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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

New processing software for me - features

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Recently I purchased the ON1 Photo Raw software. I will post some of the features that are included at no extra charge, and how I can benefit.

1) Pano feature


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Looking forward to your findings, especially any intuitive drag and drop into and from catalogs, if ON1 supports that!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
This set of JPEG photos were taken in Costa Rica in 2008 using my Olympus E-510 and zoom lens. It was a good test.

The Pano feature did a pretty good job I think. Looking at the set of images used to create the final 16,000 px by 2,600 px shot, I didnt do a great job of keeping buildings straight or horizons level as I turned my body 360 degrees while handholding and snapping at rough intervals.As well there were lots of people walking through my frame.

Something I was impressed with too, was how effortless it was to drop in a sky without any masking on my part. Fast too being this was a 220MB file. I was never happy with the blown out clouds that could no be recovered. I also applied the noNoise AI to the finished panoramic - which as well was applied quickly on my MacMini M1 computer.



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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Another panorama from the Land of Volcanos, that I decided to see how ON1 Photo Raw handled processing of it. It appears to have done a fine job of stitching the 16 hand held images together.

The crater here at Telica, is almost 1/2 mile wide and 400 feet drop from the rim.

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Anne and I have been to the top of several volcanos, but this was one of the most intense, after a 3 hour hike up weaving our way back and forth across gravel paths. It was active and as can be seen, there are no guard rails to stop anyone plummeting down into the deep glowing red crater at the top. It was a little unnerving having to lay down on the stoney edge to look way down and catch a sight and pictures of the boiling lava. But was amazing to see and witness. Just as unnerving was having to head back down the rocky edge to the base, in the pitch dark.





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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This panorama is one of the most impressive I have enjoyed in all my career.

….and I myself do a lot of them!

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The story of your brave climb is telling to. We feel that you knew it was going to be stressful, a major effort but then so rewarding!

….and do it was.

I am thrilled with your result!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
180+ degree stitched panoramic image of Cascada Blanca in Nicaragua - handheld pivot while taking overlapping images.


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Anne (in the purple shirt) and a couple friends had worked their way along the wet, slimy pathway and rock ledges, behind the falls and into the crack/cave on the other side of the lagoon.


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I like the water with spray. What timing did you use? There’s a fashion of making waterfalls “milky” with slow shutter speeds!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I like the water with spray. What timing did you use? There’s a fashion of making waterfalls “milky” with slow shutter speeds!

Asher


The series of photos were handheld, so whatever shutter speed provided steady shots with the 28mm wide angle view of my kit lens. I didn’t check. I probably would have shot in Program mode so whatever the camera decided.

I like silky smooth water when it suits. And other times I like a little more detail if that is my inclination. I’ve never really paid attention to the styles or fashions others employ. LOL


——
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Robert, good choice. I use ON1 for a number of years now but only for the Effect part. DxO remains my go-to raw converter. BTW, the photo of you and Anne seems to be over sharpened with haloes??
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Robert, good choice. I use ON1 for a number of years now but only for the Effect part. DxO remains my go-to raw converter. BTW, the photo of you and Anne seems to be over sharpened with haloes??
Cem,

Welcome once more!

What do you especially like about DXO that’s missing in On1, PS RAW or Capture One?

Or is it just the pay by month taxation that turns you off?

Also what are you using for catalogs?

Ashef
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Cem,

Welcome once more!

What do you especially like about DXO that’s missing in On1, PS RAW or Capture One?

Or is it just the pay by month taxation that turns you off?

Also what are you using for catalogs?

Ashef
Hi Asher,

I have all the major software, and it is not always easy to choose the right raw converter, etc.
My workflow can be summarized as follows:
LR CC for cataloging and processing quickly when a picture is only going online. Also for creative color processing using the IP2 Profiles and Presets of Blake Rudis.
DxO PhotoLab 5 to do the raw conversion including the optical corrections and deeprime noise reduction, for high ISO photos and for photos which will be printed
ON1 Raw 2022 effects: some tonal contrast and the big softy vignetting. Used occasionally.
Luminar Neo: Occasionally, some sky replacements, overhead lines removal, dust spots removal, creative processing
Photoshop: Detailed processing for prints, important photos, sharpening, luminosity masks with Lumenzia, layers, retouching, creative processing, etc
NIK collection: almost unused. Occasional ColorEfex ProContrast
Topaz Labs plugins: Gigapixel to enlarge mobile phone pics or extensively cropped photos, sharpen AI when Focus Magic isn't working well (which is almost never)
Affinity Photo: almost never used
CaptureOne 22: almost never used.
SNS-HDR Pro: for HDR processing
PTGui: pano stitching

As can be seen, I have way too much SW. I could easily live with LR, PS, DxO. I'd miss PTGui occasionally.

I hope this helps.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This is a very helpful thread.

Great image and editing examples from Robert and many pointers from you!

LR is so unintuitive to me for catalogs after Media Pro for 20 years! So used to simplicity and drag and drop in and out!

Asher
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
This is a very helpful thread.

Great image and editing examples from Robert and many pointers from you!

LR is so unintuitive to me for catalogs after Media Pro for 20 years! So used to simplicity and drag and drop in and out!

Asher
LR used to be off-putting at the beginning but the process of importing images to your catalog is rather straightforward and there are various ways of doing it. I no longer pay it any attention, you get used to it. ON1 raw, Capture One, DxO all work without the obligatory import step. Perhaps you can consider them as an alternative?
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Looking forward to your findings, especially any intuitive drag and drop into and from catalogs, if ON1 supports that!

Asher

I have now spent time appreciating the value of the Image organizing methods that on1 Photo Paw provides. In some ways it is a welcome blend of what I liked about Lightroom’s full database cataloging and search ability —- and the simplicity and speed of using a Browser based system when I switched to the Exposure software after I got my new MacMini M1 and bowed out of the Adobe subscription applications.

I totally deleted the Lightroom catalogues that I had used for years, and all of the copies of the catalogs that were on my backup drives as they arent compatible with anything and just take up disk space. So if I ever go back to Lightroom I would have to start all over again. However one of the techniques that I ended up using for organizing my files in Lightroom has actually proved to be a real value now that I understand the way that on1 implements it Catalog. That is organizing all of images by category and micro category instead of by capture date as was the default setting of Lightroom.

Now, the difference with Lightroom Catalogs and on1 Photo Raw Catalogs is that with on1 essentially what the Catalog is, is a Bookmark system to the Folder structure on your hard drive. When a Folder is added as a Catalog, immediately previews are generated so that next time you open the application, Previews load in quickly. But as well, the Catalog is always monitoring for any sub folders that have been added. There is no need to Add new folders or files to the Catalog. The Previews will have been generated and Search features will be available.

Searching is really cool for me, because any of the folder names can be entered in the Search field and images found inside folders that include the search word, will display. This eliminates the need for Keywording each image file - which I never end up doing because it is so tedious. If for example, I catalog a folder named “Scenic & Landscapes” and I create Subfolders with names of every category or style and then inside there I create subfolders of every different country and then maybe subfolders of towns or locations inside. Any one or all of those words become searchable within the catalog view. By default the Catalog view also lists all years of any files in the catalog so there is no need to store images in date named folders. All meta data is also searchable so that images from any camera, lens, ISO, aperture will display all images with those filters. Much like every other image processing software.

This deep folder structure method sounds complicated, but it is so effortless - because the Browse View is a fully featured File Folder architecture, just as you use within your Mac or Windows application. So there is no longer a need for me to use the native file organization when working in on1 Photo Raw. As an example, when I stick an SD card into the reader, it shows up in on1 with all of my other system and external drives - along with networked and cloud drives like Dropbox and Google Drive etc - - - and I can right click on any one to create subfolders that I name and then drag the images into there. And as long as those folders are inside a folder that has been Cataloged, Previews will be generated in the background and those images will be available through the catalog search filters.

I’ve only begun to scratch the surface, but am finding the on1 method to suit my style of organizing my hundreds of thousands of image files so that I can access them easily. As an example, I’ve been hunting all over the place for image sets that I took for panoramic. Within no time after finding them, I created a subfolder called Panoramic and then drilled down with a subfolder of Costa Rica and another of Nicaragua and dragged the files in there. Being those folders are updated to the catalog, all I have to type in the Search field is any of those names and instantly I have my shots. The same benefit is with all my Timelapse shots for making movies - - - these are hundreds of files that clog up my normal folder when I imported them. So I now have a subfolder called Timelapse and inside subcategory names on the subfolders.

So I have gotten so lazy over the past year that I had a simple folder on my SSD card called Imports and every time I can home I’d just import the SD card into a date folder there. After figuring out how on1 works and the folder naming system I wanted to use, it literally took me less that half an hour to go through every file in all of those folders and drag sets of images into their appropriate category named subfolders. As I was doing this in the Browse view of course, the previews were being updated in the catalog that was watching for new entries.


So far so good. Plus - because Catalogs are essentially just bookmarks of a folder, they can easily be backed up to other drives and even run from them - without having to sync up as is the case with Lightroom. Of course I have nothing against Lightroom. I was a user since 2007 up until the fall of 2020.

I also really value the fact that ALL editing and layered adjustments that I do with on1 Photo Raw, are NON-Destructive. The edits are stored in sidecar files. I can open any file that I have edited and change any of the sliders to reflect changes that I prefer at that time. That includes the NoNoise AI being applied as a non-destructive layer.
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fabulous description, Robert!

I will have to reread it several times as it’s a paradigm shift for me.

I was about to migrate to Mylio which seems to catalog similarly but primarily by date.

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
So here are a couple of features that I am finding useful. First is related to the organizing. Even though The Browser Folder structure is that same as the device, along with different date and file name sorting options - I can also click on a Preview Thumbnail and drag it into a different location in the folder (inset line is blue) and it gets remembered next time to folder is opened:

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Two other options that are handy when quickly culling or sorting are being able to identify what area of each image is in focus (green areas) —- as well as what areas of each image is clipping (red for highlights and blue for shadows like other programs).


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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Just announced today TACK SHARP AI coming to next update. Wondering if this will complete replacements for my Topaz tools? ON1 is certainly becoming an all-in-one tool for my workflow.

The new Tack Sharp AI inside of the next major version of ON1 Photo RAW (and next major version of ON1 NoNoise AI) brings you state-of-the-art deblurring. It can detect motion and camera blur and then reduce it to make your photo tack sharp.


 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Robert,

I just realized that I purchased ON1 RAW already! I am puzzled because the video above says that the Plus training is now free, but I didn’t see where anything but paid access has an entrance!

Anyway, looking at the ON1 website they are actually a subscription based software akin to Photoshop, dewing annually instead of monthly but at approx 30% less!

However they seem far more inventive in an ever expanded well marketed repertoire of Topaz look-alikes!

What could make me adopt On1 could be the organization you describe.

What are the ABCs of adding images and then making large but loadable easy to handle catalogs?

That’s the question I will now seek to answer as I read further.

I am already set up to load all 24 TB of my collection into a RAID 5 array as a start!

I will have a NAS backup and also the cloud somehow.

Can I use a fast SSD as a scratch disk as with Photoshop CC?

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I just realized that I purchased ON1 RAW already! I am puzzled because the video above says that the Plus training is now free, but I didn’t see where anything but paid access has an entrance!

I dont believe the training is free. From what I understand is that it is part of their Subscription model

Anyway, looking at the ON1 website they are actually a subscription based software akin to Photoshop, dewing annually instead of monthly but at approx 30% less!

They offer both subscription based and one time purchase. I opted for the one times purchase as I dont need the training or the syncing and I dont want to pay for a subscription.

Like most software now (topaz, exposure, etc) there is an upgrade price with major upgrades (often yearly) if you want to have the new latest features (I suspect the new auto selection and sharpen ai will only be available in the next major version, requiring me to pay for the upgrade if I want those features) —- however the current version you have will always function and so you own it. For me, its quite different than PS or LR because you dont have an option to use their software at all unless you perpetually pay.


Can I use a fast SSD as a scratch disk as with Photoshop CC?

I currently am using an attached SSD drive for the cache files and data backup. I only keep software applications on my internal hard drive.
 
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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
What are the ABCs of adding images and then making large but loadable easy to handle catalogs?

If you are referring to adding images off of your SD cards, it would be a matter of dragging the files from the card into a folder in the Browse tab. I think there is an import dialogue too, but haven't used it.

As for handling large Catalogs, these are not catalogs like LR uses. They are a simple database that keeps track of any folders that you have added to the catalog, and when you add a folder to a catalog Previews are created and stored for quicker loading in the grid. Personally I don’t plan on putting tons of files in one folder - instead smaller numbers of files in many specifically named subfolders that I can access easily and have display quickly through the Search functionality. All data related to editing, layers, masks, etc are stored in sidecar files with each image file. None of this info is stored in the Catalog.





BTW - this is a wonderful free file sync program that i use on my Mac for backing up syncing and updating (compares and only adds new files) TB’s of files from one hard drive to another or from my SSD work drive to my 16TB Main Storage drive, or from my Main Storage drive to the selection of 4TB USB drives that I use for Backups of all files. https://freefilesync.org/


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
If you are referring to adding images off of your SD cards, it would be a matter of dragging the files from the card into a folder in the Browse tab. I think there is an import dialogue too, but haven't used it.

As for handling large Catalogs, these are not catalogs like LR uses. They are a simple database that keeps track of any folders that you have added to the catalog, and when you add a folder to a catalog Previews are created and stored for quicker loading in the grid. Personally I don’t plan on putting tons of files in one folder - instead smaller numbers of files in many specifically named subfolders that I can access easily and have display quickly through the Search functionality. All data related to editing, layers, masks, etc are stored in sidecar files with each image file. None of this info is stored in the Catalog.





BTW - this is a wonderful free file sync program that i use on my Mac for backing up syncing and updating (compares and only adds new files) TB’s of files from one hard drive to another or from my SSD work drive to my 16TB Main Storage drive, or from my Main Storage drive to the selection of 4TB USB drives that I use for Backups of all files. https://freefilesync.org/


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That’s a wonderful recommendation for file synching. Does it work for cloud storage too?
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
As to using my painfully assembled horde of images, now 24TB, that On1 tutorials recommend putting in one single RAID.

But why do they want us to do that instead of addressing separate hard drives!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
As to using my painfully assembled horde of images, now 24TB, that On1 tutorials recommend putting in one single RAID.

But why do they want us to do that instead of addressing separate hard drives!

Asher

I don’t know their reason.

I am not using RAID. I have considered the merits. I’m sure it is a good way to store files. Years ago I had a NAS set up as a RAID, but was limited in storage unless I just used the drives as one big drive (JBOD) which defeated the purpose of redundancy. In those years, the network connected setup allowed me to access my files more quickly and keep my NAS in a different room from my computer, but that has become less of an issue with modern faster and more compact drives. Once large capacity hard drive prices came down, it has just been more practical for me to use them.

Last year I decided to put all of my files on one large usb hard drive that is permanently connected to my Mac. Best Buy had them on sale for a couple of hundred dollars. It does make it very easy to access everything. Being it is always connected, I partitioned 1TB of the space for Time Machine that is constantly backing up my Mac internal drive. Previously I was using 6 different 2TB and 4TB portable hard drives (which worked well for travelling) that I’d pull out and plug in and out when I needed them. I also had 2 additional sets of those for backups.

My Reason for putting all files on one large drive —- I like always having all of my files together and having access to anything any time I want it. In the same way that I previously used separate hard drives for my different types of files with paper labels on them so I knew which was which - - - the main partition of the large drive simply contains folders named Audio, Video, Photography, Web Design, Personal - with all content added to the appropriate folder. This method is essentially like having separate hard drives for me with the way I used them for organizing. I realized how sloppy my organizing of folders and files on the small drives had become when I spent the day copying each one to the 16TB hard drive. There were tons of duplicates in different places on the drives and I couldnt even count on the same files being on the Primary drive as was on its Backup drive. That all got straightened out when putting everything on the one large drive.

While I regularly use my drive with all files, my primary way of working is to use a fast small external USB C connected SSD drive for my day to day work. It is faster, silent and handles anything I’m currently working on, plus it functions as a fast scratch disk for different applications I use. All of my card Imports at the end of each day get copied into an Imports folder on this SSD drive for culling and organizing. As well I have an Export folder on the SSD for all the files that I have generated for Instagram, other social media or sharing, images for websites and files prepared for printing. I’ll use that file sync program to update the slower big main drive and then periodically pull out the small hard drives from my desk drawer and make the additional archive from the big drive. I never need to access these backup drives as they contain nothing more than duplicates for storing.

That Free Fyle Sync really helps handle these steps and gives me the confidence that everything gets transferred properly and only the files that need updating.
 
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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I just haven’t taken many pics to import in since getting ON1 recently. The few that I have taken, I just dragged from the SD card to the IMPORT folder on my SSD drive from the Browse tab of ON1.

Here is the “Import from Device’ function. It looks very complete. I put in an SD card with some files and opened it. I was able to set a Primary location as well as a Secondary location - - - so set those to both my SSD drive and created an identical IMPORT folder on my big master hard drive to store a second copy at the same time. I set it to create subfolders based on date taken. I set my copyright Meta Data to be added to each file when uploading. It worked just like Lightroom or any other image processing software


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Great ideas. I will look at the screenshots on my large monitor.

Meanwhile I think that I will use my computer attached RAID like your one large HD.

I will import to a 1TB SSD used as both scratch and for import from SDCards from my Fuji and a second 1TB SSD for export.

Eventually, I will be removing early decades of files years on separate drives drives for backup and to keep open space on the RAID.

I will have a NAS as backup for the RAID!

That Synch app closes the deal!



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