Stephen Ingraham (who?)

the unofficial site for birders and digiscopers using Zeiss equipment.

Post-processing for DC4 users.

The built in DXO Image Science software in the Camera Eyepiece DC4 does an amazing job of rendering sharp colorful images. Most users will be happy with the results just as they are recorded to the SD card. However, like almost all digital camera files, your best DC4 images will benift from light post-processing in an image editing program.

Generally digital images benefit from a slight increast in apparent contrast, and a mild "unsharp mask" filter. Amost any image editing programs will have the tools to accomplish these refinements. I will show you how to do it using the tools in the ACDSee Image Management Software provided as part of the DC4 package.

After saving your images from the SD card to your hard drive, open ACDSee and navigate to your image folder using the folder tree on the left hand side of the screen. Thumnails wof the images in that folder will open in the browser section. You can see a larger version of any image in the browser by double clicking on it. Locate the image you want to edit and double click to open it.

Once the image is open, choose the Modify menu, and the Edit Mode option. (Open in Editor works too.)

Edit mode presents you with a number of options on the right hand side of the screen. Lets adjust contast first. The Exposure option contains a Contrast filter, but we will use the Shadow/Highlights option to give us somewhat finer control. Choose Shadows/Highlights from the options on the right by clicking on it.

In the filter dialog that opens, use the Brighten slider to adjust the brighness of highlights and midtones, making the image slightly lighter. Watch the highlights (the lightest areas of the image) to make sure you keep detail in them. Use the Darken slider to make the shadow and darker areas of the image darker. Make sure you retain detail in the dark areas of the image.This effectively increases the contrast range while maintaining both highlight and shadow detail (something that is very difficult using the Contrast control in the Exposure filter.) You can flick back and forth beween your edited version and the original by clicking the Saved tab in the upper left corner, and then clicking Preview to see the edited version again. Once you are satisfied click Done near the bottom of the Shadows/Highlights dialog and the changes will be applied.

Now choose "Sharpness" in the panel on the right. At the top of the Sharpness dialog choose the Unsharp Mask tab. When it originally comes up it will likely be set to a radius of 5 or more. Adjsut the radius slider to 1 or 2, depending on the degree of sharpening you want to apply. Remember, a gentle sharpening (small radius) produces far fewer artifacts in the image than a stronger sharpening (higher radius). Observe the effect in the Preview and compare it with the original by clicking the Saved tab in the upper left corner.

When you are happy with the degree of sharpening, then click the Done button and the changes will be applied. Choose "Save As" from the File menu and save a copy of your edited image. Give it another name or add "ed" to the end of the file name so you don't overwrite your original.

These are the two images showing the changes we just applied. Original first, then edited.

The differences are subtle, but just enough to make the edited image slighly more satisfying.

Similar editing can be accomplished in your favorite image editing program if you prefer.

Remember: no amount of post-processing will make a good image out of a bad one...but mild post-processing can often make a better image out of one that is already good!