that will come .got home and now what do i do, and i find your video this is great at least i have a place to start . about 1/3 looked OK didn't know i had to tweak them do i need DXO and light room and photo shop. link for card reader, will any one work. i have dell alienware and ipad pro ether one good for photo processing or your suggestions sorry get so excited so many questions

[@WILDALASKA]

You need DXO Pure raw for the start for sure to pre-process the photos. From there you can use whatever editor you want. I use Lightroom and photoshop. any usb card reader will work as the camera uses a SD card. I have a lot of R7 videos and ill do a Shoot manual and how to use autofocus in the field later this month.

[@WILDALASKA]

@@briantodd6903 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 16"

[@iguish]

Thanks to share your workflow. Is there any shortcut to "move to rejected"? It's very annoying to right click, then select the option

[@davidspencer2758]

the shortcut is Ctrl/Shift/Del but you can change via File/Customise/Keyboard Shortcuts. I've changed mine to X to match Lightroom

[@WILDALASKA]

What David said below ;)

[@unknownKnownunknowns]

x key

[@TheWildlifeGallery388]

Dang I need a new Computer - it takes mine nearly 5 minutes to do the deepprime on DXO - Great Vid

[@WILDALASKA]

The new M1 chipset is pretty nice from Apple.

[@HotGates]

Nice video I have FastRawViewer but haven't used it for a long time because I've been using ON1 Photo Raw, Isn't PureRaw the same as PhotoLab 5 as I have the latter?

[@KoenKooi]

In PL5 it’s called the DeepPrime module

[@HotGates]

@@KoenKooi Yes I know but they have the same engine is what I was asking, Or if someone has PhotoLab 5 they don't need PureRaw?

[@davidspencer2758]

@@HotGates I had a similar question and found this on the DXO website "DxO PureRAW is not included in DxO PhotoLab, however DxO PhotoLab ELITE Edition offers all the features of DxO PureRAW: RAW demosaicing, Denoising, Optical Corrections, Export Features, and Comparison." I read that to mean Photolab 5 Elite has the same engine.

[@HotGates]

@@davidspencer2758 I have the Elite version of PhotoLab 5 thanks 😊

[@WILDALASKA]

I haven't tried PL5 as I'm pretty stuck in LR and PS when I get to actually "edit" the image.

[@AlessandroAvigni]

Hi, I'm testing DXO PhotoLab 5.4, , and avoid the DNG transformation but of course it use deepPrime. I think that PL is good tool. What you think about?

[@WILDALASKA]

I haven't used PL5 as im really into editing in LR and PS myself. If you want full dynamic range then you should be editing in DNG (RAW). But everyone has their method.

[@AlessandroAvigni]

@@WILDALASKA with PL you stay in the same enviroment to use RAw or Craw with DXO PureRaw without convert your files to DNG

[@tirthacs]

I am not able to use DXO. The software is unable to recognize the CR3 file. I installed the latest version today. I am using canon r6 mark ii

[@WILDALASKA]

Yes it will take a bit for them to get the model for DXO. Same as with the R7. Hopefully this month it will get done. keep checking their site to see.

[@tirthacs]

@@WILDALASKA okk. Thanks❤

[@allcreaturesnospeakers]

This isn't related to editing, but I recently bought an R7/100-500RF combo and am noticing an issue where it takes a few seconds for the image stabilization to properly stop shaking when I first start focusing on a subject. I previously used a D500/200-500mm combo and never noticed an issue like this. Does this also happen with your R7/100-500?

[@WILDALASKA]

there should be 3 settings on the stabilization. set it to 2 which will be live image stab in the viewfinder.

[@allcreaturesnospeakers]

I don't belive that is the issue I'm having - I see the same problem on all stabilization modes. I found a similar issue that someone had on the R5 by googling "R5 IBIS delay before 100% stabilization?". So on your R7 the camera/lens stabilizes pretty much as soon as you are ready to take a picture?

[@TheLukaszpg]

Is there key shortcut to reject? Lots of clicking there to reject :)

[@WILDALASKA]

There is a keyboard shortcut for adding to rejected on Mac > Up Arrow + Command + Delete. Its listed under the File menu for the shortcut.

[@unknownKnownunknowns]

x key

[@unknownKnownunknowns]

@@WILDALASKA x key

[@dukegilmour2669]

Audio little muffled, items on the screen are to small, can't follow along. Love the channel, thank you

[@WILDALASKA]

Ya your not going to be able to see the Lightroom text unless you watch on pc or tv and have it set to 4k. Audio sounds good to me on the laptop and tv. phone is not too bad either. thanks for watching the channel and the feedback :)

[@klauspaehler6553]

Can you not just right-click your file in Raw Viewer and use „open in…“?

[@WILDALASKA]

Yes, there are a lot of ways to get in between the applications. But this is the best method for my workflow. Just mutate it t your workflow.