In other words, the non-pro sees something that catches his eye, picks up a camera and shoots.
The pro sees something that catches her eye, picks up a camera and considers what how it looks in the viewfinder. Then, she starts moving about, checking angles, light and shadows, often climbing chairs or crawling on the ground. Only when the image in the viewfinder conforms to (or is at least close to) some idealized version of the scene in the photographer’s mind does she press the shutter button. (Of course, all that can happen quite quickly – literally, in the blink of an eye.)
But there is another difference between the pro and amateur, and that is in how we think about photography. While climbing and crawling about, looking for that great angle, with just the right lighting, our minds are running through all the small details and permutations of what makes a picture – the exposure settings that we choose, the focus decisions we make, the particular lens we select, and so forth.
Taking control over the underlying capture technology – in conjunction with artistic decisions about composition, angle and moment – is how the photographer puts her personal professional stamp on the final image. The same is true with professional imaging software, whose tools allow photographers to continue to define their pictures, based on the underlying optics, color and exposure. (And this is why most pros prefer working with RAW file formats, but that’s a topic for another discussion.)
All this came to mind during a phone conference I had this morning with Cyrille de la Chesnais, of DxO. I’ve been following that French software company for many years, and I have learned to respect the way they do things, specifically because they think about photography like photographers. Today’s virtual meeting with Cyrille was so he could show me (via a WebEx Internet demo) the new version of their DxO Optics Pro RAW processing software.
At the heart of DxO Optics Pro are their analyses of the particular optical characteristics of specific individual cameras and lenses. Using customized profiles ("modules") that DxO creates for each of the many hundreds of supported lenses and cameras, a photographer using Optics Pro can correct or adjust optical distortions and exposures. In addition, Optics Pro has one of the best noise reduction engines. (Noise is that destructive pattern of minuscule color dots that can plague a photo taken in low light.)
In Cyrille’s online demonstration, I was pleased with the redesign of the interface in version 6; I am sure it will be much more accessible for non-experts. Of the various other changes, Cyrille claims that the noise reduction has been improved further, even allowing a photographer to shoot at a higher ISO than the camera’s stated limit. More important is that DxO Optics Pro now allows the photographer to take manual control over optical distortion correction, even for lenses that they haven’t yet profiled. And, they continue to add support for more cameras and lenses, including several Olympus DSLRs that were previously not included in Optics Pro.
I’m looking forward to testing DxO Optics Pro 6, and when I do, I’ll let you know what I think of it. In the meantime, if you are interested in checking it out yourself, the trial version can be downloaded from their Website . Incidentally, DxO is offering a 33% discount on Optics Pro until December 31st.
Comments
Another nice feature of the product is it automatically will download a lense profile if you haven't already done so.
The free trial download is an awesome way to demo the product and see for yourself.
The cost/benefit is just outstanding as the price for this product is very reasonable, especially compared to the money most of us have invested in our gear.