Wildlife Photography Editing Workflow for RAW Images | Using DXO PureRAW 2 & Topaz Labs

[@charliedennis3754]

I am new to wildlife and editing and just found your KZbin. You did a wonderful job on explaining how you edit your photos. Hopefully you will do more I also watched your KZbin on kayaking. Again you do a wonderful job on explaining to bad you don’t have any newer episodes.

[@robertcote5930]

Good video and workflow explanation. Thanks.

[@Coolwildlife1]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@soniajimenez5105]

I found your video incredibly helpful! I cannot wait to implement the tools and workflow that you have outlined here. I shoot sports and find that the obstacles wildlife photographers experience parallel my own. Thank you so much for this video 🙏

[@Coolwildlife1]

Hi Sonia, that's great, I'm glad you found it helpful. No question, sports and wildlife photography require much the same skill set to cover the action.

[@rogerg6148]

Very well presented, useful and interesting

[@Coolwildlife1]

Glad it was helpful

[@sandrabonagura809]

Thank you this is a very easy to follow tutorial.

[@Coolwildlife1]

You are most welcome Sandra, I hope it helps.

[@marleenvandam6931]

I am astonished how much time it takes to denoise the photo.I have NoNoise installed from ON 1 raw 2022 and the Z7ii files just take 2 seconds to do the job!

[@Coolwildlife1]

Have you tried going to preferences and setting to both CPU and GPU to see if either speeds things up for you? Have you compared the ON1 result to Denoise?

[@marleenvandam6931]

@@Coolwildlife1 perhaps I expressed myself badly.ON 1 NONoise is one of the fastest denoise programs on the market and being performant as well!Faster as DXO as it takes so long for your Z7 files to get the job done.

[@stealthvanlife6867]

Fantastic Bill. This is exactly what I was hoping you would share with us. Great stuff and keep it coming !!

[@Coolwildlife1]

You're welcome, I hope it helps.

[@stealthvanlife6867]

@@Coolwildlife1 Exactly what I was needed. I wasn't aware how advanced the DXO RAW tool was, so that was a big eye opener too.

[@joycebenham3846]

Another great video ...I purchased through your link the Topaz Sharpen AI and amazing results ...thanks again

[@Coolwildlife1]

You're very welcome Joyce, I hope it helped a little. TY for your support

[@FrankLinssenPhotography]

I had in mind to purchase Topaz or DXO raw.. But you use both of them.. Is that common use with other photographers as well or are you the exception on this? Also, is DXO RAW able to export directly to Capture One?

[@Coolwildlife1]

If I had to choose I'd get Topaz, DXO is too limited with no manual adjustment capability. I'd get the Topaz Image Quality Bundle found here www.topazlabs.com/image-quality-bundle/ref/414/ and then you'd have access to Photo AI, the DXO RAW2 equivalent for free, Not sure what workflow others use, I can spend an hour on an image and I like what RAW2 does out of the gate on some images and not others so I start with that and then move into the Topaz suite to complete my edits.

[@haroldklein8556]

Do you not use the Nikon NX Studio to open and convert your files first?? How do you account for the loss of file size by going right to ACR?! I have been concerned about the loss of the file size when opened by third party apps before converting...is this not an issue for concern??

[@Coolwildlife1]

No concern, the loss of file size was the result of cropping the image heavily but it is easily brought back with Topaz Gigapixel AI. I prefer to shoot and not crop however that is not always an option when the subject is further away, I have only used NX when no other software supports a new camera.

[@stefansand1260]

You are saying that the photo is in ISO 6400 but when you import the file you can se that it is saying ISO 4000. What’s correct?

[@Coolwildlife1]

Hi Stefan, thanks for picking up on that. ISO 4000 per the import is correct.

[@amaimani]

Great episode . I would to see the same process on a very high iso like 12800 photo taken by Z9

[@Coolwildlife1]

Hi Abdul, TY. You may want to take a look at my blog post on High ISO field testing that I performed with edits. coolwildlife.com/nikon-z9/nikon-z9-high-iso-field-test/

[@seandavis6458]

Thanks for an insight as to how you do things. I have just started using Pure Raw 2 on a trail and my work flow is very much the same as your here. Only missing GigaPixel.

[@Coolwildlife1]

YW, Gigapixel is really great when you need to crop in on an image and need to bring it back to the original resolution or larger for printing. Give the free trial a try and if you decide to go for it I'd appreciate you using my link. Oh, and my coupon code will save you 15%.

[@TimLaytonDarkroomDiary]

Great content here Bill! What file type are you saving in Photoshop before opening it in GigaPixel? Also, based on your experience, if you need to enlarge more than 2X, have you found the other modes 4X, etc to work fine, or do you need to work in 2X increments?

[@Coolwildlife1]

Hey Tim, I usually am bringing a tiff file into Gigapixel. The 4x and 6x work great but I only use those on heavily cropped images otherwise the file sizes are massive. I only use 4x, 6x if I need a very large print. Otherwise you're just taking up space on the hard drive.

[@TimLaytonDarkroomDiary]

@@Coolwildlife1 Thanks Bill, I am doing TIFF as well, but wanted to see what you were doing too. Thanks for confirming. I was wondering about the file quality of 4X or 6X vs. 2X for the heavily cropped images that happen from time to time. Just like this past week, I stumbled onto a wild coyote when looking for wild horses and only had my 100-400 lens with me. It is tack sharp but very small in the frame, so this could be a good candidate for the bigger enlargements. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

[@Coolwildlife1]

@@TimLaytonDarkroomDiaryYW, download the free trial of Gigapixel and try it out on that coyote image. topazlabs.com/downloads/ref/414/

[@husamejle]

Great video thank you, I can suggest one different setting in the Nik software: if you use the “Darken / lighten Center” it gives very nice vignette effect also you may use the place center to change the vignette lighting focus to the subject

[@Coolwildlife1]

Great tip!

[@javieroatway4059]

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[@jmlr2011]

Have you tried Photoshops "Preserve Details 2.0? Ive had pretty good results using it on cropped birds and didn't think that Gigapixel worked as well when I had the trial.

[@Coolwildlife1]

I have not tried that feature, very interesting though I'll need to take a look.

[@MyContestPix]

Can you batch a folder of images and then come back when they are done??

[@Coolwildlife1]

My workflow does not include batching as I only ever select one image from a shoot if I am lucky enough to get one. I think you could set an action in PS to batch edit but there is no way I can think of to include DXO PureRAW2 or the topaz modules in that action.

[@MyContestPix]

@@Coolwildlife1 Wow, that really slows down your workflow. If you are a wedding/landscape photographer that means hours at your computer... :(

[@Coolwildlife1]

@@MyContestPix Yes, I would never do that if I was a wedding photographer or I'd go broke. But for my wildlife I can spend an hour on an image to make it just the way I want it because I do not process many images every year. I'm lucky if I get 6-10 a year that I really, really like and worth the time.