Creating the Digital Image 107
cover it with the CCD fi lter cover. Never touch the CCD fi lter with your fi ngers, not even to
remove a speck of dust.
When cleaning seems desirable remove the sensor unit as described earlier. As a reminder,
on the H3D cameras you must remove the viewfi nder to reach the special locking device that
is located underneath the fi nder. It is rather easy to see dust spectacles, even small ones, by
watching the refl ections on the glass. If cleaning seems necessary, the suggested procedure is
with E-wipes. Remove the tissue from the package minimizing manual handling to avoid con-
tamination. You may want to fold the tissue to the height of the IR fi lter. Place the tissue on
the fi lter and move it once over the fi lter with a fi rm pressure from two or three fi ngers cov-
ering the entire width of the fi lter. Do not use the same tissue to go over the fi lter a second
time. Inspect the fi lter surface or make a test shot and inspect the image.
Lenses, focusing screens, and viewfi nders are cleaned as discussed in Chapters 7 and 14.
THE PHOCUS AND FLEXCOLOR SOFTWARE PROGRAMS
THE IMAGE CREATING PROCESS
Recording a picture in the camera has always been only the fi rst step in creating a photo-
graphic image. In fi lm photography the photographic process continues with the development
of the fi lm, which offers the possibility of changing the contrast in black and white develop-
ment followed perhaps by retouching the negative and eventually making a print which again
could involve many options for darkroom manipulations especially dodging and burning sec-
tions of the image or changing the contrast in the entire image. These after-image manipula-
tions also often involve cropping the image or changing the image shape.
All these elements are also true in digital imaging but the digital imaging process has
possibilities for image retouching, image improvement and changing images way beyond any-
thing a fi lm photographer could visualize. All these manipulations and improvements can also
be done on a computer in a more pleasurable and well-lit surrounding instead of a darkroom
and can be done without the use of messy chemicals.
This after-image processing is an important part of creating any digital image but espe-
cially so when images are recorded in Raw as done with Hasselblad. While some raw images
can be used as they come out of the camera if you are not looking for the best quality, you
undoubtedly want to have a close look at every image and see in what ways you can improve
its effectiveness and create the best possible image from a quality point of view as well as the
visual effectiveness of the fi nal image. This entire process from the moment the image is cre-
ated in the camera to the printing of the fi nal image is known as the workfl ow and is done
with the help of a raw converter program which supports the photographic workfl ow proc-
ess. In Hasselblad, this is now done with the Phocus software program introduced in 2008
and replacing the FlexColor software used by Hasselblad for a good number of years. One of
these programs is supplied to every purchaser of a Hasselblad digital camera or Hasselblad
digital sensor unit or can also be downloaded from the Hasselblad website by a registered
Hasselblad owner. The program from the disc is transferred into the computer and becomes
then the basic element of the workfl ow. While the discussion here refers to Phocus, you work
basically the same way with FlexColor. Therefore, most points discussed in this chapter apply
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