Recently (April, 2010), I purchased a FujiFilm HS-10.

This camera will shoot Raw images, and comes supplied with a Raw File Converter (RFC).

One of the good things about the supplied RFC, is that it can also be used to process the Jpeg images from the camera.

The HS-10 delivers beautiful Jpeg images, if it is used correctly. At times though, they still need a little help.

In the illustrations below, I will describe some typical step by step processes which can be used to correct Jpeg images.

Note : This is the third example in this series.

If you are not familiar with the controls of RFC, please look at the first example. If you wish to see the first, click here

In this example, I have put yellow outlines only around controls, which I did not use in the other examples.

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Step One - Opening and displaying the image

As with all applications, simply select File/Open, and then select the Jpeg file you wish to work with in RFC.

Once the file is open, right click on the image and select the display size you wish to work in.

To start, I normally select the size as 25%. I then right click again, and select the 'Zoom Tool'. This allows me to adjust the size of the image, to comfortably fit the display, and move it around the screen.

Here, I have enlarged the image to 33%, and have positioned it to the left of the display.

Step One (continued) - Opening and displaying the image

My intention with this image, is to crop it once I have finished my process steps.

I cannot do the cropping in RFC, but will use an external image editor. One alternative is to use FastStone. This is a free application.

So, here I have increased the image magnification to 50%, and positioned the image to display how I envisage it as finally cropped.

Step Two - Adjust the Exposure

My main concentration in processing this image is to get more life in the colours, some more sharpness, and also more contrast.

The scene had much more 'depth' to it than this. However, at the same time, I wish to keep the 'light' in the image.

So, my first adjustment step is to increase the exposure.

Here, I have applied a value of +0.40.

Note : The reason I am doing this is that I know my next steps will tend to darken the image more. I can always tone it down, if needed.

Step Two (continued) - Fine tune the Exposure

By clicking the Exposure bias icon, I can fine tune my exposure values. Here, I have added another +0.05 value which brings my overall value to +0.45.

Step Three - Adjust the White balance

I wish to warm the image a little, so have increased my Color temperature and Dark adjustment. I have also decreased my Color deflection. This is to remove a slight 'magenta' cast.

See my values below. The original values were 6500, 3, 0. These are the default values.

Step Four - Adjust the Tone (contrast)

My next step is to adjust the contrast of the image.

The values I have input, have increased the overall contrast, without increasing the effect on highlights.

Step Five - Adjusting color (saturation)

Adjusting the contrast has helped, but I still have a washed out look with no colour depth.

My next step is to adjust the saturation, to restore the depth to the colours.

Here, I am using the Color tool to add some saturation.

The default value is 1.00. I have simply increased this to 1.40.

Note : This is quite subjective. I want 'pop' in the image. The colours, in the original scene, were not muted.

Step Six - Adjusting Sharpness

Another step I wish to take, is to increase the sharpness.

As this was taken at ISO 100, I have quite a lot of latitude for sharpness adjustment. Many HS-10 images need some sharpening. Some more than others.

Here, I have been quite aggressive with the sharpening.

The values I have used are shown below. I have also selected 'Pure detail'. It may be my imagination, but I feel this is a little smoother than simply using 'Normal sharp'.

Note : You can probably see that this has also increased my noise levels. As my intention is to print this at no larger than A3, I am not too concerned. The print process will smooth some of it out.

However, in the next step I will tackle some of it.

Step Seven - Adjusting smoothness using Noise reduction

An after effect of sharpening an image, is that noise will also be sharpened.

The fact that I will crop this image, means I do need to pay some attention to this noise increase.

You can see the values I have used below.

Note : Most times, there is no need to be too aggressive with NR, as the print process will smooth a lot of it. Again, quite subjective.

Step Eight - Saving the image

Well, that is all I am going to do. A few simple steps.

All I have really done is to correct the contrast, colour, and sharpness of the image.

Now, I am going to save the image.

To do this I simply select the Development icon and the 'Save As' options window will open.

I am using the file format of DSCF2923 RFC Adjust.jpg. This is so I know that it has been processed in RFC, and this is my adjusted version.

I have also elected to add a very small amount of extra sharpening in this step. Here I have applied the values of 30, 0.3, 3.

That's about it. So, I will simply click the Save button.

The two images shown together. The original (top), and the adjusted image.

The changes have resulted in an image with the sort of 'depth' I saw in the original scene.

Below, is the Jpeg image as it came from the camera, and then below that the adjusted version as done in RFC.

The image as finished using the RFC adjustments as described in the process steps above.

The image as finished using the RFC adjustments, and cropped to my final dimensions.

Note : I have also removed a couple of small white specks - Not in RFC though.