Here are some great resources for Capture NX from Nikon.
Is Capture NX any good for JPEG shooters? Although it is mainly a RAW converter for Nikon NEF files, it is also a very useful tool for for JPEG shooters.
For the most part, you get the same powerful editing capabilities as for NEF raw files. Plus, you can save all your edits at the end in NEF format non-destructively! You can go back to your original JPEG photo embedded in the NEF file without image quality degradation. You can also create different versions of the same JPEG photo and save them all in a single NEF file. Of course, you can export JPEG file again.
In Capture NX, you can create multiple versions of a photo and save all the different versions in the same NEF file. For example, you may want to have different crop sizes, colors vs. black and white, different sharpening levels of the same photo. Instead of creating multiple copies of the RAW files, Capture NX can use the same set of RAW data with all the version information embedded so you don’t get several large files to manage. Read More…
The Orton effect is named after photographer Michael Orton. It is a unique expressive photo technique that creates a dreamy artistic feel in the photos with the combination of sharp and blur elements. The original effect was created using two slide transparencies stacked together. The same effect can be easily created using digital photography techniques and tools readily available today. If you are not familiar with this technique already, there are many excellent resources on the Internet.
Today, I am going to show you how to create the Orton Effect using Nikon Capture NX. It is probably easier than any other photo editing software. Read More…
Some people are reporting a weird bug in Nikon Capture NX software. Enter a small value for the exposure compensation (e.g. 0.01) and the photo becomes less sharp. I had trouble reproducing this bug on my own using Capture NX 1.3 and NEF from my D200. So it appeared to be related to specific circumstances.
I then downloaded a D300 NEF file and to my surprise, it happened! I also found that if you change the exposure compensation in Raw Adjustment, you will no longer be able to change the sharpening setting in the Picture Control: dragging the sharpening slider will have no effect. If you do not perform the exposure compensation adjustment, you can adjust the sharpening level using the sharpening slider in Picture Control. As soon as you do any exposure adjustment, the sharpening will disappear. You can get the sharpening back by unchecking the Apply checkbox next to Exposure Compensation.
I think this is related to the Picture Control system in the D300. According to Nikon, the unique Picture Control system makes it possible to share image processing settings among compatible devices and software. It is likely that there is a bug in Capture NX related to the Picture Control. Nikon D200 does not have Picture Control system and is therefore not typically affected. However if you turn on the Picture Control on a NEF file from D200, you can experience the same bug! It doesn’t seem possible to turn off the Picture Control for NEF files from a D300.
There are some people who claim the Capture NX is slow, buggy, and don’t ever want to touch the software even though it comes with the new D300 and D3 free. How wrong is that?! There may be some truth about the slowness if you have an old computer or do not have sufficient memory. However the program is a great piece of software that consistently bring out the best from NEF raw images effortlessly. Here I am going to illustrate the unique control point and selection brush features in Capture NX and show you how easy it is to touch up a landscape photo in a couple of simple steps. Read More…
A vignette is a picture without defined borders. Typically the photo gradually fades into a white or black background, usually in an oval shape. In the old film days, it was created during printing exposure by projecting the image through an oval hole in a black card. For soft edges, the card is held a few inches above the paper and moved around slightly. In the digital era, this effect can be easily produced using photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Gimp, and my favorite, the Nikon Capture NX. Here are the simple steps to do that in Capture NX. Read More…
By EugeniusD80
There is a nice tutorial written by Dirk Paessler on how to create this so-called “Polar Panorama Effect” using Adobe Photoshop or Gimp.
If you want to dig into this even more, read about stereographic projection and cartographical map projections (also these images).
