Getting the best from my micro four thirds camera
Why do I use Micro four thirds system?
Sometimes, life can take a turn and we need to change what we do or how we do it to carry on. A few years ago I sustained a shoulder injury. I was sent for a scan and told I would need surgery. I opted to have physiotherapy and manage my well being around my injury. When considering how to adapt and continue with my photography, it was not the camera I first changed, it was the camera strap. I purchased a Peak Designs strap. This offered me real benefits and had an immediate impact on what I could do. The full frame DLSR I was using prior to my injury delivered exceptional quality so ditching it in favour of a Micro Four Thirds camera system would be a tough but necessary choice. I asked many micro four thirds users many questions and realised none had the answers I needed. I would have to explore this cameras system and discover the capabilities for myself. What follows is the process I now use, from setting up my camera to editing and printing images.
How I came to that decision:
Pros
Weight, this was the most important factor
Size, The Panasonic Lumix GH5 and G9 are not much smaller than the average APS-C DSLR cameras. The difference happens when you attach a lens.
Cons
Image quality? Can I produce good quality large format prints? I need to print up to 40" by 30". I have been told A3 is the optimum size these cameras are capable of. My early print results were not up to my expectations. .
Setting the camera up for my photography.
Out of the box,the camera uses default factory settings and these need changing. I change: Image quality and image size to shoot both Jpeg at its highest quality and RAW files. I.S.O. increments are changed from 1 stop to 1/3rd stop increments then constant preview is set to ON, this lets the camera LCD and E.V.F. display any adjustments made to I.S.O. shutter speed and f stop. The colour space is changed from sRGB to the larger Adobe RGB (this does not affect the raw files). File size vs. memory card space and card read/write speeds? Memory cards are much larger and faster than they used to be. I will then set the camera to suit my photography.
I only use and edit RAW files, so why set my camera up for the jpeg? Once my camera was set, using the RAW file would offer improvement in usable image information and quality. The Jpeg's do matter. I use two memory cards and have jpeg's save to card one and raw files save to card two. This offers a back up of my images and when images are transferred onto PC the RAW files have no thumbnail image so an icon is displayed. However Jpeg's do show a thumbnail and I can set the jpeg's to appear next to the RAW files with the same file number (only the file extension will differ). This allows easy selection of those RAW images I wish to edit.
So why not edit the Jpeg? The jpeg is processed and compressed in camera. It has a Bit and colour space assigned and suffers a significant loss of detail. I set about trying to create an edited image that retained maximum detail and information. A Jpeg's colour gamut is restricted to the Adobe RGB whilst in camera Raw files offer a wider bitt and colour space. Knowing this would help develop a process of editing that retains as much of that quality and information as possible.
Opening your image within the editing software.
I mentioned I shoot both raw and Jpeg. When I import a RAW file into Adobe Photoshop it will open the Adobe Camera Raw editing panel and he RAW image will be ready to edit. ACR will use the white balance setting from in camera. I set ACR to use optimum settings and edit using the Pro Photo colour space. Click on the colour profile at the bottom of the panel. This will open workflow options panel and Pro Photo is selected from the Colour Space - space drop down menu. To apply the camera custom profile I created I click on the camera icon in the right hand panel and select the camera profile from the drop down menu.
I now add basic adjustments to either correct or optimise my image. I can check and adjust: Exposure, Highlights, shadows, add contrast and/or clarity and set my black/white points.
I will use Photoshop when resizing an image for print. When exporting images from ACR Into Photoshop, I choose 16 bits/channel. I set the resolution to 300 Pixel/Inch. I make sure Open in Photoshop as Smart Object is ticked Smart objects allow non destructive editing within Photoshop. Any adjustments are now made knowing image quality will not be compromised.
Additional tools to help me achieve better results from my photography.
A Sekonic light meter an X-Rite ColorChecker passport and an X-Rite eye-one monitor calibration tool. These allows me to calibrate my camera, editing hardware and software and when used, my printer.
Here is how I do it:
First I create a custom profile for my camera. For those not familiar with using an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, it's a straight forward procedure. You meter the light source then use the included 18% grey card to establish and set a custom white balance. You then take a Raw image of the ColorChecker. You open that correctly exposed RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw or Adobe Lightroom and create and save a DNG image which is then imported into the X-Rite calibration software. The Software creates a custom profile for the camera as used in this environment. This can then be applied to your images within ACR or Lightroom.
This profile was created using natural light on an overcast day. An additional calibration image would be used for different light conditions. I did notice was that my Lumix GH5 camera is around a third of a stop darker than my Sekonic light meters reading. If needed, the light meter and camera can also be calibrated using a different process.
The Pro Photo colour spaces has a larger colour gamut than sRGB and Adobe RGB. Most monitors and screens. Many monitors still use RGB and will not display the out of gamut colours (more later).
I can now click the Open Object button. This will launch the selected images as smart objects within Photoshop.and the ACR panel will close.
In Photoshop
l use Photoshop for three processes: editing, soft proofing and resizing for print. I can be confident about how my monitor displays colour as it is Adobe SRGB and often calibrated.
Images opened from ACR have the Pro Photo colour space assigned. I can check this by selecting Edit from the Menu bar then scroll down and select Colour Settings. This will open a dialog box where I can check, select or change to the colour space I prefer to work in. I use the Gamut warning which alerts to any colours my monitor can not display. To set this: click View from the Menu bar, scroll down and turn on Gamut Warning. The Gamut warning overlays default colour is grey and easily missed. I change the colour to a colour that is more noticeable and righter. Click on Edit, Preferences then Select Transparency and Gamut, then click the colour swatch to change colour.
My images are now open in Photoshop as a smart objects so any editing I do here will be none destructive and any adjustments will be applied using smart filters.
When resizing an image, a smart object will return better results than a Rasterised image. To resize an image I open the image Size box by clicking Image, Image Size from the Menu bar. Here we can set the measurements and DPI for the image to be interpolated. We can also set the method Photoshop uses to re-sample and interpolate the image used. I use Bicubic Smooth (enlargement).
Soft Proofing for print
This is for me the most confusing part of my workflow. Once I am happy with my image I will create a duplicate image and soft proofing will be done using this duplicate image. This is where I now apply an I.C.C. profile specific to the paper my image will be printed on. To set this new profile I click on View, Proof Setup then Custom. In the box I select the drop down menu titled Device to Simulate and select the profile from this menu. I use Relative Colorimetric.
I can now Save and print from this image.