Contents

Photography
Most MWW published photos reside on Flickr. This section highlights some photos and has links to the rest.

Woodworking
Although the MWW shop has been quiet lately, this section includes some past projects.

Writing
Stories by Rob contains early attempts at fiction.  The MWW Blog contains random thoughts and ramblings.

Technology
Information and opinions on different technological topics.

Commerce
This section includes Amazon Associates links, current eBay auctions and Google Ads.

Tools
A collection of search, news, weather and other links.

Links
A PHP/MySQL managed list of links representing a wide variety of subjects.

10 Most Recent Links

See all the links on Marietta Wood Works Links

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Digital Photography in the RAW

I have been experimenting with the RAW format from my camera. Here's the one of my recent butterfly pictures, taken in the Nikon NEF file format:

There were a lot of butterflies out on a recent afternoon and the sunlight was so nice I decided to experiment with a few things. I used my new prime lens, a Nikkor 50mm/F1.8, and shot in RAW mode for the first time. I use ThumbsPlus as an organizer on my desktop and I remembered that it supports several RAW formats now.

I have also started using GIMP 2.4.6 recently and discovered a great, open-source plug-in for processing RAW images. It is called Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) and it can also be used stand-alone. The RAW files (.NEF in the Nikon world) were really sharp and interesting to work with, either directly in UFRaw or once I got them into GIMP.

I have a basic understanding of the RAW format, but this article from The Luminous Landscape explained it very well, I thought. My camera records a JPEG along with the RAW file, which is a very convenient feature. Since the RAW file records all the camera settings (WB, saturation, sharpness, tonal curves, etc.) that were set when you shot the picture but does not apply them to the image, you have complete control over all of that in the RAW postprocessing software. I'm just starting to learn about RAW file manipulation, and the UFRaw plug-in for GIMP seems to do a pretty good job, particularly for the price! Now, I have also just discovered that I need to learn to read histograms, too! So little to learn and so much time!

Check out more photography sites and resources from Marietta Wood Works Photography Links.

Posted October 24, 2008

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