Nikon D-Lighting, Vividness and Hue Settings

I've read a couple of comments about D-Lighting such as the one below, but would like to have a more comprehensive discussion about these settings, whether and when they should be used, and what they do.

These settings go along, I suppose, with White Balance, so I would also like to validate my understanding of how I should use that setting. On our upcoming Alaska cruise, when we're taking photos where our subject is mostly white (snow-covered mountaintops, glaciers?), we should adjust the White Balance so that the Histogram is as centered as possible - yes?

While I'm at it, I am going to take some guesses regarding the advice you'll offer regarding the other settings: It seems to me that one of the concerns I hear a lot about, with regard to Alaska cruises, is that many days are overcast and perhaps even a bit rainy. As such, photos would generally be a bit affected by the dullness of the landscape due to the lack of natural light. Does that mean that we should be engaging D-Lighting whenever we're taking outside shots when it is overcast?

Beyond that, I'm guessing that Hue and Vividness are such corruptions of the original photo that there's really little benefit to utilizing those settings.

Your advice greatly appreciated.

D-lighting is a Nikon feature that brightens shadowed areas and tones down highlights to even out exposure variations in a scene and make it appear more as your eyes see it. It is turned on or off fairly easily (pp. 69 of the manual).

 

I use the Sony equivalent on my A700 quite often. Great feature, but keep in mind that in high ISO situations, it can add noise to an image.

 

Dave

These settings go along, I suppose, with White Balance, so I would also like to validate my understanding of how I should use that setting. On our upcoming Alaska cruise, when we're taking photos where our subject is mostly white (snow-covered mountaintops, glaciers?), we should adjust the White Balance so that the Histogram is as centered as possible - yes?

White balance is intended to adjust the color of the lighting, not the amount. Therefore, on an overcast day, you would set the white balance to cloudy. On a sunny day, set it to daylight ... unless your subject is mostly in the shadows, where you would set your white balance to shadows (if you have that setting ... or cloudy, if you don't).

EV (exposure value) adjusts the amount of light. If you're taking a shot with lots of snow (i.e. you're standing on a glacier), then you'll want to turn EV up a couple clicks (maybe to +0.7). Your camera is going to try to default the histogram toward the middle ... even if the subject is mostly white and it should default toward the top end of the range. By going to +0.7(ish), you'll move it back toward the upper end where it belongs.

Most of the time in Alaska, there just won't be enough snow/glacier in your shot to make that big of a difference. Especially due to the typical lack of sunlight reflecting off of it.

Regarding the histogram, you want to particularly avoid a spike at the highest or lowest end of the range. (Not just near the top end, but at the top end.) Anything else you can adjust with a photo editor later.

It seems to me that one of the concerns I hear a lot about, with regard to Alaska cruises, is that many days are overcast and perhaps even a bit rainy. As such, photos would generally be a bit affected by the dullness of the landscape due to the lack of natural light. Does that mean that we should be engaging D-Lighting whenever we're taking outside shots when it is overcast?

From what I can tell, D-lighting would not be useful then. Looking at the example you provided, D-lighting is used when there's a sharp contrast in the lighting. In that example, the background is directly lit by bright sunshine on a clear day, while the foreground in deeper shadow (the shadow of a tree). The Alaskan overcast skies even that out considerably.

In addition, that difference in lighting often adds to a shot, rather than subtracts from it. So I'd think long and hard before making it a default. If your histogram is spiking at both ends, but showing next to nothing in the middle, I'd turn it on. A decent photo editor can fix that lighting in post. (I wasn't impressed with the D-lighting's effect on the color in the example shot. It may be a sample size of one, but it's really putting their worst foot forward.)

But it appears that you have the option to have the camera simultaneously take two pictures: one with D-lighting and one without. Do that until you figure out which works best, and when it's useful. You'll use double the memory, however.

Beyond that, I'm guessing that Hue and Vividness are such corruptions of the original photo that there's really little benefit to utilizing those settings.

Those are color changes which are easy to adjust in a photo editor afterwards. That way you can keep an original without adjustments, then make a copy with the adjustments you like.

If you completely screw up the color in post, you can go back to the original. If you completely screw up the color on the original, you're screwed.

To add a little color for an overcast picture, add either Vividness or Saturation in your photo editor. However, some of my favorite shots from Alaska have very little color. Often, the stark beauty comes from the lack of color.

I'l do my best to bullet-point my answers below

D-Lighting: This is what Nikon calls its dynamic range enhancer (DRO -Dynamic Range Optimizer on my Sony cameras). What it does is analyze small segments of the image and adjusts gain to either lower the effective ISO to preserve overly bright areas and increase the effective ISO to recover shadows. Think of it as a sort of one-shot HDR photo where you can adjust the level of recovery you want. As I said in my original comment that you quoted, there is some risk of introducing noise in the shadows if the level of correction is too high. I generally use Lvl 2 (out of 5) on my Sonys.

Vivid: Really doesn't do much more than tweak the contrast and boost the colors to make them brighter. If you like the way vivid looks, shoot some bright red roses or purple something or other to see if the saturation blows them out and loses detail. For this reason I usually use "Standard" with a +1 adjustment on color for a milder boost. If I want more later...Lightroom!

Hue: If your shots are consistently too green, yellow or reddish, this can be used to correct for a chronic color cast. Very seldom used. For me, never touched it. It could be used to create a color profile to mimic the iconic color tones of someone's favorite slide film or some such, but Lightroom and just about every post-processing program offers this as a plugin.

Grey and overcast: There is a "Cloudy" setting on your camera that warms the image. Again, post-processing color temperature is easy, even JPEG images will accept a wide range of color correction. The D-lighting might help if a bright overcast is blocking out the scenery but I have found that I often have to add some contrast back in when I use DRO on a flat, overcast scene. Again, even JPEGs accept considerable contrast and level adjustments and the ability to copy and paste corrections to a group of images in Lightroom keep me from fiddling with a lot of settings while out shooting. The camera will do a great job of getting the exposure right but you may, like me, want to make it shinier when you get it home on a big monitor.

Hope that helps.

Dave

Regarding the histogram, you want to particularly avoid a spike at the highest or lowest end of the range. (Not just near the top end, but at the top end.) ... If your histogram is spiking at both ends, but showing next to nothing in the middle, I'd turn [D-Lighting] on.

But it appears that you have the option to have the camera simultaneously take two pictures: one with D-lighting and one without. Do that until you figure out which works best, and when it's useful. You'll use double the memory, however.

Those are color changes which are easy to adjust in a photo editor afterwards. That way you can keep an original without adjustments, then make a copy with the adjustments you like.

I believe that if you shoot raw on a Nikon SLR, these settings are irrelevant. They only apply if you shoot jpeg’s. This makes it an advantage to shoot raw because these settings can be chosen or replicated in post processing in Lightroom, and if you don’t like the results the settings are reversible.

Where is that setting?

I don't know. I don't own a Nikon. However, this website states: "it's also possible to bracket pictures to get one with Active D-Lighting and one without."

That's as much of a hint as I can give you.

Exactly. This is what I am literally doing right now, adjusting lighting in lightroom from a shoot today (with my new Loupedeck - its a gadget but a handy one!).

Most of the settings you mentioned will be ignored with RAW images and can be handled in post (Exposure is the only one I really pay attention to while shooting - besides A or S of course).

I believe that if you shoot raw on a Nikon SLR, these settings are irrelevant. They only apply if you shoot jpeg’s. This makes it an advantage to shoot raw because these settings can be chosen or replicated in post processing in Lightroom, and if you don’t like the results the settings are reversible.

Most of the settings you mentioned will be ignored with RAW images and can be handled in post (Exposure is the only one I really pay attention to while shooting - besides A or S of course).

The D-Lighting will pull up shadows and push down highlights but doesn't record the hundreds of minute local adjustments to the RAW file. It will only record the exposure as set. It is possible for a D-Lighting or DRO image cover cover greater range than can be pulled from a RAW file. A multi-shot in-camera HDR can do the same but not as selectively as the dynamic range enhancer.

Dave

Possibly true. When I did some testing with it I was able to get equal or better results to my eye with LR, I didn't dig into it, I wish there was a way to store RAW+enhanced JPGs but never found that option.

Generally speaking, and I know this is a matter of personal opinion, I prefer to control any adjustments to the image.

The D-Lighting will pull up shadows and push down highlights but doesn't record the hundreds of minute local adjustments to the RAW file. It will only record the exposure as set. It is possible for a D-Lighting or DRO image cover cover greater range than can be pulled from a RAW file. A multi-shot in-camera HDR can do the same but not as selectively as the dynamic range enhancer.

 

Dave

Shooting in RAW, I find overcast days to be MUCH better in terms of lighting than a full sun day. Screws things up less.

Also, depending on which Nikon camera you have, I find "blinkies" helpful to find sections that are blown out. Be aware, that blinkies are calculated based on JPEG; if you shoot raw you usually have a bit more latitude.

My $.02

If you are really concerned about white balance, then measure it manually using something like an ExpoDisc. You just have to recalibrate each time you change locations or the lighting changes.

I don't worry a ton about white balance as it is easily fixed in post using Lightroom.