The Effect of Perspective Adjustment on Image Quality

Introduction

A 10MP (Mega pixel) sensor will produce images that print at 12"x8" for a 300dpi quality output. This isn't particularly large and although significantly higher resolutions are moving towards affordable (a mere £2k for Nikon's 36MP D800) we are still in a world where every pixel counts.

When shooting digitally there's a temptation to think "I'll fix it in post". If you're capturing RAW files and you get a good histogram in all channels then certainly there's plenty of leeway for working an image up in post-production: but ultimately, you only have the pixels available on the sensor to work with. If you throw pixels away through excessive cropping or perspective adjustment there is no means to re-inject that data. Obviously when stretching an image pixels can be interpolated, but that hardly amounts to re-injecting the basic quality of the sensor cells.

Quality is never a veneer, a thing that can be layered on later in the process. Every step from shutter release to print causes a drop in quality. It is critical then to hang on to every pixel the camera can capture.

Cropping

The composition will be arranged for a specific image shape, perhaps:

• 3:2 (the native aspect ratio of most sensors)
• 1:1 (square)
• 2:1 or 3:1 etc (panorama)

so some percentage of pixels are lost inevitably. When cropping a 3:2 image to any other aspect ratio the worst case will be a loss of 33% of the pixels (1/3rd).  The following table indicates the pixel loss for various 'standard' aspect ratios that abound (and I do recommend cropping to standard ratios rather than to arbitrary shapes.

Apect Ratio	Description	Pixel Loss ('most' digital sensors)
1:1	Square format, common in Hasselblad and Rollieflex cameras	33%
1:1.4	Aspect ratio of 'A' series papers	7%
2:1	Super wide panoramic (Linhof Technorama cameras)	25%
3:2	Standard 35mm format, typical for most digital cameras	-
4:3	Micro 4/3rds digital format, 6x4.5 film format, traditional TV format	11%
5:4	Classic large format camera aspect ratio	17%
7:6	Film format used in Pentax 67 and Mamiya 7II cameras	22%
16:9	Panoramic format, widescreen' TV format	16%

The relationship between these aspect ratios is shown visually in the diagram on the left.

Of course, if you do not follow Kappa's mantra (get close, get closer) you will also be cropping additional dead space from the image. It should be clear then, that it is all too easy to find yourself cropping as much as half of the image after shooting; especially if choosing an 'extreme' aspect ratio (1:1 or 2:1) and also removing a modest amount of dead space. So a 10MP capture can easily become an effective 5MP image.

Perspective Adjustments

However, once an image has been cropped it may then also be 'perspective adjusted', especially for architectural or strong graphic format images. Consider this 'Windows' shot from my 10MP Nikon 1 V1:

This is (almost!) a square format image shot on a 3:2 sensor, so 33% of the pixels have been lost. However I was shooting from pavement level and had no choice but to angle the camera upwards which caused the verticals to converge. I also (unintentionally) skewed the camera slightly. The following image shows the original capture and indicates how far off true vertical and horizontal alignment I was when I took the shot:

There are always three dimensions of alignment to consider. It's difficult to find a standard for naming these so I indicate the most usual photographic term and also the terms used more precisely to describe the attitude of an object around its centre of mass:

• Is the lens pointing up or down (tilt or pitch)
• Is the camera base level (rotation or roll)
• Is the camera back flat-on to the subject (pan or yaw)

In this example I have errors in all three axes, which is apparent by the asymmetry of the skewing of the actual area (green highlight) within the 'ideal' area (red highlight).

This perspective was corrected in Photoshop™ and using simple maths we can calculate the area (green highlight) of pixels used in the final image.

The area of the final image (red highlight) is 2543 * 2360 = 6,001,480

The areas of each of the four triangles that will be cropped are:

• (2360 * 207) /2 = 244,260
• (2543 * 118) /2 = 150,037
• (2360 * 356) /2 = 420,080
• (2543 * 28) / 2 = 35,602

Which is a total of: 849,979 cropped pixels (which in the perspective adjustment will be replaced by interpolated pixel values. (there's about 5% error in this value since two of the triangles overlap, top right)

So the effective 'real-world' pixels in the final image is (6,001,480 - 849,979) 5151501.
The original full sensor capture contained (3872 * 2592) 10,036,224 pixels. In this case the final image

• Utilised 51.3% of the pixels captured by the sensor.
• Cropped 33% of the sensor pixels to achieve the required aspect ratio
• Cropped 7% of the sensor pixels to remove 'dead space'
• Cropped 8.7% of the pixels to perform perspective adjustment

Using simple trigonometry (from a convenient on-line calculator) the four angles of error were (clockwise from bottom left): 5 Degrees, 2.7 Degrees, 8.6 Degrees, 0.6 Degrees.

So my 10MP camera delivered a 5MP image and I suffered a 16% drop in quality due to in-the-field limitations and inaccuracies.

Summary

• Affordable digital cameras do not yet deliver a pixel count that allows high quality suitably sized exhibition prints to be created
• Working in aspect ratios different to the camera's sensor can result in a significant loss of pixels (33% composing a square format on a Nikon CX sensor)
• Cropping 'dead space' further exacerbates the pixel loss
• Perspective adjustments further effect pixel loss
• Taking all factors into consideration the effective pixel count of an image can easily be half that of the camera sensor

Accurate framing with regards proximity and perspective at time of shooting is materially significant to the end-quality of the image.

The Mechanics Of The Decisive Moment

In his original book (Images a la sauvette), Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB) referenced Cardinal de Retz's statement that "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment". To my mind there is no photograph of worth that does not capture a decisive moment. It is this that gives a still image narrative, and which transforms an image from being a document to being a work of art: for such a moment cannot be captured by instrumentation alone. It requires attention, thought and possibly 'intuition' on the part of the photographer. By demonstrating the impossibility (or extreme unlikelihood) of capturing that moment by instrumentation I intend to add to the argument for photography as art.

HCB himself defined the 'decisive moment' as:

"...the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." 

Here he is emphasising the instantaneous coalescence of the event, or if you will, the intuition of the observer. 'Intuition' is a disturbing term. It conjures concepts of divine intervention, something beyond the consciousness of the practitioner. Well, he came from a time and society that still hung on to mystique and mysticism (he suffered a strong catholic schooling). However, if we can accept intuition as the expression of the subconscious mind then we can still find some value in his idea. The crucial thing is to separate the instantaneous moment of capture from the moment of recognition - our hand need not be guided by god at the moment of taking a photograph (or by the mechanics of a camera's software algorithms). The decisive moment can in fact be foreseen.

So, for me, the decisive moment is nothing more nor less than the precise time at which a composition's narrative intent is best portrayed.

Reading around the subject on internet forums will dredge up the usual cacophony of dogma. There's a lot of argument about being in the right place at the right time and having an element of surprise. Arguments that imbue the process with mysticism, that rob us of the right to break down the process and formulate working practices to improve the chance of success. It is not a matter of luck, or the genius of those with great 'intuition'. It is a matter of understanding, recognition, and preparedness. In photography we make our own good luck.

There are also schools of thought that make the decisive moment a genre, a classification of photography. There are arguments about whether a picture is a 'decisive moment picture' or not. This seems simply futile. All photographs of worth contain within them the four perceivable dimensions of our world: the horizontal and vertical as clearly expressed in the flat image; the depth as represented by the depth of field, the plane of focus and the camera-to-subject geometric effect; and the timing as decided by the instant of exposure. All photographs freeze a moment in time. If that specific moment adequately expresses a narrative then the image is an artistic endeavour. If it does not then the image is either a snapshot or else a documentary record. In the first case the image contains a decisive moment. In the latter it does not.

A good test for a photograph's successful capture of a decisive moment is to ask "why was the image taken at just that time?" If there is a reasonably apparent answer then the image likely contains a sense of narrative.

So what does the decisive moment look like in practice? Here are some examples progressing from longer lasting, to shorter lasting moments:

Examples of the Decisive Moment 

Example 1: Moments That Last - Cocoon 

This cocoon hung from a garden chair for several days with little discernible difference. However, this image has a strong sense of time about it. It clearly represents the cycle of life. It was taken during a particular summer when this variety visited our garden. It was shot at a particular time of day, when the lighting suited. The dogmatists will squeal in uproar that I dare to use the term 'decisive moment' for an image such as this, but I'll do it and be damned because I know that many time based factors coalesced at the moment I took this shot.

Example 2: Moments That Drift - Cranes 

Perhaps using a less controversial application of the term 'decisive moment', this particular arrangement of the clouds between the cranes lasted a few minutes. This reveals an important aspect of decisive moments. They can be foretold, anticipated. The "spontaneous recognition" can occur a good thirty minutes or more before the moment arrives and is captured.

Example 3: Moments That Pass - Trafalgar Square 

In some genres of photography, anticipation seems difficult, particularly anything that encompasses human activity: sports, stage, street... But in fact these activities generally take place within a well-defined boundary (the race track, the stage area, the visible street). By observing action repeatedly within that boundary you quickly come to learn the rhythms of the action, and acquire an ability to anticipate - to select and watch the moment arrive.

Example 4: Moments That Flee - Dan Hunt 

In some regards stage photography is easier than street as the boundary is so much tighter and the mic stand can focus or constrain the performers. But this example of the decisive moment is less about transverse motion and more about attitude and expression. To capture a moment like this it's necessary to observe the subject in order to build up an anticipation of the moment to shoot. At an open mic night performers typically play three pieces each. I will watch the first piece to build up understanding and then shoot during the second and possibly third piece. Because the expression and eye contact is critical to the success of the shot, the duration of the decisive moment is very short - of the order of a second with regards the stance and the hand gesture.

Example 5: Moments That Blink - Woody Bop Muddy 

There's so much waiting to go wrong with this shot. Wait too long and the rice loses its forward trajectory collapsing into an incoherent curtain of rice rain. Shoot too soon and you don’t get the spread and the arm obscures the face. Here, the decisive moment is no more than a fraction of a second.

Duration Of The Decisive Moment 

With regards to capturing them within a two dimensional bounded frame (a picture of finite size), decisive moments have a finite duration. When dealing with things that move longitudinally or latitudinally (or both) through the frame, the duration of the moment is correlated to the size of the moving object (in relation to the frame size) and its speed, within some placement tolerance.

Decisive Moment Duration = Extension * Tolerance / Velocity 

When the moment moves towards the photographer (orthogonal to the plane of the frame) it will have an apparent zero velocity but will exhibit a delta in extension (a change in size). The duration of the decisive moment is correlated to the tolerance we have on that change in size.

Decisive Moment Duration = Delta Extension / Orthogonal Velocity 

When the moment doesn't move in relation to the frame (e.g. is an expression on a stationary person's face) then the duration of the moment is arbitrary, depending on the nature of the subject.

Decisive Moment Duration = Indeterminate 

So, apart from the latter (special) case, the duration of a decisive moment is a factor of the size of the thing moving in relation to the speed of its movement, in the frame - within some acceptable tolerance.

Returning to our earlier examples I will look in more detail at the duration of the moments. In these examples where movement is involved I segment the image so a sense of distance can be determined. I also highlight the acceptable area for placement of the key compositional items.

Example 1:

The decisive moment is not determined by the subject but rather the ambient conditions, and here I assume they are tolerably indifferent over about 15 minutes. The window for this decisive moment is 900s.






Example 2:

The central mass of the cloud which fills approximately 2/15th of the frame and moves across the whole frame in about 900s (I didn't time it however). The frame has been split into 15 strips. It takes about a minute for the cloud to cross each. The cloud could not have been placed any earlier (as it would have fouled the first crane), but could have been placed two strips later. So from the cloud's perspective the window for this decisive moment is 60s. The pigeon (strip 9) is at full wingspan (0.6m) and travelling at perhaps 20kmph (or 5.5m/s, it was a leisurely old bird. Racing pigeons fly on average at 92.5kmph).

The pigeon fills about half of a strip. So each strip at the pigeon's distance from camera will be 1.2m and the distance across frame will be 18m (15*1.2). The pigeon would cross the frame in 3.3s (18m divided by 5.5m/s), crossing each segment in about 0.2s. Compositionally we have 2 segments leeway in the positioning of the pigeon. So from the pigeon's perspective the window for this decisive moment is 0.6s.


Example 3:

The foreground figure fills approximately 1/7th of the frame's width (body only).

The man was walking briskly, about 4mph or 1.8m/s. Average stride for a man is about 1m and we can see his stride covers 1.5 segments. To move completely across the frame, he has to cover 7 segments. So for his distance from the camera he has to take 5 x 1m strides at 1.8m/s, which is 2.8s to completely cross the frame.

Each strip is 2/3rds of a meter and takes 0.37s to cross (2/3rds divided by 1.8m/s). The man is placed in the centre of the third strip. I could have placed him anywhere from the very start to the very end of the third strip, so I had one strip of tolerance in my composition - but, because the woman at the back is also moving I cannot afford to exercise that tolerance. So that makes the decisive moment the time to cross that one strip. The window for this decisive moment is 0.4s.

Example 4:

I said earlier the duration would be around 1s with regards the stance and hand-gesture. Here though the expression is crucial and that is related to the words being spoken. Average speaking rate is around 100wpm to 250wpm for an auctioneer. I know this poet recites quickly and so words are probably changing every 0.3 seconds or so (180wpm), with the expression constantly shifting with them, as is the nature of expressive performance. The window for this decisive moment is 0.3s.





Example 5:

To freeze thrown rice, a shutter speed of about 1/250s is required. Here I used a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second to achieve the blur effect I wanted. At this shutter speed we can see the hand covers two (of the 8) vertical segments that I've split the frame into. The tolerance for the placement of the hand was another two segments (one above and one below its position). The window for this decisive moment is 0.13s.

I am also interested in the spread of the rice. I've indicated the allowable range where the cluster will not foul either of the people in the shot. To my eye the cluster as shot is perfect, covering about 36% of the frame area. The cluster could reasonably have been smaller, covering 16% of the frame (as shown by the inner shaded area). The un-shaded area therefore represents the duration of the decisive moment with regards the rice, 1 (vertical) segment. The window for this decisive moment is 0.07s.


The following table expresses the earlier examples in these terms. Note, for 'action' images the decisive moment duration is given by  Size * Tol * Velocity:

Example	Motion Type	Size % of frame	Tol.	Velocity seconds to cross frame	Decisive Moment Duration
1 - Cocoon	None	90%	n/a	0s	900s
2 - Cranes, cloud only	Longitudinal	10%	2	300s	60s
2 - Cranes, with pigeon	Longitudinal	3%	6	3.3s	0.6s
3 - Trafalgar Square	Longitudinal	14%	1	2.8s	0.4s
4 - Dan Hunt	None	25%	n/a	0s	0.3s
5 - Woody Bop Muddy, hand	Latitudinal	25%	2	0.25s	0.13s
5 - Woody Bop Muddy, rice	Orthogonal	36%	1	0.2s	0.07s

So in these examples, with the exception of stationary or slow moving subjects that do not have fleeting changes of expression, the decisive moment has a duration in the range of around 0.4 to 0.1s. With an average human reaction time when concentrating of around 0.15s, the effective decisive moment duration is somewhere between 0 and 0.2 seconds. Let us say that:

on average the decisive moment has a duration of 0.1s. 

Of course there are many forms of subject I have not considered, most especially high-speed action, such as: a kingfisher in flight (20mph); an F1 car (average speed around 100mph); the world's fastest recorded tennis serve (163mph). In these situations the photographer will generally pan which has the effect of prolonging the decisive moment.

Mechanics of Capturing The Decisive Moment 

The main reason that I'm discussing the duration of the decisive moment is to consider how best to capture it. Options for triggering the camera's shutter release are: 

• Manually, once with anticipation of the moment 
• Manually with a burst of several high speed shots around the moment 
• Automatically by employing some form of external sensor trigger 
• Automatically on a time lapse 

The latter two methods have their place in specialist applications (shooting night creatures as they pass a laser trigger or creating time lapse videos for example) and fall outside the scope of this essay. They may or may not be effective at capturing the decisive moment and whether they do or not is largely a question of fortune after the photographer has pre-set the conditions.

For less specialised applications the photographer has to choose to manually trip the shutter and can apply one of the two manual options in the hope of doing so at just the right moment (within the 1/10th of a second that the moment lasts on average).

So, can firing a burst of shots at a high rate of frames-per-second (fps) capture the decisive moment?

Nikon's D300 delivers 6fps. At a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second the probability of capturing the moment is 1 in 3. To demonstrate this, consider the following diagram:

The circles show the one second timeframe split into thirty intervals of 1/30th of a second each. The points when the shutter is open are shown in yellow. The interval between shots is shown in blue. This diagram shows four possible points when the 1/10th of a second (=3/30ths of a second) decisive moment may happen:

• Point A (in red) will be a missed shot as it falls in the interval when the shutter is closed. 
• Point B (in amber) will probably be an unacceptable shot since the decisive moment is forming whilst a shot is being taken. 
• Point C (also in amber) will probably be an unacceptable shot since the decisive moment finishes in the same interval that the shutter fires, and so has passed too far. 
• Point D (in green) will be a good shot since the decisive moment has become established before the shutter opens and remains stable until after the shutter closes.

The chance of capturing a good shot of a moment using a burst of exposures is given by the following formula (many thanks to Holly Hayes for help in deriving this): 

Given: 

De - Duration of event 
Ts - shutter speed 
Ns - number of shots taken 
fps - frames per second 

Probability of capturing good shot is 

(De - Ts)*(Ns-1) / ( (Ns/fps) - De ) 

For the D300 example, this gives:

De = 0.1s 
Ts = 0.033s 
Ns = 6 
fps = 6 

(0.1 - 0.033) * (6-1) / ( (6/6) - 0. 1 ) = 0.37 

Which is just about 1 in 3.

The formula assumes that we will start shooting before the moment happens, which in all likelihood we will: therefore the first shot is bad and we subtract one from the number of shots.

Notice that as the shutter speed decreases the chance of getting the shot increases. This is because a shorter shutter speed is less likely to fall at the start/end of the moment; e.g. for a shutter speed of 1/120th of a second (0.008s):

(0.1 - 0.008) * (6-1) / ( (6/6) - 0. 1 ) = 0.51 

Also notice that the number of shots taken has little effect on the probability of capturing the moment, since number of shots appears on the top and the bottom of the division; e.g. if we shoot twice as many:

(0.1 - 0.033) * (12-1) / ( (12/6) - 0. 1 ) = 0.39 

The frame rate has a significant effect. Consider if we invested the £5,000 or so needed to upgrade from a D300 to a D4 so that we could shoot at 10fps, keeping all other parameters the same:

(0.1 - 0.033) * (6-1) / ( (6/10) - 0. 1 ) = 0.67 

Here the probability of getting a good shot is 2 out of 3, as opposed to 1 out of 3 with the D300. Pushing the equation to the limit, shooting 10 shot at 1/8000s (0.000125s):

At 6fps: (0.1 - 0.000125) * (10-1) / ( (10/6) - 0. 1 ) = 0.574 
At 10fps: (0.1 - 0.000125) * (10-1) / ( (10/10) - 0. 1 ) = 0.999 

It is clear that a higher frame rate is highly desirable.

Charting shutter speed against probability for 6fps and 10fps gives:



In conclusion can firing a burst of shots at a high rate of frames-per-second (fps) capture the decisive moment?

The answer seems to be 'yes, sometimes'. Using a high-end camera and restricting shutter speeds to 1/125th of a second or higher for moments slower than 0.1 seconds with placement tolerances of 10% or more then we can rely on the camera to implement the photographer's artistic judgement.

But there are a lot of constraints there. In practice the photographer will achieve greatest success if they use continuous shooting with caution. If the photographer takes the time to learn the behaviours of their subject, and to anticipate the decisive moment, the chance of success will be greater. The formula becomes:

(De - Ts)*Ns / ( (Ns/fps) - De ) 

And the chance of success shooting with a 1/30th of a second shutter speed at 6fps rises from 37% to 45%, almost 1 in 2 as opposed to 1 in 3.

The success will be all the more fulfilling since it relies less upon good fortune. The capabilities of the technology can certainly play a supporting role, especially with high-speed or uncertain action, but with today's technology intuition remains firmly the province of the seeing eye.

Summary 

Contrary to dogma I consider all photographs of worth to contain a 'decisive moment', otherwise they are snapshots or documents.

Depending on the subject the moment can have a wide range of durations. When dealing with action, the moment's duration is a function of the size of the moving object and its speed. If the action is orthogonal to the plane of the image the moment's duration is a function of the change in apparent size of the moving object. If the action doesn't move (e.g. is a change in expression) then knowledge of the subject is required to understand the duration of the decisive moment. For example, expression related to speech may be a function of the speed of the speech.

The decisive moment in action shots may well be around 0.1 seconds on average, although panning may be required. Moments of this duration cannot be reliably captured by a camera's high-speed continuous shooting mode in a wide range of situations. High-speed shooting can be a help, but only if the photographer approaches the shot with the anticipation needed to 'intuit' the moment.

This reliance on human skill transfigures the mechanical craft of photography to an artistic endeavour. Despite advances in technology, photography remains an art.

Post Processing Live Band Shots In 9 Steps

Here I'm going to walk through what is pretty much my standard recipe for post processing live band shots. This example is based on a performance by The Black Sparrows, 12th June 2013 at The Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel, London.The image features the lead singer (Dan Hunt) and the Drummer (Kai Hughes).

I was shooting with my Nikon 1 V1 using flash (as the stage lighting was abysmal!). The original out of camera shot looked like this (right). I felt this shot had a lot of potential due to it's unusal composition and the opportunity to show the lead singer with the drummer. It's often difficult to get a meaningful shot of the drummer with other band members as they are shuffled so far into the background. (30mm, 80mm effective. f5.6, 1/60, ISO800 with flash)

Step 1: Crop

My first step is usually to apply the crop, this means that you're then working with a smaller image so as you start to build up layers you're not wasting processing resources handling parts of the image that will be thrown away. With large digital files and several layers you can find you're waiting around for each processing step to complete. If a photograph needs perspective adjustment, or large object removal I may do those things first, as the extra space in the image before crop can be helpful in haveing some spare background to clone from.It's also important to crop early as some filters work in a gradation from centre to edge (e.g. edge burns). If you crop after such actions you will find the filter effect is unbalanced.

For this crop I chose a 5:4 aspect ratio. I never crop images to abstract ratios. By thinking about 'standard' aspect ratios I know that the image will work in whatever context it eventually turns up in without having to worry about creating bespoke frame sizes, of compositing it in an arrangement with other images. Also arbitary aspect ratios can end up looking 'odd' simply because we're not used to seeing suchh images. All rules are meant to be broken but this is a good starting point. The usual ratios I use will be: 1:1 (square), 5:4, 6:4 (full frame), 2:1, 3:1, 5:1 (panoramics).

The original shot looks unbalance due to the excess space to the right. So I made sure the space above and behind the lead singer we're balanced, and quite tight since the space in front and below was cropping off the head and guitar. This tightness complements that cropping in the origanal shot. The 'rule of thirds' cardinal points fall (see the grid overlaid in the image) on the shoulder and elbow. This places the strong diagonal of the arm pleasingly to emphasise the angular positioning of the lead singer.

Step 2: Noise Reduction

I always apply noise reduction to all images. Sometimes it is difficult to see the effect except at high magnifications, but since you don't know exactly what demands will be placed on the image in future it is best to ensure maximum quality at this stage. Noise reduction should be applied early in the processing, before other tools and filters start to mess about with the pixel values, which I feel could interfere with the noise reduction algorithm's ability to recognise noise. Also, because I'm shooting on a Nikon camera I always use Nikon's own noise reduction software (Define 2.0) as I believe this software has more chance to understand the noise perculiarities of the hardware.

Step 3: Liquify

This step is a little controversial since it is effectively a vanity response. However the image should be portraying an essence of the subject. A single fraction of a second captured by the camera does not necessarilly do that. In this shot I've flattened out the bulge under the chin. Certainly this makes the shot more pleasing for the subject (which is important, it helps the subject trust your work going forward which gives rise to more opportunity for future shoots). In reality when meeting this lead singer you don't take note of a 'flabby chin' which this specific pose creates so it's not esentially unfair to tweak this. It's a judgement call.

Step 4: Tone Adjustment

Because of the use of flash and the relative distance of the two subjects the drummer is under illuminated. To balance the tones I switch to Black and White (using Nikon's Silver Effects Pro filter) and selectively lighten/darken where needed, in this case emphasising the drummer's face. Later I will return to full colour by using this black and white layer in layer blending mode 'luminosity'. I could have used Photoshop's native dodge/burn tools in the original colour layer, but the filter I employed gives fine control which can be tweaked as you observe the effect. The Dodge/Burn tool acts instantly on the image and if you over-do the adjustment the only choice is to step back in history and to try again.

Step 5: Sharpening/Structural enhancement

Before returning to working in colour I apply any overall sharpening needed, either with Photoshop's native Unsharp Mask filter or (as in this case) with the same Black and White conversion filter I used in step four. Again the Silver Effects Pro filter gives me greater control. Here I have driven up the 'structure' of the overall image as far as possible to add to the textural effect of the denim. This adjustment is unkind to skin tones though so I have then knocked the structure adjustment back in the faces and the arm.I typically then select a very small area around the eyes and drive the structure higher again. If the eyes are open at this point I will also tweak the brightness/contrast to ensure they stand out.

In this image I also finally (in Black and White mode) applied some limited dodging. This reduced the darkness around the eyes that is often a consequence of harsh directional lighting (either stage lights or flash).

Step 6: Blend toned and sharped results

Once I'm happy with all of the black and white tweaks I convert that layer's blending mode to 'luminosity' in order to return to colour working. You can compare the pre- and post- versions below. You can see how the texture of the denim leaps out of the image now and how the drummer is much more a part of the composition by brightening that area.

Step 7: Background distraction removal

Because these are live shots it's often impossible to effect fine control over the backgrounds. Also stages can be very messy affairs. Some elements of the background will add to the atmoshpere of the shot but very often a degree of clean up improves the overall cohesion of the image. In this example there's a tiny part of gantry behind the lead singer's head which is too small to really convey the sense of the stage structure and so appears as a distraction to my eye. There is also a large lighting projector with an unfortunate highlight. I remove these with a simple Clone Stamp operation. The removal can be quite gross since I know the background will be quite dark by the timne the image is complete.

Step 8: Atmospheric effects

Most of the actions so far have been localised, concentrated on specific areas of the image. At this point I apply overall image filters. Typically some form of edge burn which is often a good idea to ensure the image is strongly bounded and doesn't look weak as the image meets it's borders. In this cae I used Colour Effects Pro's Darken edges, Lighten centre filter. I also apply a degree of 'glow' which adds some diffusion relative to the tonal values.

Step 9: Final Review

At this point I save the image out to it's target format and file size then reload it to take a final review. In this example I notice a small triangular greyness in the very top right of the image that weakened the image corner. So I simply clone stamped that out. After all of the foregoing detailed work it is very easy to miss some small issue so a final review when you think you're done is essential.

And that's it. My typical approach to finishing a shot.

The Nikon 1 V1 In Operation

My first blog post about the Nikon 1 V1 was written after a few hours of owning it and described how I made sure to capture some shots I was very happy with as my introduction to the camera. Once I felt it was a machine I could use in a day to day sense the next task was to configure it so that it would most readily bend to my will, without the need to be constantly fiddling on with menu selections etc.

I’ll not run through the various controls as though the user manual were inadequate or the internet did not exist, rather I’ll talk through the personal selections that I’ve made – my priority is to ensure the camera is ready to capture an image without the need to pour over its various control options when ‘in the field’.

The V1 is a modern camera – which is to say its user interface is a hotchpotch of hardware and software compromises. Expensive but very convenient switches and dials and the likes along side cheap but fiddly soft menus. The mark of a good camera is balancing these approaches within the target budget in a way that means day to day operation is convenient. The trade-off is that less frequent tasks become more complex as you struggle to navigate through the adaptive options.

The camera operates in one of five major modes, 4 capture modes plus Review. The capture mode is selected on the master mode dial and review is accessed by the ‘Play’ button. The actions related to reviewing are pretty much the same irrespective of which capture mode you happened to use last – which is why they separate out the controls like this. Some cameras have a mode dial that includes a ‘play back’ setting, I don’t like that arrangement as it means constantly switching out of your current capture mode – so ‘plus 1’ to the V1 on this front for me.

In terms of capture camera needs to be configured at 3 levels:

-       Initial (out-of-box) set-up, i.e. once when you buy it

-       ‘Normal’ (for you) pre-setting, i.e. once at the start of a given shoot

-       Per-shot tuning, i.e. prior to tripping the shutter for a given capture.

Getting the second of these right for your personal shooting style is critical to ensure the third is as swift and simple as possible.

Initial set-up is performed entirely by menu (the Settings menu). This has 21 entries and the settings can be made no matter what capture mode the camera is in (or will be in when you use it).

Actually, 2 of these items (Assign AE/AF-L button and Shutter Button AE lock) cannot be set if you happen to be in Smart Shot mode. If you set the camera up when in Smart Shot mode you wont be able to set these options. This is actually just dumb and is, I suspect, a bug in the configuration of the menu system in the firmware – maybes Nikon will fix this, but it’s not a big worry. It does demonstrate though how the contents of the menus (and the actions of the hardware buttons and switches) change depending on the mode.

The full list of options and how (and why) I have set them is:

Menu->Settings->Reset Setup Options

This is one of those get out of jail free cards that fortunately I have never had use, ever, on any digital device. God help you if you ever find this useful.

Menu->Settings->Format Memory Card

I always format memory cards in the camera (never on a PC). I generally move individual images from the cards and so only reformat them every few months.

Menu->Settings->Slot Empty release lock

Set to LOCK and never changed. The shutters in cameras do not have an infinite life, there’s little point allowing the shutter to fire if I do not have a card in the camera.

Menu->Settings->Welcome Screen

Set to OFF, displaying this just shows a meaningless graphic when I turn the camera on. What is the point of that? The thing is already plastered with Nikon iconography, enough is enough.

Menu->Settings->Display Brightness

Left at 0 for both monitor and viewfinder as I have no trouble with the contrast of either. Maybes I’ll use this if/as/when the cataracts develop.

Menu->Settings->Grid Display

Set to ON and left ON. A bit disconcerting at first but you quickly get used to the grid lines which I find really useful in ensuring my shots are suitably square. Much better to get this right at the point of capture than to throw pixels away in a perspective correction during post. I think it’s a shame there are 4 grid lines not 3 though since I’m mostly interested in composing against the cardinal points.

Menu->Settings->Sound Settings

Turned them all off. A camera should behave discretely, the less noise the better.

Menu->Settings->Auto Power Off

Set to 5 minutes, why encourage the thing to go to sleep in the middle of a shot?

Menu->Settings->Remote on duration

I’ve left it at default since I don’t have a remote.

Menu->Settings->Assign AE/AF-L button

I don’t use the AE/AF-L lock button. I regain focus/exposure on every shot, it’s just how I work. So I don’t care about this setting.

Menu->Settings->Shutter button AE lock

I set this OFF, the last thing I want is for the camera to change its mind about exposure just as I decide everything is right and I press the release. I’d rather screw up a shot than miss one because the camera thought it knew better.

Menu->Settings->Video Mode

Set to PAL, of course – I’m in the UK

Menu->Settings->HDMI device control

I’m not connecting via HDMI so I haven’t st this. Turn it on or off depending on your set-up (Hey, I know that’s not exactly helpful advice…)

Menu->Settings->Flicker Reduction

Set to 60Hz, set it to whatever your mains runs at.

Menu->Settings->Reset file numbering

Never! The scope for confusion is immense – I do not want raw file name clashes when I’m shuffling images around.

Menu->Settings->Time zone and date

Set to home location values and never changed. I do use daylight saving as I want the actual time, as I understand it, to be recorded. I don’t change it when on holiday though… perhaps I should…

Menu->Settings->Language

Set it to something you can understand.

Menu->Settings->Auto image rotation

I set this ON, it does mean portrait images are quite small on review but I prefer that to swivelling the camera around.

Menu->Settings->Battery Info

Read only, check it from time to time especially if the camera loses charge too quickly.

Menu->Settings->Pixel Mapping

This so sounds like a hack. I’m not doing this unless I get some serious image issues.

Menu->Settings->Firmware Version

Check against latest versions from time to time, in case an update is useful.

Normal set-up is a combination of entering menu presets and also making sure the default behaviour on various buttons has been set, so you always know how a button will react. If you change a setting for a specific shot it’s a good idea to change it back straight after, that way the camera will always behave in the same way when you come to it. If you’re forever changing a button setting, perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong preset…

There are 28 menu settings and 5 button settings related to shooting, but not all of them are available in every mode. If you work through the modes to establish the defaults then switching modes will be a lot easier, you will know how the camera is going to behave. For each setting I show which modes that can access the setting (VPSM=Video, Photo, Smart and Motion Image modes), and also the pre-set value that I am using.

VPSM|Menu->Shooting->Reset Shooting Options: As needed

Another get out of jail free opportunity, never use this in the field! You’ll spend the next hour struggling to set the camera back up.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

I always shoot Aperture priority with exposure compensation – it’s very convenient and I can readily set the aperture to get the shutter speed I want – which is shown in the viewfinder. Things get a little tricky sometimes with AutoISO - which can take away control of the selected shutter speed – but if I feel that’s causing me trouble I will turn AuoISO off (see later).

V---|Menu->Shooting->Frame Rate: 400fps (F Button Slow Motion)

You can only set this in video mode with SloMo selected by the F Button… I.e. this will be a fiddly set-up whatever you do, but hey, how often do you want to shoot a 2 second slow motion movie?

V---|Menu->Shooting->Movie Settings: 1080/60i

I keep this set to something that matches my Video processing workflow, I can’t imagine ever having to change his – but video is just a toy for me really.

-PS-|Menu->Shooting->Image Quality: RAW+Fine

For me, the job of the camera is to get the best possible RAW recording. If I have a good histogram and a large file then I have maximum freedom in post processing. So I must shoot RAW. Capturing Fine JPG is really just a backup, but with cheap storage why wouldn’t I?

-PS-|Menu->Shooting->Image Size: Large

As above. Why let the camera use less than it’s full sensor size? If I want to crop I’ll make that decision in post processing, not in the field. After all, every pixel has been paid for…

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Continuous: Single Frame

I rarely use continuous shooting so I set this to single. If I want to continuous shoot I’ll just have to dip in to the menus.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Shutter Type: Mechanical

There’s not a lot to choose here. Electronic shutter allows faster flash synch and I may switch to that as the default. This is a pretty odd config though I doubt I’ll touch it often.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->Metering: Matrix

If the exposure is wrong I will see it in the histogram and adjust – so I want the camera to just have it’s best chance of getting the exposure right itself. So I default to it’s most informed mode, Matrix. Rather than change that I’d just adjust the exposure bias. I doubt I’ll ever need to change this. In the old days of film I would always spot meter against the zone system – but now we have hostogram review I tend to shoot and (if needed) adjust exposure compensation.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->White Balance: Auto

The auto white balance is really good. I leave it on auto and will only fiddle with this if I get into trouble. I spend a lot of time fiddling with white balance on the D2x, but the V1 performs well here.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->ISO Sensitivity: A400

This is critical. In exposing a shot there are 3 controls: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. The V1 gives you one convenient control method (the Zoom button) that can handle Aperture OR Shutter speed. And other inconvenient controls, either the command dial or the menu system. If you try to manually control all three parameters every shot will take a very long time. So I put some of the controls into the hands of the camera.

By using Aperture Priority with AutoISO in the range 100-400 I get pretty predictable shutter speed and ISO selections by the camera when I use the zoom button to set the aperture. If conditions are tough I may hop into the menu system to set a fixed specific ISO.

When I’m shooting without flash this is the ONLY menu setting I need to tweak shot by shot. Which means when I press the menu button I am already at the right setting, so changing ISO is fast.

However, if I am shooting both with and without flash I will also want to use the menus to change the flash compensation. So I do occasionally find myself shuffling between the ISO and Flash Compensation menu items – which is fiddly, but that is the worse case scenario. (If I’m shooting consistently with flash I will fix the ISO and then I only need to access the Flash Compensation setting in the menus, so again I find the setting is already selected when I press the menu button).

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->Picture Control: Neutral AND

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->Custom Picture Control: As Needed

These control how the camera generates JPGs from the RAW capture. Since I work exclusively with RAW I don’t much care about the JPG rendition, so I just leave these at neutral. If I ever need to use the JPG it should at least not have been over processed by the camera.

-PS-|Menu->Shooting->Colo(u)r space: sRGB

sRGB is sometimes needed for publications so I stick with it rather than having to remember to change the colour space later.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Active D-Lighting: On

Nikon does a good job with it’s D-Lighting feature, so I enable this.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Long Exposure N(oise) R(eduction): On AND

VPSM|Menu->Shooting->High ISO Noise Reduction: On

I suspect the device housing the sensor will know best how to do severe noise reduction, so here I am trusting Nikon and setting these on.

V---|Menu->Shooting->Fade in/fade out: OFF

Video setting, but if I wanted fades I would add them in post.

VP--|Menu->Shooting->Movie Sound Options->Microphone->Auto Sens.

VP--|Menu->Shooting->Movie Sound Options->Wind Noise Reduction->On

Again, video is not key for me so I accept the defaults here.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Interval Timer Shooting: As Needed

Haven’t played with this yet, but this is not so much a setting as a separate shooting mode. It’s all pretty self-explanatory.

VPSM|Menu->Shooting->Vibration Reduction: Active

Nikon VR is great so I leave these active I might change it for a given shot if I want a really close macro but honestly I’m going to drag the D2x out for those shots.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->AF-Area Mode: Single Point

My main drive is to have a camera that is no fuss. Although on the D2x I switch focus modes often, on this little thing I’m happy to select really simple focussing. So I use single point and mostly acquire focus at the centre, then compose then complete the shutter release. Occasionally I use the OK button to shift the focus point, but it’s not often I need to do that. You’ll want to experiment with this if action photography is your thing.

VP-M|Menu->Shooting->Face-Priority AF: OFF

This irritates me, I already know where the face in the shot is and I do my own focussing on it. So I quickly came to turn this off.

-PSM|Menu->Shooting->Built-in AF assist: ON

The V1 is slow to focus to my mind so I give it all the help I can, even though the focus assist makes the camera less discrete.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Flash Mode: Fill Flash AND

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Flash Control TTL

My standard settings for using flash.

-P--|Menu->Shooting->Flash Compensation: -3.0

If using flash I will dip into the menu to adjust this. Usually this is the only menu related function I need so it is at least a fast adjustment. The only problem comes when I am switching between flash and no flash and therefore find I need to switch between ISO setting and Flash compensation setting in the menus. This mode of shooing is the only time I find the diminutive V1 fiddly. If only Nikon had put flash compensation on to the body of the SB-N5…

V---|Button->F: HD Movie

-P--|Button->F: Shutter Mechanical

---M|Button->F: Any Theme

I ensure I have preset the F button behaviour for each mode, I then hardly have to worry about it. I wish Nikon had allowed the F button to modify the zoom button function – then I could have quickly set Aperture and either shutter or ISO without resorting to menus.

VP-M|Button->Zoom: Set Aperture

I shoot aperture priority so this, the most convenient control, sets the aperture for me.

VP-M|Button->Command Dial->+/-: Exposure Bias 0.0

This is also a very convenient control and I use it a lot while shooting.

VP-M|Button->Command Dial->AE-l/AF-L: Momentary Lock

My style of shooting doesn’t need this, would have preferred fast access to ISO setting here.

VP--|Button->Command Dial->Self Timer: OFF

Used as needed of course, nice and convenient but possibly more convenient than I need.

V---|Button->Command Dial->AF: AF-C AND

-P--|Button->Command Dial->AF: AF-F

My preferred Autofocus settings.

VP-M|Button->Command Dial->OK: AF Point Centre

A very convenient means to shuffle the AF point, which I use occassionally. Good that it is convenient for when I do need it.

Having made all of the above settings I’m ready to use the camera in the field. It may seem like there’s a lot to deal with (21 initial and 35 shooting settings), but most of the complexity/flexibility has been dealt with, so my typical shooting operation goes something like:

-       Zoom Button: Set aperture

-       +/- Button/Dial/OK: Set exposure compensation

-       Shutter Release Half press: Acquire focus/exposure

-       Compose

-       Shutter Release Full Press

And my trickiest shooting is typically:

-       Zoom Button: Set aperture

-       +/- Button/Dial/OK: Set exposure compensation

-       Menu Button/Right/Right/Dial/OK/Menu/Menu: Set ISO

-       OK/Dial/OK: Set focus point

-       Shutter Release Half press: Acquire focus/exposure

-       Compose

-       Shutter Release Full Press

I very rarely have to navigate through menus and I have a lot of control over aperture, shutter seed, ISO, and Focus – everything you need to control a shot in fact.

The V1 interface is quite well thought out. The only changes I would like would be to have similar control over ISO and Flash compensation that I get with Exposure compensation. A firmware update allowing more functions on the command dial to be soft assigned could easily achieve that IF Nikon were to care to give us that kind of flexibility. Unfortunately, I doubt they will.