How to use
the RAW FILE CONVERTER EX
powered by SILKYPIX®
The X-Pro1 comes with “RAW FILE CONVERTER EX powered by SILKYPIX®
software for processing RAW images. This software lets users make precise adjustments
to individual parameters for images that better reflect their personal vision. In this
section, we’ll cover retouch using color hue controls and monochrome tone controls.
■ ■ ■　Retouch: Color / RAW Processing for Richer Colors
■ ■ ■　Retouch: Black-and-White / RAW Processing for “Presence” : Creating the Effect of Prints on Monochrome Photographic Paper
Commentary by Hideyuki Motegi
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SILKYPIX
■ ■ ■　Retouch:
Color / RAW Processing for Richer Colors
How to use SILKYPIX
SILKYPIX gives you control over the following
six parameters:
1.Color: Choose the basis for color reproduction.
2.Tone: Adjust contrast.
3.Shading: Adjust peripheral illumination.
4.Fine color controller: Adjust brightness separately for
each color.
5.White balance adjustment: Enhance colors by adding
depth.
6.Gamma: Enhance details in shadows.
These steps are detailed on the following pages.
Original RAW image
This section takes you through the
process of using SILKYPIX to retouch
this original image to reflect your
personal vision.
Retouched image
Each parameter has been carefully and
precisely tuned for high-quality colors.
The steps involved are described on the
following pages.
Using SILKYPIX to process RAW images lets you make precise adjustments for colors that are richer and deeper. Not that these are
the only factors by which we judge the quality of photographs: the smoothness of the transitions between colors also plays a part. While
adjusting colors in JPEG images makes these transitions less smooth, this is not true in the case of RAW processing: adjustments that
make colors more expressive have no effect on quality. This section describes the steps involved in creating images with deep colors and
smooth transitions.
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STEP-1
The “Color” Parameter—Choosing the Basis for Color Reproduction
How to use SILKYPIX
The first step is to choose a color
reproduction mode. Why not try each of
the five film types on offer?
The basic menu is displayed on the left side of the window. The first step is to choose the base color reproduction mode: click the paint
tube icon to display “Color” options, where you will choose a base for the color processing that will be applied to the RAW data. Applied
to the same data, each of the 13 “tastes” (flavors) produces different colors. In this example, we’ve selected “Film color V1”, giving us a
base for color reproduction that features natural colors with good contrast, similar to color film. In addition to this setting, SILKYPIX offers
a choice of four other film types. It might be a good idea to try another setting so that you can see the difference for yourself.
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STEP-2
The “Tone” Parameter—Adjusting Contrast
How to use SILKYPIX
Contrast is an important factor in
determining the overall impression
created by an image. Keep making
adjustments until you are fully satisfied
with the result. One benefit of working
with RAW data is that the quality of the
image will not degrade no matter how
many changes you make.
Overall contrast can be adjusted by clicking the icon consisting of a circle that is half white, half black. Increasing contrast gives the effect
of a film positive, brightening highlights and darkening shadows. The border between highlights and shadows is chosen using the Contrast
center slider. In this example, we’ve selected 0.50 to better emphasize highlights. The balance between highlights and shadows can
also be adjusted using “Gamma”, but we will not do so here. Choosing a positive value for Black level lends the image definition, but also
reduces detail in shadows and so is used only infrequently.
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STEP-3
The “Shading” Parameter—Adjusting Peripheral Illumination
How to use SILKYPIX
Choosing higher values for “Angle”
increases the size of the area affected.
To darken edges, choose a negative
value for “Amount”.
To adjust shading (peripheral illumination), click “View” in the menu bar and select “Lens aberration controller”. Although the original
intent of shading is to correct loss of brightness at the edges of images due to the optical characteristics of the lens, it can also be used to
decrease peripheral illumination and direct the gaze to the center of the image, drawing attention to the subject by virtue of the fact that
the human eye is attracted first to brighter areas. This used to be done manually as part of the process of making prints from film, but with
digital cameras the effect is applied directly to the data. “Chromatic aberration” and “Distortion” items are also available, but as XF lenses
are not particularly prone to either of these vices there will likely be little opportunity to use these controls.
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STEP-4
How to use SILKYPIX
The “Fine Color Controller” Parameter—Adjusting Brightness Separately for Each Color
Sky darker
Flowers brighter
Colors are reborn richer and more
vibrant thanks to adjustments performed
separately by hue.
The “View” menu also contains a “Fine color controller” option. The fine color controller divides colors into eight individual hues, each
with their own “Hue”, “Saturation”, and “Lightness” controls. In particular, the ability to adjust Lightness separately for each hue allows
photographs that give the impression of greater clarity with higher contrast and better color definition, an impression that is one of the
defining features of photographs developed from film. This is also an important step in the process of developing RAW images. In this
case we have adjusted hue to make the sky darker but also vivid, the flowers brighter and attention-getting. Adjustments to the sky and
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flowers
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involved
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STEP-5
The “White Balance Adjustment” Parameter—Enhancing Colors by Adding Depth
How to use SILKYPIX
Adding a color cast the same shade as
the main subject deepens colors. Note
that raising saturation too high can give
whites a color cast.
Darkening the sky and brightening the flowers in “Step 4” has made our photo more vibrant. This step adds another dimension, that of
depth. Using the White balance adjustment option in the View menu, we can deliberately give the entire image a “color cast”. A slight
adjustment produces a cyan cast that deepens the colors in the sky and muddies the complementary colors in the shadowed portions of
the flowers. The effect is to make colors deeper and richer. The White balance adjustment option in the View menu also provides excellent
visual feedback in the form of a color wheel in which colors can be freely selected by moving the cursor.
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STEP-6
How to use SILKYPIX
The “Gamma” Histogram—Enhancing Details in Shadows
Even with the information provided
by color, an even distribution of tones
from black to white is an important
element in the creation of realisticlooking photos.
Before
After
Final image
Increasing overall contrast has produced shadows that are slightly underexposed. The resulting loss of detail makes the image seem less
real. The answer is to return to the “Tone” parameter and adjust Gamma. Selecting a value of +1.3 corrects underexposure and brings out
details in shadows, specifically the flower stems. As we have seen, using RAW data lets each parameter be adjusted over and over again.
The original RAW data is unaffected by these changes, so that the data do not degrade no matter how many times changes are repeated.
This feature is unique to RAW data and does not apply to JPEG images. You can safely make as many changes as you like in search of
the perfect colors.
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SILKYPIX
■ ■ ■　Retouch:
Black-and-White/RAW Processing for “Presence”: Creating the Effect of Prints on Monochrome Photographic Paper
How to use SILKYPIX
Black-and-white processing employs the same
six parameters used for color images:
1.Color: Convert the image to black-and-white.
2.Tone: Adjust contrast.
3.Shading: Adjust peripheral illumination.
4.Fine color controller: Darken the sky.
5.White balance adjustment: Bring adjustments into line.
6.Gamma: Enhance details in shadows.
These steps are detailed on the following pages.
Original RAW image
This color image clearly shows reality
as it is but does communicate what the
photographer may have felt.
Final image
The towering clouds signal the proximity
of summer and make us conscious of
the swift passage of time.
Given that the human eye sees the world in color, it is strange that black-and-white images still seem real to us after all other colors have
been removed. It may be that this sensibility developed out of the history of photography, no doubt due to our having been exposed to
large numbers of black-and-white photographs. These experiences have taught us that among the conditions for a good black-and-white
photo is that smooth gradations of tones from white to black and the expression of details through fine, unambiguous tone transitions are
necessary if images are to seem real. This is a world that was once created through the medium of monochrome photographic paper.
Black-and-white is not a target for nostalgia but a living part of our culture.
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STEP-1
The “Color” Parameter—Converting the Image to Black-and-White
How to use SILKYPIX
From black to white, black-and-white
images is all one hue. A Saturation of 0
gives us the color gray.
Click the paint tube icon on the left side of the window to display “Color” options and set “Saturation” to 0 to convert the image to blackand-white. Saturation controls the vividness of colors, and setting it to 0 cause colors to lose all vividness and be expressed instead as
shades of gray. Although images can also be converted to monochrome in the Profile menu, in this case we have instead set Saturation
to 0 so that we can later make adjustments to tone. As is suggested by the term “monochrome”, which is composed of the elements “mono”
(single) and “chrome” (color), setting Saturation to 0 is also the first step in creating sepia and other single-color images.
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STEP-2
The “Tone” Parameter—Adjusting Contrast
How to use SILKYPIX
Contrast can also be adjusted using the
Tone curve option. Try it once you are
used to the Tone tool.
Tone—the even transition between different levels of brightness—is everything to monochrome images, which lack color information. A
large range of brightness creates a sense of contrast, a small range a sense of detail. This is connected to our perception of what “looks
good” and is what lends photographs their presence. Naturally, it is controlled through adjustments to Contrast. Here we have set “Contrast”
and “Contrast center” to their maximums to enhance detail in the clouds. The trick to bringing out details in bright whites is to not overbrighten highlights.
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STEP-3
The “Shading” Parameter—Adjusting Peripheral Illumination
How to use SILKYPIX
Darkening the edges of the image
makes the objects in the center stand
out. This is a good reason to compose
shots with bright subjects in the center
of the frame.
As was the case for color images, reducing peripheral illumination draws the eye to the center of the image. Even within the bounds
that describe the world of the photograph, human vision concentrates on brighter areas and the area near the center, emphasizing their
properties. This naturally also determines how photographs are framed, resulting in easy-going “bulls-eye” compositions with the focus of
interest placed without pretension near the center, a settled, stable composition easily grasped by the viewer.
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STEP-4
The “Fine Color Controller” Parameter—Darkening the Sky
How to use SILKYPIX
The apparent darkness of blue objects is
related to the properties of film and feels
natural in black-and-white images.
People tend to think of the “fine color controller” as a parameter that controls color, but it also has a major effect on the tones in
monochrome images. Adjustments to the Lightness color component provide a means of directly controlling the brightness of the colors in
the image. In addition to darkening the sky, here too we have emphasized the clouds and enhanced their details. We clicked blue in the
color wheel to select the hue and set “Lightness” to -40. We then selected purple and again set Lightness to -40.
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STEP-5
The “White Balance Adjustment” Parameter—Bringing Adjustments into Line
How to use SILKYPIX
Chance adjustments bring out details in
highlights and shadows, a benefit of the
RAW format.
“White balance adjustment” offers a further means of enhancing images. Converting color information to black-and-white results in
different colors being rendered at different levels of brightness, and consequently changing the color cast of the original image changes
overall contrast as well as allowing adjustments to the brightness of individual subjects. Given that the effect differs from subject to subject
within each image, the first step is to click a random location on the color wheel and check the effect. Brightening greens and reducing
their contrast while increasing the contrast of reds tends to result in more vibrant images.
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STEP-6
How to use SILKYPIX
The “Gamma” Histogram—Enhancing Details in Shadow
Before
You can go back and change
parameters even after completing
a later step. Note that changing
gamma changes the overall
brightness of the image; make
adjustments carefully with reference
to the histogram.
After
Final image
The absence of color information makes tonal richness extremely important to monochrome images. Everything depends on not blowing
out highlights or blocking shadows. The Histogram control has as its horizontal axis brightness expressed as values from 0 to 255 and as
its vertical axis the number of pixels of brightness. Vertical spikes indicate lost information, areas of the image that can not be expressed
as data: at the left end, spikes indicate the loss of detail in shadows (blocked shadows), while spikes at the right end of the graph show
loss of detail in highlights (blown highlights). Here too we have returned to the Tone parameter and set Gamma to 1.20 to correct blocked
shadows.
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