Capture NX Guide

The Photographer’s Guide
to Capture NX ™
An introduction to raw conversion for Nikon® DSLR owners
Jason P. Odell, Ph.D.

The Photographer’s Guide to
Capture NX™
First Edition 2006
Published in the United States by
Luminescence of Nature Press
Colorado Springs, CO 80923
http://www.luminescentphoto.com
©2006 Jason P. Odell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means without written permission by the publisher, with
the exception that owners of this e-book are permitted to print a single copy for
personal use.
All photos by and © Jason P. Odell, unless otherwise specified.
Trademarks
All terms in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been
appropriately capitalized.
Nikon, Nikkor, NEF, Nikon Capture, and Capture NX are registered trademarks of
Nikon Corporation, Japan.
U point and Nik are trademarks of Nik Software, Inc.
Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Corp.
Disclaimer
This book is not sponsored by Nikon Corporation. It is intended to provide
information about Capture NX™ software. Every effort has been made to make the
information contained in this book as reliable as possible, but no warranty of fitness
is implied. The author and publisher shall not be responsible in any way for any
damages or loss of data arising from the information contained in this book.
ii
Acknowledgements
I would like to mention a few people who have really contributed to this book
in one way or another, whether they know it or not. First of all, it would be
impossible to produce any book without the help of some brave individuals who
were willing to read and comment on the draft versions.
First and foremost, I need to thank my wife, Elissa, for her patience and
understanding while I undertook this project. Her willingness to embrace my
photography habit has been a blessing.
Rick Walker has helped me not only with this book, but his knowledge of
photography seems endless, and I’m always learning something new every time we
shoot.
Two people convinced me, albeit unknowingly, to share my knowledge of

digital post-processing. The first is my grandmother, Lelo Carter, who not only
encouraged my photography, but also put my computer skills to the test when she
wanted to learn how to scan and print photographs at home. The second person
who is indirectly responsible for this book is Mr. Arnold Crane. Arnold’s passion
for photography is truly remarkable, and through our discussions and meetings
together, I started to formulate the plan to write a raw conversion book.
I would also like to thank the friendly people at the Nikonians community, whose
willingness to share their knowledge and experiences with Nikon equipment and
photography have helped me immeasurably over the years.
iii
About this book
Digital photography is quickly becoming the medium of choice for
amateur and professional photographers alike. Digital photography
opens a world of opportunities for photographers, but it also creates
a myriad of new challenges. Instead of taking film to a lab for
processing, we, as digital photographers, become our own lab and do
our own processing. For many of us, this is new territory.
This book is intended to be a postprocessing guide for photographers

who use Nikon DSLRs. The recent advancements in digital post-
processing techniques enable photographers who shoot in Raw even
more options than before. Capture NX, released by Nikon in July 2006,
offers Nikon shooters some unique opportunities to process their Raw
files in ways no other Raw converter currently offers. I hope that this
book can serve to offer Nikon shooters the chance to see and learn
about the ways they can increase their creative output by adopting a
Raw workflow.
Digital photography is more than just taking pictures, and this book is
not intended to replace the Capture NX User’s Guide that comes with
the software. In fact, I would hope you find this book to be a useful
companion to it. My assumption is that if you are reading this book,
you are already somewhat familiar with editing and adjusting digital
photos. There are so many techniques for image adjustment out there
that I cannot possible cover every situation.
This book is divided into three sections. In the first section, I’ll discuss
the advantages of the Raw file, go over the necessary steps to adopt
a Raw workflow, and introduce the Capture NX File Browser. In the
second section, I’ll go through the basics of processing a Nikon NEF
file in Capture NX. Finally, in the third section I’ll present “recipes” for
using Capture NX to process photographs in real-world situations.
Along with this book, I’ve provided some additional resources that
might come in handy, including Capture NX settings files and some of
the images that I use as examples in the text. Additional information
can be found at http://www.luminescentphoto.com
iv
Resources for Nikon Shooters
Nikon USA has placed some video tutorials on Capture NX on a
dedicated website: http://www.capturenx.com
No Nikon user should overlook the vast resources section at Nikonians,

located at http://www.nikonians.org. Registration is free, and you
can access their moderated discussions and resource articles. Paid
members also gain some additional benefits, and at $25 per year, it is a
good way to ensure that this community continues to grow and prosper.
One of the most thorough resources for digital postprocessing is

available from Ron Reznick’s website, http://www.digital-images.net
His video tutorials feature Nikon Capture 4.
Some of the best reviews on Nikon equipment, and a great place to

get detailed e-books about Nikon DSLR’s are at Thom Hogan’s website:
http://www.bythom.com

The Photographer’s Guide to
Capture NX
The Photographer’s Guide to Capture NX™ ii
Acknowledgements iii
About this book iv
Resources for Nikon Shooters v
Part I. Before you get started 2
Why Shoot Raw? 4
Your Pre-flight checklist 10
The File Browser 18

Viewing images in the File Browser 19
Enlarging icons in the Browser window 20
Sorting files in the Browser Window 21
Applying Labels 22
Previewing images in the Browser 23
Comparing two images in the Browser 24
Saving multiple files as TIFF or JPEG 25
Applying settings files in the Browser 27
Part II. Raw conversions in Capture NX 30
Base Adjustments 32
The Camera Settings/ Adjustments Palette 36
Change your sharpening setting to none 37
Adjust the tone curve 38
Changing color mode 39
Fine-tuning white balance 40
White Balance using presets- An Example 41
Custom white balance using a gray card 43
Advanced: Batch processing white balance 45
The Raw Adjustments Tab 47
Exposure Compensation 48
Judging exposure using the histogram 49
Special Feature: Auto color aberration tool 51
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Global Adjustments to Light and Color 54
Levels & Curves 55
Using auto contrast in Levels & Curves 57
Advanced: Adjusting contrast using curves 58
Advanced: D-Lighting control 59
Highlight recovery using D-Lighting 60
Global color adjustments 61
Adjusting saturation and warmth 62
Total control in one step: The LCH editor 63
Color lightness with the LCH editor 64
Saturation adjustments with the LCH editor 65
Adjusting hue in the LCH editor 66
Local adjustments to light and color 68

Understanding selection tools 69
The Fill Tool and Gradient Fill Tool 71
Example: Graduated ND filter effect 73
The Selection Brush-- creating a selection 75
Removing areas from a selection 77
Restricting selections-- the Lasso tool 78
Applying the same selection to multiple steps 79
Local adjustments part 2: Control Points 81
Multiple Color Control Points 83
Advanced: Color picker 85
Image Detail: Sharpening and Noise Reduction 88

The Unsharp Mask tool 90
Unsharp mask controls explained 91
Capture Sharpening 92
Capture sharpening settings 93
Noise Reduction in Capture NX 94
Understanding noise reduction settings 95
Capture sharpening after noise reduction 97
Advanced: Managing Edit Steps 100

Edit Steps give you flexibility 101
Creating Edit Steps 102
Edit Step order matters 103
Adding an Edit Step to the middle of the list 104
Moving an Edit Step to the end of the list 105
Moving multiple steps to the end of the list 106
Moving steps to the top of the Edit List 107
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Final Touches 110
Straightening an image 111
Crop first, resize second 113
Resizing an image 115
Adding a color profile to your image 117
Output sharpening for inkjet prints 118
Advanced: Soft Proofing 119
Saving your processed file 121
Multiple files in one: versions 123
Part III. Capture NX Recipes 126

Color Portraits: Basic Recipe 127
Portraits: Fixing red-eye 133
Portraits: Capture sharpening 135
Portraits: D-Lighting 137
Portraits: Whitening teeth 139
Portraits: Softening skin 141
Landscapes: Basic recipe 145
Landscapes: Getting that “Velvia” look 147
Landscapes: Fixing a weak sky 149
Wildlife photos: Basic recipe 151
Highlight recovery using Control Points 153
Special effects: Correcting lens distortion 157
Special effects: Black and white conversion 159
Special effects: Adding grain 161
Appendix: Capture NX Workflow 163
Index 167
viii
ix
Pre-game warmups. Nikon D2x, 17-55mm f/2.8
DX Zoom Nikkor lens.
Part I. Before you get started
In this section, we need to set the stage for a Raw workflow using Capture NX. That
means understanding what you are getting into before you run out and switch your
camera from JPEG mode to raw. We’ll cover the basics in the following chapters:
Why Shoot Raw?
Your Preflight Checklist
The File Browser

Black-tailed prairie dog, South Dakota
Nikon D2x, Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX lens
1
Why Shoot Raw?
Most people who purchase a digital SLR immediately seek advice

from a salesman, friend or colleague who can “get them started”
taking pictures. Time and again, the most common advice they
receive is “shoot in JPEG mode; stay away from raw-- it’s scary and
confusing”. If you want to take a lot of snapshots, bring your memory card to the local
drugstore and have prints or a CD made for you, I agree with that advice. However, if
you have any inclination whatsoever to adjust your images on a computer, and want to
get the maximum quality out of your camera, I strongly suggest you start shooting in raw.
Shooting in raw offers the photographer some incredibly powerful tools to improve their
images. Raw images are to digital photography what undeveloped film is to traditional
photography. Only unlike film, raw images don’t require a darkroom, chemicals, and
an enlarger. With digital photography, the computer becomes your darkroom, and it
offers you an incredible degree of flexibility and latitude to express your creativity in your
images.
The advantages of using raw instead of JPEG are numerous. When you shoot raw, you
can:
• Make large changes in image exposure to recover highlight or shadow detail
• Correct white balance effortlessly
• Edit your images non-destructively
• Make huge enlargements without compression artifacts
• Apply saved settings to entire groups of image files
• Undo all your in-camera settings, if you so choose
Of all these points, non-destructive editing is probably the most important one. A
raw image is not really an image at all; it is a data set, a collection of zeroes and

Raw Image Processing in Capture NX
ones produced when light falls on your camera’s sensor. In order to produce an
understandable image that we can view on a computer screen, this data set must be
converted from sensor data into traditional RGB values. The RGB data can then be saved
in a format we are familiar with, like JPEG, TIFF, or PSD. When you set your camera to
shoot in JPEG mode, you are essentially telling your camera to “process” the raw data
into RGB data, and then save it in JPEG format.
The implications of shooting in raw can have profound effects on the image quality. In
JPEG mode, the camera essentially becomes your photo lab. All the camera settings
are applied to your image, including contrast, color, white balance and sharpening.
Once the JPEG is encoded, all of those attributes are firmly embedded as RGB image
information. In other words, with JPEG there is very little latitude for making changes to
the core parameters of your image, like exposure. If your exposure settings are off, or you
used the wrong white balance, those errors will be applied to the RGB image and “baked
in”. Correcting these images can become a serious challenge, depending on the severity
of the adjustment needed. Anyone who is familiar with making flatbed scans of their
snapshots will understand that the quality of their digital image was absolutely limited
by the quality of the original print. With raw, this is not the case. The mere fact that the
image data have not been converted to RGB means that you can reinterpret those little
ones and zeros all you want after you have taken the image. There is no color, contrast,
or sharpness information in the raw file. Those attributes are applied only after the image
is converted to an RGB bitmap file. Unlike bitmap images, when you modify a raw file
you are not changing the underlying data, you are simply reinterpreting it. In this way,
raw editing offers a “nondestructive” workflow. Change the contrast or color balance in
a JPEG, and there is no going back. If you should accidentally make changes to a JPEG
or TIFF without saving a copy of the original, it will be very hard to recover the original
image attributes. A raw file, on the other hand, can be processed and reprocessed, and
each time the output will show no loss of image quality because the underlying data are
always preserved.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to shooting exclusively in raw. For starters, raw
images must be converted to a usable bitmap image, and that conversion necessitates
post-processing on a computer. You might suddenly find your trusty old computer lacks
the memory (RAM) and processing horsepower to handle raw conversions efficiently.

Why Shoot Raw?
Raw files are substantially larger than their JPEG counterparts, and this increased file
size presents some potential hazards. A raw file from the Nikon D2X, for example, is
approximately 19MB. Shoot a high-quality JPEG and the file is around 5MB. This means
that not only will you get fewer images stored on your memory card, but you may need
more hard drive space to archive your images.
Given the sheer power of a raw workflow, most camera manufacturers offer some form
of raw processing software that enables their particular raw data format to be decoded
and converted into a bitmap RGB image. Because sensor design and image encoding
methods differ between camera manufacturers, there is currently no universal raw image
format. In fact, many third-party software manufacturers have jumped on the raw
bandwagon and developed stand-alone applications that can decode the raw data from a
slew of DSLR camera models. I’m assuming, however, that if you are reading this book, it
is because you own a Nikon DSLR. Every Nikon DSLR, from the D1 through the D2x, is
capable of producing a raw file in the “Nikon Electronic Image Format” or NEF, for short.
Over the years, Nikon has developed its own software application dedicated to NEF
conversion, Nikon Capture. In July 2006, a completely new version of Capture, called
Capture NX, was released by Nikon. Capture NX represents a paradigm shift in how raw
files are processed, because it allows the photographer to adjust their NEFs globally and
locally before they are converted into a bitmap file.
Raw Conversion: Adjustments versus Edits

Before I go on, let me make a couple of quick definitions regarding my approach to
digital image processing. In my workflow, adjustments are settings, applied either
globally or locally, which change the overall appearance of an image but do not alter
the image content. For example, if I change sharpening, color balance, or exposure in
a photograph of the Sierras, I may have altered the overall appearance of the image, but
I haven’t changed the actual image content. The clouds and trees are still there. Edits,
on the other hand, are changes that are applied to an image that fundamentally affect its
content. A good example of an edit is dust spot removal. That pesky dust speck may be
unwanted, but it is part of the original image data, for better or worse. Removing that
speck of dust, while aesthetically pleasing, alters the image content to something different
than what your camera recorded. In this age of digital photography, there is seemingly
endless debate on what constitutes “changing an image” versus “what the camera

recorded”. I subscribe to the school of thought that realizes that the camera sensor and
human eye record images differently. A lot of what we perceive with our eyes is filtered
through our brains. Digital cameras do not “know” what the photographer is thinking
(much less seeing) when it records an image; they just record light and color information.
It is, therefore, the job of the digital photographer to instill life, feeling, and emotion into
an otherwise sterile collection of binary digits. We do this by post-processing our images
to make them sharper, more vibrant, or more subdued.
Why Capture NX changes the game for Nikon Shooters

For the most part, working in raw has meant a two-stage image processing workflow for
photographers. In the first stage, the photographer makes global adjustments (changes
that affect the entire image), and then generates a bitmap RGB file of the image from the
raw file. Global adjustments include contrast (tone curve), color balance, white balance,
sharpening, noise removal and exposure compensation. Most raw converters give the
user a fair degree of control over globally-applied image parameters, and then generate
an 8 or 16-bit RGB image in TIFF or JPEG format. However, if the photographer wishes
to make changes to small areas within their image (local adjustments), a second stage of
processing is needed, usually with a bitmap image editing application. As we will see,
Capture NX has the ability to reduce raw workflow to a single stage process, thereby
streamlining the post-production process for photographers.
If you are a Nikon shooter, there are some distinct advantages to using Capture (or
Capture NX) when processing your NEFs. Most importantly, Capture is currently the only
raw converter that recognizes and implements all of the settings that were applied in your
camera and saved in the NEF file. Most third party raw converters read the image white
balance data, and sometimes tone curves, but little else. With Capture, the color mode,
sharpening, noise removal, and tone curve settings are all applied to your NEF in addition
to the white balance measurement. Of course, you don’t need to leave these settings “as-
shot” (that’s one of the nice things about raw), but if you want it to, Capture can produce
a JPEG or TIFF file from your NEF that would look virtually identical to a JPEG produced
in the camera. At this point, you may be asking “why should I even bother with camera
settings if I shoot raw?” Well, for one thing, Capture NX incorporates your camera
settings into your digital workflow. If your camera is set up the way you want it to be, the
end result is less work for you in post-processing. Conversely, because Capture and your

Why Shoot Raw?
camera share the same nomenclature for the in-camera settings, you can use Capture as
a learning tool to help you understand the impact different in-camera settings will have
on your images. This lowers your learning curve for using your camera, and increases the
chance that you’ll get better images on those occasions when you want to shoot in JPEG.
Capture’s ability to perform localized adjustments in a non-destructive environment
without the need for a complex understanding of tools like layer masks is sure to change
the game for Nikon photographers.
Does Capture NX eliminate the need for a bitmap editor, such as Photoshop?
Simply put, the answer is no. Capture NX differs from its predecessors in that the
photographer is able to apply local adjustments to their image during the raw conversion
stage, not just global ones. The ability of Capture NX to make global and local image
adjustments to post-processing after conversion. Sometimes, Capture NX’s set of tools
are the only ones you will need to generate an outstanding image for printing. While
Capture NX does provide a limited suite of “editing” tools, it is nowhere near as powerful
as Photoshop for precision image manipulation. Photographers who are interested in
applying creative filters, text, or removing unwanted dust spots will be best served by
using Capture in conjunction with Photoshop or another bitmap editing application. In
addition, photographers doing serious pre-press work or those who wish to apply creative
elements to their images will want to use a dedicated bitmap editor, as the suite of tools
these programs provide are substantially more thorough than those found in any raw
converter.

Monarch butterfly on thistle, Fountain, CO
Nikon D2X, Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX lens, Nikkor TC-14E teleconverter.
2
Your Pre-flight checklist
Before we can really dive in to shooting raw, there are a few things
we need to check on regarding our equipment. Before heading
out on a big shoot, set your camera to raw mode and see how
many images your memory card can hold. You may be in for a
shock, especially if you are using one of Nikon’s high megapixel cameras, like the D200
or D2x. Since Capture NX is really the only raw converter out there that can read all of
your Nikon’s in-camera settings, it makes sense that we take advantage of this feature
in our workflow. In this chapter, I’ll briefly go over which of the in-camera settings are
useful for a Capture NX workflow, the settings I usually use, and why. When you start out
with camera settings that are tailored your subject and shooting conditions, you will save
time down the road in post-processing. In fact, if you get really good at setting up your
camera, you may often be surprised at just how little post-processing your image needs.
10
The Shooting Menu

If you haven’t already done so, familiarize yourself with your Nikon’s shooting menu. The
Shooting Menu is designated by a camera icon.
The shooting menu is where you will find all the major parameters that affect image
processing and quality, such as ISO, white balance, and sharpening.
Here is a list of the camera settings that we should consider when setting up for a shoot.
• Image Quality
• Raw Compression (if available)
• White Balance
• Long Exposure NR
• High ISO NR
• Image Sharpening
• Tone Compensation
• Color space (if available)
• Color mode
• Hue adjustment
Image Quality
Not surprisingly, Image Quality mode in your camera should be set to raw. However,
you may have some additional options, depending on the camera you use. For example,
D2 and D200 owners will have the option of shooting a NEF+JPEG. In this mode, the
camera saves each file twice-- the NEF version and then a JPEG version. This can be
useful when you are trying to preview lots of files on a less powerful computer or a
laptop. Be aware that if you use raw+JPEG, you’ll have even less space on your memory
card. Another thing to keep in mind is that the camera will display the JPEG of the image
in the LCD image review. If you choose a small, highly compressed JPEG, some of the
image details may not be readily apparent when you review the image on your camera
LCD.
Raw Compression
Nikon offers a form of “visually lossless” compression in its NEF file format. Compressed
NEFs take up about half the disk space as uncompressed NEFs. If you shoot a D50
11
Your pre-flight checklist
or D70, uncompressed NEF is not available; all the NEFs will be compressed. On
the higher-end DSLRs, you can choose between compressed and uncompressed
NEF. If you have the room on your memory cards, uncompressed NEF guarantees the
absolute best image quality. In real-world tests, however, it is nearly impossible to see
differences between compressed and uncompressed NEFs, so don’t be afraid to use NEF
compression. Nikon’s compression scheme primarily affects tonal differences in the
highlight regions of the image, and these tonal differences are so hard to distinguish that
in most cases there is no loss of image quality unless you really do some major (read:
unnaturally extreme) tone adjustments while post-processing.
White Balance
White balance is probably the most critical in-camera setting, especially when using
JPEG workflow. If you set white balance incorrectly, you could have unnaturally blue
or orange images. An advantage of shooting raw is that you can adjust WB after the fact
very easily. However, if your WB is extremely different than what the “correct” value
should be, it will make working with your images more challenging, even in raw.
Typically, I’ll use either Auto white balance or I’ll use the sensor on the D2X to take an
ambient WB measurement. If I know I’m using a flash indoors, I’ll manually set WB to
“Flash”. If you want extremely accurate white balance, get an 18% gray card and include
it in the first frame you shoot. You can use that gray card image later on in Capture NX
to really nail white balance (more on that later). My default setting is Auto -1, which is a
slightly “warmer” setting than just plain Auto.
Long Exposure NR
This setting allows your camera to take a second exposure with the shutter closed, and
then subtract any sensor noise caused by something called dark current. It is very useful
for getting perfectly black skies during long night exposures. Turning this setting on has
significant effects-- it reduces the camera’s buffer capacity, and (of course) it means that
your exposure time effectively doubles. This is one setting that cannot be altered in post-
processing (there is no way for the camera to take a second exposure after the fact). I
leave this setting “off” unless I’m doing lightpainting or long exposures at night.
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High ISO NR (Noise Reduction)

Here is an interesting option for image quality. All digital camera sensors start to reveal
noise as light levels drop. When you increase your ISO setting, you are turning up the
gain on your sensor. As a result, noise in shadow areas can become more noticeable.
In a JPEG workflow, I recommend leaving High ISO NR set to “normal”. However, if
you are going to do serious noise removal in Capture NX, I suggest you turn NR off.
Why? First of all, you’ll get more control over noise removal in Capture NX, or by
using dedicated noise removal software. Second, NR requires much more computer
horsepower when you render your image. By turning NR OFF, Capture NX won’t try
to apply any noise removal when you open the file. This will speed up Capture NX’s
performance dramatically. Depending on your camera model, you might not be able to
disable NR in the camera menus. That’s OK; you can turn it off later in Capture NX.
Image Sharpening
As we’ll learn later on, sharpening is an art form all to itself. Nikon DSLRs do not share
the same in-camera sharpening routines. The D50 seems to have the strongest sharpening
defaults, while the pro bodies like the D200 and D2X use far less aggressive sharpening
routines. Sharpening is the one parameter that I adjust on each image individually,
depending on its final output destination (print, web) and size. For this reason, I set in-
camera sharpening to “high (+2)”, and leave it there. This ensures I’ll get a sharp enough
preview image in my LCD to judge sharpness, and my JPEGs (if I use them) will look
decent out of the camera with little need for additional sharpening. Sharpening routines
can have profound effects on image quality, and must be done with care. As we’ll learn,
sharpening is something that Capture NX excels at.
Tone Compensation
Your camera’s tone compensation setting is a way of adjusting image contrast. For
JPEG shooting, this is a critical setting. Too much contrast will mean that shadow and
highlight details may clip and be rendered unrecoverable. For this reason, I usually leave
my camera tone curve set to “low” whenever I shoot JPEGs, as it is much easier to add
contrast than recover lost detail later on. Low contrast is also very useful for wildlife
photographs, where you are trying to capture as much shadow detail as possible (like in
fur and feathers) For raw, I usually leave the camera set to “low”, but I will switch to the
“normal” tone curve when I’m shooting landscapes and other subjects where I want to
13
increase contrast. I don’t usually use the “Auto” tone curve, because I have no idea what
the camera is thinking when it applies it.
Color Space (optional)

Depending on your camera, you may have the ability to select color space independently
of “color mode”. Your choices are either sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998). I personally use
the Adobe RGB (1998) space. It offers a much wider color space than sRGB and is well
suited for prints using ink jet printers. If your camera does not have a separate setting for
Color Space, don’t despair-- you can change all of this using Capture NX. For more about
color spaces, check out a book on color management.
Color Mode
Nikon DSLRs offer three different color modes, uniquely called Mode I, II and III. Mode
II color is the most “natural”, while Modes I and III alter the saturation, hue, and tone
curve of your image slightly to produce a different color appearance. Depending on your
camera model, the color mode setting may also affect your choice of Color Space.
Mode II color is essentially the most “neutral” color mode. Mode II is only available
when using the Adobe RGB color space. If your Nikon DSLR does not offer a separate
setting for color space, you’ll be set to use Adobe RGB when you select Color Mode II.
Modes I and III are available in either sRGB color or in Adobe RGB color on the D2x.
In other Nikon DSLRs, switching to either of these modes also sets your camera to use
sRGB space. Mode I color offers increased saturation, except for colors that fall into the
category of “skin tones” (especially reds). Mode I can be utilized to make a fairly vivid
image of people while still getting natural looking skin tones. Mode III color not only
increases the color saturation, but it boosts reds and greens. It also changes the hue of
reds and greens slightly, giving them a more vivid appearance. Photographers familiar
with Fujichrome Velvia will appreciate Mode III color.
So where should you set the color? It depends on your subject. I usually set my camera
to Mode II and Adobe RGB as a default. However, when I’m shooting wildlife or
landscapes, I really prefer the Mode III look. Since I use a Nikon D2x body, I can keep
the Adobe RGB color space while using Mode III. I would say that if I had to use only
14
Color Mode I Color Mode II
Color Mode III
Differences between the Nikon Color modes are shown in the three photographs above. Clockwise from
left, Mode I, II and III. All other parameters of the image were unchanged. Modes I and III emphasize
different parts of the color spectrum. Notice the exaggerated reds and greens in Mode III; I wouldn’t
recommend it for portrait work.
one setting for raw, I’d use Mode II and Adobe RGB, knowing that I could easily switch
to Mode I or III later on in Capture NX. Mode III color is one reason I really enjoy using
Capture to process my NEFs-- that look is difficult (although not impossible) to replicate
in other raw conversion applications.
Hue Adjustment
This setting allows the photographer to change the way colors are perceived by their
camera. If, for example, your photos showed a greenish cast, you could theoretically
15
compensate for it by making a hue adjustment. This is one feature that I never use in my
camera, as it affects all the colors in the image. I leave this one set to 0° at all times.
Are we there, yet?

OK, your camera should be set up now to start taking some raw photos. Just to recap,
here are my “general purpose” settings (if these settings are not in your camera menu,
don’t worry; it means your camera doesn’t have that feature):
Image Quality: Raw

Raw Compression: Off
White Balance: Auto -1
Long Exposure NR: Off
High ISO NR: Off
Image Sharpening: +2 (high)
Tone compensation: Low
Color Space: Adobe
Color Mode: II
Hue Adjustment: 0°
The next step is up to you. Go out and start filling up some memory cards with NEF files.
When you come back, the next chapter will be waiting for you, where we’ll (finally) start
using Capture NX.
16
Runners head toward Cheyenne Mountain on a
5K Race in Colorado Springs, Colorado. D2x, 70-
200 f/2.8 VR Zoom Nikkor lens
3
The File Browser
At this point in our workflow, I’m going to assume that you have
shot some raw images and transferred them to your computer.
We’re finally ready to start using Capture NX. Capture NX has a
feature called the “Browser” window that lets you organize and view images and folders
within your computer’s file directories. Here is where you can decide which images to
work on, modify IPTC data, and open images for processing in Capture NX. In addition
to just “browsing”, the Capture NX file browser allows the photographer to copy and
paste image adjustments between multiple files and perform other “batch” operations.
You can also view the camera settings and label your files with category ranks. If you are
familiar with the Multi-Image Window in Nikon Capture 4, you’ll find some similarities
between it and the NX File Browser window. However, it should be made clear that the
File Browser in NX and the Multi-Image Window in NC 4 are not the same.
Important nomenclature note
In my workflow, I’m using a Macintosh computer. By convention, the “Command

(Apple)” key on a Mac keyboard is the same as using the “Control” key on a Windows
PC. On the Mac, the “Option” key is equivalent to the “Alt” key in Windows. Windows
users can right-click with their mouse to open contextual menus. Mac users can do the
same thing by using control-click on a one-button mouse. If you are uncertain about a
command keystroke for your particular computer, refer to the Capture NX Users’ Guide
provided with your software.
18
Viewing images in the File Browser

Open Capture NX. On the
left-hand side of the screen,
click the plus (+) icon next
to the word “Browser”.
This expands the Browser
window.
Next, click the plus icon

next to the words “File
Directory”. This will
expand a small window
at the left showing a full
directory of your computer.
Double-clicking on a folder
icon in the File Directory
window will open that
directory in the Browser
window.
The Browser window

displays icons for files and
folders. Double-clicking an
image file icon will open
that file in the NX main
window. Double clicking
on a folder icon will open
that folder in the Browser
window.
Double clicking the folder

icon with an “up arrow”
will take you to the parent
directory of the folder you
are browsing.
Another way to open

a folder directly in the
Browser window is to use
File--> Open Folder in
Browser... from the main
menu toolbar in NX.
19
The Capture NX File Browser
Enlarging icons in the Browser window

The pointer, hand tool,
and zoom tool (magnifying
glass) are all active within
the NX Browser window.
By default, the pointer

(selection) tool is active.
Click the zoom tool icon.
Then click in the browser
window to increase the
icon size.
You can also use the

keyboard shortcuts for
zooming in: Cmd-plus (+)
or Cmd-minus (-) (Ctrl + or
Ctrl- on Windows).
If you place the magnifying

glass icon over an image
and leave it there for a few
seconds without clicking
(hover), the image icon will
enlarge and the others will
“gray out”.
20
Sorting files in the Browser Window

To get a list view of your
files, click the folder icon in
the NX Browser and choose
View--> Details.
Click on a header to sort by

that category. If you then
return to the “Rows” view
(icons), the files will be
sorted by the category you
chose in the Details view.
In the example at right,

sorting by “Type” allows
you to show all the icons
by file extension. This is
useful if you have a folder
of mixed filetypes (like
JPEG and raw) with similar
names and you want to sort
them out.
Details view Rows view, sorted by File Type

21
Applying Labels
You can use the Browser
window to categorize your
files and then re-sort the
files by Category, such as
“Good”, “Bad” or “Maybe”.
1. Select the files you wish

to label using the selection
(pointer) tool. Cmd-
click (Ctrl-click) to select
multiple files.
2. Click the Label icon in

the Browser window and
choose a category.
The label will be applied as

a colored box.
3. If you sort the view by

“Label”, you can see the
images in sections arranged
by label.
22
Previewing images in the Browser

You can use the Browser to
get a basic preview of your
images, and also compare
two images.
To preview an image, select

the Zoom Tool.
Hold the Zoom Tool over

the icon of the image you
wish to preview.
In a couple of seconds,
you’ll get an enlarged
version of the selected
image displayed.
23
Comparing two images in the Browser

To compare two images in
the Browser, click on the
Selection Tool (pointer) in
the NX toolbar.
1. Use Cmd-click (Ctrl-

click) to select two image
file icons.
2. Right-click on either of
the highlighted icons to
bring up the contextual
menu, and choose
“Compare Images... In
Browser”.
3. You’ll see both images

displayed as enlargements.
24
Saving multiple files as TIFF or JPEG

Let’s say you have multiple
NEF files and you want to
export them all as TIFFs,
using the settings that are
embedded in each one.
The embedded settings
could be the “as-shot”
settings, or they could be
settings that you modified
in Capture NX.
From the Browser window,

select the files you wish to
convert to TIFF.
From the File Menu, choose
“Save As...”
Select a destination folder

and naming scheme from
the batch window.
The Capture NX Advantage
Many people are reluctant to shoot Raw

because they think they’ll need to spend
hours processing and adjusting each file
individually. Because Capture NX reads the
“as-shot” settings in your NEF, you can use
this “batch” technique to make JPEGs of all
your images that look just like they would
if you had used the JPEG mode on your
camera. Now you can shoot Raw on your
vacation, and still make a whole set of JPEGs
easily using the in-camera settings. You can
always process the Raw files separately if
you want later on.
25
Set the output file type,

quality and compression
options.
Click the Start button to

begin the batch save.
26
Applying settings files in the Browser

If you have saved settings
files in Capture NX (more
on this later), you can apply
the settings to any number
of images without having to
open the files individually.
1. Select the files you wish

to modify from the Browser.
2. From the Batch Icon,

choose a pre-saved settings
file.
3. If the settings file

includes changes to
the Base Adjustments,
a warning dialog will
appear. You can either
skip the Base Adjustments
or overwrite them. If I
know that my settings file
includes changes to the
Base Adjustments, I will
choose “Replace Current
Settings”.
27
4. In the Processing
Queue window, specify a
file naming scheme and a
destination.
5. Choose a filetype for

saving the file, and specify
compression and quality
settings (if applicable).
6. Click Start to begin the

batch operation.
28
Wildflowers, Colorado Springs, CO.
Nikon D2X; 17-55mm f/2.8 AFS DX
Zoom Nikkor.
Part II. Raw conversions in Capture NX
This section covers the “basics” of processing raw files in Capture NX. Since this book
is about post-processing, I’m deliberately skipping some of the interface basics. The
Capture NX manual is an excellent resource for understanding the user interface and for
getting definitions of the various software tools and menus.
Setting the Base Adjustments

Camera Adjustments
Raw Adjustments
Light & Color Adjustments
Detail Adjustments
Lens Adjustments
Global Adjustments
Levels & Curves
Saturation / Warmth
LCH Editor
Capture Sharpening
The unsharp mask tool
Local Adjustments
Selection Tools
Control points
Advanced: Managing Edit Steps

Edit Step order
Moving Edit Steps
30
“Nuclear Energy”, by Henry Moore, Chicago , IL.
Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8 DX AFS lens.
4
Base Adjustments
In Capture NX, the first part of processing a NEF comes from

making necessary changes to the “Base Adjustments” step in the
Edit List. The Base Adjustments step is always the first step in
the processing order, and adjustments made here supersede any
adjustments added later in other Edit Steps. For users familiar
with using Nikon Capture 4, the Base Adjustments will look quite familiar. In fact, just
about every tool found in Capture 4 is replicated in the Base Adjustments. You could also
do many of the same adjustments in separate Edit Steps in Capture NX. Although this
redundancy sounds odd, it actually offers an advantage with file compatibility between
Capture NX and Capture 4. Before I go into how I use Base Adjustments for my NEF
processing, let’s examine the similarities and differences between the Base Adjustments
and “external” Edit Steps.
In Capture 4, you could make adjustments to your image like contrast, saturation, and
sharpening. These adjustments were always applied “globally”, in other words, they
affected the entire image area. In addition, Capture 4 attempted to automatically perform
the adjustments in an order optimized for the best image quality. Functions like unsharp
masking (USM) were performed after noise reduction and “in camera” sharpening were
applied. Because of the way Capture 4 handled file adjustments, the entire NEF needed
to be essentially “reprocessed” for display every time a single parameter was modified.
This led to extreme performance consequences, especially with the large D2X and D200
NEFs.
In Capture NX the Base Adjustments contain everything that was in Capture 4, and for
good reason: Any file you edited in Capture 4 will retain all those edits in the Base
Adjustments section of Capture NX. In addition, any changes made to a NEF in the Base
Adjustments step of Capture NX will be backward-compatible with Capture 4. So why
not just make all the adjustments to your NEF in the Base Adjustment step? The reasons
are numerous.
32
Performance is better in Edit Steps

Capture NX has its own way of handling image processing. While the Base Adjustments
use the standard Capture 4 “engine”, which is necessary to decode all the in-camera
settings within the NEF, if you make adjustments in separate Edit Steps (outside the Base
Adjustments), the new Capture NX engine is used, which is much faster. In addition,
Capture NX now offers disk caching for even better performance than that which users
were accustomed to in Capture 4.
Edit steps are analogous to adjustment layers

While all adjustments made to your NEF are non-destructive (the effects aren’t permanent
until you save the file as a bitmap), Edit Steps allow you to control the order in which you
make adjustments, as well as delete steps anywhere in your sequence. If you have ever
used “Adjustment Layers” in Photoshop, you can think of Edit Steps providing a similar
method of editing.
More functions are available in Edit Steps

Capture NX offers adjustments and effects that weren’t possible in Capture 4, like
distortion removal, film grain effects, and user-controlled chromatic aberration control.
Local control is possible in Edit Steps

Unlike every other raw converter currently available, Capture NX allows you to confine
your adjustments to selective areas of your image, similar to how layer masks work in
Photoshop, only easier. You can use selection tools, or the new “Control Points” which
automatically select regions of similar pixel values. Local adjustments are the biggest
reason why Capture NX is such a unique raw conversion tool.
Despite all the positives about Capture NX’s Edit Steps, you’ll find that you still need
to make your initial, global adjustments in the Base Adjustments step. However, once
you’ve set up a few basic adjustments in the Base Settings, you can do everything else in
separate Edit Steps.
33
Base Adjustments
Overview of the Base Adjustments Step

The following parameters are adjustable via the
Base Adjustments. An asterisk (*) next to the
name means that this tool is also available using
the Capture NX engine in Edit Steps.
Camera Settings
Color mode
White Balance
Tone Compensation
Saturation
Sharpening
RAW Adjustments
Exposure Compensation
Hue Adjustment
Color Moire’ Reduction
Auto Color Aberration
Light & Color Adjustments

Color Balance*
D-lighting*
LCH editor*
Levels/Curves*
Photo Effects*
Detail Adjustments
Noise Reduction*
Unsharp Mask*
Auto Red-eye
Lens Adjustments
Vignette control
Fisheye lens correction (for 10.5mm DX only)
34
It should be fairly clear from this list that with the exception of the Camera Settings and
raw Adjustments, most of the editing tools in the Base Adjustments step are replicated
by Capture NX. Therefore, you really won’t need to use any of the Light & Color
Adjustments, or Detail Adjustments. In fact, recall in Chapter 2 when I mentioned
turning off noise reduction in your camera. When you first open a NEF in Capture NX,
the Base Adjustments are applied to your image. Turning off noise reduction in your
camera (if this function is supported) is a way to speed up the initial rendering of your
NEF in Capture NX.
In my workflow, I only edit Camera Settings and RAW Adjustments in the Base Settings.
I leave everything else alone, with the sole exception of Vignette control, which I
sometimes use if I want to remove or add a vignetting effect to my images.
With that in mind, and considering that the Camera Settings are derived directly from
how your camera was set up, lets look at what items you might want to adjust in the Base
Adjustments step, starting with the Camera Settings.
Interesting Note about changing Camera Settings in Capture NX

If you expand the “Camera Settings” tab on the left-hand side of the NX window, you’ll see the same set
of Camera Settings that you can change in the Base Adjustments. The only difference is that the original
setting (what the camera was set to) is indicated by an asterisk. I usually end up making changes to the
Camera Settings from the left side of my screen, because they are easier to access. However, where you
change them does not matter; the change is reflected in both the Camera Settings Tab and in the Base
Adjustment step.
35
Base Adjustments
The Camera Settings/ Adjustments Palette

If you have set your camera
up the way I have suggested
in Chapter 2, there will be
very few settings here that
you’ll need to change.
Here is the Camera Settings

Palette, opened on the
left side of the screen.
Everything is set up in
the camera the way, as I
described in Chapter 2.
Note:
Exposure Compensation is also
available in the Camera Settings
Tab. Interestingly enough, this
feature is linked to Exposure
Compensation in the RAW
Adjustments panel of the Base
Adjustments step.
36
Change your sharpening setting to none

In Chapter 2, I told you to
set sharpening to “high”.
Why change it to “none”
now? Well, I believe that
sharpening is a parameter
that is best performed in
a separate Edit Step; you
get much more control
that way. We had it set to
“high” in the camera to
aid us in reviewing image
previews in the camera’s
LCD or in our image
sorting application on our
computer. The camera and
your computer will use an
embedded JPEG preview to
display an image preview,
not the actual raw Data.
1. Click the sharpening

pull-down menu, and set it
to “none”.
One of the advantages

of setting the Camera
Sharpening to “none”
is that high-ISO noise
becomes less pronounced
and easier to remove later
on.
Note: D100 users may wish to

use a setting of “Low” for their
Base Sharpening setting, to help
offset the anti-aliasing filter just a
bit more.
37
Base Adjustments
Adjust the tone curve

Capture NX provides some
intermediate tone curve
settings that aren’t available
in the camera. Here’s
your chance to set tone
to “Medium Low” or any
other setting you want. Use
this as a way to learn about
how the different in-camera
tone curves appear.
Here’s an example where I

increased the contrast from
Low (my default setting) to
Normal. Landscapes are
typical situations where the
“normal” tone curve tends
to look best.
Tone curve “low”
Tone curve “normal”
38
Changing color mode

If your camera does not
support Adobe RGB outside
of Mode II (like a D50, D70
or D1 series), here is your
chance to apply Mode I or
Mode III color and stay in
the Adobe RGB space.
1. Select a color mode

from the pull-down menu
in the Camera Settings Tab.
Note that by default, Mode

Ia and IIIa restrict your
colors to sRGB color space.
Mode I and Mode III leave
the image in Adobe RGB
(assuming your image was
in aRGB to begin with).
Once again, here’s a

comparison between
Mode I and Mode III color.
Notice how the reds are
much stronger in Mode Color Mode I
III, and contrast is slightly
increased.
Color Mode III
39 4
Base Adjustments
Fine-tuning white balance

Capture NX can adjust
the white balance of your
image in two different
ways. The first is by using
presets and making fine
adjustments with sliders.
1. Click the White Balance

Tab and choose “Capture
NX” from the pull-down
menu. A white balance
dialog box will open.
2. Choose from the preset

options, and make fine
adjustments to the color
temperature using the
slider bar. The lower the
temperature (in Kelvin), the
bluer the photo will appear.
Note: The full range of Kelvin

settings is not available within
each preset. A particular preset,
i.e., fluorescent, will offer a
range of values. There may be
other sub-settings within a group
(e.g., shade is under “Daylight”)
that allow you to further adjust
the Kelvin temperature of your
image.
40
White Balance using presets- An Example

Meet Otter, my golden
retriever and best photo
subject. I shot the original
photo using “Auto” white
balance with my D2X.
While the lighting was
certainly cool (we were
indoors), the image could
certainly stand to be
warmed up for a nicer
appearance.
Open the white balance tab

in the Camera Settings list
under Base Adjustments,
and choose “Capture NX”.
Set the pull-down menu to

“Daylight”.
Choose the preset “Direct

Sunlight”. The image gets
a warm appearance with
a direct Kelvin reading of
5200° as the default.
For the final image, I

thought that 5200°K looked
a little too warm, so I set
the slider to 5000°K to
make it just touch cooler
than the preset value.
Note: The Capture NX white

balance presets affect more than
just color temperature; they also
affect hue. Hue correction is the
major difference between setting
WB using a preset and setting
direct temperature (°K) in the
camera
41 4
Base Adjustments
Before WB adjustment After WB adjustment
42
Custom white balance using a gray card

Sometimes even the best
white balance sensors
can get fooled. Here’s
a powerful technique to
use in any situation where
you want to really nail the
white balance.
1. Put an 18% gray card

in your scene, or have your
subject hold it. Take one
image with the gray card
in the scene, then shoot
normally without the card.
2. After you transfer your

images to the computer,
open the folder that has the
entire shoot in the Browser,
and double-click on the
first image (the one with
the gray card) to open it in
Capture NX.
3. From the Camera

Settings menu,
choose “Capture NX”.
Alternatively, choose White
Balance from the Camera
Adjustments item in the
Base Adjustments Edit Step.
4. From the White Balance

dialog box, choose “Set
Gray Point”. The Gray
Point settings will appear.
5. Click the “Start” button.
Move the mouse over your
image-- you should see an
eyedropper icon.
43 44
Base Adjustments
6. Click the Eyedropper

on the gray card in your
image. In this example, its
a pocket gray card.
Now that the gray point

is set correctly, click OK
to exit the white balance
adjustment dialog box.
Your image should now
have the proper color
balance.
A note about gray cards:

Lots of pocket gray cards
are available, but a really
handy one is the Whibal
card, because it is very
small and the gray color
goes all the way through
the card. That way, if it
were to become scratched,
the card would not lose
effectiveness. You can find
the Whibal card at: http://
www.rawworkflow.com
Photo © Richard Walker, used

with permission.
44
Advanced: Batch processing white balance

In the previous example,
we used a gray card in
our image to get the white
balance correct, but what
about the rest of our shoot?
Clearly, you aren’t going to
go around sending photos
of gray cards to your clients.
Here’s something that really

illustrates the power of
Raw-- you can copy and
paste settings between an
open NEF and unopened
ones by using the batch
tools in the Browser
window.
1. From the previous

example, after you have
properly set the white
balance, click the White
Balance step so that it is
highlighted in the Base
Adjustments.
At the bottom of the Edit

Steps list palette, click the
Batch Icon. Choose
“Copy Settings”. The white
balance settings will be
placed in the clipboard.
45 4
Base Adjustments
Open the Browser window

by clicking its plus (+) icon.
Select the image(s) you

want to change the white
balance on.
Click the batch icon from

the Browser window.
Choose “Paste Settings”.
A dialog warning will

appear, asking if you
wish to override Base
Adjustments. Click OK to
allow the override.
The standard batch save

window will open. Follow
the procedures to save the
files as NEFs.
Tip: If you frequently shoot under

the same lighting conditions (like
in a gymnasium), you might wish
to use the Save Settings feature
from the Batch icon so you can
keep your custom white balance
setting around for whenever you
need to use it.
46
The Raw Adjustments Tab

The second set of
adjustments in the Base
Adjustments step are the
RAW Adjustments.
Here you will find:
Hue Adjustment
Color Moire’ Reduction
Dust Off
Auto Color Aberration
Of these, the tool you

will use the most is the
control. Recall, this
function is also mirrored
in the “Camera Settings”
Tab on the left of the NX
window.
By default, Dust Off and

Auto Color Aberration are
always active. Dust Off
only works if your camera
supports the “Dust off
reference photo” function.
Despite the fact that it is
“checked”, no effects are
applied unless your camera
has stored the reference
photo.
Auto Color Aberration,

however, will improve your
images. It automatically
reduces the “color-fringing”
effect often seen in images
with high contrast edges.
Therefore, I leave this
turned on.
47 4
Base Adjustments
Note: When to use Exposure
Compensation
I use Exposure Compensation

most commonly as the first step
to recover shadow or highlight
detail. In general, you will
want to combine Exposure
Compensation with additional
tone control later on, like a levels
adjustment, D-Lighting, or a color
control point.
To make global exposure

adjustments to your NEF,
click the Exposure Comp
(by Capture NX) tab
in the Camera Settings
Tab, or click Exposure
Compensation from the
RAW Adjustments palette
in the Base Adjustments
step.
In the dialog box that

appears, you can increase
or decrease overall
exposure by as much as
2EV. Use the slider or
enter a discrete value for
EV compensation in the
text field. Move the slider
to the right to increase
exposure (lighten) and
to the left to decrease
exposure (darken).
Depending on your image,

you may be able to recover
highlight or shadow details
that would otherwise have
been “clipped”.
48
Judging exposure using the histogram

The image histogram is
located in the “Photo Info”
palette, normally found on
the lower right-hand side of
the NX screen.
The histogram is a
graphical representation
of the number of pixels
at each of 255 levels of
tonality, where a level of 0 (black) 255 (white)
0 is pure black, and 255 is
pure white (I labeled the
figure at right). When the
tone value falls to zero,
then your image has “lost
shadows”. In other words,
any detail in these areas
is lost because you can’t
get any blacker! Unless
you are shooting the cover
artwork for a Spinal Tap
album, you want to have
some detail in the shadows.
Likewise, tonal values of
255 are known as “blown
highlights”, and can be
equally distracting.
While lost shadows and

blown highlights are a
fact of life (digital sensors
do not capture nearly the
range of tonality that the
human eye can), you can
sometimes recover the
“clipped” data by adjusting
the exposure slider. Use
the image histogram as
your guide when making
exposure adjustments.
49
Base Adjustments
Capture NX can show

you the exact areas in
your image that have RGB
values of either 0 or 255.
1. In the Histogram
window, click the “Double
Threshold” box. Your
image will now turn gray,
and may have some black
and/or white flecks. The
black spots are areas
with an RGB value of 0,
while the white spots have
a value of 255. In my
example at left, you can
see that a fair bit of shadow
detail is currently “blocked
up”, but no highlights are
blown. I might want to
increase exposure a little
bit to compensate. This is a
tricky exposure-- notice the
lack of tonal values in the
midrange.
As a rule, I usually try to

expose for highlight detail
in the camera, and recover
shadow detail later on in
post-processing. However,
sometimes we can recover
some lost highlight data by
lowering the exposure in
Capture NX.
Note: For a really nice

explanation of how to interpret
your camera’s histogram, check
out this article at Nikonians.org.
50
Special Feature: Auto color aberration tool

I mentioned earlier that
the “Auto color aberration”
function is turned on by
default, and that this is
a good thing. Here is a
feature that is unavailable
when shooting in JPEG
mode, but it functions
automatically in Capture
NX, and with great results.
If you wish, you can

disable the Auto CA control
by unchecking it.
The example at right

shows a crop at 100%
magnification of an image
that had some color
fringing. Capture NX’s
Auto Color Aberration tool
took care of it well, and
with no fuss. Personally,
I prefer this method over
trying to manually correct
color fringing in other
applications.
CA Control OFF CA Control ON
51
Base Adjustments
52
Pouring bronze ingots at Shidoni Foundry, Santa Fe,
NM. Nikon D2x, 17-55mm f/2.8 DX Zoom-Nikkor,
SB-800 Speedlight.
5
Global Adjustments to Light
and Color
Now that we’ve set up the Base Adjustments step, it is time to
move on to actually making adjustments to our images. Capture
NX has numerous tools for making adjustments to your NEFs, but
I find that most of the time I use just a subset of these tools. In
order to take advantage of Capture NX’s processing algorithms, we’ll do all our image
adjustments from this point forward in separate Edit Steps.
My typical procedure for adjusting images involves making adjustments to the following
parameters, in roughly this order:
1. Base Adjustments
2. Global color and contrast adjustments
3. Local color and contrast adjustments
4. Noise reduction (optional)
5. “Capture” Sharpening
6. Cropping and Resizing
7. Color profile application
8. Output Sharpening
9. Saving image as a bitmap filetype
While I can get more creative if I choose, these steps are usually all I need to get a great
image for output. Remarkably enough, I can do all these adjustments with just a few
tools in Capture NX. In this chapter, we’ll examine how to make global adjustments
to light and color using Capture NX’s tool kit. Please note that an entire book could be
written on how to do color corrections, gamma adjustments, and the like. My intention
here is to get you started on your way to making image corrections, not to write the
definitive reference for editing every possible image situation.
54
Levels & Curves

The first step in adjusting
your image is to make
changes to the overall tone
curve. We start with the
tone curve settings from
the Base Adjustments, and
then refine things further by
setting the white point and
black point.
There are five tools

that Capture NX offers
photographers to make
adjustments to image tone
and contrast. The first four
are found under the Adjust-
-> Light... toolbar menu.
They are: Levels & Curves,
Contrast/ Brightness, and
D-Lighting. Of these, you’ll
probably use the Levels &
Curves command the most.
The fifth tool for adjusting

contrast is found under the
Adjust--> Color toolbar
menu, and is called the
LCH editor. This powerful
tool gives you tremendous
control over contrast and
color adjustments, all in
one step.
55
Global Light and Color
In this example, we’ll use

the Levels & Curves tool
to set the white point and
black point of your image.
Open the photo “Badlands-
landscape.nef” from the
“Extras” folder that came
with this e-book (If you
purchased the downloadable
version of the book, you’ll need
Black-point slider to download the NEFs from
White-point slider the private resources web page
described in the Readme.txt file
included in the download).
From the main toolbar

menu, choose Adjust-->
Light--> Levels & Curves.
A new Edit Step is created
and a dialog box opens
showing the Levels &
Curves controls. Notice the
histogram displayed in the
control.
In the Photo Info palette,

click “Double Threshold”.
Your image will turn gray.
Move the black point slider

so that you just start to see
White pixels some black areas in your
image. Move the white
point slider until you just
start to see white pixels in
your image. Click OK.
Note: Depending on your

image’s exposure qualities and
Black pixels
your choice of tone curve, you
may not be able to avoid clipped
shadows or highlights.
56
Using auto contrast in Levels & Curves

You can set white and black
points automatically from
the Levels & Curves tool.
But first, it is usually a good
idea to reconfigure the way
Capture NX handles the
white and black points.

menu, open the Capture
NX preferences. Go to
the “Levels and Grid” tab,
and enter 0.05 for black
contrast auto clip, and 0.01
for white contrast auto clip.
Click OK.
To use auto contrast, add a

Levels & Curves step. From Opt-click the auto
the dialog box, option-click contrast icon
the Auto Contrast icon
(option-clicking will keep
the color balance from
changing).
The white and black points

will be automatically
adjusted.
If you are happy with

the result, click OK.
Otherwise, you can use the
“reset all channels” icon
and start over.
Auto contrast applied
57
Advanced: Adjusting contrast using curves

Once the white point and
black point of your image
are set, you are well on
your way to a better image.
Depending on your image,
you may wish to adjust
the contrast of your image
using curves.
You can make adjustments

to the tone curve of your
image by clicking anywhere
on the curve line over the
histogram in the Levels &
Curves dialog box.
When you make manual

curve adjustments, things
can start to look wacky
really quickly if you are not
careful. Keep in mind that
you can always reset the
curves to linear using the
“reset” icons.
Raising the curve makes

tonal values lighter,
lowering the curve makes
them darker. In this
example, I was able to
lighten the midtones a bit,
which brightened the sky.
58
Advanced: D-Lighting control

Capture NX offers a unique
tool for recovering shadow
detail. This is an especially
useful tool if you had to
lower the exposure in
the Base Adjustments to
recover highlight detail in
your image.
From the Adjust menu,

choose Light--> D-Lighting.
A new Edit Step is created,
and the D-Lighting dialog
box opens.
In the D-lighting controls,

you can choose from either
the “Faster” mode or the
“Better Quality” mode.
In “Faster” mode, you use

the “Adjustment” slider to
brighten shadows.
In “Better Quality” Mode,

you can control Shadows
and Highlights. The shadow
control makes dark areas
lighter, while highlight
control makes bright areas
darker.
The settings you use are

really dependent on the
image you have. If you
are unable to get a good
shadow correction with D-
Lighting, don’t worry; there
are other tools you can
use to correct your image,
which we’ll discuss later
on.
59
Highlight recovery using D-Lighting

Open the “highlights1.
nef” file from your “Extras”
folder. In the RAW
Adjustments menu, apply
an exposure compensation
setting of -1 EV. Notice
that highlight details are
returning in the clouds, but
the foreground is now too
dark.

Light--> D-Lighting.
Click the “Better Quality”

button.
Set the Shadow Adjustment

to 25.
Click OK to close the D-

Lighting dialog box.
Note: I prefer to use this

technique before I set the global
white and black points.
60
Global color adjustments

Once the global contrast
is set, you can move on to
adjusting the color in your
image. Color adjustments
include things like hue,
saturation, and color cast
removal.
You’ll find the color

adjustments under the
Capture NX main toolbar
menu: Adjust--> Color.
In Capture NX, the tools

you’ll probably use the
most are the LCH editor
and the Saturation /
Warmth control.
61
Adjusting saturation and warmth

To make global adjustments
to color saturation, you can
add a Saturation/ Warmth
step.
From the Adjust menu,

click Color--> Saturation /
Warmth.
A new edit step will be

added, and the dialog box
opens.
Adjust the saturation slider

to affect global color
vividness.
Adjust the Warmth slider

if you want to make the
image appear warmer
(more orange) or cooler
(more blue).
Click OK when you are

done.
Note: If you have set your white

balance properly in the Base
Adjustments step, you won’t
need to use the Warmth slider.
The Warmth slider is useful,
however, if you are editing a
JPEG in Capture NX.
62
Total control in one step: The LCH editor

As it turns out, Capture NX
has what I think to be one
of the coolest controls of
any image editor-- the LCH
control. LCH stands for
“Lightness, Chroma, Hue”.
Put into lay terms, this
adjustment tool allows you
to control Levels & Curves
(lightness), Saturation
(chroma), and Hue-- all
in one step. In addition
to its “one stop shopping”
attribute, the LCH editor
allows you tremendous
control over how
adjustments to saturation
and hue are made.
In my workflow, I usually
do all my initial global
adjustments using the
LCH editor alone. LCH is
usually the first Edit Step I
add to my work after I set
the Base Adjustments.
1. From the main toolbar

Color--> LCH.
The first dialog that opens

is set to “Master Lightness”.
You can use this in exactly
the same way we used the
Levels & Curves tool. All
the same icons are there-
- including the reset icons
and the Auto Levels icon.
Note: Adjusting Master Lightness only affects the luminosity channel;
you won’t get color shifts when adjusting curves, nor do you need to
“Opt-click when applying Auto Contrast.
63
Color lightness with the LCH editor

1. Click the Master
Lightness tab in the LCH
dialog box, and pull down
“color lightness”. The LCH
window changes.
Here your grid changes

from the image histogram
to something more akin to
a color spectrum.
2. Clicking a point on the

spectrum line allows you to
selectively make that color
range lighter or darker.
Want to darken a blue
sky? Click the line where
the blues are and drag the
point downward.
Want lighter reds? Click

the line in the red part of
the spectrum and drag it
upward.
3. Use the triangle slider

beneath the spectrum
to adjust the “width” of
each point you select. The
resulting curve shows you
which colors are affected
by your adjustment.
Click a point on the line to add a control point. Drag points up

to make those colors lighter, downward to make them darker.
Adjust the color range of the effect by moving the triangle slider
below the graph.
64
Saturation adjustments with the LCH editor

The third tab in the LCH
editor is the “chroma”
tab. This is where you can
make all kinds of wonderful
adjustments to saturation.
The chroma editor allows
you to increase or decrease
the color saturation of all
the colors in the image, or
just certain ones.
1. From the LCH dialog

box, choose “chroma”
from the pull down menu.
You should see a window
that looks very much
like the “color lightness”
adjustment window.
In fact, you use this editor

in exactly the same way as
the color lightness editor,
but now you also have Adjust overall
the option to increase or saturation slider
decrease the saturation of
the entire color spectrum.
2. Move the triangle on the

right side of the graph up
or down to adjust overall
image saturation.
3. Add points to the line

to adjust the saturation of
selected colors. Again, you
can control the “range” of
the effect by moving the
width slider triangle located
at the bottom of the graph.
In this example, I increased overall saturation by moving the

horizontal line up. I further increased the saturation of the
blues over a fairly wide range. I then lowered the saturation of
a narrow section of orange-reds.
65
Adjusting hue in the LCH editor

I rarely make hue
adjustments, probably
because I’m pretty happy
with the way my images
come out of my camera.
But, if you want to make

selective adjustments to the
hue in your image, here is
the place to do it.
1. Select the “hue” tab in

the LCH editor window.
As with the chroma editor,
you can make overall hue
changes or limit them to
certain colors. Moving the
curve maps a color from
the baseline value to the
new point on the spectrum.
2. The small tab below the

spectrum window changes
the “angle of view”. Use
a narrow angle (60°) for
precision adjustments, or
use a wide angle (180°) to
make large-scale changes
to hue.
In this example, I decided

I wanted pink skies. I
clicked on the blue part of
the spectrum baseline and
raised the point until it hit
the pinks. I then widened
the effect to encompass
more of the blue hues in
the original image. Pink
skies, here we come!
66
The “Needle’s Eye”, Custer State Park, South Dakota.
Nikon D2x, 17-55mm f/2.8 DX Zoom Nikkor Lens
6
Local adjustments to light and
color
OK, we’ve made it through the initial part of our adjustment
routine. Just to recap, we have set all the necessary Base
Adjustments, and made global adjustments to light and color.
You might find that your image is good enough right now. If so, you can continue on
to the next chapter. But what if you want to work on just a part of your image? Here
is where Capture NX is different from all other currently available raw converters. You
can control the appearance of localized regions of your image by using one of two
techniques: Selection tools or control points. Moreover, Capture NX allows you to make
these adjustments while still preserving the raw image data.
This chapter is designed to show you the basics of the various selection tools and how
they operate. In this step of our Raw processing, we’ll make local adjustments to light
and color. In the first part of this chapter, we’ll apply light and color effects using Edit
Steps in combination with Capture NX’s selection tools. In the second part of this
chapter, we’ll learn to use Color Control Points to perform local adjustments.
68
Understanding selection tools

Every adjustment you make
in an Edit Step can be
modified to affect only part
of the image. By default,
when you make a new Edit
Step, you’ll see that it reads The selection toolbar includes, from left to
right, the paintbrush, lasso, gradient, and fill
“All Selected”. In other
tools. Use these tools to select all or part of
words, the adjustment will
your image in an Edit Step.
be applied globally.
What if you want to apply

an effect locally? This
is where the Edit Step
selection tools come in.
The Edit Step selection tools

are located in their own
toolbar palette under the
main menu bar.
The selection tools include

paintbrush, lasso, gradient
and fill tools. If you are
By default, Edit Steps are applied globally-- hence
familiar with Photoshop,
the designation “All Selected”.
beware! These tools don’t
work quite the same as
what you are used to.
69
Local Adjustments to Light and Color
When you use selection

tools, the Edit Step will
change from “All Selected”
to “Partially Selected”. This
is a useful way of keeping
track of which Edit Steps
are applied globally, and
which steps are applied
locally.
Another control you

should familiarize yourself
with now is the “Show
Selection” option from the
When selection tools are used on a highlighted Edit
View menu in the main
Step, the designation changes to “Partially Selected”
menubar. This shows a
visual representation of the
areas in your image that
are selected (white) and the
areas that are not selected
(red).
Use the “Show Selection” option from the View menu to get a
visual representation of the selected area for an Edit Step. Effects
are applied to the white areas, while areas in red are “masked”.
70
The Fill Tool and Gradient Fill Tool

Use the plus (+) fill tool to
select the entire image.
Use the minus (-) fill tool to

deselect the entire image,
or to create a new Edit Step
with “Nothing Selected”.
71
You can create a gradient

fill by using the (+) gradient
fill tool. Using the (-)
gradient tool will subtract
from your selection mask.
To localize your fill effects

to certain areas of your
image, use the Fill Tools
in conjunction with the
Lasso Tools as described
previously. Here is a
selection created using the
polygon Lasso tool.
72
Example: Graduated ND filter effect

If you do any landscape
photography, you’ve
probably heard of using
graduated neutral density
filters to even the exposure
between a bright sky and
dark foreground. In this
example, we’ll recreate that
effect in Capture NX.
Open the file “lake-rocks.

nef” from your “Extras”
folder that came with
this book. In this photo,
I exposed for the sky, but
the foreground is much
too dark. If I use a global
adjustment, I run into the
problem of blowing out the
detail in the clouds.
Create a gradient fill with the Colorize effect.
Select the (+) Gradient Fill
Tool and create a gradient
from bottom to top, starting
in the middle of the image.
The length of the line you
draw dictates the length of
the “transition zone” of the
gradient.
Change the effect to Levels & Curves.
Click OK. Now, from the
Colorize Edit Step, use the
tab to change the setting
from Colorize to Levels &
Curves. Adjust the Levels
until you get a brighter
foreground.
Adjust the levels of the selected area.
73
Before After
74
The Selection Brush-- creating a selection

In this example, open the
file wagon.nef from the
Extras folder that came with
this e-book.
1. Click the brush selection

tool to activate it. You
should see the plus (+)
icon next to the brush icon
become highlighted, too.
A new “colorize” step (with

a lovely shade of orange)
is now added to your Edit
List by default. Think of the
colorize tool as a paint tool
for right now. Also notice
that the Colorize Step
shows “Nothing Selected”.
2. Double-click the
selection brush icon to
call up the brush options.
Here you can set brush size
and softness. You can also
use keyboard shortcuts to
change brush size ([ and
]), and control whether
you are adding to (+) or
subtracting (-) from you
selection with the active
tool.
3. Select a brush size of

100 pixels and a Brush
Hardness of 15%. Click
OK.
4. Use the brush to paint

over the door of the wagon.
75
At this point, you should

have an orange door and
the Edit Step should read
“Partially Selected”
5. Choose “Show
Selection” from the View
Menu.
You should see mostly red

pixels, with the area over
the door in white. This tells
you that the “Colorize”
effect is only being applied
to the white areas-- the area
you “unmasked” with the
selection brush.
The default setting of

“Colorize” is useful in this
instance, because it lets
us see what areas we’re
painting.
In the Selection View, “masked” areas are

shown in red, while “unmasked” areas are
shown in white. Effects are only applied to
unmasked areas.
76
Removing areas from a selection

Continuing on from our
previous example, switch
back to the normal view
by unchecking the “Show
Selection” option from the
View toolbar menu.
1. Make sure the Colorize

Step is expanded and
selected, and click the
minus (-) icon next to the
Selection Brush. If the
Colorize Step is collapsed,
you’ll end up creating a
new blank step.
2. Now use the paintbrush

tool to “erase” some of the
orange area you colored in
before.
You can see the effects of

your “erasure” by selecting
“Show Selection” again.
Note: You can continue

to add or subtract from a
selection when in the “Show
Selection” view. Quickly
toggle between the (+) and
(-) brush tools by using the
plus or minus keys on your
keyboard. Alternatively,
you can use the Alt (Win) or
Option (Mac) key to instantly
toggle the brush tool (as long
as that key is held down).
77
Restricting selections-- the Lasso tool

In Capture NX, the Lasso
tools do not create a
selection. Instead, they
create boundaries which
restrict where the other
selection tools (brush,
fill, gradient) operate.
Therefore, you’ll need to
The Lasso tools designate
an area as “fillable”
use two tools when using
the lasso.
1. If you still have your

colorize step open from
the previous example,
delete it from the edit list
by highlighting the step
and using the delete key on
your keyboard.
2. Click the plus lasso tool

and draw a circle in the
image window. A colorize
step is created, with
“Nothing Selected”.
3. To select the pixels

within the lasso area, click
the plus icon next to the fill
tool.
4. To deselect the lasso

area, choose the lasso tool
and double-click anywhere
Fill added by using the fill tool after Fill applied with the fill tool after using within the image window
using (+) lasso. inverse (-) lasso. that is outside of the
“lassoed” area.
5. The inverse (-) lasso tool

operates as an “inverse
selection”. The active area
is set to everything outside
the “lassoed” area.
78
Applying the same selection to multiple steps

What if you want to
apply a different effect
to the same area you just
masked? We need to take
advantage of Capture NX’s
step replication function.
In other words, copy and
paste.
1. Expand the Edit Step that

has the selection applied
to it.
2. Click the Batch Icon and

choose “Copy Settings”.
Collapse the Edit Step.
Then, choose “Paste
Settings from the Batch
Icon. A duplicate step will
be created, with the same
selection as before.
3. Change the step to

apply the desired effect.
The “mask” will be
retained.
79
80
Local adjustments part 2: Control Points

Perhaps the most interesting
(and highly advertised) new
feature of Capture NX is
the “U point” technology
developed by Nik Software,
Inc., which appear in the
form of Control Points.
Color control points allow
the photographer to modify
the parameters of “smart
selections” in their image.
These “smart selections”
are made automatically
and encompass areas
of your image that have
similar RGB pixel values.
In Capture NX, this
technology is implemented
in the Color Control Point
tool.
Let’s explore how color

control points work.
1. Open the “badlands-

landscape.nef” file from
your “Extras” folder.
2. Click the Color Control

Point toolbar item, and
then click on the blue sky
in the image. A new Edit
Step will be added, called
“Color Control Point”.
You will see a dialog box
appear, and you will also
see a gray dot on your
image with some sliders
labeled “B,C,S”.
B, C and S stand for

brightness, contrast and
81
saturation. The fourth slider

controls the radius over
which the control point has
an effect. Try moving the
sliders around and see what
happens.
3. To better understand
which pixels are affected
by this point, click the
“Advanced” button in the
Control Point dialog box.
From there, enable the
checkbox marked “Show
Selection”.
You should see a grayscale

representation of your
image. White areas are
“selected” while black
areas are unaffected. Try
dragging the control point
around the image while in
“Show Selection” mode
to see how the selected
area changes. Also try
expanding the radius to see
how the image selection is
affected.
4. Uncheck the “Show

Selection” box to return to
the normal view.
5. Under the Advanced

Tab, you can choose a
variety of options for the
control point-- everything
from hue to warmth.
82
Multiple Color Control Points

There are two ways to
add multiple control
points to your image. By
default, when you create a
Color Control Point Step,
additional points are added
within that step. You can
also add Color Control
Points in separate Edit
Steps. Why the distinction?
Color control points that

are grouped within the
same Edit Step interact with
each other. Color Control
Points in separate Edit Steps
act independently of each
other.
1. In our example image,

drag the Brightness slider to
a setting of +50, and make
the radius slider as large as
possible.

Point tool and add a second
Color Control Point in the
sky on the right side of the
image. Don’t adjust it’s
settings.
By opening each control

point’s “Advanced” tab
and choosing “Show
Selection”, you’ll see that
the two points interact. The
Adding a second control point “resets” pixel values over that local area.
second point, which we
didn’t change, effectively
“resets” its selected area to
the original image. In this
way, you can use control
83
points to “lock” areas of

your image that you want
left alone.
If you want the control

points to have an “additive”
effect, then you need to
add a new Edit Step and
then create a Color Control
Point within it. This new
Control Point will “build”
upon whatever adjustments
you made in the previous
step, without “subtracting”
from the previously
selected areas.
Tip: If you have multiple

control points in a single
Edit Step and you want
to see the effect of an
individual point, use the
“Show Selection” button
from the “Advanced”
tab within a control
point. Choosing “Show
Selection” from the View
menu will show you the
area selected by ALL the
control points in an Edit
Step, and also selections
made by the selection
tools. The “Advanced-->
Show Selection” will never
show selections made
by selection tools (like
brushes).
Using the “Show Selection” from each Control Point’s “Advanced” tab
individually, we see how the two points interact with each other. Notice
how in the upper figure, the second control point has “deselected” a
localized area (black pixels)
84
Advanced: Color picker

Most of the time, you Open the color picker by
can make the majority of clicking the colored box in the
Color Control Point dialog.
your adjustments using
the standard sliders in
the Color Control Point.
However, if you want to
pick a color directly, you
can use the “color picker”
tool in the Control Point
dialog box.
1. Open a Color Control

Point from your Edit List
and click the “Advanced”
button from the dialog box.
2. Click “Color Picker”

to bring up a color wheel
display. The unfilled circle
on the triangle represents
the current color of your
control point.
3. Turn the wheel to adjust

hue, or place the dot
wherever you want in the
triangle.
4. You can use the

eyedropper icon to pick
out a color point from
anywhere on your image.
Click the eyedropper icon
and then click an area on
your image that has the
color you desire.
5. If you expand the

“Swatches” triangle, there
are some nice preset
options for color ranges,
including foliage, skin
85
tones, skies, and neutral

grays.
Note: Be careful when using the

color picker. It is very easy to get
unnatural looking results. If that
happens, use the “Reset” button
from the Color Control Point
dialog box to get back to the
original color value in the NEF.
Click and drag the edge of the color The eyedropper icon lets you pick a color
wheel to change hue. from anywhere in your image.
Opening the Swatches Panel gives you access to commonly used colors.
86
Crested Caracara, Rio Grande Valley, TX.
Nikon D2x, 200-400mm f/4.0 AFS VR Zoom
Nikkor lens.
7
Image Detail: Sharpening and
Noise Reduction
All digital cameras use some sort of anti-aliasing filter over the image sensor
to reduce the appearance of digital stair-stepping, or “jaggies”. By now, you
have probably noticed that when we set the in-camera sharpening to “none”,
our image looks quite soft.
At this point in our workflow, we’ve made basic adjustments to the color and
tone curve (contrast) of our image, both globally and locally. Before we go on, we’re at the stage where
we need to do some global sharpening.
I’m convinced, along with many others, that sharpening is a “black art.” There is no single sharpening
formula that we can apply effectively to every image. How much you sharpen an image depends on
several factors, including:
• Subject (i.e., portraits vs. landscapes)

• Strength of your camera’s anti-aliasing filter
• Noise in the image
• Amount of detail in the image itself
• Final output size and destination (print vs. web).
Because there are so many variables, I have become an advocate of the “two-stage” sharpening method.
In Stage One, which I’ll refer to as “capture sharpening”, our goal is to remove the effects of the camera’s
anti-aliasing filter and get a good overall level of sharpness. “Capture” sharpening has nothing to do
with the fact that we’re using Capture NX. It just describes the initial round of sharpening performed
during raw conversion. In capture sharpening, we need to consider our camera. Pro Nikon DSLR’s, like
the D200 and D2X, typically have more aggressive anti-aliasing filters than the “consumer” bodies, like
the D50. Second, we must also consider our subject matter. You probably wouldn’t want to sharpen a
portrait of a woman to bring out every little detail in her skin like you would in a landscape or nature
photo.
Stage Two sharpening is commonly referred to as “output sharpening”. Output sharpening happens
as the very last step in the processing/editing workflow and takes into consideration the size and
destination of your image. A small image destined for the web will be sharpened much differently than
a 16x20 inkjet print.
Capture sharpening and output sharpening are typically applied globally. In between the two
sharpening steps, we may do selective sharpening or blurring of our image to get the effect we desire.
I usually use the Unsharp Mask (USM) tool in Capture NX to do my sharpening. I do so because
88
it provides excellent control over the sharpening process, and is applied to the image in a way that
minimizes “halos” and other artifacts.
Noise Removal
Depending on your camera and how you use it, noise may or may not be an issue. Noise is an inherent
component of any digital signal; however, we don’t usually see its effects unless we increase the gain on
our sensor (raise ISO) or try to correct badly underexposed images. Every camera manufacturer has its
own approach to noise removal, but one thing is constant; removing noise causes a loss of fine detail in
images. That simple fact is why I’m including noise removal in the sharpening chapter. Your sharpening
settings will be impacted by any noise removal settings you use, because these two processes are
effectively working against each other. Therefore, it is important to be able to adjust sharpening settings
in the context of noise removal.
Nikon’s approach to noise removal appears to be at the user level when it comes to raw files (noise
removal is applied to JPEGs if NR is turned on in the camera), rather than at the sensor level (some
camera manufacturers run noise reduction algorithms on the raw data before it is saved from the sensor
output. In my opinion, leaving noise removal up to the photographer is a good thing. If, for example,
I am using a final print size of 8x10, I can leave noise reduction out of my workflow because I know it
won’t impact the appearance of the final image.
3rd-party noise-removal programs

Aside from a few notable exceptions, most third-party noise removal tools require a bitmap image format
to work with. My advice if you plan on using any of these programs (some of which are quite good)
would be to not sharpen your image at all, and do all your noise reduction and final output sharpening
in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
89
Image Detail: Sharpening and Noise Reduction
The Unsharp Mask tool

In Capture NX, the Unsharp Mask (USM) tool is extremely powerful. First, it provides
excellent control over how the image is sharpened. Second, Capture NX, like Nikon
Capture 4, applies USM only to the luminosity channel of your image. This reduces
the appearance of color artifacts. If you are familiar with luminosity sharpening in
Photoshop, Capture NX does this automatically. The third, and possibly nicest feature
of sharpening in Capture NX is the fact that sharpening now becomes a non-destructive
process. While there are ways to sharpen non-destructively in Photoshop, those
techniques are far more complicated and require bitmap layers that can easily double the
image file size.
1. Open a NEF file and set

sharpening to “None” in
the Camera Settings.
2. From the main toolbar

Focus--> Unsharp Mask.
A new Edit Step is created,
and the USM dialog box
opens.
3. Adjust the three

sliders (Intensity, Radius,
Threshold) to your desired
values.
4. Click OK.
90
Unsharp mask controls explained

Intensity: This slider affects
the “amount” of the overall
USM effect. Think of it as a
master volume control for
USM.
Radius: This slider changes

the distance over which
the USM effect is applied.
A small radius sharpens
fine detail, a large radius
sharpens overall shape.
Small radius sharpening
can usually be applied at a
higher intensity than large
radius sharpening.
Threshold: This slider

changes the sensitivity of
the USM effect to different
tonal values. Use a small
threshold (4 or less) when
you have a clean image;
increase threshold if there
is grain or noise.
When applying USM,

view your image at 100%.
Choose “View at 100%”
from the View menu in the
main toolbar.
Before USM is applied, I make sure to set in-camera sharpening to “none”. This makes the
image look quite soft, but I will have total control over my sharpening routine.
Note: Capture NX uses an intensity scale of 0-100%; Photoshop uses a scale of 0-

500%. Therefore, a setting of 20% in Capture is equivalent to a 100% “amount” setting
in Photoshop. Similarly, the radius setting can be converted to pixels by dividing the
percent by 5.
91
Capture Sharpening
The goal of Capture
Sharpening is to remove
the effects of your camera’s
anti-aliasing filter.
1. Start with an intensity of

50%, a radius of 5% (the
default) and a threshold of
4 levels. This is as close to
a “one size fits all” setting
for capture sharpening,
assuming that you turned
sharpening off in the Base
Adjustments step.
2. Adjust the intensity so

that you barely see halos
around the highest contrast
edges in your image. If you
If I set the radius too high, the dreaded “halos” appear around high-contrast edges. This
don’t have areas of strong
image is over-sharpened. I either need to reduce the Intensity of the effect or reduce the
Radius. contrast, try to limit the
intensity to below 70%.
At an USM setting of 50/5/4, I can just barely start to see some halos around the high-
contrast edges in this image. This is a good setting for capture sharpening.
92
Capture sharpening settings

I have provided some USM USM Setting (Intensity/
“presets” for various Nikon Camera Body Radius/ Threshold) Camera Settings (sharpening)
cameras, based on the
excellent Nikon Capture D1h 66/5/4 none
4 presets available freely D1x 66/5/8 none
at Ron Reznick’s website D2H(s) 66/5/4 none
(http://www.digital-images.
net). D2X(s) 50/5/4 none
D100 48/5/8 low
You can find all these D200 50/5/4 none
presets in the “Settings”
folder that comes with this D80 50/6/4 none
e-book. Copy this folder D70(s) 48/5/8 none
to a safe place on your D50 45/5/4 none
hard drive. From the Batch
Icon in the Edit List palette,
choose “Options...”. Click
the “Add” button in the
dialog box and add any
setting you like to your
saved list of presets.
93
Noise Reduction in Capture NX

As I mentioned earlier,
sensor noise is mostly an
issue of how much light
(signal) is detected by
your sensor. Different
sensors have different noise
qualities, but in general,
noise can occur in either
the chrominance (color)
part of your image or the
luminance (detail) part of
your image. Chrominance
noise looks like colored
“sprinkles”, and is usually
controlled quite well in
modern DSLRs. Luminance
noise looks more like “film
grain”, and is harder to
remove without damaging
image detail.
This image was shot at ISO 800 with my D2x, and is a 100% view. Noise If you add a Noise
reduction has been completely disabled. Keep in mind that this is like looking Reduction step in Capture
at a 35mm slide with a 50x microscope. There is a fair bit of luminance noise, NX, I strongly suggest
and very mild chrominance noise. that you do it BEFORE
you apply any capture
Here I added a Noise Reduction sharpening. I also
Edit Step to my workflow. Notice recommend viewing your
that I put it in after I made my basic image at 100% to better
light and color adjustments, but evaluate the effects of the
before any sharpening was applied. NR filter.
Note: If you have NR turned on

in your camera, noise reduction
will be applied to your image in
the Base Settings. At ISOs above
the “normal” range, i.e., Hi-1 or
Hi-2, NR is always turned on in
the camera.
94
Understanding noise reduction settings

The noise reduction settings 0 2
you choose to use will
depend on:
• Camera Model
• ISO setting
• Quality of exposure
5
In the Noise Reduction
dialog box, you get two
sliders and a pull-down
menu. From the pull-down
menu, you can choose
the “quality” of the NR
algorithm. The quality
setting will greatly impact
the amount of time it
takes to process the Noise
Reduction filter.
10
Intensity
The two sliders seem

simple enough: Intensity
and Sharpness. These two
sliders work against each
other; the Intensity slider
“blurs” the image, while
the Sharpness slider tries to
sharpen it. The sharpness
slider works by restoring
detail in the luminosity
channel, while the Intensity 25
slider blurs both color
and detail. At right is a
comparison of 100% views
from my image showing
different combinations of
Noise Reduction settings.
Intensity is on the left, and
sharpness goes from left
to right. I found that most
color noise is completely
eliminated with an intensity 50
setting between 10-20.
95
Amount
4 8 10
96
Capture sharpening after noise reduction

If you add a noise reduction
step to your image, you
then need to re-evaluate
your capture sharpening
routine. The last thing you
want to do is accentuate
noise by sharpening it.
To avoid re-sharpening
image noise, I recommend
using the “high radius,
low amount” sharpening
technique. This will give
some “shape” to your
image without accentuating
small details (which is
where noise lives).
After you apply noise Noise reduction applied, no capture

reduction, add an sharpening applied
Unsharp Mask step to your
workflow. Try the following
settings as a starting point:
Amount: 5%
Radius: 50%
Threshold: 10 levels
I would recommend that

you keep the Amount
setting at 10% or less when
using this technique. You
may want to reduce the
radius slightly if you get
major halos in the image.
Remember, most luminance

noise is difficult to see in
the final print; don’t get too
carried away with noise
removal. Standard capture sharpening (50/5/4)
applied
97
High radius, low amount sharpening applied

(5/50/10)
The final result
98
Plain Chachalaca, McAllen, Texas.
Nikon D2x, 70-200mm f/2.8 AFS VR Zoom Nikkor
8
Advanced: Managing Edit
Steps
Making your adjustments in Edit Steps not only offers enhanced
functionality to many of the traditional image adjustment tools, but
they also run faster on most computers, as they utilize the Capture
NX processing engine. However, as I mentioned in Chapter 5, it is
important to pay attention to the order in which Edit Steps are applied. Of course, no one
is perfect, and sometimes we realize we need to add an Edit Step somewhere other than
the end of the list, where they are placed by default. This chapter will help you manage
Edit Steps so you don’t have to start over from scratch if you do something out of order.
100
Edit Steps give you flexibility

When you make
adjustments to your NEF
using Edit Steps, you
suddenly gain flexibility
in how your image is
processed. As with all
adjustments to a raw
file, Edit Steps are non-
destructive. That means
you can delete or add Edit
Steps at any time and not
lose any of the underlying
quality of your image.
In Capture NX, Edit Steps

work in a way similar
to Adjustment Layers in
Photoshop, but with some
limitations. First of all, it is
important to keep in mind
that Edit Steps build upon
each other consecutively.
Therefore, the order in
which you apply certain
adjustments is important.
NX Edit Steps offer the

photographer the added
ability to make local
adjustments. When
you use Edit Steps, you
can choose to apply the
effect to the entire image
(default), or you can restrict
the effect to areas you
define.
101
Managing Edit Steps
Creating Edit Steps

There are several ways to
create a new Edit Step in
Capture NX.
Method One: Create a

blank Edit Step in the Edit
Step List Palette. To do this,
just click the “New Step”
button at the bottom of the
Edit Steps List Palette.
Notice that by default, the

step lists “All Selected”.
This means that the
adjustment you choose will
be applied globally.
You will then need to

choose the adjustment you
wish to apply by clicking
the “Select Adjustment” tab
in the Edit Step window.
Method Two: Add the

adjustment you want from
the Capture NX toolbar
menu.
From the NX toolbar, click

on any of the items from
the Adjust, Control Point,
or Filter menus, and choose
the adjustment you want.
A new Edit Step will be
created containing that
particular adjustment.
102
Edit Step order matters

Because adjustments applied in Edit Steps are done sequentially, it is important to be able
to move steps around. This is a little bit challenging in Capture NX but not impossible.
The best way to get the Edit Step order correct is to add the steps in the right order as you
go. This is not always possible-- you may realize you want to change something after you
have spent some time editing your image; you don’t want to start over from scratch.
Before I go into how to move Edit Steps around, let us become familiar with which steps
should be done at different points in your workflow.
Steps to do first:
Base Adjustments (Step 1 by default)
Global contrast (LCH/ levels& curves)
Global Saturation, color balance
Noise Reduction (optional)
“Capture” Sharpening
Steps to do second (in the middle of the workflow):

Localized color and contrast adjustments (using selection tools)
Color control point adjustments
Localized sharpening/ blur effects
Photo Effects/ Filters
Steps that should always go last:

Cropping
Straightening
Resizing
Output Sharpening
Color Profiling
Since Capture NX doesn’t rearrange steps for optimal quality (you have total control), it is
good to get in the habit of making these adjustments in this general order to get the best
images.
103
Managing Edit Steps
Adding an Edit Step to the middle of the list

Let’s say you had a NEF that
you worked on in which
you had sharpened the
image. You later realize
that you want to add a
Levels/Curves step, but
you don’t want it to be after
the sharpening step. If you
click “New Step”, that step
is always placed last in the
list.
1. To add a step to the

middle of your list, you’ll
want to use Method Two
as described earlier, but
first, expand whichever Edit
Step you want the new step
to come after by clicking
the little triangle next to
its name. In this example,
that would be the Base
Adjustments.
2. Now, go to the Adjust

Menu from the toolbar and
choose Light--> Levels &
Curves.
3. The new step is now

placed after the open step
(Base) and the Unsharp
Mask Step becomes Step 3.
Note: If you add a step

between other Edit Steps,
make sure that the Settings
Palette is closed before
continuing by clicking
“OK”.
104
Moving an Edit Step to the end of the list

What if you want to change
the order of your existing
Edit Steps? This is a little
bit more tricky, but still
possible.
In this example, I want to

move the Unsharp Mask
step (Step 2) to the end of
the Edit List.
1. Click on the step you

wish to move so that it is
highlighted. Then click
the Batch Icon and choose
“Copy Settings”.
2 .From the Batch Icon,

choose “Paste Settings”.
A new USM step will be
added to the end of the list.
3. Click on the old USM

step and use the delete
key on your keyboard to
remove it from the list.
105
Managing Edit Steps
Moving multiple steps to the end of the list

You can move multiple
steps to the bottom of
the edit list quite easily.
Instead of selecting a single
step, use cmd-click (ctrl-
click) to select the steps
you wish to move, then
follow the same procedure
as for moving a single step
to the list end.
In this example, I moved

a Color Control Point Step
and the USM step to the
end of the list. Notice that
the relative order stays the
same (Control Point comes
before USM) after I paste
the steps at the end of the
list. A click of the delete
key later and my list is
rearranged.
106
Moving steps to the top of the Edit List

What if you accidentally
add a step to the end of the
Edit List, but then realize
it should be higher on the
list?
The easiest way to move a

step upwards is when you
want it to be first in the
list. All you need to do is
select all the steps above it
and follow the procedure
to move those steps to the
bottom of the list.
In this example, I want the

Levels & Curves steps to be
at the top of the list (Step
2).
1. Highlight steps 2, 3 and

4.
107
Managing Edit Steps
2. Use the Batch Icon to

copy the selected Edit
Steps.
3. Paste the steps at the

bottom of the list using the
Batch Icon.
4. Select and delete all the

steps above the “Levels
& Curves” step. Levels
& Curves is now at the
top of the list, and you’ve
preserved all the other Edit
Steps.
108
Crazy Horse Monument, Black Hills, SD.
Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8 DX Zoom Nikkor lens.
9
Final Touches
After making all of these adjustments, your image is nearly ready

for final output. This is where we crop, straighten, and resize
your image for its final destination. We also may apply some final
sharpening, and apply a color profile. These steps should be done
at the very end of your processing job. In fact, depending on your
preference, you could choose to do these settings in a bitmap editor,
like Photoshop. Since this book is about Capture NX, I’ll show you how to do these adjustments while
still in Raw. The choice is up to you.
The final set of steps in your Edit List should be:

• Straighten / Crop
• Size / Resolution
• Color Profile
• Unsharp Mask (output sharpening)
It is not only important that you put these steps at the end of your Edit Step list, but also to keep the
relative order shown above. Otherwise, you might get some strange results. Once your final steps are
applied, you’re at the point where saving a copy of the file as a TIFF or JPEG might be handy. In the last
section of this chapter, I’ll show you how to save multiple versions of the same NEF all in one file.
110
Straightening an image
Let’s face it. Sometimes we
just don’t get our horizon
line straight. Now is the
time to fix that problem, The rotate, straighten, and crop tools reside in a
before we output the file as toolbar menu.
a bitmap.
Here’s a shot of the South

Dakota badlands where I
didn’t quite get the horizon
right.
Note: When using the rotate,

straighten, or crop tools,
always apply them AFTER
you have done all your
local adjustments. Rotating
or cropping an image can
really mess up your control
points if you are not careful.
Putting these steps at the end
prevents any issues.
111
Final Touches
1. Click the straighten tool,

and then use the cursor to
draw a line along the part
of the image that represents
the horizon.
2. Click OK.
Select the straighten tool, and use it to draw along the horizon line (left). Click OK and your image is fixed
(right).
112
Crop first, resize second

In Capture NX, the crop Select the crop tool. Double-
click the tool to bring up the Crop
tool cannot be used
Options dialog box.
to change your image
resolution (resize). What
the crop tool allows you to In the Crop Options dialog, choose
do is make changes to the either Free Crop, or Fixed Aspect
Ratio. If you know the size of the
aspect ratio of your image. final output, I suggest using Fixed
Aspect cropping.
Let’s say you want to
print an image as 8x10”. Click the Show Grid checkbox to
Because your camera uses display “rule of thirds” gridlines
when you use the crop tool.
a different aspect ratio,
you’ll need to crop the
image first before it can be
properly resized. Choose from the crop presets, or
enter your own value using the
1. Double click the crop “Custom” item.
tool to bring up its dialog
box. By default the “free
crop” option is selected.
2. Pull down the menu that

says “Fixed Aspect Ratio”,
then either choose a preset
or enter a custom value
(wxh). In this example, I
want to make a vertical
8x10” print, so I’ll choose
“8x10 Portrait”.
3. Click and drag the crop

tool on your image to select
the area for cropping. You
can reposition the crop tool
by clicking and dragging
within the box. You can
resize the crop tool by
using the anchor points at
the corners and edges of
the crop box.
113
Final Touches
Drag the crop tool on your image 4. When you are done,
to set the crop area. Note the rule
of thirds gridlines.
double-click in the crop
area to set the crop.
The cropped image is now ready to be resized for an 8x10 print.
114
Resizing an image
Once you’ve adjusted the
aspect ratio of your image
with the crop tool, you can
resize it exactly the way
you want.
1. From the Edit Menu in

the main toolbar, choose
“Size/Resolution.” A dialog
box opens.
2. In the dialog box, enter

the value for your image
dimensions. Because we
already cropped the image
to an 8x10 aspect ratio,
all you need to do is enter
“8” in the width box. The
height will automatically
adjust.
Note that the resolution

increased. This is
because we kept the pixel
dimensions of our image
constant by using the
“Change the Output Size
(DPI) option.
If you wish, you can

now change the image
resolution to whatever
setting you prefer by
entering a value in the dpi
field.
3. Click OK, and you are

ready to move on.
115
Final Touches
116
Adding a color profile to your image

One advantage of using
Capture NX to process your
images is it is able to read
what color space (profile)
you set in your camera
and then embed that color
profile with your processed
TIFF or JPEG. You can
also apply a different color
profile to your processed
image if you choose.
If I’m going to edit my

image later in Photoshop or
make inkjet prints, I convert
the image to “Adobe RGB
1998”. If the image is to
be emailed or used on the
web, I’ll convert it to sRGB.
Tip: If your photos look “washed

out” when you email them or
post on a website, it’s because
you didn’t convert to the sRGB
color profile.
1. To add a profile, choose

Adjust--> Color Profile from
the main menubar.
2. Select the “Convert to

Profile” button and then If I want to save an image for the web, I’ll first convert the image to
choose color profile you sRGB. For everything else, I use Adobe RGB (1998).
wish to convert to from the
destination profile drop-
down menu. For intent,
use “Relative colorimetric”.
Make sure the “Black point Note: I highly recommend learning the basics of color management
compensation” button is and getting your monitor calibrated before you attempt color
checked. management routines.
3. Click OK when you’re

done.
117
Final Touches
Output sharpening for inkjet prints

If you plan on printing from
Capture NX, you’ll want to
add an “output sharpening”
step. The strength of this
step will depend on the
printer and media you are
using.
To get an idea of how the

image will look at print
size, view the image at
50%.
For a 300 dpi image printed

on an inkjet printer with
glossy paper, use the
following steps:
1. Create an Unsharp
Mask Step with a setting of
64/2/4, and set the opacity
to 70% in the Luminance
Channel.
2. In a new Edit Step,

choose Focus--> High Pass.
Set the radius to 2 pixels.
In the Opacity settings,
change the blending mode
to “Overlay”, and set the
If you use Adobe Photoshop as your printing application, there are some opacity to 50%.
nice 3rd-party sharpening plug-ins available to you. One is called Photokit
Sharpener, and is available online from Pixel Genius (http://www.pixelgenius. 3. The image will look
com). It has some nice output sharpening presets. Note: if you perform over-sharpened, but that is
“capture sharpening” in Capture NX, don’t reapply capture sharpening routines normal. The print should
in Photoshop. look good.
Another good 3rd-party sharpening tool is Nik Sharpener Pro 2.0, available Note: If you are sending the
image to the web (screen
from Nik Software (http://www.niksoftware.com). These products offer both resolution), view the image
“capture” and “output” sharpening options. If you perform capture sharpening at 100% before making USM
in Capture NX, you don’t need to run the “capture sharpening” routine in these adjustments. For web output, I
applications. For even more detail about multi-stage sharpening routines, check recommend using a radius of 3%
out “Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop CS2”, by Bruce and adjusting the Amount slider
so no halos appear.
Fraser.
118
Advanced: Soft Proofing

If you understand color
management and wish
to correct your image
based on a particular
printer profile, Capture NX
provides a soft-proofing
option. In soft-proofing,
Capture NX will display the
colors of your image to try
and match the output of a
printer.
For soft-proofing to work,

you must have:
• A color-calibrated
monitor
• An accurate printer
profile
• A color profile
associated with your
image
While Capture NX will

associate a color profile
with your image, it cannot
calibrate your monitor
or make a printer profile.
For this, you’ll need to
invest in some color
profiling equipment, like
the Colorvision Spyder or
Monaco Optix X-Rite.
1. To soft-proof your
image, click the triangle
at the bottom of the image
window next to where it
says “Soft Proof Off”.
2. In the Soft Proof

Options dialog, choose the
119
Final Touches
appropriate printer profile

from the drop down menu,
and set the rendering
intent.
I generally use “Relative

Colorimetric” as the
rendering intent, and I
make sure that Black Point
Compensation is enabled.
3. Click OK, and the color

on your image should
approximate that of the
image (assuming you have
a good printer profile). You
can now (hopefully) make
any final adjustments to the
color balance or tonality
of your image before you
print.
120
Saving your processed file

Congratulations. You’ve
successfully adjusted your
NEF. Now it’s time to
actually “process” the file
by saving it to a bitmap
format like TIFF or JPEG.
Depending on how many

adjustments you made
to your image, your Edit
Steps List probably looks
something like the figure at
right.
Before you go any further,

make sure you save your
file in NEF format. You
may wish to save the file as
a copy as a back-up.
To save your file as a TIFF

or JPEG, choose File-->
Save As... from the main
menubar. If you’ve made all your adjustments in the proper order, your Edit List
probably looks something like this.
In the dialog box that
appears, select the filetype
(NEF, TIFF, JPEG) from the
pull-down menu.
Specify the Save Options

depending on your selected
filetype. If you plan on
working on the image
more in Photoshop, you
may wish to save as a
16-bit TIFF. If the image
is printable as-is, then an
8-bit image will suffice.
121
Final Touches
Before you do anything

else, make sure you save
the file as a NEF.
Choose the filetype from

the pull-down menu.
Depending on the type of file output you specify, you can choose the compression and quality settings. JPEG images
are always 8-bit, while TIFFs can be saved as either 8-bit or 16-bit. Note that a 16-bit TIFF will take up roughly twice
the disk space as an 8-bit TIFF.
122
Multiple files in one: versions

I used to struggle with
managing multiple versions
of the same file. I’d have
the “master” file, and then
maybe a cropped version,
and then maybe a web
version. Invariably, I’d lose
one of them. Not anymore.
Since the NEF adjustments

are merely “instruction
tags” and not actual
changes to a bitmap image,
you can save several
versions of the same file in
one NEF.
In the Edit List, click the

Version Icon.
Here you can save the

current state of all your
Edit Steps. If you make
changes, you can revert to
this state any time.
123
Final Touches
Choose “New Version” and

a dialog box will open.
Type in a version name
(in this case, I used “8x10
print” to designate that this
version is my 8x10 crop,
resized for printing. Click
OK when you are done.
I can also go back to the

“Original” NEF, which
removes all the Edit Steps
and resets everything to the
“As Shot” settings.
124
Archie, my red-bellied parrot. Nikon D2X 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
Zoom Nikkor, SB-800 Speedlight
Part III. Capture NX Recipes
In the final section of this book, I’ll present step by-step “recipes” for processing typical
images.
People
Basic color portrait recipe
Red eye removal
D-Lighting
Whitening teeth
Softening skin
Landscapes
Basic landscape recipe
Fixing weak skies
Removing dust spots from skies
Wildlife
Basic wildlife recipe
Special effects and other fixes
Highlight recovery using Control Points

Correcting lens distortion
Black and white conversions
Adding grain
126
Color Portraits: Basic Recipe

My color portrait
“recipe” starts with the
following changes to
the Base Adjustments:
Sharpening: None
Tone Comp: Low
Color Mode: I
If I used flash indoors, I

also add:
White Balance: Flash
When applying Capture

Sharpening to a close-
up portrait, use a lower
amount and higher
radius. Try a USM
setting of 35/10/4.
Color Portraits: An
Example
1. Here is a very typical

example of an indoor
portrait shot with a
pop-up flash.
2. Open the Camera

An indoor portrait shot using a D200 and pop-up flash prior to adjustment in Capture NX.
Settings tab on the Photo courtesy Daniel K. Odell.
left-hand side of the
Capture NX window.
127
Capture NX Recipes
3. Adjust in-camera
Sharpening.
Set the Sharpening
to “None”. We’ll
customize sharpening
later using USM.
128
4. Adjust Tone
Compensation
Set the Tone

Compensation pull-
down menu to “Low
Contrast”. This setting
will bring out more of
the subtle details in
your portrait.
129
Capture NX Recipes
5. Apply Mode I
Color
Set the Color Mode

pull-down to “Mode
I” to improve the
appearance of skin
tones.
130
6. Adjust White
Balance (if needed)
Because this photo was

shot using a flash, set
the White Balance to
“Capture NX” and then
choose “Flash” from
the dialog box.
This setting will offset
the somewhat bluish
lighting of a Nikon
Speedlight. You can
fine-tune the WB
setting if you edit the
WB from the Base
Adjustments menu in
the Edit Steps window,
as described in Chapter
4; “Fine-tuning white
balance.”
In this case, I chose a
Fine Adjustment setting
of 4500°K after I set
the pull-down menu to
Flash.
Portrait with custom white balance (Flash, 4500°K) applied.
131
Capture NX Recipes
7. Adjust exposure
(if needed)
Judging from the

histogram, this
image could use a
little bit of exposure
compensation.
Adjust the Exposure
Compensation slider
until you reach the
desired result.
At this point, the

Base Adjustments are
essentially complete.
Clearly, there is still
some work to do on
this image, like adding
a capture sharpening
step and removing the
red-eye effect, but from
an overall appearance
standpoint, it’s looking
pretty good. The final
Camera Settings are
shown below. The next
sections will illustrate
advanced portrait
adjustments in Capture
NX.
Portrait with Base Adjustments fully corrected.
132
Portraits: Fixing red-eye

The dreaded “red-eye”
look often happens
when taking flash
photos indoors, or in
dimly lit surroundings.
Images made using
the built-in flash are
especially prone to red-
eye problems. Capture
NX offers two ways
to remove or reduce
red-eye: Auto red-eye
removal in the Base
Adjustments, or using
red-eye removal control
points in an Edit Step.
Automatic red-eye
removal
1. Open the Base
Adjustments Tab in the Edit
Steps window and expand
the “Detail Adjustments”
list.
2. Click the triangle next

to “Auto Red-Eye” and in
the dialog box that opens,
select “automatic” from the
pull-down menu.
3. Click OK when you are

done.
133
Capture NX Recipes
Red-eye removal using

Red-eye control points
The red-eye
control point An alternate method of
tool.
removing red-eye can
be performed using
Capture NX’s red-eye
control point tool.
1. Click the red-eye control

point icon from the toolbar.
2. Click on the center of the

red eye.
3. Adjust the size of the

red-eye removal effect by
dragging the control point.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the

other eye.
The advantage of this

method is increased
control over the
effect. The automatic
red-eye removal tool
can sometimes give
unpredictable results.
Also, because this
effect is applied in a
separate edit step, it
requires less time to
render.
134
Portraits: Capture sharpening

Typically, portraits
fit into a category of
images called “low
frequency” images.
In other words, most
portraits do not have a
lot of fine detail, and
even if they did, would
you really want to
enhance all the texture
in someone’s skin?
For portraits, I modify

my capture sharpening
routine to use a USM “capture sharpening” settings for a portrait.
reduced intensity and
a slightly higher radius
and threshold.
1. Add an Unsharp Mask

Edit Step to your Edit List.
2. Enter an intensity of
35% a radius of 8%, and a
threshold of 10.

done.
135
Capture NX Recipes
Portrait with USM applied at 35/8/10.
136
Portraits: D-Lighting
Adding a D-Lighting
Edit Step can often
improve the overall
appearance in portraits.
1. From the Adjust menu,

select Light--> D-Lighting.
2. In the D-Lighting dialog

box, click the “better
quality” button.
3. Start with a Shadow

Adjustment of 20 and a
Highlight Adjustment of 1.
Fine-tune as necessary.

done.
137
Capture NX Recipes
Portrait before (left) and after (right) application of D-Lighting.
138
Portraits: Whitening teeth

As long as we’re at it,
let’s give our model a
nice white smile.
1. Double-click the brush

selection tool and choose a
soft brush.
2. Use the brush selection

tool to paint over the teeth.
You might need to adjust
the brush size by using the
bracket [ ] keys on your
keyboard.
3. After you’ve painted

over the smile, click the
“colorize” tab in the Edit
Step and choose Color-->
LCH...
The orange color will
disappear, but your
selection will remain intact.
139
Capture NX Recipes
4. In the LCH dialog box,

click the “Add anchor
point” icon. The cursor
should change to an
eyedropper. Click on the
teeth to set an LCH anchor
point.
5. Select the Color

Lightness tab in the LCH
window. Drag the anchor
point upwards to lighten
the yellows. Widen the
color range using the slider
below the graph.
6. Select the Chroma tab

from the LCH window.
Drag the anchor point
downward to a value of
-20. Widen the effect by
dragging the horizontal
slider the way you did in
step 5.
7. Select the Master

Lightness tab in the
LCH window. Drag the
whitepoint slider to the left
to brighten the selection.

done.
140
Portraits: Softening skin

This technique is very
useful for “glamour”
portraits. It allows you
to quickly reduce the
appearance of fine lines
and wrinkles in skin.
1. Add a new Edit Step to

the end of your Edit List.
Choose Focus--> Gaussian
Blur.
2. In the Gaussian Blur

dialog, set the radius to 40
pixels and the opacity to
40%. Click OK.
3. In the Edit Step, click

the “Opacity” button
for the Gaussian Blur
you just added. Change
the blending mode to
“Darken”.
141
Capture NX Recipes
4. Highlight the Gaussian

Blur Edit Step in the Edit
List by clicking on it. Then,
using the minus (-) brush
tool, “paint” over all the
areas in the image that you
don’t wish to soften, like
hair, clothes, and jewelry.
Note: It is important to
make sure that your mask is
done right-- you’ll need to
duplicate this step (and its
mask) later on.
Selection view showing the “masked” areas (in red) of the

initial Gaussian blur Edit step.
5. With the Gaussian blur

step still highlighted, use
the batch icon from the Edit
List window to copy the
settings.
142
6. Create a new Edit Step.

Use the batch tool to paste
in the settings you copied
in step 5. A duplicate
Gaussian blur is applied,
keeping the same selection
as before.
7. Open the Gaussian blur

dialog in this new step and
change the radius to 60
pixels. Set the opacity to
50%
8. Lastly, change the

blending mode to “Lighten”
in the Opacity settings.
143
Capture NX Recipes
The final output of our portrait (right), which includes red-eye removal, teeth whitening, and skin softening compared to the original “as-
shot” version (left).
144
Landscapes: Basic recipe

Color transparency
film has always
been a popular
choice for landscape
photographers,
especially films with
very saturated color
palettes and narrow
dynamic ranges. My
basic landscape recipe
tries to produce an
image with a “pop”
similar to what
you might get with
Fujichrome Velvia® film.
Basic Landscape
“Recipe”
Base Adjustments
Sharpening: None
Tone Comp: Normal
Color Mode: Mode III
These are the three settings

I typically adjust in any This landscape photo is rather pedestrian, partly because
landscape photo; if I know the colors lack the “pop” one might get if using a saturated
I’m shooting landscapes, transparency film. This image was shot with my standard camera
“defaults”-- Low tone comp and Mode II color.
I’ll often set up my camera
shooting menu with these
settings and save time later.
145
Capture NX Recipes
Sharpening Settings
I usually sharpen a little
more aggressively with a
landscape, especially if
there is lots of fine detail.
I start with a USM setting of

55/5/4 for landscapes and
nature photographs.
Here is the same shot as on the left, with the Base Settings
applied. I also set the white balance to Daylight/ 5500°K in
Capture NX. The application of Mode III color and the “normal”
Tone curve immediately gives this image some punch.
146
Landscapes: Getting that “Velvia” look

While the application
of Mode III color and
the “Normal” Tone
Compensation curve
goes a long way to
improve an outdoor/
landscape image, I like
to set up the LCH editor
to really spice up the
colors and contrast.
1. Create an LCH Editor

Step in your Edit List.
2. In the Master Lightness

dialog, set the black point
input level to 10. This
will make shadows darker
and increase the overall
image contrast. You may
want to experiment with
different values, but usually
something between 8 and
15 works well.
3. In the Chroma dialog,

add two anchor points
as shown in the figure at
right. One anchor point
should be at the red-orange
interface, the other at the
green-yellow interface.
Raise these points to an
output of +10. Then raise
the overall saturation to
+10 using the triangle on
the right.
4. Click OK.
147
Capture NX Recipes
Here is the original image (left) and the processed image (right).
148
Landscapes: Fixing a weak sky

Here is a really easy
way to correct a weak
sky in Capture NX
using a single Color
Control Point.

point tool from the toolbar.
2. Place a color control

point on your sky by
clicking with your mouse.
3. Open the “Advanced”

options, and click the
“Show Selection” box.
4. Adjust the diameter of

your control point so that Use the “Show Selection” mode when
the effect covers the entire setting up your color control point.
sky. When you are satisfied
that your sky is selected,
uncheck the “Show
Selection” box to return to
the normal view.
5. Move the brightness

slider to a value of -30.
6. Move the saturation

slider to a value of +10.

done.
149
Capture NX Recipes
The final image (right) now has a nice looking sky (although I need to fix my horizon line).
150
Wildlife photos: Basic recipe

Images of wildlife are
best processed using
a hybrid of the Portrait
and Landscape recipes
I described earlier. I
combine a low contrast
tone curve with Mode
III color and strong
capture sharpening.
Basic Wildlife recipe:

*For photographs of mammals, try increasing the color temperature slightly for a warmer
Camera (Base) Adjustments look. I often use a setting 200-500°K higher than the “as-shot” white balance.
Sharpening: None
Tone Comp: Low Contrast
Color Mode: Mode III
Saturation: Normal
Hue Adjustment: 0°
White Balance: As shot*
Capture Sharpening
I use a higher than normal

Intensity setting for wildlife
photographs, especially
in portraits of birds and
mammals where I want to
maximize detail in feathers
or fur.
LCH Editor
I use the same LCH settings
as I did for Landscapes, but The LCH settings for a wildlife photograph are very similar to those used for
I set the black point Input landscapes.
to 5 instead of 10.
151
Capture NX Recipes
Cottontail rabbit, Colorado Springs, CO. Nikon D2x, 200-400 f/4.0 AFS VR Zoom Nikkor
lens, monopod. For this image, I used the Basic Wildlife recipe, and set the WB to
“daylight / 5500°K” for a warm look. I also used the LCH editor settings shown on page
151.
152
Highlight recovery using Control Points

Here’s an extreme case of
highlight recovery, where
Color Control Points work
very well. In this example,
I used an extreme wide-
angle lens (10mm). I need
to recover some detail in
the clouds, while lightening
the image of the dog in the
grass.
1. Open the file “extreme-

highlights.nef” from the
Sample Images folder Use
the “wildlife recipe” to set
the Base Adjustments.
2. Move the Exposure

slider in the Raw
Adjustments settings to the
left until you get a value of
-0.83.
153
Capture NX Recipes
3. Add a Color Control

Point to the dog. Use
“Show Selection” to help
you adjust the size of the
selection.
4. Exit the selection view

and use the Control Point
sliders to increase the
brightness and contrast.
154
5. Add a second Control

Point to the same Edit Step.
Place it on the grass to the
right of the dog. Adjust
its size, brightness and
contrast.
6. To apply the same

settings to the left side of
the image, make sure the
second control point is
open, and choose Edit--
> Duplicate (cmd-d). A
duplicate Control Point is
created.
7. Move the new Control

Point to the grassy area on
the left side of the image.
155
Capture NX Recipes
8. Adjust global light and

color if desired.
9. Apply capture
sharpening.
156
Special effects: Correcting lens distortion

Correcting lens
distortion
If you frequently use a

wide-angle lens, you
are probably familiar
with lens distortion.
Lens distortion causes
straight lines to curve.
You can fix pincushion

and barrel distortion in
Capture NX.
1. Click Adjust--> Correct--)

Distortion Control...
2. Use the slider in the

dialog box to correct lens
distortion.
157
Capture NX Recipes
3. Move the slider to

the right to correct
barrel distortion (creates
pincushion).
4. Move the slider to the

left to correct pincushion
distortion (creates barrel).

done.
158
Special effects: Black and white conversion

Capture NX allows you
to create black and
white images from your
NEFs.
1. Click the Filter menu

from the NX menubar and
choose Black and White
Conversion.
2. Use the dialog box to

modify your output. You
can adjust brightness and
contrast, and apply a color
filter effect similar to using
color filters in traditional
b&w photography.
Orange / yellow filters will

darken skies, while a blue
filter will lighten a sky and
darken reds.
159
Capture NX Recipes
Top: the original color image. Bottom left: B&W conversion with an orange filter. Bottom right: B&W conversion
with a blue filter.
160
Special effects: Adding grain

You might think that adding grain (noise) to your image would be a bad thing. After
all, people often fret about getting “noiseless” images from their DSLRs. When
applied properly, however, a grain effect can make your image appear sharper to
the eye, which is important if you are making large prints. You can also add grain to
simulate the look of film, especially in your black and white images.
1. In the menubar, click

Filter--> Add Grain / Noise.
2. Choose Monochrome
Grain Color.
3. For Grain Type, select

the size and texture of grain
you wish to apply.
4. Adjust the intensity of

the grain effect with the
Grain Strength slider.

done.
161
Capture NX Recipes
A black and white image before (top) and after

(bottom) the addition of grain using the settings
on page 161. Notice how the lower image looks
sharper than the upper one.
162
Appendix: Capture NX Workflow
Hopefully, you are now at a point where you are more comfortable shooting raw images
with your Nikon DSLR. Before I close, I thought it would be appropriate to give a brief
overview of how I have integrated Nikon Capture NX into my workflow.
For me, workflow consists of six steps: Capturing images to the memory card on my
camera, downloading image files from the memory card to my computer, sorting and
cataloging images, processing the raw files, saving an image as a TIFF or JPEG, and
printing the final image. In this book, I essentially covered the “processing” step. Having
a good workflow is essential if you are trying to manage lots of photographs and meet the
needs of your clients. While there is no one “correct” workflow, I thought I’d lay down
the basics for how I have incorporated Capture NX into mine.
After a shoot, I transfer files from my memory cards into my computer using a dedicated
CF card reader. If your computer supports USB 2.0 or Firewire, I highly recommend
getting a card reader that uses one of those formats, as USB 1.1 readers are quite slow.
There are several programs that are dedicated to downloading and sorting photos,
including Nikon’s free Nikon View software. Currently, I have been using Photo
Mechanic from Camera Bits. The main advantage of Photo Mechanic is its ability to
copy your image files to two directories simultaneously during the download phase. This
allows me to have a pristine “back-up” NEF of all my images on a separate hard drive. I
also use Photo Mechanic to sort through my images and decide which ones I’ll keep and
which ones I’ll discard. I can also easily rename my files and add keywords or other
IPTC information using this software.
After I’ve chosen which images I want to process and have them in a clearly labeled
folder, I’ll use Capture NX to do my major editing on the NEFs. Since I have already
created a duplicate NEF during image transfer, I am comfortable saving my NEFs under
the original filename. When you save a NEF file in Capture NX, the file will increase by
a couple of megabytes. This is normal, because Capture NX writes a much larger JPEG
preview file into the NEFs as compared to what comes out of your camera. After I’ve
saved my edited NEFs, I usually back those files up to a CD or DVD.
The last step in my workflow involves the final output. Usually, I’ll save a copy of my
processed NEF in TIFF format and open the file in Photoshop CS2. This way, the original
filename is preserved. If I make more adjustments in Photoshop, I’ll re-save the file in
psd format. Otherwise, I use the TIFF as a temporary, intermediate file and delete it after
163
printing. Because I can save multiple versions of the same file within a single NEF file,
I no longer worry about having to save copies of my file each time the final destination
changes. For example, in my old workflow, I’d import the file, make global adjustments
in Nikon Capture 4, then save that file as a TIFF and send it to Photoshop as a “master
TIFF”. I’d then make local adjustments in Photoshop and save a copy of the file in PSD
format as the “edited master”. I might also save web-sized versions of the image for
posting on the Internet. I would need to archive at least two files using this process; the
edited NEF and the master TIFF/PSD file. Now, I make changes to the master NEF and
only save a master TIFF/PSD if I needed to do more complex adjustments in Photoshop.
Each of the different “versions” can be saved within the single NEF.
Recently, several “all-in-one” image processing and management applications have

appeared on the market. These include Apple’s “Aperture” and Adobe Lightroom
(currently in beta release). Both of these applications allow you to transfer, manage,
and process your Nikon NEF files, but do so with their own processing engine. To my
knowledge, it is awkward to integrate Capture NX in an Aperture or Lightroom workflow.
On the following page, I have presented a diagram of a simplified Capture NX workflow.

Each of the major stages are color-coded. Steps in rounded rectangles are optional, and
will depend on your personal needs.
164
Memory
Card
Image Transfer Utility
Transfer Burn to CD or Archival Working

DVD NEFs NEFs
Edit IPTC data,

Image Management sort/rank/choose Image Transfer Utility
“keepers” or Cataloging Software
Archive
Processing Processed NEFs
Process NEFs Nikon Capture NX
Output Archive Save as Print Final

Save as TIFF
TIFF JPEG Image
Archive Edit/Print in
TIFF/PSD Photoshop
A simplified chart showing how Capture NX can be integrated into a typical photography workflow.
Each stage is color-coded. Capture NX can be used for both the processing and output stages. The
transfer and image management steps require additional software depending on your computer platform.
165
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166
Index
A
Adjustments 6
Global 30, 54
Local 33, 68, 81
versus edits 6
Adobe RGB 14, 15, 39, 117. See also Color Space
B
Barrel distortion 158
Base Adjustments 32
Overview 34
versus Edit Steps 33
Batch 18, 25, 26, 28, 45, 46, 142, 143

Icon 46, 142, 143
Black and white 159

Conversion to 159
Blur
Gaussian 141, 142, 143
C
Camera Settings
In-camera settings 10, 11
Palette 36
Capture 4 v, 18, 32, 33, 90, 93
Capture Sharpening. See Sharpening
Case Examples 126
Chromatic aberration. See Color aberration
167
Color aberration
Automatic removal of 51
Color Mode 14, 15, 16, 39, 127, 130, 145, 151
Mode I 14, 15, 39, 130
Mode II 14, 15, 39, 145
Mode III 14, 15, 39, 145, 146, 147, 151
Color profile. See Soft Proofing

adding 117
Color Space 14, 16
Contrast
Auto clip settings 57
Control Points
Color Control Points 81
Advanced tab 82
creating 81
Overview of 81
Show selection 82
Color Picker 85
Multiple 83
Crop Tool. See Image
Curves 7, 38, 58, 63, 103
D
D-Lighting 48, 55, 59, 60, 126, 137, 138
In portraits 137
Double threshold. See Histogram
DPI 115
168
E
Edits 6
Edit Steps
Creating 102
Flexibility of 101
Managing order of 104–108
Order of 103
Exposure Compensation. See Raw Adjustments

Adjusting 48
F
File
Saving 121
Versions 123
File Browser 18
Applying labels in 22
Applying settings files 27
Comparing two images 24
Enlarging icons 20
Saving multiple files 25
Sorting files with 21
Viewing images in 19
G
Graduated ND filter effect 73
Grain
Adding to an image 161. See also Noise Reduction
H
Highlight recovery
Using Control Points 153
169
Using D-Lighting 60
Highlights
Blown 49, 50
Histogram
Double threshold option 50
Judging exposure with 49
Hue Adjustment 15, 16, 34, 47, 151
I
Image
Cropping 113
Resizing 115
Straightening 111
J
JPEG 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 21, 25, 37, 51, 62, 110, 117, 121, 122
K
Kelvin 40, 41
Keyboard controls
Mac vs. PC 18
L
Labels. See File Browser
Landscapes 145, 149

LCH settings 147
Recipe for 145
Weak skies in 149
Lasso Tool 78
170
Restricting selections with 78
LCH editor 34, 55, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 147, 152
Color lightness 64
Hue 66
Master Lightness 63
Saturation 65
Lens distortion. See Special Effects
Long Exposure NR 11, 12, 16
N
Noise Reduction 13, 34, 88, 94, 95, 103
O
Output sharpening 88, 89, 110, 118
P
Pincushion distortion 158
Portraits
Capture sharpening 135
Capture sharpening settings 135
D-Lighting in 137
Fixing red-eye 133
Recipe for 127
Softening skin 141
Whitening teeth 139
R
Raw
Advantages of 4
Compression 11
171
Raw Adjustments 47. See also Base Adjustments
Exposure Compensation 48
Raw converter 7, 8, 10, 33
Recipes
Portraits 127–132
Red-eye
Automatic removal 133
In portraits 133
Removal with control points 134
Resize. See Image
S
Saturation 62
Saving files. See File
Selection Brush
Creating a selection with 75
Selections
Applying to multiple Edit Steps 79
Selection tools
Creating graduated ND filter effect 73
Fill Tool 71
Gradient Fill Tool 71
Lasso Tool 78
Selection brush 75
Removing areas from a selection 77

Show selection 76
Understanding 69
172
Sharpening 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 32, 37, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 98, 103, 104,
110, 118, 128, 132, 135, 151
After noise reduction 97
Capture sharpening 88, 92, 94, 97, 118, 132, 135, 151
Output Sharpening 88, 89, 110, 118
Unsharp Mask 90
capture sharpening settings 93
explanation of controls 91
Show selection 76
Softening skin 141
Soft Proofing 119
Special effects
Lens distortion 157
sRGB 14, 39, 117

Color Space. See Color Space
Straightening. See Image
T
Tone curve 7, 13, 14, 38, 55, 56, 58, 88, 151
U
Unsharp Mask 90. See also Sharpening
USM. See Unsharp Mask
V
Velvia
LCH settings for 147
173
W
Warmth 62
White balance 12
Batch processing 45
Using presets 40
example of 41
With a gray card 43
Whitening teeth 139
Wildlife
Recipe for 151
Workflow 163–165
Simplified chart 165
174
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The Photographer’s Guide

An introduction to raw conversion for Nikon® DSLR owners

Jason P. Odell, Ph.D.

©2006 Jason P. Odell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

All photos by and © Jason P. Odell, unless otherwise specified.

Two people convinced me, albeit unknowingly, to share my knowledge of

This book is intended to be a postprocessing guide for photographers

No Nikon user should overlook the vast resources section at Nikonians,

One of the most thorough resources for digital postprocessing is

Some of the best reviews on Nikon equipment, and a great place to

Part I. Before you get started 2

Why Shoot Raw? 4

Your Pre-flight checklist 10

The File Browser 18

Part II. Raw conversions in Capture NX 30

Local adjustments to light and color 68

Image Detail: Sharpening and Noise Reduction 88

Advanced: Managing Edit Steps 100

Part III. Capture NX Recipes 126

Appendix: Capture NX Workflow 163

Why Shoot Raw?

Your Preflight Checklist

The File Browser

Most people who purchase a digital SLR immediately seek advice

Raw Conversion: Adjustments versus Edits

Why Capture NX changes the game for Nikon Shooters

The Shooting Menu

High ISO NR (Noise Reduction)

Color Space (optional)

Color Mode I Color Mode II

Color Mode III

Are we there, yet?

Image Quality: Raw

Important nomenclature note

In my workflow, I’m using a Macintosh computer. By convention, the “Command

Viewing images in the File Browser

Next, click the plus icon

The Browser window

Double clicking the folder

Another way to open

Enlarging icons in the Browser window

By default, the pointer

You can also use the

If you place the magnifying

Sorting files in the Browser Window

Click on a header to sort by

In the example at right,

Details view Rows view, sorted by File Type

1. Select the files you wish

2. Click the Label icon in

The label will be applied as

3. If you sort the view by

Previewing images in the Browser

To preview an image, select

Hold the Zoom Tool over

Comparing two images in the Browser

1. Use Cmd-click (Ctrl-

3. You’ll see both images