Dead Oak - Sigma SD1 Merrill and SD14

[xpatUSA]

Continuing the theme of afflicted trees and Andre's 'denuded' series:

Like the Monty Python parrot, this one is definitely dead:

SD1 Merrill:



Post-processed in RawTherapee. I admit to messing with the sky color. The Sigma SD1M 'Standard' color mode tends to give cyan skies and their 'Foveon Classic Blue' color mode is way over the top in blueness.

This tree is always well-lit and catches my eye whenever I walk down the driveway. Once it had full sun on it against dark storm clouds - wow - but the moment was fleeting and cameras were nowhere near :-(

The tree is about 30 ft tall but the property is so overgrown that it's not possible to shoot the classic dead-tree-in-a-big-field-or-desert composition.

Same tree in full spectrum on the SD14:



Processed in RawDigger - exported as RGB TIFF - seriously messed with in FastStone Viewer to enhance that heavy red cast. I had another version with a much bluer sky and yellow leaves but this is a little more "conventional" for full-spectrum work.

Both shots were hand-held with the Sigma 18-200mm Mk II (not the latest 'C' model).

Comments are welcome. Perhaps a pace to the right in the first shot?

[Wavelength]

You did it....

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed, I like the spectrum look.

[Geoff F]

With the first image I'm wondering about cropping to a different size ratio to lose a fraction from the sides and remove a bit of that side 'heaviness' which would concentrate more on the main subject?

Is the second scene a little too red now? I'm looking at the sky colour.

[xpatUSA]

With the first image I'm wondering about cropping to a different size ratio to lose a fraction from the sides and remove a bit of that side 'heaviness' which would concentrate more on the main subject?

Always happy to oblige:

Is the second scene a little too red now? I'm looking at the sky colour.

I look at it this way. The moment you take the IR blocking filter out of the camera all colors become false. Mainly due to the IR exciting the Foveon layers and a bit due to near UV exciting mainly the top layer. So with a full-spectrum, meaning 300-1100nm, image the final image colors can be anything you want them to be. The colors in my second image are what most full-spectrum shooter seem to favor. Intense sky and red or red-orange foliage. Non-reflective stuff like brickwork and anything shaded tends to look roughly "OK".

Here's another play with FastStone's color, hue and saturation sliders, just for grins:



Going one step further, if I were to put a 720nm IR pass filter on the lens then the converted image will look horrible; the standard for non-Foveon cameras is to do channel-swapping in post but that doesn't work for a Foveon image. So I just export a raw composite image and play with sliders to get nice tints to go with the almost black skies and very white clouds and foliage.

[IzzieK]

I prefer the full spectrum version, Ted...that is absolutely beautiful rendition of this image. Besides, I am partial to red -- love it.

[Geoff F]

That is the sort of idea which I had in mind for a crop, Ted. It looks much more dramatic to me with the emphasis being on the dead tree.

[Steaphany]

What version of RawDigger do you use and how do you import the SD14 files ?

[xpatUSA]

What version of RawDigger do you use . . .

V 1.2.3 build 435 (64-bit)

. . . and how do you impost the SD14 files ?

Sorry, I didn't understand that. If it was supposed to be "import", I still don't quite understand.

Please clarify and I'll be glad to answer

[Steaphany]

Does RawDigger natively read X3F files or does it rely on an add on like dcraw ?

sorry for the typo

[xpatUSA]

Does RawDigger natively read X3F files or does it rely on an add on like dcraw ?

It uses embedded LibRaw routines developed by Axel Tutubalin, Iliah Borg and others. These routines are based on DCraw which, as you probably know, leaves a lot to be desired in the elegance department:

LibRaw is a library for reading RAW files obtained from digital photo cameras (CRW/CR2, NEF, RAF, DNG, and others). LibRaw is based on the source codes of the dcraw utility, where part of drawbacks have already been eliminated and part will be fixed in future. The users of the library are provided with API to be built into their software programs.

(their underlines, they are not links).

http://www.libraw.org/home?page=1

All Sigma cameras are supported - even the Quattro, to an extent. Their RGB view is not up to SPP standards and is quite simple without bells or whistles. Personally, I don't use it as the 'converter to end all converters' - but it does happen to convert SD14 full-spectrum and IR shots without forcing the green channel to zero, unlike every other converter that I have.

Hope this helps.