Keep advanced history permanently (PL 4)

DxO PhotoLab Feature requests
73

@Prem my current preset count appears to be 607 presets in 78 folders (backed up of course).

I have moaned about so many things since the release of PL5, not because I don’t still rate the product very highly but because I feel that there are a number of things (unfortunately quite a high number now) that variously need fixing, completing or adding to (where I feel the addition would raise the usability/functionality enough to warrant the work).

But I am not in charge of the purse strings and the associated resources and DxO are (understandably) forging ahead with their “headliners” for the next release (and putting their prices up!)

74

Sounds like a perfectly normal approach to me, even though some in these forums seem to think we should change our ways to cope with all this “new-fangled” digital stuff.

Far from it. Us oldies need to be there for each other when we do fall off our chairs, through laughing or otherwise.

You see, for me, the basic premise of photography remains the same, regardless of the tools we use.

First, you record a scene on a photo-sensitive medium…

If it’s a negative, it needs to be developed, but the result is far from a finished image.

If it’s a RAW file, it needs to be developed, but the result is still often far from a finished image.

Once you have a developed negative, you then need to print it and this is where the hard work starts…

  1. print a test strip to determine the best starting exposure
  2. work out a printing plan to determine which parts of the image will need dodging or burning and which multigrade filter to use
  3. make an initial print, which you may end up throwing and revising your printing plan.
  4. once you get a satisfactory print, archive the printing plan for that negative so that you won’t have to repeat 1, 2 and 3 every time you want another print.

Once you have developed your RAW file (opened it in PL)…

  1. make as many adjustments as you need to achieve the result you anticipated
  2. print the resulting file, knowing that the DOP file contains your “printing plan”, which can be used next time.
  3. the next time you want to print the same file, you can either go with the original version or you can make a virtual copy and do anything from starting from scratch to just tweaking something here or there.

My standard practice is to immediately create a virtual copy and leave the “master” untouched, so I have a reference that I can either compare further versions to or use to create a new “blank canvas” virtual copy.

The first VC I will work in colour, unless I know that I will never want to print in colour, in which case, I will apply my favourite B&W FilmPack preset and edit it in much the same way as I would a traditional darkroom print - adjusting luminosity levels and contrast either globally or by using local adjustments in just the same way as I would use dodging and burning tools in the darkroom.

If I so choose, I may also work a colour VC, where I use the same techniques as B&W, but using a wider variety of tools to deal with colour as well as tonality.

Either way, darkroom or PL, I have never needed a sequential list of operations, because it is the final print that counts and not the order in which I made the adjustments.

As long as I have the printing plan or DOP file, I can always make a copy and then fiddle with it because, usually, the order is mainly irrelevant.

Wow! I have enough trouble keeping track of just the FilmPack ones.

I am just hopeful that they can bring a worthwhile “headliner” to the image editing side of things this year. The whole metadata debacle system is approaching its first anniversary and is still in need of a repair kit if folks want to use anything other than PL for their metadata.

75

I was about to write that I need to overhaul the presets and re-arrange the folders! They do contain a lot of experimental ones like

image
image759×569 47.2 KB

where I was trying to learn the subtle changes that could be made to my JPGs back in the days of OpticsPro 11.

Yes indeed!

76

Joanna. I can certainly relate to everything that you had written. The only difference for me was after many test strips. I read an article in amateur photographer where somebody had made a scale and used their light metre. Needless to say I did the same with my Western 5 and a suitably made scale for the papers that I used at the time being, Agfa Brovia and Kodax black-and-white films.

My digital escapades are very close to your methods

1 Like
77

Good morning @BHAYT ,

  • Let me draw attention of @StevenL and @Musashi to your suggestions as I don’t take such decisions .

Regards,
Svetlana G.

78

@sgospodarenko Thank you for your attention.

Can I please draw you attention to Rotation not kept in dop’s why? - #72 by Photoman43 and Add an option to PhotoLab to turn the database functions on or off - #13 by BHAYT and Avoiding "Unwanted Virtual Copies" when copying Images and DOPs between systems and consider publishing a DxO authorised version of the “procedure” in the FAQ!

In addition can I also draw your attention to Add an option to PhotoLab to turn the database functions on or off - #4 by BHAYT where a “simple” (but requires some development work) “solution” occurred to me to the problem that has filled just a “few” (alright masses of) column inches of various forums over recent “years” that might offer a solution to those that encounter the “Load on laptop - transfer to another PC - process on the other PC - and attempt to return to laptop - encounter Virtual Copies” dilemma.

Thank you for your attention.

1 Like
79

Bryan - Perusing your sample list of presets, they seem to be in the style of; Preset A, Preset A + B, Preset A + B + C, Preset A + B + C + D, etc

Just checking; you are aware that you can create “Partial Presets” … Right ?
In which case, you just need Preset A, Preset B, Preset C, Preset D, etc … and you can apply them in any combination you see fit.

John M

80

@John-M Yes and No!

I have heard about them and just checked to see what they are and how they are created and this may be a way of creating a collection of ‘Tone Curve’ partial presets which would be useful.

However, the idea with the original set was to be able to jump from one setting to another in a single mouse click with as many simple steps in view at the same time as possible because I was investigating how subtle or otherwise some of the changes might be, looking for the best combination as a starting point for edits, number 55 if my memory serves me correctly.

The “family” needs to be updated as appropriate since I have moved to RAW editing in preference to JPG (at least for images since 2018). During that exercise I should investigate adding new “children” to the “family”, i.e. Partial presets and an appropriate way of organising both before retiring the older generation!

Thank you for the timely reminder.

1 Like
81

[quote=“Joanna, post:74, topic:15566, full:true”]

I still use film on occasion and still have most of my Nikon film equipment. Best part is - I use m4/3 and, with adapters, I can use my old 1070’s vintage lenses.

Far from it. Us oldies need to be there for each other when we do fall off our chairs, through laughing or otherwise.

You see, for me, the basic premise of photography remains the same, regardless of the tools we use.

First, you record a scene on a photo-sensitive medium…

If it’s a negative, it needs to be developed, but the result is far from a finished image.

If it’s a RAW file, it needs to be developed, but the result is still often far from a finished image.[/quote]

Once you have a developed negative, you then need to print it and this is where the hard work starts…

  1. print a test strip to determine the best starting exposure
  2. work out a printing plan to determine which parts of the image will need dodging or burning and which multigrade filter to use
  3. make an initial print, which you may end up throwing and revising your printing plan.
  4. once you get a satisfactory print, archive the printing plan for that negative so that you won’t have to repeat 1, 2 and 3 every time you want another print.

Once you have developed your RAW file (opened it in PL)…

  1. make as many adjustments as you need to achieve the result you anticipated
  2. print the resulting file, knowing that the DOP file contains your “printing plan”, which can be used next time.
  3. the next time you want to print the same file, you can either go with the original version or you can make a virtual copy and do anything from starting from scratch to just tweaking something here or there.

Using your scenario: you are making a series of prints for a display. This is going to take several days of darkroom time. You have your printing plan as a guide, however, you are required to use different papers. By looking at the plan, you can see what steps you chose for each type of paper. Everything works out fine. Ok, so far, but this is where the problem starts. On Windows, we cannot “archive the printing plan” in the same way that a Mac user can. We lose the “why we took that step”.

Either way, darkroom or PL, I have never needed a sequential list of operations, because it is the final print that counts and not the order in which I made the adjustments.

As long as I have the printing plan or DOP file, I can always make a copy and then fiddle with it because, usually, the order is mainly irrelevant.

We windows users are asking for the ability to keep the printing plan - just as the Mac user has.

82

Kodak sold a scale that replaced test strips and allowed you to perform the exposure test on a single sheet of paper. I forget what it was called but it had graduated shaded areas that you used to determine exposure time.

I still have mine somewhere.

83

Good morning @BHAYT ,

You can tag them by yourself in the posts which need their attention, please.

Thank you
Regards,
Svetlana G.

84

@sgospodarenko. And can we have advanced history saved between sessions as at the moment it is not even a history, let alone advanced history. It would also be one less difference between the Mac and Windows.

85

Good morning!

It’s a question mostly to @Musashi .

Regards,
Svetlana G.

86

Thank you Svetlana. In that case.@Musashi. can we have advanced history saved between sessions as at the moment it is not even a history, let alone advanced history. It would also be one less difference between the Mac and Windows.

87

Hello @Prem

That’s definitely something we want to implement. It won’t be for PL6 unfortunately but we are working on this for a next version. We’ll keep you informed.

best regards

88

With an option to not save it I hope

89

Thank you @Musashi. I will look forward to it when it is done. @John7. Hopefully that will be done in preferences.

90

… or better (?) to be deleted at wish.

1 Like
91

It does not surprise anyone that we still have to wait for a v7.x to have this function ???
A function that should have been available as on Mac as soon as the history had been implemented.

2 Likes
92

@Franky. I have to agree with you 100%. It would be very nice to have it in version 6. There is plenty of time for a good programmer to be able to do it.

2 Likes