There’s a long-standing bug in the D500 firmware, where you can’t get the camera to focus in Live View by pressing the AF-ON button. This problem occurs when you use “custom controls” and assign different AF modes to different buttons. When you do this, the AF-ON button is dead, and the only way to auto-focus in Live View is to touch the Live View LCD. You may be a big fan of using the touch-screen to focus, and this issue is therefore a “don’t care” for you. My fingers are so hard-wired to use back-button auto-focus that it messes me up virtually every time that I switch to Live View. As of firmware version 1.15, this bug still exists. Custom controls ruin the Live View focus via AF-ON My D500 is configured so that my depth-of-field preview button is assigned AF-ON with an AF-area mode of “Group Area AF” (nearest subject focus). My joystick button is assigned AF-ON with “Single-point AF” (precision focus). My AF-ON button is assigned with AF-ON and “Dynamic-Area AF-25” (far subject focus). The custom auto-focus button assignments are one of my absolute favorite things about the D500. They solve most of the missed-shot focus problems. One solution to get the AF-ON button to work for Live View focus is to simply un-assign the custom controls for different AF-ON modes. I find this solution unacceptable, because I rely heavily on these different instant-on AF modes. A better solution, which I use, is to assign my “Custom Settings Bank D” for Live View mode, and I un-assign all custom controls related to AF-ON for just this single bank. Finally, my AF-ON button works normally for auto-focus in Live View mode. This solution is a bit of a hack, but it works. Fortunately for me, I was only using the other 3 settings banks (A=sports, B=portrait, C=manual). Now, I have a use for the “D” bank: Live View. My settings banks If you tend to forget what each settings bank is used for (like I sometimes do), make sure that you give each bank an identifying name. Good luck using the LCD touch-focus with an LCD viewfinder If you have ever tried using Live View in the sunshine, you have a pretty good idea of how well you can see and focus; Live View is nearly useless. That's what LCD viewfinders are for. LCD viewfinders don’t cooperate too well with touch-focus features. It’s mandatory to have a way to force the focus via buttons instead. I had assumed that Nikon would get around to fixing this D500 bug, but I’ve long since given up hope. I guess that in their own minds, this is merely a feature and not a bug. #howto

It’s popular lore that you shouldn’t use shutter speeds beyond 1/500 second when you activate vibration reduction. Is this actually true? Is it the same for all lenses? How about different lens brands? People aren’t generally aware of how helpful in-lens vibration reduction is, aside from enabling sharper slow-shutter shots. You get to see a steadier subject in your viewfinder, and it actually helps the auto-focus system work better. The AF system needs higher contrast to focus both quicker and more accurately; that’s exactly what the VR system provides. These are the reasons that I don’t want to turn off vibration reduction when I’m not using a tripod. There have been many times where I forgot to turn off vibration reduction when using a fast shutter, and I was cursing myself for being forgetful. But when I looked at those shots where I forgot to turn it off, they looked really sharp. Was I fooling myself? Was shutter speed that crucial? Instead of taking somebody’s word for it, I figured that I should find out the answer for myself. The obvious tools for this job are resolution measurement software and a good resolution target. I want to get actual measurement numbers, versus ‘impressions’ or guesses. The experimental design is pretty simple: hand-hold the camera with vibration reduction active and shoot the resolution target. I’ll shoot with shutter speeds ranging from 1/250 through 1/4000 second. Since this is probably a game of statistics, I should get a least 10 or 20 shots of the target at each shutter speed, to look for trends in resolution changes. I’m going to try my 105mm Micro Nikkor f/2.8 G VR IF-ED, the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 E ED VR, and the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary. I’ll make a table of the MTF50 lp/mm resolution versus shutter speed for each lens, and any significant resolution differences should show up. I know from past experience that I need to keep a constant aperture, and I also know that different ISO settings have a negligible effect on resolution until very high ISO values. Therefore, I’m setting my camera on “manual mode”, but with auto-ISO active. I get to control both the shutter and the aperture this way. Normally, you’d want to be using Live View (with contrast detect) and lock the camera down on a sturdy tripod to get resolution readings, but that isn’t going to work in this scenario. My lenses have been carefully calibrated for phase-detect focus, and I’ll use continuous auto-focus (AF-C). I’ll use my gimbal head on a monopod, so that I won’t have to contend with changing distance while my camera/lens is still free to ‘wobble’ a little. This is my way of creating a “controlled hand-holding” experiment. Even if the testing environment doesn’t result in optimal resolution, the resolution results should at least be representative relative to each other. The goal of this test is to see if resolution degrades beyond 1/500 second, rather than measure peak lens resolution. So, how did it work out? I took a total of 150 shots (10 shots at each shutter setting), with stabilization active in every single shot. I photographed my “A0” resolution target, which is roughly 4 by 5 feet. I used the three mentioned lenses, and everything was shot with the camera mounted on a gimbal and a monopod. I used un-sharpened RAW for all resolution measurements, with the MTFMapper program. All photos were shot with AF-C, phase-detect focus on my Nikon D500. The camera was in manual-mode with auto-ISO, and I used shutter speeds ranging from 1/250 through 1/4000. The light level resulted in ISOs ranging from about 200 to 2800, depending upon the shutter speed in use. I only start worrying about the ISO affecting resolution beyond about 2400, so it’s just a minor concern. Shutter 1/1000 with Sigma OS active: awesome resolution on D500 Sigma 150-600 at 150mm and f/5.6 Shutter MTF50 lp/mm average Measurement Range lp/mm 250 72.0 5 500 76.5 10 1000 77.5 5 2000 73.0 5 4000 73.5 5 Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR at f/4.0 Shutter MTF50 lp/mm average Measurement Range lp/mm 250 60.6 5 500 60.0 5 1000 60.5 5 2000 60.5 5 4000 61.0 5 Nikkor 24-70 E VR f/2.8 at 70mm and f/4.0 Shutter MTF50 lp/mm average Measurement Range lp/mm 250 64.0 5 500 65.0 0 1000 65.0 0 2000 65.0 0 4000 60.0 0 Conclusion Micro Nikkor 105 and Nikkor 24-70 lens VR: leave it on! Sigma 150-600 Contemporary OS: leave it on! The only lens that seemed to have a minor sensitivity beyond 1/2000 was my Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 E VR. Even then, it was nearly a “don’t care” at 1/4000 shutter, since the resolution MTF50 lp/mm only dropped from about 65 to 60. The Micro-Nikkor 105 f/2.8 didn’t register any significant change in resolution with stabilization active at any tested shutter speed. The Sigma 150-600 resolution dropped about 5% going from 1/1000 to 1/2000 shutter. There wasn’t a significant resolution change going from 1/2000 to 1/4000. I wouldn’t necessarily generalize these results to represent all lenses with stabilization. Older-technology lenses should be “verified” before assuming you can ignore the lens stabilization status. All in all, this convinces me that I don’t really have to pay attention to turning off vibration reduction at higher shutter speeds for these lenses. Certainly I wouldn’t bother until shooting beyond 1/4000 before I worried about messing up resolution. Since I virtually never shoot beyond about 1/3000, I intend to keep VR active, unless my camera is mounted on a tripod. I’d consider this stabilization 1/500 rule to be “myth busted”. #howto

I have to admit that this is an item I never thought I’d own. Why in the world would you want to cover up your camera LCD screen? Number one: the sun. Number two: video. Number three: no concerns about focus calibration fine-tuning. I am a total infrared enthusiast. I use some IR filters that make exposures extend to a few minutes, so the only way I know what I’ve captured out in the field is by reviewing the shot on my LCD screen. Infrared only works well in bright sun, and I swear I can see next to nothing on the LCD screen on a sunny day. This gets totally infuriating. Enter the LCD viewfinder. It’s like being inside a movie theater, and the viewer magnification means you can actually see the individual pixels on the LCD. If you mess up the manual focus (infrared focus is very different from visible-light focus) then you’ll know right away, even if you’re standing in sunshine. Since I thought that I’d probably rarely use it once I bought it, I got a really, really cheap screen viewfinder called “Xit”. It was love a first sight. This thing comes with a couple of little metal frames that you can “permanently” attach to the camera LCD via sticky tape, and then connect to the viewfinder with its built-in magnets. Personally, I’m not interested in using these metal frames. The LCD viewfinder also comes with a lanyard to carry around your neck, which is how I use it about half of the time. There’s also a little neoprene case to hold everything on your belt or via a little clip. Probably the best-known LCD viewfinder brand is Hoodman. These viewfinders fall into the “Cadillac” category, and are priced accordingly. If you’re into video, an LCD viewfinder is just the ticket. You hold the camera up to your eye, and the eyepiece lets you look at the LCD screen without any distractions or interference from ambient light. You also get the steadiness that you have become accustomed to with still photography, since the camera can be pressed against your face via the soft rubber eyecup. If I did lots of video, then I might go ahead and add one of those metal frames to the LCD and keep the eyepiece attached with its magnets, but most likely I'd stick with what describe below for attachment. Nothing’s stopping you from trying stills with Live View and the viewfinder, either. At least you won’t have any concerns about focus fine-tune. This might be a great option when using lenses like the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S that have that annoying focus shift whenever the aperture changes (due to excessive spherical aberration). My Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 AF-S E ED VR irritatingly needs different focus calibration at different focal lengths; Live View and its contrast-based focus would cure this problem, too. This viewfinder clips a tiny bit off of the vertical dimension in Live View, so I scoot it a little bit up and down if the edges are important, such as seeing the exposure information. An LCD viewfinder is largely incompatible with action photography, due to slow refresh rates on the LCD and sluggish contrast-based autofocus. If you’re into landscapes or macro photography, though, I’d highly recommend you explore this option. Some LCD viewfinders (including some Xit models) come with attachments to connect the viewfinder to the camera via the tripod socket, but these only work if you don’t use a battery grip. I always use battery grips, so I avoided this style of viewfinder. For some specifics on this particular model, here goes. The inside measurements of the viewfinder are 65.5 mm by 39.0 mm. The little metal frame outside measurements are 73.0 mm by 47.0 mm. It’s specified as a “3-inch LCD Viewfinder”. The magnification is 2.0X. The viewfinder body is heavy plastic; only time will tell how durable it is, but they claim a 5-year warranty. You can buy other LCD viewfinders (again, including Xit) that have more magnification, but personally I find that 2.0X is plenty. The viewfinder is fixed-focus, but the focus was perfect for my copy. The viewing aspect ratio is a bit off for my Nikon screens, which means that I can’t read the screen text above/below the image. This doesn’t bother me, but you might want to explore other brands/models that are a bit larger in the vertical dimension. I believe that this model is more tailored to the Canon screen aspect ratio. Xit Viewfinder and Nikon D610 LCD I tried viewing the LCD screen both with and without the camera protective plastic LCD cover. In both cases, the Xit viewfinder focus was fine. You can see above how the viewfinder aspect ratio is a bit wider than necessary and a bit shorter than the Nikon’s LCD. You can see the whole image at once, but not the data below the image. Viewable area with metal attachment frame In the shot above, I laid one of the included metal frames over the LCD screen. It barely avoids interfering with the rear controls, and partially obscures the button labels. The frame aspect ratio makes it a little wider than it needs to be, and it cuts off some screen text. I quickly decided that I’d forego sticking this frame onto my camera. You can see why they offer viewfinders that attach via a bracket to the tripod socket. I refuse to give up my battery grips, so this style of viewfinder won’t work for me. So what can I do if I want hands-free operation for my viewfinder? A little bungee cord to temporarily attach it to the camera For the times that I don’t want to just hand-hold the viewfinder against the LCD screen, I use a little black bungee cord to hold it in place. The bungee cord came with a spring-loaded clip to adjust the cord tension. The cord presses the unit against the LCD in 4 spots, and I can adjust it to get the exact tension that I want. A little bit goofy, but it works. At least the cord isn’t colored red or orange. Bungee cord attachment, top view I was luckily able to position the bungee cord so that it doesn’t interfere with any camera controls. Bungee cord attachment, bottom view Xit kit with neoprene carrying pouch The photo shows what the carrying pouch looks like. It’s a snug fit for the viewfinder. I also keep the pair of metal attachment frames in the bottom of the pouch, in case I decide to use them later. Summary Mirrorless camera users with an electronic viewfinder probably snicker when they read an article like this. They’ve had the ability to effortlessly observe their viewfinder in daylight since day one. But for DSLR users, properly viewing the LCD screen under any conditions has been a point of frustration since day one. I have no financial stake in Xit viewfinder sales or any other hardware, for that matter. I just thought you might find it useful to gain an awareness about the benefits of LCD viewfinders, especially when they can be had so inexpensively. Even if you don’t use one very often, you’re not out much money to give it a try. For me, owning an LCD viewfinder has become a no-brainer. #review

Did you ever wonder how those 3-D images got created? You probably thought that the process was complicated or expensive. It’s a lot easier than you think, and can be a lot of fun. It’s possible to make a 3-D anaglyph using Photoshop and Gimp, but I find it easier to do it in Zoner Photo Studio. What equipment you need A wide-angle lens on your camera is preferred. Either red-blue glasses or red-green glasses. A tripod. Optional: a sliding platform mounted onto tripod. Many cinematographers that make videos have “dolly” tracks, which would be ideal. How to make the photos For a dramatic effect, you want a wide-angle lens that can emphasize perspective. This isn’t mandatory, but I think you’ll prefer the end result. Choose a subject that won’t move. Avoid windy days for landscapes, and avoid moving water (unless you make super-long exposures that blur the water completely). Take the pair of shots with a pure shift between them of at least 2.5 inches (the distance between your eyes). Camera rotation will generally spoil the final shot. If you’re really far from your subject, try a large shift of several feet. Take a few shots at different distances, so you have choices later. Use manual exposure, so that the exposure doesn’t change between shots. How to create the anaglyph in Zoner Photo Studio Select the following menu item: Manager | Create | 3D Images… Select your pair of shots (keep left side first). “Find points automatically” checked. Choose “Half-color” or else “Black-and-white”. There are also “Color” and “Optimized” choices, but I don’t like the effect as well. The image type will be “Anaglyph” versus “MPO/PNS”. Put on your glasses (red on the left) to preview the result! Save final anaglyph in jpeg format. “Half-Color” anaglyph The shot above was created using a pair of shots that were shifted by 3 inches. I used the Sigma 14-24 f/2.8 Art at 21mm, 1/125 at f/11, ISO 100 on a D610. The camera was about 4 feet from the subject. Shoot in manual exposure mode to keep a consistent exposure. Stop down your lens, because you want everything in focus. Some fancy red-green glasses Both red-blue and red-green glasses will work with these anaglyphs, but I like the colors better with the red-green glasses. An improvised platform to slide my camera Keep your left-hand photo first. Preview the effect of the anaglyph type When you’re using the dialog to select the anaglyph type, put on your red-blue or red-green glasses. You can decide which effect you like best before creating the final photograph. Black-and-white anaglyph I prefer the black-and-white anaglyphs, because the color versions always have a bit of a strange color mix. “Optimized Color” anaglyph This 3-D effect can be achieved in many image editors, including Photoshop. The principal behind the technique is to rid the red channel from one image and rid both the blue and green channels from the other image. The image pair is then combined into one photo. A NASA anaglyph of Pluto NASA has always been a big fan of anaglyphs. Most of their image pairs are taken with a very large image separation distance, since they’re usually many miles from their subject. Conclusion Anaglyphs are obviously a very specialized kind of photography. It can turn otherwise bland subjects into amazing photos. I think that you should try to keep it in mind during your travels. Given how easy it is to make an anaglyph, it’s a trivial amount of extra effort to take a few image pairs for times when you think a scene might be great to save in 3 dimensions. #howto

Proper monitor color calibration isn’t as expensive and difficult as many people think. But it does require real hardware to do it. This article shows you how a typical calibration product works. The Spyder and the mouse This is a shot of the Spyder 5 calibration device in its folded configuration. It’s about the size of a computer mouse. The wire on the Spyder is a USB connection. The little white circle in the middle is a sensor to measure room light conditions. The idea behind monitor calibration is to measure both ambient room lighting and the colors your monitor(s) makes. The Spyder software will save the required monitor color and brightness adjustments into a file that gets loaded when you start up your computer. The calibration hardware is separated into two different parts: the ambient lighting sensor and the spectral response sensors. The spectral response sensors measure the red, green, and blue components of your monitor screen. The spectral sensors are hidden inside the device, and you have to pull off its “lens cap” to expose them. The software will evaluate how bright your monitor is, compared to your room lighting, and guide you in adjusting the monitor brightness to compensate (if your monitor is capable of doing this). The software will also set different colors on your monitor and then compare them to reference standards. The software will adjust the red, green, and blue levels to match those reference standards. After the correct settings are known, they get saved into files that are used to reprogram the monitor settings each time you restart your computer. Hanging Spyder The shot above shows the Spyder hanging from its USB wire connection. It has its lens cap, or “sensor cover” removed (the upper portion). The calibration program draws a target on the monitor being calibrated to indicate where to hang the device during the calibration operation. Note that you are able to calibrate multiple monitors on your computer; you just have to select which monitor you wish to calibrate. You can also install the software on multiple computers, although the program will request that you input your Spyder license number that you receive when you register your hardware through the web. You’ll quickly discover that the Spyder program will complain to you about your ambient lighting, unless it’s quite dim. Ambient lighting “pollutes” what you see on your screen, and you’re encouraged to either turn down the lights or use a monitor hood to maintain good quality control over what you see on your screen. The software can try to adjust the screen brightness and contrast to suit your room lighting, but ambient lighting generally degrades your color quality control. The program suggests that you begin calibration with your monitor set to 6500K if possible, with a gamma of 2.2. You can calibrate against sRGB, AdobeRGB, or NTSC standards. After the calibration is completed, it will let you compare your finished calibration against these calibration standards. Many monitors are somewhat limited in their brightness capability, especially when competing against bright room lighting. The program will let you ignore this portion of the calibration if your monitor cannot get bright enough or doesn’t even allow brightness adjustments. My own monitors can get to about 200 cd/m^2, which is able to compete against only moderate room lighting. The Spyder software wants room lighting that allows for 120 cd/m^2, which seems a bit dim for my taste. The software has a “calibration reminder” feature, with a default of 1 month. You should check for calibration drift, and this reminder service makes it easy to keep track of it. Before performing monitor calibration, you should let your monitor warm up for about a half hour, since cold monitors can exhibit some color and brightness drifting. Before you perform screen calibration, you’ll need to open up the Spyder and hang it from its USB cable. On a vertical screen, it will probably start sliding down the screen. You can either tilt your monitor back to prevent the Spyder from sliding, or else you can place something on top of the portion of the USB cable that’s laying on your desk that is heavy enough to keep it from moving. It’s probably better to tilt your monitor back, because you don’t want the sensor to have any ambient light leaks from not laying flat against the screen surface. The monitor target position indicator The monitor target location to hang the Spyder is shown above. On a multi-monitor system, this screen should be displayed on the monitor being calibrated. Before running the calibration, you should un-do any custom settings for the monitor, such as an altered contrast setting. Also, it is suggested that you use a USB port that’s on your computer; don't use a USB hub, since hubs are notorious for poor USB communications. There are options for a “full calibration”, “re-calibration”, and a “check calibration” in the program. There are also options for calibrating a laptop versus desktop computer, although if you’re using a laptop docking station with a separate monitor, you should use the “desktop” option. Display selection for multiple monitors When you run the Spyder calibration program, it automatically detects multiple monitors. It will display its interface for the screen you select on that monitors’ screen prior to actual calibration. Mid-calibration screen The screen above shows one of many calibration screens. Different colors are displayed and then measured against the expected response. After several minutes of different colors and intensities being displayed and measured, the calibration is complete. Save the calibration measurement results The screen shot above shows the dialog that gets displayed after all measurements have been taken. The results are saved in a monitor profile name that you can specify. This also where you can specify how often to receive a reminder about monitor calibration verification. Calibrated versus un-calibrated screen After calibration, you’re shown a screen that lets you compare the calibrated versus the un-calibrated screen (via the “Switch” button). On my monitors, there was a noticeable difference in skin tones between the calibrated/un-calibrated views. The calibrated gamut compared to ideal The “Profile Overview” screen shows how close your monitor comes to the ideal display gamut. This is the last stage of calibration; there’s a button to do more calibrations (“Calibrate Another Display”) if you have a multiple-monitor system. Conclusion The Spyder 5 Pro certainly isn’t the most expensive available unit, but it did everything that I could have asked for in monitor calibration. Before calibration, my pair of monitors looked different, but I had no way to know which of the two was “correct”. In the end, I now know that neither monitor was correctly calibrated prior to using the Spyder 5 Pro. #howto

Plugin-ins developed by "Nik", purchased by Google, and presently owned by DxO, are some of my favorite pieces of photo-editing software. Here are a couple of non-standard ways to use the Nik Plug-ins that you probably aren’t aware of. Most people think of plug-ins as being hosted inside applications like Photoshop or Lightroom or maybe Zoner Photo Studio. Did you know that Nikon’s free Capture NX-D can also use them? Did you know that they can also be used without any hosting program at all? The Nik plug-ins require input files converted into jpeg or (preferably) 16-bit TIF format; they can’t use raw-format files. If you want to use Capture NX-D, you can stick with RAW (NEF) format, and have it automatically convert them into 16-bit TIF as it invokes the plug-ins. If you’re interested in quality results, please skip using either jpeg or 8-bit TIF files. You can always use Capture NX-D to convert the 16-bit TIF results into jpeg as a final step before display. The plug-ins are of course compatible with photos from other camera manufacturers, once they're converted into the neutral TIF format. Be aware that all of the plug-ins except HDR Efex Pro 2 will overwrite the input TIF file when you save the results via their “Save” button. Although I’d recommend that you use a plug-in from within the host program (such as Capture NX-D), I’ll also go over the necessary steps if you want to use your plug-ins as stand-alone programs. Capture NX-D with Plug-ins Nikon’s Capture NX-D is a somewhat limited, but free program. Because Nikon keeps Capture NX-D current, it knows how to use Raw-format files from its most recent cameras, unlike Capture NX2. Although version 1.5.1 (and beyond) can now support “control points” and a healing brush to increase its power, the plug-ins such as Silver Efex Pro, Viveza 2, Dfine 2, Sharpener Pro 3, and HDR Efex Pro 2 can greatly expand its power. Register your plug-in first I am assuming you have already installed your plug-ins. As of this writing, the plug-ins are available from DxO. Prior to DxO, they were offered by Google. Prior to Google, they were offered directly from Nik. Next week, who knows? I wonder if their employees are afraid to unpack their bags. But I digress. You’ll need to locate where the plug-ins were installed. On my computer, they are installed into folders beneath “C:\Program Files\Google\Nik Collection”. Before you can start using the plug-ins, you need to register them in Capture NX-D. As shown above, begin with File | Open With | Register… Add a new plug-in Highlight “Open With Application”, click “Add…” and then “Other” Specify where to have the TIF file saved for the plug-in to locate it Define where you want to have your file saved by Capture NX-D after automatic conversion from NEF into TIF. This TIF file will have all of your edits that have already been made. In this way, Capture NX-D handles converting the RAW file into the format needed by the plug-in, and then calls the plug-in with the passed-in TIF file. Notice the “Conversion Format”, which should be “TIFF (16 bit)” for best quality. Once again, be aware that the TIF file auto-created by Capture NX-D will be overwritten by the called plug-in when you click the plug-in “Save” button. Plug-in has been added, but ‘restart’ is needed first The dialog above shows the successful addition of the plug-in “Viveza 2”. It still isn’t available for use, however. You need to click the “Ok” button in the dialog and then close/open Capture NX-D. Calling a plug-in after Capture NX-D restart After Capture NX-D is restarted, the added plug-in is ready for use. Now, after you have completed any edits in your (RAW) file, you can call the plug-in using “File | Open With | Viveza 2” or whatever plug-in you wish. You can also call the plug-in via the “Open With” icon located at the top-right of Capture NX-D. The edited raw file will get auto-converted into TIF and the plug-in will be invoked. Now you can use the plug-in from within Capture-NX D You can now use the plug-in as if you’re using Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever application that supports plug-in technology. When you finish, just click “Save”, which will save into the same file as the input file, and it will then close and return you to Capture NX-D. The rule exception here is when you use HDR Efex Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro. There are always exceptions. They’re more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules. For those plug-ins, I’d recommend that you avoid the “Save” button, and instead use the top-left option of “File | Save Image As…”. Here, you can specify the output file format of jpeg or tiff, and also browse to where you want the destination to be. The procedures will need to be repeated for each plug-in to be added to Capture NX-D. Use your plug-in as a stand-alone program This discussion applies to all of the plug-ins except HDR Efex Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro. The general rule for a plug-in is that you can’t specify where to save the results; it will simply overwrite the input file. For the special case of HDR Efex Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro, you can tell it where to save the results, and even specify the output file format. Use drag-drop onto the plug-in executable For any plug-in, you can just mouse-drag/drop a file (or even a collection of files) onto the plug-in executable. The plug-in will open up, and you can edit and finally hit the “Save” button to save the results and automatically close the plug-in. In the sample picture above, the plug-in name is “Analog Efex Pro 2.exe”. Multiple files dropped onto plug-in executable If you drop a collection of files onto the suitable plug-in, then use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons to edit each file in the collection. When ALL edits are complete for all files, hit the “Save All” button. All files will be saved (overwriting the originals) at once, and the plug-in will automatically close. Notice in the above image that the dialog says “1 of 2 Images”; the plug-in lets you know how many files you dropped onto it. Run HDR Efex Pro 2 without drag-drop For the special case of HDR Efex Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro, just double-click its executable and run it as a stand-alone program. Don’t worry about drag-and-drop for these plug-ins. Use the File dialog to manage input and output files Use the top-left “File | Open Images…” to browse to the source image(s). Select the set of exposure-bracketed files (or a single file) to edit. The Merge dialog If you chose more than a single input file for HDR Efex Pro 2, you’ll get the “Merge” dialog, to specify any special input handling. Use the “File | Save Image as…” when done After the final edits, use the upper-left “File | Save Image as…” dialog to decide where to save the file, and in what desired image format. Use the “File | Quit” (or Control-Q) to exit the plug-in. Incorrect way to save and quit the plug-in Don’t save and exit the HDR Efex Pro 2 or Silver Efex Pro plug-in by using the “Save” button. This won’t give you the ability to specify the output file image format or where to save the results, either. If you save/exit this way, the output will be placed into the “Documents” folder as 16-bit TIF. Conclusion The Nik plug-ins are more generally useful and flexible than most people think. They make a great combination with Capture NX-D, particularly since it’s a bit limited in the editing feature set that it natively offers. You might want to explore the convenience of being able to use HDR Efex Pro 2 as a stand-alone program for a set of bracketed exposures, as long as you have them pre-converted into 16-bit TIF. #howto

Have you ever had a lens that you’d swear you had perfectly focus-calibrated, only to experience lots of missed-focus shots? It might not be your fault. Many zoom lenses change focus at different focal lengths, yet you can only perform a focus fine-tune calibration at a single focal length. Lenses with really fast apertures (like f/1.4 and f/1.2) typically have significant spherical aberration, which causes the focus to shift as you stop down the aperture. The MTFMapper program lets you measure how much your lens shifts its focus, if you use the proper chart. You can even do this evaluation at different color wavelengths, if you desire. I’m using MTFMapper version 0.7.11 in this article. This program is available here . The program author is Frans van den Bergh, and he has a very firm grasp on this problem. Focus shift caused by spherical aberration The picture above shows what you’re fighting with most high-speed lenses. As you change the aperture, the focus shifts. The best you can do is to focus-calibrate your “phase detect” autofocus system to correct for focus errors at a single selected f-stop (typically wide open). If your camera could focus at the stopped-down aperture, then you wouldn’t notice any focus shifting. Most cameras keep the aperture wide-open while focusing, however, and only stop down the instant you take the picture. If you use “live view” at the working aperture, then focus shifting isn’t a problem; it’s just a “phase detect focus” problem. If you use a mirrorless camera that is only focusing with the aperture wide-open, then this problem can still plague you. Some mirrorless cameras actually focus at the stopped-down aperture, and thus avoid this problem. To perform the focus-shift test, you’ll need to start by printing out a “focus” chart. Mount the printed chart on flat stock, or else tape it to a wall. Your lens should be pointed at the exact center of the chart, while the chart is rotated at 45 degrees relative to your camera sensor. This way, some of the chart both in front and behind its centerline will be out of focus. The “focus” chart in its vertical orientation The chart side with the taller slanted bars should be oriented farther away from the camera. If you print the chart at the right size (e.g. A3) and mount it at the correct distance, then perspective distortion will make the bars appear to be the same size. You can choose either horizontal or vertical format. The chart shown above (focus_a3.pdf) comes from the downloaded zip file called “mtfmapper_sample_test_charts_0.5_v4.zip”. The exact center of the chart lies along the dashed lines with the pair of black circular fiducials (with the tiny white centers). Typical focus chart result The Measurement Recipe Steps Place your camera on a tripod, pointed directly at the center of the rotated chart. Set your camera to “manual focus”, and RAW capture. Start with the widest aperture (camera in aperture priority or manual), like f/1.4. Set your exposure to get about +0.7 stops compensation (whiter chart whites). Enable “live view” at maximum magnification. Manually focus the lens on the exact center of the chart. Disable “live view”. Take the picture. Close down the aperture by a stop, like f/2.0. Don’t touch the focus! Take the picture. Repeat taking shots at smaller apertures, like 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, if desired. Analyze the results Run mtf_mapper_gui.exe. Click on “Settings | Preferences” The Preferences Dialog Set the correct preferences for your camera. Note that the “Output types” selections will be ignored by this program for these focus tests. You can select “none” (luminosity) or “red”, “green”, or “blue” for the focus measurements; I’d recommend the “none” option here. Click the “Accept” button to leave the Preferences dialog. Click on “File | Open Focus Position image(s)…” Browse to the folder with your (RAW) shots of the “focus” chart. Select the desired picture(s) to analyze. Measurement results up close f/1.4 with focus at +9.7 mm The screen capture above shows a typical measurement result. The highest resolution was located at +9.7 mm from the chart centerline, with an MTF50 reading of 0.145 cycles per pixel. The left side of the chart was nearer to the camera, so the shot was taken with the sharpest focus nearer to the camera by +9.7 mm. It’s actually pretty tough to manually focus better than within about 10 mm at this distance (1.19 meters). By comparing the “+9.7 mm” result with another shot at a different aperture, the focus shift can be directly measured. I was a little curious if the millimeter measurements from the MTFMapper were accurate. The focus test chart here is printed at 11.7” X 16.5” (A3), and vertical blue “sharpest focus” line is located about 7 hash marks from the chart centerline. Those 7 hash marks were measured to be 14 mm along the surface of the chart. Since the chart was rotated to 45 degrees, where cos(45) = 0.7071, then the image measurement should be about 14 * cos(45) or 9.9 mm. Pretty close to the reported 9.7 mm! Same setup, but f/2.0 causes focus to move to +5.1 mm With the exact same setup as the f/1.4 shot, the f/2.0 shot has shifted focus away from the camera by +4.7 mm, landing on +5.1 mm from the chart centerline. The camera was in manual focus, and I didn’t touch the focus ring as I stopped the lens down. The focus shift is purely a result of spherical aberration. f/2.8 shot, now focus is now at -1.7 mm Stopping down to f/2.8, the focus shifted again, now landing on -1.7 mm. It has shifted a total of +11.4 mm from the f/1.4 focus. When continuing on to f/4.0, the focus position went to -5.0 mm and then at f/5.6 it went to -8.1 mm. It didn’t shift appreciably when stopping down further. The total focus shift was about 17.8 mm from f/1.4 to f/5.6! This is more than enough to throw an eye out of focus and ruin the portrait shot at this distance. I always set my focus fine-tune calibration setting at the widest aperture, except when I don’t. Let me explain… I determine what focus fine-tune setting is required at each (full) aperture from f/1.4 through f/5.6 for my fast lens, and then I’ll set the fine-tune setting for which aperture I expect to typically shoot at. I keep a little cheat sheet with calibration settings taped inside my lens cap, since I tend to forget them. These settings are “per-camera-body”. Once a fast lens that has spherical aberration gets stopped down to about f/5.6, the focus doesn’t seem to measurably shift anymore. Believe it or not, many lenses focus different colors of light quite differently. This is what’s known as longitudinal chromatic aberration, when it lies along the axis of the lens. The MTFMapper program lets you conduct the tests shown with just the red or green or blue pixels on your camera’s Bayer sensor. With this analysis, you can see how longitudinal (axial) chromatic aberration works. In the “Preferences” dialog, just select the desired Bayer channel color to use with the focus chart photos you already have. For zoom lenses that have a focus shift at different focal lengths, I use a similar scheme to compensate for focal length instead of aperture setting. This problem is solved by Sigma and Tamron on their lenses that allow focus calibration adjustments at multiple distances and focal lengths via a dock. No such luck with other manufacturers so far. Even Sigma and Tamron don’t help you with compensating for aperture focus-shift, however (at least not yet). Conclusion This analysis might sound like nothing more than nit picking. If you’ve tried close-up portraiture, however, you know how crucial a few millimeters of missed focus can be. A fuzzy eye shot is a ruined shot. It’s better to know how your lens performs than not. #howto

Lens resolution measurement is a combination of software and special flat targets that get photographed and then measured by the software. It’s very important that you properly align a lens resolution target. Otherwise, it’s the old adage of “garbage in, garbage out”. Alignment falls into two categories: parallel to the camera sensor and no rotation error. Rotational alignment is the easy part; you can use the edge of your viewfinder to align with the target markings. I always use “grid view” in my viewfinder for easy alignment. So how do you ensure that your camera sensor is parallel to your target? Easy; you use a mirror. A couple pieces of rolled-up (removable) painter’s tape behind the mirror will hold a small mirror flat against the middle of your focus target. Make sure you press it flat, so there aren’t any gaps between the mirror and the target. Manually focus your lens at twice the distance from your target, and then move the camera around until you see your reflection through the lens. You probably want to test your tape on the edge of your target to verify it peels off without damaging your chart. I have found that inkjet works much better than laserjet; the tape can strip off the toner in laserjet prints. Semi-gloss is probably the best surface for the charts, too. The heavier paper weights work better, as well. Around 600 dpi printer resolution is ideal. If you have a flat surface like a wall behind the chart and don’t want to put any tape on your chart itself, you can try sticking the mirror to the surface until you align the camera, and then clamp the chart over the spot where you had temporarily stuck the mirror. I had experimented with hanging a mirror like a necklace on a string, but it didn’t work very well. Another technique that does work well, however is to sacrifice getting measurements in the middle of the chart and cut a hole to mount a mirror with glue behind the chart, with the mirror showing through the hole. This works best if your chart is either glued (spray glue) or dry-mounted to mounting board, and you cut the hole through both the chart and its mounting board. If you use the “lensgrid” chart shown later in this article, the middle of the chart (an hourglass pattern) doesn’t get measured anyway. Update 3-24-2019 I got a suggestion from Frans van den Bergh (the author of the MTFMapper program) to try using magnets to hold a mirror in place, so that the chart surface isn't harmed. I did some research, and found some outrageously strong neodymium magnets (32 mm diameter and 3mm thick) that are nickel/copper coated. These babies hold with a direct-contact force of 18 pounds! The thickness of my chart with its backing is 9.6 mm, so I knew I'd need really strong magnets to be able to hold the mirror with that big of a gap. Lo and behold, a magnet behind my chart and one stuck to the back of my mirror (with double-stick tape) keeps the mirror perfectly in place to align the chart. It is easy to remove the mirror when photographing the chart, and leaves no marks. I actually stuck a pair of magnets (side-by-side) behind the mirror to guarantee it's completely parallel to the chart; only one of the mirror magnets is stuck to the rear chart magnet. Thanks, Frans! You can also glue little bubble levels to the edges of the chart, particularly if your chart is mounted in a frame. If your tripod also has bubble levels, then you can get the chart and camera into pretty close alignment. Find your reflection Notice in the shot above that you can barely see the chart itself. That’s because the lens is focused at twice the distance of the chart to see the mirror reflection. It should go without saying that you need a sturdy tripod. If there’s any vibration, you can easily see it in your reflection. Focus on the chart Now, focus on the chart. Your reflection basically disappears! You can be confident, however, that the camera sensor is parallel with the mirror, and therefore parallel with the chart, too. Once aligned, you can then peel the mirror off of the target. Note that the chart shown above is an older design, but is still supported for resolution measurements. A newer chart design is shown below. I’d also recommend that you clamp the resolution target into position, so that it won’t move when you touch it (or when you peel off the mirror). Align a Chart Using Fiducials The MTFMapper program can use a chart design (“lensgrid”) that can measure any chart rotations in 3-D space. This doesn’t help you align beforehand, but at least you can tell how well you aligned the camera to the chart after the fact. Their website has resolution chart and focus chart downloads in PDF format. The latest as of this writing is called “mtfmapper_sample_test_charts_0.5_v4.zip”. The LensGrid Resolution Chart with Alignment Fiducials If you use the chart shown above, you can not only measure lens resolution, but you can also get feedback about how well you aligned the chart via rotation measurements in yaw, pitch, and roll axes. Select the Chart Orientation option Before you can see the chart orientation measurements, you need to select the correct option. This option is paired with the “lensgrid” chart type. When you get the resolution measurements of the chart, you’ll get an extra plot result, called “chart orientation”. Chart Orientation results The MTFMapper program uses standard math rules, with the “X” axis horizontal and positive to the right, “Y” is vertical and positive up, and “Z” is using the “right hand rule” being positive out of the screen. The “Pitch” is rotation about the horizontal X axis, “Yaw” is rotation about the vertical Y axis, and “Roll” is rotation about the Z axis. In the shot above, the Roll value is +0.91 degrees. To reduce the roll error, I would need to rotate the chart about the Z axis (this axis is out of the screen) in a clockwise, or negative rotation direction. You might notice that the left side of the shot above shows a narrower gap at the top than the bottom, so chart rotation in the clockwise direction to get it vertical makes sense. Many cameras have a feature in Live View called “Virtual Horizon” to help get the camera aligned on the “roll” axis, which is mainly intended to get horizons level. This can be used to decide if the camera or the chart (or both) isn’t level. Chart rotated clockwise to reduce “Roll” error The chart was rotated a little clockwise and then re-clamped. The Roll error was reduced from +0.91 to +0.12 degrees. The next problem to fix in the chart shown above would be to fix the “pitch”. Pitch is sometimes referred to as “nose up” (as in aircraft). When you get within about a degree on each axis, then you can be confident that the resolution measurements will be reliable. So, what happens if you analyze chart shots that aren’t parallel to your camera sensor? You’ll get one or two sides of the chart with poor resolution readings. If you get poor readings, you won’t know if it’s your lens or the chart or both of them. You still need to use a remote release and use “live view” with contrast-detect focus for maximum focus accuracy. Remember to turn off lens vibration reduction when your camera is locked down on the tripod, or it will actually add vibrations. I’m using the MTFMapper program for my resolution testing software, but these same precautions are required for whatever analysis program you use. You can get the software from this site. #howto

Adobe stopped updating the standalone versions of Lightroom long ago. A feature they added to their Creative Cloud version called “DeHaze” caused extreme feature envy for us cloudless users. Guess what? There’s a way to get this functionality in the standalone version of Lightroom after all. There’s a free Lightroom plug-in you can get from here. It works with Lightroom version 6.1 through 6.14. The website also provides instructions for how to install it, but I’ll summarize the installation process here. Installing the Dehaze Lightroom Plug-in Begin by un-zipping the downloaded file into the folder of your choice. Run Lightroom. File | Plug-in Manager… Click “Add…” button in the lower-left of the dialog Navigate to the directory with the “LRHazeFilters.lrplugin” folder and select it, such as: C:\DehazeLightroomPlugin\LRHazeFilters_2_2\LRHazeFilters.lrplugin Click the “Select Folder” button The “Plug-in Manager” window should now show “Status: This plug-in is now enabled” You use the Dehaze plug-in while in the Develop module. When selected, a window with a dehaze slider opens: What’s so great about Dehaze? This plug-in produces an effect akin to tone-mapping, except that it can also work in reverse, by adding extra haze. To get the best effect, you need to stick with RAW format when using this filter, and you need to be in the Lightroom “Develop” module. This plug-in can also produce a nice effect for black and white pictures. Hazy Shot Select the Dehaze plug-in When you’re ready to try Dehaze on your photo, click “File | Plug-in Extras | Dehaze Control”. When the Dehaze dialog opens up, you can drag the control with your mouse to wherever it’s most convenient for you. Rid the haze by a moderate amount Drag the Dehaze slider until you see the effect you want. I generally like the effect I get at a setting around +50. The total adjustment range goes from -100 to +100. Going a bit too far with Dehaze Since you don’t know what’s going too far until you do it, try going beyond what looks good, and then back off from there. Keep in mind that you can always make a “virtual copy” of a shot, and then Dehaze the copy. You can combine the “Dehazed” copy with the original with Lightroom’s “Photo Merge” feature. This can work well when you like the Dehaze sky effect, for example, but you don’t like what happens to the foreground. As with most editing features, you’re given ample opportunities to abuse the controls. Please, please don’t go overboard. Don’t be guilty of giving Dehaze the same kind of reputation that HDR has gotten. The final shot You can see in the “before” and “after” versions that the sky is vastly improved. As-shot. Too hazy for my taste. Enhanced with DeHaze I wouldn’t say that this plug-in is Earth-shattering, but it definitely has earned its place in my Lightroom bag of tricks. It’s simple to invoke and use, and it works. You don’t have to feel left out any more, even though Adobe might have abandoned you. #review

Here’s a little trick to get your lens focus-calibrated quickly. This discussion is only relevant for phase-detect focus. It’s well known that “Live View” focus is quite accurate, since the camera sensor itself is used, bypassing any mirrors and separate phase-detect sensors. This article doesn’t, of course, have any relevance to mirrorless cameras. There are some cameras that can focus-calibrate themselves, so this doesn’t apply to those cameras, either. Pay attention to that focus distance! The main requirement for this calibration trick is to have a lens with a focus distance scale on it. You should also use a tripod, if possible, to get reliable results. Pick a focus target that is easy for your camera to use, so that it will focus at the same distance each time. Do yourself a favor, and make sure that you have sufficient illumination so that your camera focus system doesn’t have to struggle and hunt to find focus. Set your camera’s aperture (typically wide-open), and then activate Live View. Now, focus your camera on the target. Note the precise distance on the lens focus scale. Repeat this exercise several times, in case your lens can only focus within a range of distances. Between each focus, manually change the focus distance, to force your camera to re-focus each time. It should only take seconds to find out the focus distance reading to use. Now, you know the “real” focus distance setting that is accurate, since it was done using Live View. Next, turn off Live View, to switch over to phase-detect focus, ideally with single (versus continuous) auto-focus. Auto-focus the camera. Note the reading on the focus scale. If the phase-detect focus distance value matches the Live View focus distance, then you’re done. If there’s a difference in the distance reading, however, then you’ll need to enter a focus calibration value into your camera. If the phase-detect reading was as a shorter distance than the Live View distance scale setting, then you’ll need to calibrate with a “+” setting, to push the focus further from your camera. If phase-detect focused farther than Live View did, then obviously enter a focus calibration value that’s smaller than what you had previously set for the calibration setting. In this fashion, you can iterate on focus calibration settings that will quickly get your lens into perfect calibration. You don’t need to fuss with trying to view photos at high magnification to determine if you got the focus right; all you need to concern yourself with is to match the distance that Live View got. Simple. #howto

If this idea hasn’t occurred to you, it’s possible to make a rugged and perfectly functional flash diffuser for free. It won’t even take much time. What have you got to lose? Flash diffusers are a really good idea to soften your harsh flash output. Even with a diffuser, it’s a good idea to still tilt the flash head for a bounce flash. You can buy diffusers that are essentially a plastic bottle, but why not just try a plastic bottle instead? I kept my eye out for the right-sized bottle for my (Nikon SB-600) flash, and it wasn’t that hard to find. Your own flash may take a different size, though. It should go without saying that you want a bottle that’s white. I found the perfect diffuser at Costco: a bottle of antacid tablets. It’s pretty thick plastic, so it won’t readily break or even deform. It has a pretty neutral color, and it doesn’t block too much light. You might find some “Tupper Ware“that you like for the job. Use plastic that isn’t too clear, or it won’t diffuse the light enough. All you’ll need to make this diffuser is a utility knife, a permanent marker, and maybe some gloves. Please don’t blame me if you cut yourself. Use some good common sense about how you hold the bottle while you perform surgery on it. After you’ve found a properly-sized bottle and cleaned it up, then use the marker to draw where you need to cut it. If you’re fanatical about this, you might want to even measure the flash dimensions to mark more accurate dimensions. You’ve probably heard the motto “measure twice and cut once”… I actually cut my bottle a little small, and then shaved off a few slivers at a time until I got the fit nice and snug. When I shot a gray card, the color balance proved to be a little warm with the diffuser, so I had to use a custom white balance to get totally neutral lighting. I guess you have to pay a teeny price for using this cheap diffuser. Bottle diffuser slips over the flash head This is a really simple piece of gear. You don’t need any straps or glue or anything to keep the bottle snug for a flash like mine, since it has a slight taper along the head. If you have an inconveniently-shaped flash head, you might need some Velcro to keep it snug. The naked flash Flash diffuser disguised as an antacid bottle Bounce flash, no diffuser, pointed at a fairly high ceiling In the shot above, the ceiling was too high for the bounce flash; it had little effect on the subject. Sometimes you encounter paneled or colored ceilings which can also defeat the use of bounce flash. Bounce flash with diffuser, pointed at ceiling The first thing that jumps out at me in the above comparison shots is the bounce flash level of illumination. With no diffuser, and a fairly high ceiling, the flash didn’t have enough effect. If you’re in a fast-paced situation, it’s a pain to have to worry about angling your flash to bounce off of the nearest wall instead of a ceiling. If the ceiling is really high and you aren’t near a wall, then you basically can’t use bounce flash. With the diffuser, enough light gets to the subject even if the ceiling/walls are too far away. Light gets through the sides of the diffuser, so the subject gets both diffuse direct light and bounced light. Gray card, direct flash, no diffuser, with auto white balance Gray card, direct flash, with diffuser, custom white balance There’s a plus and a minus to using this diffuser with direct flash. The lighting is definitely more even with the diffuser. The downside is that the color balance is a little warm, so a custom white balance is required to achieve the same color temperature with the diffuser. As you can see above, the correct custom white balance completely neutralized the warm color. I actually wrote the correct Kelvin temperature (with a permanent marker) onto the diffuser in an inconspicuous place; it makes a good reminder to set the white balance when I use the diffuser. I used the histogram of the gray card photo to see how the R,G,B peaks aligned. With a gray card, the peaks should completely overlap. I adjusted the white balance Kelvin temperature and re-shot the gray card until I got the R,G,B peaks to perfectly overlap. Conclusion Using a diffuser means that you will have fewer things to worry about when using a flash. It softens the light when using direct flash. It gets more illumination onto your subject if you’re using bounce flash and you get too far from walls or a too-high ceiling. You don’t have to be as careful about the angle of the bounce flash, either. My cheap diffuser slightly altered the color balance, compared to a bare flash, but it’s easy to correct for this. This kind of diffuser can’t substitute for the quality you get from a large umbrella reflector, but it’s not a fraction as cumbersome to use, either. I’m not trying to endorse being lazy or cutting corners, but there are times when you just can’t transport elaborate lighting gear. I have to admit that this diffuser looks a little homely, but it’s easy enough to get over that. It makes flash photography a little simpler for me than using a bare flash, and as I said before, the price is right. #howto

There’s a Lightroom mask called “Radial Filter” that seems like something that is of little use. There are times, however, when it is exactly what you need. Have you ever seen something that was essentially in silhouette, and you wished you had a giant spot light to illuminate it? The “Radial Filter” may be for you. Washington Monument with a giant fake spotlight The shot above shows my vision of the Washington Monument, although it isn’t at all what I saw while I was there. The lighting looked terrible, with the monument looking more like a black obelisk against a nearly-featureless cloudy sky. I took the shot anyway, envisioning what Lightroom post-processing magic could do with it. This is one of those cases where I desperately needed some breathtakingly huge lighting equipment to flip the lighting ratios between the sky and the monument. Lightroom to the rescue. I don’t use it very often, but I think that the “radial filter” can sometimes be just the ticket. If a shot calls for it, there’s nothing stopping you from using multiple radial filters, either. For this shot, though, I only wanted the Washington Monument lit up. The starting point. A throw-away shot. The shot above shows you what I started with. The monument was a featureless dark blob. What I wanted was essentially the opposite, where the monument was lit and the sky was darker and textured. For my desired “spot light” effect, I’d typically adjust the global exposure of the shot at this point, so that the spot light added in later would have the desired brightness. In this case, the rest of the shot already had roughly the (low) exposure I wanted. Make the shot really small, to make room for a big radial filter I wanted to illuminate only the Washington Monument. I knew I could do it with the “Radial Filter”, but the size of the filter I wanted meant I needed to first really shrink the picture, using the “Zoom Level” adjustment. After zooming, I selected the Radial Filter mask. The default settings for this filter are virtually never what is required, however. Starting point for the Radial Filter Mask I selected the Radial Filter mask, and made some initial guesses about what I would need. Since I was after a “spot light” effect, I clicked on “Invert Mask”. I increased the feathering, to make its effect a little more subtle. I initially set the exposure slider to +1, which I would then later adjust to taste. Fit the radial filter to the subject To better see the feathering effect of the filter, I went to the Tools | Adjustment Mask Overlay | Show Overlay. I left the “red” mask color, since it would show up fine in the shot. Now, I adjusted the center, shape, and size of my overlay to be a skinny ellipse with a slight rotation to match my subject. Once the mask was set the way I wanted it, I turned off the red overlay. Fine-tune the exposure of the subject inside the mask Next, I scrolled up to the mask “Exposure” slider, and decided I wanted an even brighter subject. It’s easy to overdo the exposure, so be careful. Adjust the sky: Dehaze Filter I decided at this point that I wanted to adjust the sky and give it more drama. My two go-to choices at this point are the Nik HDR Efex Pro and the Dehaze filter. I always start by trying the Dehaze filter, since it’s really quick to try it out and later cancel it if desired. I discuss getting this Dehaze filter for older versions of Lightroom in a previous post. In this case, I decided that the Dehaze filter was just what I needed and therefore didn’t resort to using the HDR Efex Pro plug-in. The finished shot You can argue all day about the honesty of using fake lighting, but I know what I like. This shot shows what I was after, and I think that the radial filter added just what was missing from the original scene. The radial filter doesn’t just apply to landscapes. You might find that portrait lighting can be vastly improved after the fact with this same technique. As with everything, please don’t overdo it. #howto