Standing in the Way

Since finding out that I could convert RAW files on the laptop I've been going mad trying to take acceptable looking RAW photos with the SLR. Not good for studies I can assure you especially with exams coming round the corner. In any case, the converts have been pretty good so far and I'm quite pleases with them. They're very bad photos but I can't help smiling everytime I see how good RAW photos turn out. I'm still a noob at this. Give me some time and hopefully I'll be able to produce something actually worth looking at. For now, bear with my complacency.



I know you can't tell what's going on in this photo (you've probably got the "your photos don't make any sense" face right now) but it's actually a photo taken through spectacles lens. I come up with the weirdest ideas sometimes and this photo just proves what a failure it can be in terms of visual appeal.

The worst photo out of the lot for sure =P. A real failure when it comes to visual appeal. No...this wasn't an attempt at a self-portrait. Was just trying to see how skin tones would come out on the com in RAW and there were no volunteers around so I had to make some sacrifices, unfortunately, at your expense and mine for that matter -_-". Colours, of course, needed some tweeking (which RAW photo doesn't?!). Sharpened it a bit too to tone down on the motion blur which was vaguely visible. I actually wanted to keep the original but after (accidentally) turning it into a sepia, I found the tones slightly better than the coloured ones. I might try out portraiture some time later again. Just got my April issue of DCmag and there were pretty good articles on RAW potraits.

Proof of how distracted I really was with my camera. Study lamp till on and literature book open to some random page while I was clicking away. Putting that aside, this photo went through a little too much editing. Colours are harsh because I got carried away with the colour contrast which in return caused the photo to lose some details especially in the darker bits at the back. But I'm still new at this so improvements will come over time.


This is, in my opinion, the best photo out of the whole lot of mishaps. It's not impressive but it's definitely a lot better than the previous three. Lighting was great but, in colour, the photo seemed a little mismatched so I turned it into a sepia and sharpened it a bit. Looks a hell lot better than the original. Also in RAW by the way. DOF is a little off if you ask me and the position of the specs was a little....mundane...could have tried something a little more intriguing but couldn't come up with anything at that time. Lighting was pretty good.

The only bad thing of RAW files is the size. Hell! They are a lot bigger than JPEGs! Even after converting them, I'm still dealing with files which average about 2.5MB to 3.5MB even with editing. I could of course still edit them in JPEG format to bring down the size but that would probably degrade the photos a fair bit. Need to buy and external drive soon at the rate I'm going.

I'm gonna have a go at HDR soon now that I can photograph in RAW format. Probably do that on campus after exams are over. Pretty good sunsets on the occasional days. Might as well put a dramatic sunset to good use =P. For now however, might have to put the camera aside to collect some dust while I study like a dog for my exams. =S