introduction
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
I’ve been a passionate wildlife / landscape photographer for over 20 years. In 2000, I went digital and five years later I decided to start my own photography business. I have recently sold images to Canon-Europe and stock agencies, while also dabbling with ICC profiles for Canon EOS dSLRs. I actively promote digital photography at levels and have developed a number of websites; EOS-Images, ukBirdphotographers.net, FeisolUK and SilkypixUK.
During February 2007, I was fortunate to grab a short fly-drive to California and Nevada with my family. I decided to photograph the excursion and returned with ~1500 raw images taken with my Canon EOS 1DmkIIN.
My wife wanted a “best of” set of 5x7” prints to show to friends and family, while I sought to ponder on my images and take more time squeezing every ounce of colour, tonality and quality out of them.
In the past, I would have used Pixmantec’s Rawshooter, it was fast, it had an intuitive workflow and it was underwritten by some big names in industry, although some criticised it for its variable and sometimes “murky” output.
Since the demise of the RSP product I have felt reluctant to continue using it, for fear becoming too attached to a product that has no support or future. Anyhow I digress!
In late 2006 a new Japanese product hit the market which went under the name of Silkypix. Wow, what a strange but feature rich product!
Silkypix was met with mixed opinions; many advocates liked the way it rendered colour, but turned their noses up at the interface. While others picked up the product’s poorly translated manual, only to put it down again, none the wiser.
Silkypix has since gone through a few changes. The interface now looks and feels similar to the revolutionary Rawshooter, but its power and functionality is exceptionally good for its price point.
I now consider it a superb tool for fast post processing and detailed editing of raw images. It has some superb functions (highlight controller, fine colour adjustment, noise reduction and lens correction) which other raw converters are only just starting to introduce. Furthermore its colour engine does indeed provide some of the nicest colour renderings I’ve seen to date.
Hence, I decided to write an introduction to Silkypix to provide an overview and “hands on” approach to the product.
The format for this tutorial is now web based with embedded screenshots originally taken from Silkypix Developer Studio version 3.0.11.3 for Windows XP, although updates to version 3.0.15 are now included.
I will also use my Californian trip shoot as the underlying image library, in order to develop and narrate the tutorial.
What is Silkypix Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix is a light-box styled raw converter which provides a wealthy mix of unique and comparable image processing functions akin to many other raw converters, yet the terminology used to describe some of these functions and their parameters can be a little cryptic to the novice user.
Once Silkypix is executed, one is presented with the following screen:
Nothing really enlightening here, a menu bar, some sliders and lots of icons, all looking rather dull and grey! Before
I delve deeper, first and foremost, I must state that Silkypix is not a Digital Asset Management application.
OK, one can mark and sort images (later topic), but it should not be considered similar to Adobe’s Lightroom and Bridge, or Iview’s Mediapro. However given this limitation it does provide an almost “end to end” workflow for the digital photographer.
At the outset one needs to have an underlying strategy for image organisation and storage outside of Silkypix. This is similar to how one may have approached and used Rawshooter.
I have always used the operating system’s file management facilities for file organisation and storage. After all that’s what it was designed for and it’s much faster at moving files around than many 3rd party applications.
The first step in any image workflow process is to copy all the raw files off the media cards and into a new directory. In this instance, I would use a year, shoot name and date folder format. Conversely, I organise wildlife images by species.
So before using Silkypix, I get into this mode of operation and try and make it a habit.
Here’s a screenshot of the Californian Trip shoot on my external hard drive. All images were copied directly into one folder.
Before I actually open up the folder in Silkypix and start sorting and editing, I’ll briefly review Silkypix’s main controls and menus.
Silkypix Controls and Dialogues Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix’s functions dialogues can be docked, tabbed or floated, which is conceptually similar to many other RAW converters. In addition most dialogues can be moved to a second monitor to provide a larger viewing area for image previewing and editing.
The main controls and functions are housed in one dialogue box called Development parameters and comprise Tastes. These Tastes are in effect stored preset parameters (highlighted by the red arrows) and modules (highlighted by the blue arrows).
Any parameter change made to a Taste can be saved and named as a new Taste by clicking on the + sign next to the Taste.
Tastes can be recalled by selecting them within the relevant drop down box.
The following diagram outlines the key functions available within the Development parameter dialogue box.
Clicking on any of the icons either pops up a further dialogue box (for functions) or changes the tab’s contents.
For example, the screenshot above shows the Tone (Contrast) tab contents (note, the select outline around the icon).
Silkypix Menus Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Across the top of the application’s main display are even more icons plus the traditional “named” menu bar. The menu bar pretty much replicates all the icons, so emphasis will be given over to the icons.
Like most applications, only certain icons are accessible depending upon what development function or sub function is being used, so with a little license I will show all menu icons enabled for clarity.
The details and application of these development functions and sub functions will be considered and examined in later parts of the tutorial.
The next step is to load the image library. I selected the Open Folder icon and navigated to the “California 02-07” folder and hit OK.
Silkypix opens the folder at quite a speed and begins the background processing of thumbnails.
Incidentally, thumbnails are generated on a “per view” basis, so one can easily scroll to images in the middle of the shoot, watch the previews build and start editing without too much hanging around.
Tip: Silkypix has an option within its display setting (highlighted in red) to lower the CPU overhead by limiting the preview display of intensive edits, like sharpness and noise reduction to render at only 100% zoom.
Silkypix Main Interface Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Upon opening a folder, the default display is set to Thumbnail Mode and the number of thumbnails can be adjusted within the display settings.
For initial sorting, I prefer to set the Thumbnail Mode to 4 wide on my 1600x1200 monitor. This allows 12 large thumbnails to be viewed concurrently, which reduces the immediate need to view them at 100%.
Bear in mind, I want to sort through these images fast and discard the rubbish quickly e.g. out of focus or blurred images. For crucial work, I would indeed take more time and view them at full size.
Here’s a reduced screenshot depicting the working Thumbnail Mode for fast marking and sorting:
…and here’s a screenshot of the Filmstrip Mode with smaller thumbnails, which I would use for a more refined approach to image marking, sorting, and processing:
Double clicking an image immediately brings up the Preview Mode (below) and processing begins with a slight delay. The status bar at the bottom of the screen displays basic EXIF data for the selected image irrelevant of display mode.
Image Information and Comments Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Detailed EXIF data can be shown by selecting the EXIF icon.
This displays the EXIF dialogue box.
This shows file information, tag information and EXIF tag information. Note: All information is read only.
Comments can be added to an image by selecting Edit comment from the View menu.
This displays the Edit Comments dialogue and user notes/comments can be typed directly into the dialogue box. Comments are automatically stored in the image’s associated sidecar file.
Image Navigation Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Zooming and panning in Silkypix is achieved through a number ways.
One can choose to select the Operation mode menu or Operation icon. This provides access to Fitted display, Zoom tool, Loupe tools and Palm tool.
The Fitted display tool (Shift + left arrow key) fits the image to the display.
The Zoom tool adds a zoom slider beneath the image for fast zooming and changes the cursor to a magnifying glass. Holding down the shift key and moving the mouse up or down, increases or decreases the level of zoom. Likewise, using the Shift+up arrow and Shift+down arrow shortcut keys has the same effect. Double clicking the image with the left mouse button zooms an image to 100%.
The Loupe (+ or -) tools also adds a zoom slider beneath the image for fast zooming and changes the cursor to magnifying glass icon (with a + or -). Clicking on the image then zooms in or out respectively.
The Palm (Pan) tool also adds a zoom slider beneath the image for fast zooming and changes the cursor to hand icon. Panning is achieved by either, clicking and dragging the image in the desired direction or by using the mouse scroll wheel.
Silkypix provides a maximum zoom value of 1600% or 16:1.
When in Preview or Combination mode, cycling to the previous or next image can be accomplished by either selecting the relevant icon on the menu bar or by using the F11 or F12 shortcut keys.
Marking and Sorting Inages Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Opening a folder in Silkypix places the user in front of a Thumbnail mode, as shown below.
If one selects an image and right clicks it, the following context dialogue box is shown:
This box provides a number of options relative to the image selected.
As this part of the tutorial will be looking at Marking and Sorting images, I will initially concentrate on those highlighted in red.
Marking Images
Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix provides a marking function similar to what many other raw converters have for sorting and grading images. Six different marks can be applied to an image and each is denoted by a different icon set against the thumbnails:
Selecting the Batch development mark option places the selected image in the batch queue for subsequent development and this is denoted by a yellow tick icon at the top left of the thumbnail.
To quickly add or remove the Batch development mark use the F8 shortcut key.
Selecting the Copy / Move mark option places the selected image in a batch list for subsequent copying or moving it to another folder. This is denoted by an orange page icon at the top left of the thumbnail.
To quickly add or remove the Batch Copy / Move mark use the F7 shortcut key.
Selecting the Delete mark option places the selected image in a batch list for subsequent deletion. This is denoted by a red cross icon at the top left of the thumbnail.
To quickly add or remove the Delete mark use the F6 shortcut key.
Selecting any one of the User mark options tags the image with a blue (displayed), green or red tag icon which is displayed at the top left of the thumbnail.
To quickly add or remove a User mark use an associated Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2 or Ctrl+3 shortcut key combination.
Marks may be used in combination, for example an image may be marked blue, marked for copying and marked for batch processing.
In this instance all three icons will be displayed at the top left of the thumbnail.
So for fast marking, one would start at the beginning of the shoot, set the Thumbnail mode to 4 images wide and press the corresponding shortcut key to mark the image accordingly.
As a first pass I would mark a “Keeper” in Blue, a “Possible” in Green and a “Maybe” in Red. Out of focus, badly exposed or blurred images would be marked for deletion. I would leave the batch development and move marking for later.
An alternative method would be to use the Ctrl+left mouse click to highlight multiple images for a given Marking operation, then right mouse click to bring up the context menu and select Settings for marks.
A Reservation/Mark dialogue is then displayed and one can check the appropriate box for subsequent multiple mark selection.
Having done a preliminary pass it’s now time to sort them.
Sorting Images Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix has two sort functions:
The first is named Sort thumbnails which is accessible from the View menu. This sorts images without filtering.
Selecting this function brings up a Sort thumbnail dialogue box.
The Sort thumbnail dialogue box enables ascending or descending sorts based on a number of selectable criteria. One can include various embedded EXIF info or designated marks as sort criteria variables.
Each variable can be added or removed and given a priority within the SortKey list, by simply selecting the arrow and hierarchy buttons. Individual SortKeys can be set ascending or descending by double clicking the relevant column.
As I have already done an initial pass of the image library and marked all my images, I will limit the SortKey list to the User marks, in their order of preference and click OK.
The Thumbnail mode now shows all images from the library, sorted in the preferred order without filtering.
The second sort function is named Select scenes for operation which is accessible from the view menu. This sorts images with filtering.
Selecting this function brings up a Select scenes for operation dialogue box.
The Select scenes for operation dialogue box provides limited sort and filter criteria directly related to the six Marks, as previously discussed.
Marks may be selected, released or inverted. However, no priority or ordering options exist.
Once criteria are set and OK is selected, the display mode changes to the Combination mode (filmstrip) view and only images which meet the criteria are shown.
To remove the Select scenes for operation sort filter, reselect it from the view menu and choose reset or release and select OK.
Note: The display stays in Combination mode.
Tip: Unfortunately, neither sort functions offer dynamic updates, so if one wishes to change or remove a User Mark, the Sort Thumbnail or Select scenes for operation dialogues need to be executed again to effect the changes.
The usefulness of these sort and filter functions differs depending upon application.
Clearly the Sort Thumbnail is more suited to organising images based on EXIF data. For instance, one may wish to additionally sort their images by ISO, date, shutter speed, F-stop or even last update. The latter is particularly useful if you wish to return to the set of images you last worked on.
I prefer the Select scenes for operation function for sorting and filtering images. This enables one to concentrate on the next stage (editing) without the overhead and hindrance of 1000’s of images in one view.
Update: The Sort thumbnail dialogue now includes file extension and Lens Sortkeys.
Tastes Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Earlier in the tutorial I introduced Silkypix’s Taste concept, so before I delve into editing functions, here’s a bit more detail regarding Tastes and how they are used extensively throughout the application to store and recall user presets related to image editing.
A Taste is a user defined preset for a parameter or set of parameters used in the image development process.
A Taste can be uniquely named, stored and recalled via drop down lists within development functions.
There are three types of Tastes. The first can be considered a global preset related to a collection of parameters for more than one category of a development function. The second is a partial preset related to collection of parameters for a specific category of a development function. The third is parameter preset relating to part of development function.
Global preset Tastes appear at the top of the Development Parameter dialogue box’s drop down list and are denoted by a solid black box icon in front of the Taste’s name. e.g. Super Neutral or Fine Street etc.
Partial preset Tastes appear at the top of the Development Parameter dialogue box’s drop down list and are denoted by an L shaped icon in front of the Taste’s name. e.g. Landscape, Nostalgic or Sunset etc.
Partial preset Tastes also appear at the top of an individual development function drop down list. e.g. White balance function displays Sunset, Flash, Daylight etc and Contrast function displays Low Contrast, Average Contrast and Strong Contrast.
Parameter preset Tastes are mutually exclusive to a given development functions and are not used in the wider development process. These do not appear in the “paste partial development parameter” dialogue box e.g. Trimming presets and Image Comments (not shown).
To create a preset, change a parameter in any given development function and select the + sign next to function’s drop down list.
A Customize Taste dialogue box is then displayed.
Tastes can be made image specific, named, organised, hidden, deleted and included or excluded from specific Taste and parameter category.
Depending on what Development function called the Customize Taste dialogue, the new Taste is automatically appended to the existing Taste list. Similarly, only relevant Taste and Parameter categories are made available.
Development Functions and Sub Functions Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix defines its editing tools as functions and these sit within a parent / child hierarchy. The following table outlines all development functions and sub functions.
Development Function Sub Function
Exposure
White Balance
Tone
Tone Curve
Colour
Sharpness/Noise Reduction
Sharpness/Noise Reduction
Highlight Controller
Fine Colour Controller
Lens Aberration Controller
Rotation / Digital Shift
Auto Exposure Bias
Fine-Tuning Exposure Bias
Exposure Bias Tool Auto White Balance
Colour Temperature
Colour Deflection
Dark Adjustment
Gray Balance Tool
Skin Colour Tool Contrast
Contrast Centre
Gamma
Black Level Curve Type
Channel Saturation
Colour Modes Outline Emphasis
Detail Emphasis
False Outline Control
Type
False Colour Control
Noise Reduction Noise Canceller - Noise Level
Noise Canceller - Noise Cancel
Noise Canceller - Geometric NR
Emphasis on Chroma/Luminance
Emphasis on Saturation/Hue
Luminance Restoration
Dynamic Range Hue – per colour
Saturation – per colour
Lightness – per colour Shading - Angle of View Shading
- Correction Ratio Distortion -
Distortion Rate Distortion -
Centre/Edge Control CA - Select
Tool
CA - R Rate
CA - B Rate Rotation – Select Tool
Rotation – Rotation
Digital Shift - Vertical Perspective
Digital Shift - Horizontal Perspective
Digital Shift - Angle
An Approach to Editing in Silkypix Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Some people like to dive straight in and start editing raw images in an evolutionary style. Of course this approach works, but I prefer to tackle editing in a more structure way.
In Silkypix, I prefer to crop, adjust exposure, set white balance, adjust contrast, adjust colour, reduce noise and sharpen before outputting the final image to file or printer.
Other adjustments like lens correction, image rotation and digital shifting inevitably form part of the process, but for general editing these would fall outside the normal procedure. Hence I will use this structure as the basis of the guide.
Cropping Images
Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
One of the first considerations I make before undertaking any other adjustment in Silkypix (or any other raw editor for that matter) is whether to crop or not.
Why? Well, there are a number of reasons. Firstly, one may wish to isolate a part, or fit an image to a particular output size; secondly, the histogram in Silkypix only reflects the brightness and colour densities of the cropped area.
This enables one to optimise exposure, highlights and shadows based on that particular part of the image.
For example, this Gorilla image depicts a dark subject against a brightly lit background.
The histogram emphasises these highlight colour densities and brightness values.
Whereas the 8x10” cropped histogram shows less emphasis on highlight colour densities and brightness values.
So if one were to start applying tonal adjustments prior to the crop, it is likely that such adjustment would favour an area that may not be part of the final image.
Cropping in Silkypix is relatively similar to other raw converters although it’s actually named Trimming and shouldn’t be confused with the trimming tool in applications such as Photoshop.
Selecting the Trim icon from the menu tool bar or Trimming from the View menu (or Crtl+T shortcut keys) displays the Setting for Trimming dialogue.
One can then choose to:
Enter trimming co-ordinates and sizes directly.
Use a free hand selection
Use a fixed size based on the original image aspect ratio.
Use and specify an aspect ratio by entering height and width values.
Use one of 20 presets based on metric or imperial paper sizes, film sizes and common aspect ratios.
Tip: A limited number of custom crop sizes can be created by editing the SPD30.ini file. This topic is detailed in the Custom Crop Ratio section.
Whilst in Trimming mode, the image has an overlay with a grid marked in 1/3rds which helps with classic rules of composition.
Areas of the image outside the cropped area are shown translucent.
In Free mode, the mask overlay has handles at each corner (shown in red) and at each edge (shown in blue) for resizing the Trim (crop). In Fixed, Specified and Preset modes the edge handles are not displayed.
The overlay has two other controls, a cross hair centre mark (shown in green) for moving the mask overlay around and a rotation mark (shown in purple) for changing the crop from landscape to portrait. The latter removes the need to specify alternate landscape and portrait crop ratios.
The sizing controls are simply operated by selecting with the left mouse button, dragging and releasing at the desired point. The rotation control operates on a single mouse click.
The Setting for Trimming dialogue has four action icons.
Applied Specified Aspect Ratio is only accessible if one changes from one trim mode to another and wishes to initiate the revised trim aspect.
Initialise To Default sets the crop size to the original size of the image.
Switch To Trimming Mode enables a crop based on corner to corner selection.
Enable All Data expands the crop to include extreme image data. In the case of some raw file this may include data pixels beyond the image boundaries. Likewise, images which have had distortion or rotation corrections applied, the crop area will expand beyond the physical image boundaries.
Tip: This is extremely useful if one wishes to export an image and infill such areas using clone or replication tools in external applications such as Photoshop.
Once the trim is complete, re-selecting the Trim icon from the View menu toolbar (or Crtl+T shortcut keys) closes the Setting for Trimming dialogue.
The Preview or Combination mode resizes to reflect the cropped area.
If one then changes the display mode to the Thumbnail mode,the image thumbnail will also reflect the cropped area and a scissor icon will be displayed in the top left corner of the thumbnail.
Returning to the California trip shoot, the first image I’m presented with is a Koala bear image. I like the composition, so I don’t feel there’s a need to crop at this stage.
Histogram Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Selecting the Histogram icon (Crtl+H shortcut key) displays the Histogram dialogue box.
The Histogram dialogue box is resizable, so it’s best to make it nice and large to see what’s going on!
The histogram shows a number of important things about the image.
It displays the brightness distribution of the image with a horizontal axis running left to right depicting dark regions (0) to light regions (255). The vertical axis shows the number of pixels that correspond to the Red, Green and Blue channels (colour density).
In this example, the Koala bear is predominantly grey, hence the high number of pixels (colour density) in the lower mid tone region (66). I also note that the dark region (0-25) is lacking in colour data.
So I’ll now set about adjusting the exposure.
Adjusting Exposure Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix has an exposure function named Auto (SILKYPIX evaluation). In many cases this would be good starting point for exposure adjustment.
Select the drop down box next to the Exposure icon and choose Auto (SILKYPIX evaluation)
Silkypix’s in-built algorithm evaluates the scene, detects colours, maximises levels and reduces the saturation.
Auto algorithms should not be considered a panacea for perfect exposure, they can be fooled!
Images with predominant dark or light areas will no doubt trick the results into over or underexposure.
So use this feature with some caution and be prepared to tweak the settings using the exposure slider provided.
Tip: Selecting F2 changes the cursor to an exposure bias selection tool. One can then pick a point or click and drag a rectangular area on the image to select an exposure bias.
Auto has in this example resulted in a brighter image with better colour distribution.
Note that the histogram has now changed (moved right) to reflect the auto exposure compensation (+0.6).
Adjusting White Balance Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Many people adjust white balance prior to all other adjustments. My preference is to get the exposure right first before delving into colour correction.
Silkypix has two white balance functions, one comprising presets and pickers, the other more subtle based on a colour wheel. I will consider the presets first.
Selecting the White Balance icon (highlighted in red) on the Development Parameter dialogue displays the white balance settings.
Silkypix has a Taste preset named Auto (Silkypix AWB). In many cases this would be good starting point for white balance adjustment.
Select the drop down box next to the White Balance icon and choose Auto (SILKYPIX AWB).
23 other Tastes are available from the white balance drop down list which include Camera Setting (default) and various daylight, tungsten, fluorescent and flash settings.
Camera Setting takes its white balance value from the “as shot” raw file.
Auto evaluates the scenes contents and accurately detects the white balance of highly saturated objects.
All other Tastes are based on reference colour temperatures of specific light sources.
An auto algorithm should not be considered a panacea for perfect white balance correction, it can be fooled!
Images with dominant or excessive colours will no doubt trick the results into wrong white balance adjustment.
So use this feature with some caution and be prepared to tweak the settings using the colour temperature slider provided.
The white balance dialogue also provides two picker tools (Grey balance and Skin Colour) and three manual sliders with number fields and inc/decrementers.
Let’s look at these in a more detail.
Selecting the Grey Balance Tool (highlighted in red) enables a picker type cursor. Choosing a grey part of image with the picker sets the white balance. For best results use a uniform 18% grey area from a greyscale card.
Tip: Selecting F3 also changes the cursor to a Grey Balance Tool. One can then pick a point or click and drag a rectangular area on the image to select the grey balance.
Selecting the Skin Colour Tool (highlighted in green) also enables a picker type cursor. Choosing a portion of skin optimises the white balance for skin tones.
Tip: Selecting F4 also changes the cursor to a Skin Colour Tool. One can then pick a point or click and drag a rectangular area on the image to select the skin tone bias.
Tip: Clicking the top chevron on any slider returns the adjustment to its default setting.
The Colour Temperature slider provides direct adjustment of white balance based upon the Kelvin temperature scale e.g. Daylight = 5500K
The Colour Deflection slider provides an effective means of removing colour casts, moving the slider left removes magenta cast, while moving the slider right removes green casts.
The Dark Adjustment slider provides an effective means of removing colour casts in only the dark areas of the image, moving the slider left removes magenta cast, while moving the slider right removes green casts.
Returning to the Koala image, Auto white balance has resulted in a negligible change to the colour temperature. (5974K v 6054K)
This is not surprising as modern dSLRs have equally as good white balance evaluative algorithms for daylight lit subjects.
Adjusting Contrast Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
The next step is to address the image contrast. In the Koala’s revised histogram, I notice the dark region (0-25) is still lacking in data.
Silkypix has a Tone (contrast) function with a number of Tastes (presets) ready to use. These range from “Lowest Contrast” through to “Strongest Contrast”.
Select the drop down box next to the Contrast icon and choose Strong Contrast.
This results in an image with a little more punch.
If we take a look at the histogram again, it now shows less of a gap in the dark region, but the highlights seem to be clipping.
In order to evaluate and address this, I will introduce the Display Warning and Highlight Controller functions.
However, before moving on here’s some more information on the Tone function’s other parameters.
The Tone dialogue provides four manual sliders with number fields and inc/decrementers.
Let’s look at these in a more detail.
The Contrast slider provides adjustment between dark and light areas of image. Moving the slider left decreases the light / dark emphasis, while moving the slider to the right increases the light / dark emphasis.
The Contrast Centre slider provides adjustment for the mid tone point. Moving the slider to the left increases the light graduations and decreases the dark graduations making the image appear brighter, while moving the slider to the right has the opposite effect.
The Gamma slider provides adjustment to the overall brightness of the image. At first, this may appear similar to exposure adjustment, but unlike exposure adjustment it changes the light / dark ratio.
The Black Level slider provides adjustment to the dark tones of an image. Moving the slider to the right increases the density of the dark tones and is useful for backlit images where light scattering is an issue.
Display Warnings Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix provides a novel and comprehensive feature for evaluating highlight / shadow clipping and saturation named Display Warning. This is extremely useful for exposure, highlight, black level and saturation adjustment.
Display Warning does not have a dedicated dialogue and is enabled or disabled by selecting one five options from the Display Warning icon on the menu bar:
Selecting Disable warning switches off the feature.
Selecting Enable Highlight warning switches on a flashing colourised highlight warning on the image whereby clipping is denoted by black and saturation is denoted by the colour’s compliment.
Selecting Enable Shadow warning switches on a flashing colourised shadow highlight warning on the image whereby clipping is denoted by white.
Selecting Enable both Highlight / Shadow warning switches on both of the above.
Selecting Enable Out of Gamut warning switches on a flashing colourised highlight warning on the image whereby “out of gamut” colours are denoted by the colour’s compliment.
Shadow and Highlight warning target values can be set by selecting the Functions setting under the Options menu.
This displays the Function Setting dialogue.
Highlight / Shadow warning target values percentages can then be selected from the drop down lists. Highlight and Shadows default values are 95% and 5% respectively.
Tip: When preparing images for printing, lowering the highlight warning target value will help control and retain printed highlights, as most gloss or matte papers have a brightness level that is less than 95%.
Revisiting the Koala’s histogram, there was a definite sign of highlight clipping. Using the Enable Highlight warning accurately identifies where these areas are:
The solid black fragments denote the highlight clipping areas, while the coloured outlines denote the marginally over saturated areas. These warnings provide the targets areas for subsequent highlight controller adjustment.
Controlling Highlights Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix was one of the first raw converters to introduce a dedicated and powerful Highlight controller function.
To display the Highlight controller dialogue, either select the Highlight controller icon from the development parameter menu or choose Highlight controller from the View menu.
The Highlight controller comprises drop down box and four sliders. Before demonstrating the Tastes (presets), here’s an overview of the functions parameters.
The Chroma / Luminance slider controls the ratio of colour to brightness. Moving the slider left gives priority to colour and helps to reduce glare or clipped highlights, while moving the slider right gives priority to brightness.
The Saturation / Hue slider controls the ratio of colour saturation to colour hue. Moving the slider left gives priority to saturation, while moving the slider right gives priority to hue. This helps to correct colour shifts in saturated highlights.
The Luminance Restoration slider controls the restoration of colour in an over exposed area of an image. It uses the invisible to the eye raw colour data to reconstruct a visible colour.
The Dynamic Range slider controls the amount compression applied to the highlights of an image. Up to 6.0EV compression is provided, however excessive compression (>3EV) of over exposed highlights will result in posterisation. This control is best used in conjunction with other parameters.
The Highlight controller box has 5 presets (Tastes):
Default has no effect.
Highlight for Sunset significantly increases chroma, marginally increases saturation and significantly increases dynamic range.
Hue Priority significantly increases chroma and hue.
Saturation Priority significantly increases chroma and saturation.
Luminance Priority significantly increases luminance.
The effect of these presets is best demonstrated in the following sunset image.
Again returning to the Koala image, the slightly clipped highlights can easily be compressed by simply adding +1.3EV on the Dynamic Range slider.
The effect of this, although subtle can be seen in the revised histogram below.
In addition, the revised highlight display warning screenshot displays much less solid black in the previously clipped regions.
Tip: One can save their adjustments as a Taste (preset) by simply clicking on the + sign next to the Taste’s drop down and naming it in the customize taste dialogue box. This new Taste then appears in the Taste drop down list for subsequent use on images from a similar shoot.
So to recap, the original Koala Bear image had auto exposure compensation, contrast adjustments and highlight adjustments made.
The effect of these adjustments is best demonstrated in the before and after comparison below.
I will now introduce and demonstrate some of Silkypix’s more advanced development functions, namely the Lens Aberration Controller, Rotation / Digital Shift, Fine Colour Controller, Tone Curves and Colour Modes.
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Lens Correction
Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
In Silkypix the lens correction is performed by the Lens Aberration controller.
The Lens Aberration Controller development function addresses lens Shading (vignetting), Distortion and Chromatic Aberration (fringing) characteristics.
To display the Lens Aberration Controller dialogue, either select the Lens Aberration Controller icon from the Development parameter menu or choose Lens Aberration Controller from the View menu.
The Lens Aberration Controller comprises a drop down box (Taste preset) and three controls, Shading (vignetting), Distortion and Chromatic Aberration (CA).
Each function has an enable check box and two sliders, while the CA function has a selection tool.
Let’s look at these in detail.
The Shading controls corrects the peripheral light fall off (vignetting) characteristics of a lens. Two slider controls are provided; Angle and Amount.
Angle is the angle of view of the lens used to take the image (refer to EXIF and lens manufacture data) and provides the basis for light fall off calculation. e.g. a 50mm and 135 mm lens will have angle of view of ~46° and ~18° respectively. However, dSLR sensor size will effect these values, so be prepared to visuall tweak the settings accordingly.
Amount is the ratio of shading correction applied. 0% applies no correction and 100% applies full correction based on the angle of view calculation.
Here’s an image taken with a 24mm lens showing the pre
....and post effect of lens shading correction:
The Distortion controls correct barrel and pincushion characteristics of wide and telephoto lenses respectively. Two slider controls are provided; Distortion Rate and Centre.
Distortion Rate is the amount of correction applied. Moving the slider left adjusts for barrel distortion and right adjusts for pincushioning.
Centre is the point of the image where the distortion correction is given priority, e.g. Centre or Edge
Here’s an image again taken with a 24mm lens showing the pre
....and post effect of distortion (barrel) correction:
Tip: Correcting distortion using these controls is very much a visual and iterative process.
The Chromatic Aberration controls correct lateral colour fringing caused by focus dispersion inaccuracies in a lens. This is more common on wide angle lenses or lenses which do not use high quality corrective achromatic elements.
A selection tool and two slider controls are provided; CA picker, R rate and B rate.
CA Picker enables direct selection of the colour fringe. One can either pick a point or click and drag a rectangular area on the image to select the colour fringe. It is best to view the colour fringe at 400% zoom. Upon selection, SilkyPix calculates the R rate and B rate offset values and automatically adjusts the sliders to remove the CA.
R Rate is the amount of red / cyan light correction (-100 to +100). For red fringes move the slider left (- 100) towards cyan. For cyan fringes move the slider right (+100) towards red.
B Rate is the amount of blue / yellow light correction (-100 to +100). For blue fringes move the slider left (- 100) towards yellow. For yellow fringes move the slider right (+100) towards blue.
Tip: For best results aim to distribute the fringe colour correction evenly and then increase the Noise Reduction’s False Colour Control slider to compensate.
Here’s an exaggerated 400% crop, again taken with a 24mm lens showing the pre (left) and post (right) effect of CA correction:
Tip: The Lens Aberration Controller development function should be considered lens specific. No Tastes (presets) are provided. However once lens aberration settings have been determined they can be saved as Tastes (presets) for future use on images taken with the same lens.
Rotation / Digital Shift
Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
The Rotation / Digital Shift development functions provide Rotation and Digital Shift (perspectives and angle) image correction.
To display the Rotation / Digital Shift dialogue, either select the Rotation / Digital Shift icon from the Development parameter menu or choose Rotation / Digital Shift from the View menu.
The Rotation / Digital Shift dialogue comprises a drop down box (Taste preset) and two sub functions; rotation and digital shift.
The Rotation sub function has an enable check box, an angle selector and a rotation slider. The Digital Shift sub function has an enable check box and three sliders.
Let’s look at these in detail.
The Rotation sub function provides + or - 45° of rotation through the use of the Angle Selector or Angle slider.
Angle Selector enables direct selection of the rotation angle by clicking a start point and dragging the ruler to the desired angle end point.
Angle is the amount of rotation, left being counter clockwise and right being clockwise.
The following images show the pre;
....and post (right) effect of +3° Rotation adjustment.
The Digital Shift sub function provides slider control for Vertical perspective, Horizontal perspective and Angle correction.
Vertical perspective controls the tilt angle of an image about its horizontal centreline, moving the slider left magnifies the top portion and contracts the bottom portion of the image.
Horizontal perspective controls the yaw angle of an image about its vertical centreline, moving the slider left magnifies the left portion and contracts the right portion of the image.
Angle is the angle of view of the lens used to take the image and provides the basis for perspective corrections e.g. a 50mm and 135 mm lens will have angle of view of ~46° and ~18° respectively. However, dSLR sensor size will effect these values, so be prepared to visually tweak these settings accordingly.
The following images show the pre;
......and post effect of -39° Vertical perspective adjustment.
Fine Colour Adjustment Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
ISL introduced the Fine Colour Controller function at an early stage of Silykpix Developer Studio lifecycle. Since then other products like Lightroom have introduced the HSL function as part of their development module.
These functions are almost identical in terms of what they do, but differ in operation.
To display the Fine Colour Controller dialogue, either select the Fine Colour Controller icon from the Development parameter menu or choose Fine Colour Controller from the View menu.
The Fine Colour Controller comprises drop down boxes, a check box, an icon, various sliders and a colour wheel.
The main drop down box provides access to a number of example Tastes (presets) and although useful for certain colour adjustment situations, this tutorial will concentrate on actual parameter adjustment.
The checkbox enables or disables the Fine Colour Controller function.
The re-initialise icon resets all values to default, e.g. no adjustments.
The second drop down box provides direct access to eight key colours from the colour wheel.
Beneath the drop down colour box is a number of sliders providing adjustment to Hue, Saturation and Lightness of the colour selected.
Beneath these sliders is a colour wheel which has eight colour segments each with a central white dot.
In order to finely adjust specific colours, one can either choose a colour from the drop down box or click a segment of the colour wheel. When selecting a particular segment of the colour wheel the colour drop down box changes to reflect the colour selected. Left mouse clicking and moving the white spot on the colour wheel effects a colour adjustment.
To assist in colour selection, one can move the cursor over the image and a white circle identifies the associated colour within the colour wheel segment.
Moving the white dot (within one of the segments) outwards from the centre increases saturation, while moving the white spot inwards towards the centre reduces saturation.
Moving the white dot tangentially changes the hue, however Lightness can only be adjusted using the lightness slider.
Double clicking a white dot returns the segment’s colour adjustments to their default.
Using the following image as an example,
I will saturate the reds and yellows, darken the blues and change the hue of the greens.
All adjustments bar the darkening of the blue were done by simply moving the white dots (by eye) within each colour wheel segment.
The blue adjustment was done by moving the lightness slider to the left.
Tip: One can save their adjustments as a Taste (preset) by simply clicking on the + sign next to the Taste’s drop down and giving it a name in the Customize taste dialogue box. The new Taste then appears in the Taste drop down list for subsequent use on other images from the same shoot.
Although bear in mind that the widespread usability of such a custom Taste is a little dubious, unless you wish to apply to such settings to similar images e.g. product or studio shoot.
Tone Curves Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
The Tone Curve Development function is identical to the Curves function found in many other image applications.
To display the Tone Curve dialogue, either select the Tone Curve icon from the Development parameter menu, choose Tone Curve from the View menu or use the Ctrl +M shortcut key
The Tone Curve dialogue comprises drop down boxes, type, channel init buttons and value inputs all relative to the graph display.
The Graph Display has two axes, the horizontal axis is the source or input brightness of the image and the vertical axis is the result or output brightness of the image. Curves are drawn on the graph to affect tone changes.
The Tone Curve dialogue’s size can be increased by clicking and dragging out its corner. A large dialogue improves the resolution of the graph and makes curve editing easier.
To adjust the curve, left mouse click the graph to add a point and move it accordingly. Numerical readouts of the points input / output values are displayed. To add another point, left mouse click the graph again. To delete a point, right mouse click the point.
Individual RGB channel curve adjustments can be made by selecting the channel in the drop down box.
Points can also be added directly from the preview screen by clicking the Add Point icon and selecting a point on the image with picker tool. Points may be added for one or all RGB channels.
The Type control changes the curve type from a smooth curve between points to a straight line between points.
Tip: One of the most commonly applied tone curve adjustments is the positive S-curve. This is widely used to help improve images which look flat and show low saturation.
To create positive S-curve, select three points on the curve (as shown) and lift the highlights and reduce the shadows by dragging the first and third points respectively.
Conversely, a negative S-curve can be used to lower contrast by lifting the shadows and reducing the highlights.
Tip: One can save the curve adjustments as a Taste (preset) by simply clicking on the + sign next to the Taste’s drop down and giving it a name in the Customize taste dialogue box. The new Taste then appears in the Taste drop down list for subsequent use on other images.
Colour Modes Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix has a wealth of Colour Modes that offer a broad and expandable palette for the digital photographer to explore.
Colour Modes effectively emulate stylised colour renderings associated with standard colour, memory colour, portrait colour and film colour.
Colour Modes are accessible by selecting the required Taste from the drop down list next to the Colour Mode icon on the Development Parameter dialogue box.
The Colour Mode tab folder has a saturation adjustment slider and an replicated Taste drop down list.
Silkypix currently provides 11 Colour Modes:
Standard Colour is the default colour accurate palette which renders images with relatively true and natural colour
reproduction.
Memory Colour 1 is a vivid palette which renders images closer to what people “like” to see, it is less colour
accurate and provides more saturation to colour reproduction.
Memory colour 2 is a less vivid palette which introduces 3D colour mapping to provide a more accurate and
humanistic feel to colour reproduction.
Portrait Colour 1 is flesh tone orientated palette which provides better skin colour reproduction at the expense of
vivid colour.
Portrait Colour 2 is flesh tone orientated palette which introduces 3D colour mapping to provide a more accurate and humanistic feel to skin colour reproduction.
Portrait Colour 3 combines the flesh tone palette of Portrait 2 with the vividness of Memory Colour for more
saturated clothing and background colour reproduction.
Film Colour Modes emulate slide films with differing degrees of saturation and colour temperature. V1 and V2 are
similar to Fuji films, while P, A and K can be likened to Agfa and Kodak films.
Film Color V1
Film Colour V2
Film Colour P
Film Colour A
Film Colour K
There are also 2 Monochrome Modes
Monochrome 1 darkens reds, lightens blues and greens.
Monochrome 2 lightens reds and yellows and darkens blues and greens.
When using Colour Modes, here are a few things to consider if the results are not as one expects.
Memory Colour modes may over saturate subjects which are already highly saturated (e.g. flowers, solid colours
etc), try lowering the saturation level of the offending colour in the Fine Colour Controller.
Memory Colour modes may render skin too orange and a little over saturated, try adjusting the saturation and hue
levels of orange in the Fine Colour Controller or consider using one of the Portrait Colours.
Film Colour modes are profiled to emulate film colour reproduction which may differ depending upon lighting
conditions and exposure. Therefore some images may require manual white balance adjustment to correct such conditions.
Monochrome style filtering can be achieved by using the Fine Colour Controller although colour selection from the
image is not possible.
Noise Reduction and Sharpening Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix places Noise Reduction and Sharpening within the same development function category. They sha re the
same Taste presets and are inextricably linked by the fact that increasing sharpness emphasises noise and reducing
noise softens an image.
To minimise these effects, Silkypix provides many parameters in their Noise Reduction and Sharpening functions. In
addition, Silkypix has a new algorithm named “Pure Detail” which achieves i ncredible sharpness with much lower
artefacts and halos, normally associated with sharpening.
Silkypix pr ovides 7 Tastes which are accessible from the dr op down list next to the NR/Sharpening ic on on the
Development Parameter dialogue box.
No Sharpness zeros all sharpness settings and minimises noise reduction settings.
Noise Reduction Priority defaults to low sharpness settings and introduces false colour control and
marginal noise reduction with higher noise cancellation.
Faint Sharp for Noisy Scene maintains default sharpness settings with lower false colour control, no noise
reduction and lower noise cancellation.
Natural increases outline emphasis and lowers noise cancellation.
Natural Fine adds more outline emphasis, maximises detail emphasis, increases false outline control and
continues to lower noise cancellation.
Emphatic Sharp uses the “Pure Detail” algorithm, increases outline emphasis and maintains low noise
cancellation.
Exaggerate Sharp uses the “Pure Detail” algorithm, adds even more outline emphasis and maintains low
noise cancellation.
Sharpness in Silkypix comprises three control parameters:
Outline Emphasis controls the overall level of sharpness.
Detail Emphasis controls fine edge detail without emphasising outline.
False Outline Control controls the halos that excessive Outline Emphasis may introduce.
Before explori ng the Noise Reduction function, I will use a Koala image (ISO 500) to demonstrate how effe ctive
Silkypix’s noise reduction and sharpening Tastes really are.
Below is a 100% crop of the Koala’s eye developed as stated:
No Sharpening
Noise Reduction Priority
Faint Sharp for Noisy Scene
Natural
Natural Fine
Emphatic Sharp
Exaggerate Sharp
The foll owing examp le shows how the false outline control can be use d to manage an excessively sharpened
image.
A crop was taken from the centre portion of the frame.
Outline and edge Detail emphasis were set to maximum.
This resulted in a significant halo along the edge of the sculpture.
The False outline control was then increased to maximum to compensate.
This resulted in a relatively halo free edge to the sculpture.
Noise reduction in Silkypix comprises five control parameters:
False Colour Control reduces the colourised grain effect seen in dark or solid coloured areas of high ISO
images.
Noise Reduction reduces high frequency noise seen in all colours of high ISO images.
Noise Canceller - Noise Level reduces noise attributed to the sharpening function parameter - Outline
Emphasis.
Noise Canceller - Noise Control reduces the rough texture that noise exhibits.
Noise Canceller - Geometric NR reduces patterned noise that some camera sensors may exhibit.
The following example shows the effe ct of nois e red uction. The image was shot at IS O 1600 under mixed l ighting
conditions.
A 1:1 crop was taken from top right portion of the frame.
The Noise Reduction control was minimised.
This shows noise typical of a high ISO image.
The Noise Reduction and False Colour controls were both increased to 80%.
This resulted in significantly lower noise, although at these excessive levels, edge definition starts to soften.
In o rder to co mpensate, Outline emphasis, Detail emphasis and False Outline controls from the Sharpness function where increased to 37%, 98% and 38% respectively.
This helped to reclaim some of the edge definition, although as previously stated there’s a compromise between Noise Reduction and Sharpness. In this instance, sharpness starts to emphasis the noise again; hence it becomes a balancing act.
The Cloakroom Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
The Cloakroom feature is one of Silkypix’s strengths, which by name, immediately give rise to question, “What on earth is this all about?”
I suspect the rationale behind its strange name is probably more to with translation rather, than a deliberate ploy to confuse people.
A Cloakroom is a place to temporarily store and recall development parameter settings. It is similar in context to a Taste but has the added advantage of being used and applied globally across one or many images.
The Cloakroom has a number of functions which include copy, paste, paste partial, save, load, and initialise development parameters.
In addition, Tastes (presets) can be saved to the Cloakroom. The Cloakroom comprises four rooms and a temporary clipboard.
Let’s look at these functions in detail.
With an image highlighted, selecting Copy Development parameters from the Parameter menu (Ctrl+C), copies all current development parameter adjustments into a temporary clipboard.
This is useful for quickly copying parameters from one image to another
Selecting Copy Development parameters to Cloakroom x from the Parameter menu copies all current development parameter adjustments into one of the rooms.
This is useful for copying parameters from one image to another while working across a large number of
images within a folder.
With an image (or multiple images) highlighted, selecting Paste development parameters from the Parameter menu (Ctrl+V), pastes all current development parameter adjustments held into the temporary clipboard onto the highlighted image(s).
Selecting Paste development parameters from Cloakroom x from the Parameter menu, pastes all current development parameter adjustments held in one of the rooms onto the highlighted image(s).
With an image (or multiple images) highlighted, selecting Paste Partial development parameters from the Parameter menu displays the Paste parts of the development parameters dialogue box.
The user then checks the required parameter box(es) to be pasted and selects Execute to facilitate only those adjustments held in the temporary clipboard onto the highlighted image(s).
With an image highlighted, selecting Save Development parameters from the Parameter menu displays the Save As dialogue.
Enter a filename for the Development parameters and hit Save to write the file to disk.
With an image (or multiple images) highlighted, selecting Load Developments parameters from the Parameter menu displays the Open File dialogue.
Navigate to the folder of choice and select a valid Development parameters filename (*.spd) from the list and hit Open. The loaded Development parameters are immediately applied to the image(s).
With an image (or multiple images) highlighted selecting Initialise Development parameters from the Parameter menu (Ctrl+X), clears all Development parameters from the image(s).
In order to save a Taste to the Cloakroom one must first apply the Taste to the image and then select the Taste / Parameter Icon in the Development parameter dialogue box.
This displays the Taste / Parameter dialogue box.
Selecting one of the radio buttons alongside the room number copies all current development parameter adjustments previously applied by the Taste into the room and overwrites the Room name with a current timestamp
In Thumbnail and Combination Mode, The Chevron icon adjacent to a Room acts as a Development parameter paste tool and when selected, the display cursor changes to a down arrow. When in paste mode, selecting an image(s) applies the associated Development parameters to the image(s).
The Parameter icons in the Taste / Parameter dialogue box also replicate the Save, Load and Initialise functions outlined above.
Exporting to Tiff and JPG Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Silkypix is a non destructive image editing application and provides no pixel editing capabilities. As a consequence there will come a time when one needs to export images to a pixel editing application, to undertake retouching or other destructive processes. Similarly, one may wish to export images for proof or web display.
Silkypix therefore provides quite a comprehensive set of image output options, although it does lack the capability to send image outputs directly to 3rd party applications.
This in my opinion is a significant weakness which I hope is addressed in a future version. Until then it’s a case of exporting an images to a folder and then opening it in isolation with the 3rd party application.
Exporting in Silkypix is named Development and is accessed by selecting the Development Icon in the Development parameter dialogue box.
This displays the Development tab and comprises three buttons (Preview, Reserve batch Development and Development), two sliders (Demosaic Sharp and Resolution plus), two drop down lists (Colourspace input and output) and two check boxes (Auto preview and Enable JPEG/TIFF processing).
Let’s look at these in detail.
With an image highlighted, selecting the Preview button refreshes the screen preview. By default this button is unavailable and the image preview refreshed automatically. Un-checking the Auto Preview check box allows manual refreshing of the image preview via the Preview button.
With an image highlighted, selecting the Reserve Batch Development button adds the image to the batch. This is identical to the Batch Development Mark described in the Marking images section of this guide.
With an image highlighted, selecting the Development button displays the Saves as dialogue box.
The Save As dialogue is the main interface for image exporting. The dialogue provides a JPEG compression function, an Unsharp mask function, an Image resizing function, a Preview button, a Setting button, a File type field, a File name field, Save button, a Cancel button and an Init button.
Three JPEG compression options exist via radio buttons;
EXIF-JPEG (YC442)
EXIF-JPEG (YC420)
JPEG (YC444).
The first two embed EXIF data into the JPEG header and downsample the chroma components of the image by different factors, resulting in smaller image sizes (33% and 50% less respectively). The third option embeds no EXIF data and performs no downsampling of the chroma component. The level of JPEG compression can also be adjusted via the drop down or slider control.
Tip: Although EXIF-JPEG (YC420) is the most commonly used format, it is also the most “lossy” in terms of picture quality and colour degradation, so it’s better to use a high compression ratio (>70%).
The Unsharp Mask function provides acutance (edge contrast) sharpening of the output file and is useful for sharpening downsized images destined for the web and improving edge definition in prints. Three controls are provided; Amount (%) which sets the level of sharpness, Radius which sets the width of the edge to be emphasised and Threshold which sets the level of sharpness depending upon the how clean the edge is.
The Image Resizing function provides enlargement or reduction of the image output. Current image dimensions are shown as default and overriding values may be entered in either of the horizontal or vertical fields as aspect ratio is maintained. A drop down box provides quick selection of current or previous image dimensions. The Init button restores the default image dimensions.
The Preview button displays a pop-up Preview for save dialogue box showing the rendered image as per the output settings. The Preview for save dialogue has a zoom slider control accessible via the dialogue’s status bar. Left mouse clicking the preview display reveals a context menu for additional zoom controls. Any setting adjustments made in the Save As dialogue are automatically rendered in the Preview for save dialogue.
The Setting button displays a Setting for developed image dialogue:
This Setting for developed image dialogue provides settings for JPEG Compression, TIFF Uncompressed, Default folder to save, JPEG / TIFF options, Development policy and Default filename.
The JPEG Compression settings are identical to those on the Save as Dialogue.
The TIFF Uncompressed settings are EXIF-TIFF (8bit), TIFF (8bit) and TIFF (16bit) with an option for EXIF. The main difference in these settings relate to the number of bits per RGB channel.
Tip: If developing for 3rd part editing (Photoshop), use 16 bit with EXIF to ensure a high quality of output, while retaining embedded camera data.
The Default folder to save setting enables the output image to be stored in; the previous folder, the same folder as the raw image, a defined sub-folder of the raw folder or a specified folder.
Tip: For one off image outputs, save the image to a specified folder. For batch processing, it’s prudent to save the batch to a consistently named sub-folder of the raw folder.
The JPEG / TIFF options allow for a user defined output resolution in dpi and options for the inclusion of an embedded ICC profile, SilkyPix information, thumbnail, orientation, or custom rendered data.
The Development policy provides options for rotating images and selecting output colourspace. Colourspace may be specified in Development parameter dialogue, sRGB (for web) and AdobeRGB.
Tip: If developing for 3rd part editing (Photoshop), use AdobeRGB to ensure that the image transferred has the widest colour gamut possible.
The Default filename field provides user customised filenames built from embedded EXIF data and these can be added via helper buttons or codes. They include:
%N Base name of the source file except extension %I ISO Speed %L Focal Length %F F Number %T Shutter Speed %Y Date Time - Year (2 digit) %y Date Time - Year (4 digit) %M Date Time - Month %D Date Time - Day %h Date Time - Hour %m Date Time - Minute %s Date Time - Seconds
Selecting the OK or Cancel buttons closes the settings dialogue with or without adjustments and returns to the Save as dialogue.
The File type drop down list provides a choice of JPEG or TIFF image output.
The File name field provides localised naming of the output file and overrides the Settings for developed image filename.
The Save button executes the development process, closes the Save as dialogue and displays the Developing progress bar.
Note: Minimising the Developing progress bar minimises the whole application.
The Cancel button closes the Save as dialogue
Let’s return to the other controls on the Development dialogue box (shown as a floating dialogue).
The Demosaic Sharp slider controls the image preview quality. Lower values significantly speed up the screen rendering process but at the loss of image quality. The default value is 80.
Tip: The Demosaic Sharp slider will help to improve development output quality up to a point, however raising the slider too high (>85%) increases the risk of of accentuating noise in high ISO images.
The Colourspace In drop down list provides a choice of input colourspace depending upon the image file format and whether the image file is tagged with a colourspace.
Note: Raw files do not have an embedded sRGB or AdobeRGB colourspace, but rather a dSLR specific ICC profile colourspace, hence this field is normally greyed out. Both JPEG and TIFF files can have an embedded colourspace and if found, the colourspace is set automatically. JPEG and TIFF files without an embedded colourspace give the user a choice.
The Auto preview checkbox enables dynamic screen updates which refresh whenever a parameter adjustment is made. If the checkbox is not selected then the screen refreshes are made manually using the Preview button.
The Enable JPEG/TIFF processing checkbox enables processing of JPEG and TIFF images. If the checkbox is not selected then JPEG and TIFF images are displayed but no editing functions can be performed.
Batch Processing Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
The batch processing features of Silkypix are relatively straight forward and easy to use. Batch processing can be performed on Marked (reserved) or selected images. Two distinct batch features exist, the first relates to image development and the second relates to image management.
Batch process for Image Development
Images which are marked for development (reserved) using the F8 key or context menu option, as outlined in the Marking and Sorting Images section are processed by:
Selecting the Batch development for reserved scene icon or Batch development for reserved scene from the Development menu, displays the Batch development for reserved scene dialogue.
The Batch development for reserved scene dialogue provides settings for: Folder to Save, filename conflicts, File types, Settings, Image Size, Unsharp Mask, Execute and Cancel.
Let’s look at these in detail:
The Folder to save setting enables the output image to be stored; in the same folder as the raw image, in a specified and created sub-folder of the raw folder or in a specified folder.
The How to Save when there is a file of the same name provides options for file conflicts and includes automatic rename, displaying a dialogue box for manual handling, overwriting and file skipping.
The File type drop down list provides a choice of JPEG or TIFF image output. A Don’t erase Batch development mark checkbox after processing is available to clear the batch queue.
The Image Size for Saving function provides consistent enlargement or reduction of the whole batch output. Values may be entered in either of the horizontal or vertical fields. An Adjust pixel size to fit the next rectangle check box is provided to maintain the size limit within a defined image size e.g. setting the image size to 640x640 ensures that a 1024x768 image is reduced to 640x480, where 640 is its longest side. Alternatively a 768x1024 image will be reduced to 480x640. An Adjust orientation of the above rectangle to the target aspect ratio checkbox is provided to override the aspect ratio of the defined image size e.g. setting the image size to 640x480 ensures that a 1024x768 image is reduced to 640x480, however if a 768x1024 is presented to the batch, this image aspect will override the defined setting resulting in a 480x640 output.
The Unsharp Mask function is the same as previously discussed in the Exporting to TIFF and JPEG section.
The Setting button displays a Setting for developed image dialogue as previously discussed in the Exporting to TIFF and JPEG section.
The Execute button starts the batch development process, closes the Batch development for reserved scene dialogue and displays the Developing progress bar.
Minimising the Developing progress bar minimises the whole application.
The Cancel button closes the Batch development for reserved scene dialogue
Images which are not reserved by the Mark function can be selected for batch processing by highlighting (Ctrl+Select) and processed by:
Selecting the Batch development for Selected images via the Development menu, displays a Batch development for Selected images dialogue. This dialogue is identical to the Batch development for reserved scene dialogue.
Batch Processes for Image Management
Four batch processes for reserved image management exist.
Let's initially consider the first three:
Delete
Copy
Move.
Each function’s dialogue is accessible from the File menu.
Delete - Images which are marked for deleting using the F6 key or context menu option, (see Marking and Sorting Images section) are processed by selecting the Delete reserved scene option.
Note: All images including sidecars are sent to the recycle bin, so be cautious!
Copy - Images which are marked for Copying using the F7 key or context menu option, (see Marking and Sorting Images section) are processed by selecting the Copy reserved scene option. A Select folder to copy scenes dialogue is displayed for folder selection.
Tip: A new folder can be created via the Create new folder icon.
Note: No confirmation is given once OK is selected.
Move - Images which are marked for Moving using the F7 key or context menu option, (see Marking and Sorting Images section) are processed by selecting the Move reserved scene option. A Select folder to Move scenes dialogue is displayed for folder selection.
Tip: A new folder can be created via the Create new folder icon. Note: No confirmation is given once OK is selected.
Images which are not reserved by the any of the above Mark functions can be selected for batch processing by highlighting (Ctrl+Select) and processed using corresponding selected scene functions.
Subsequent selected scene dialogues are identical to reserved scene dialogues. A
fourth selected scene batch renaming process exists:
Batch Renaming - Selecting an image or group of images by highlighting (Ctrl+Select) can be renamed by selecting the Batch Rename Option.
A Batch Rename dialogue is displayed.
Highlighted images are shown in the dialogue and filenames can be developed from 3 parts (areas):
Area A + Area B + Area C.ext
Area A is defined by linking embedded EXIF data elements, as outlined in Exporting to TIFF and JPEG section.
Area B is defined from preset patterned text strings.
Area C is defined from a number sequence and offset value.
A drop down lists provide options for upper or lower case switching, while filename conflicts can be auto expanded or confirmed via the radio buttons.
Filename changes are immediately reflected in the dialogue list next to the original filename. Filename extensions are unaffected by the Batch rename function.
Selecting OK executes the batch rename function and closes the Batch rename dialogue. The Cancel button closes the Batch rename dialogue.
Printing
Tutorials - Silkypix Developer Studio Tutorials
Image printing capabilities in Silkypix at first seem are quite limited but once you delve in there's quite a bit of useful functionality.
Currently, Silkypix does not support printer profiles and therefore it relies upon the printer to manage colour output e.g. Paper / Ink ICC profiles.
If your printer cannot manage colour outputs it’s probably better to export the image and use a 3rd party application for colour critical printing.
However, having highlighted this shortfall, overall printing functionalities within SilkyPix are more than acceptable for quick proofs and contact sheets.
In order to print, one must first select an image or selection of images and then choose Print from the File menu, or select the Print Icon from the menu bar.
The Print dialogue is then displayed.
The Print dialogue comprises Image preview, three information fields (Printer, Paper and Printable area), Page transport, two settings tabs (Basic and Detail), Print quantity and three buttons (Printer Setting, Print and Cancel).
Let’s look at these in detail.
The Image preview displays the output as defined in the basic settings tab e.g. format and print range etc.
The Printer information field shows the current output device.
The Paper information field shows the current paper size and format.
The Printable area information field shows the current printable area size.
The Page Transport displays the current and number of images to be printed. The transport buttons provide navigation to previous and next pages.
The Basic Settings Tab comprises Print format and Print range options:
The Print Format drop down list provides selection for normal and contact sheet printing options. If a contact sheet option is selected, a horizontal count list is activated.
Note: The Image preview also reflects the print format changes, while the print range offsets and sizes options are disabled.
The Print Range function provides adjustment for:
Offset – Margin from top left of paper
Image size – User specified image dimensions.
Select whole - Maximises the image on paper.
Centering – Places the image in centre of the paper.
Auto rotation checkbox – If checked, the image is rotated to fit the paper orientation.
Fit image checkbox – If selected, the image is cropped to the paper’s aspect.
The Detail Settings Tab comprises Unsharp Mask, Print quality and colourspace options:
The Unsharp Mask function provides acutance (edge contrast) sharpening of the print and is useful for improving edge definition in prints. Three controls are provided; Amount (%) which sets the level of sharpness, Radius which sets the width of the edge to be emphasised and Threshold which sets the level of sharpness depending upon the how clean the edge is.
The Print quality drop down list sets the Dots Per Inch (dpi) of the output. This should be set to match the printer resolution.
The Colourspace drop down list specifies the gamut of the output. E.g. sRGB or AdobeRGB
Tip: For printers which do not manage colour, it is best set the colourspace to sRGB and then choose sRGB in the printer’s software. For printers which do manage colour, set the colourspace to AdobeRGB and choose the appropriate colour profile within the printer’s software.
The Print quantity field specifies the number of copies to be printed.
The Printer Settings button displays the operating system’s Printer dialogue. Adjustments made in this dialogue are reflected in the information fields.
The Print button executes the print function and closes the print dialogue.
The Cancel button closes the print dialogue.