Raw processing

[chopperward]

I just shot a few pictures in RAW today for the first time to see what I could do in post processing.

When I put my card into my PC to look at the pictures I couldn't open them. I thought I would at least be able to view the pictures before editing in package.

I then realised that I could view them in the Canon EOSviewerutility.

I thought I may be able to edit in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 but don't think I can.

What package do you recommend I purchase (user friendly)?

Is it best to keep the file as it is and view in the purchased package? When I do edits (if required in what format would the finished file be saved?

I had a quick glance at the RAWvJPEG page and will look again and read some of the pages linked.

Thanks

[OldClicker]

What version of Elements you need depends on what camera you have (newer the camera, newer the version required).

I would save my edits as tif files. If it is an output only file (going to web, printer, etc.) and you will never want to edit it again, then you can save it as a jpg.

LightRoom plus Elements (or Photoshop if $ allows) would be my recommendation fot handling RAW files. Save the RAW from the camera; do as much as you can in LR (you do not need to save the LR edits); edit in Elements/Photoshop if necessary; save as tif or PSD; Import tif/PSD into LR (if necessary - it should automatically be there); Export jpg from LR to use for web, printing etc.

Terry

[chopperward]

Thanks for reply.

I've got a Canon 20D.

Would Elements 7 suffice?

[OldClicker]

The 20D RAW files require Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) version 2.4 which I think is compatible with Elements 2. Here is the file and procedure:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=2863

I'm sure that anything newer than Elements 2 (and its latest ACR) will work with the 20D files.

TF

[gryphonslair99]

There are two kinds of software available for what you want to do. Processing software and editing software. While similar they are not the same thing.

Processing software such as Lightroom 3 or Aperture are digital darkrooms. They allow you to do the same kinds of things digitally that we used to as the standard processing in film darkroom. Color correction, contrast, white balance sharpening etc. The other thing that most do is allow for easy convenient cataloging of you image files. They generally are non destructive processing programs, which means that no changes are made to the original image file. Lightroom also allows for tethered shooting with certain cameras. Mostly Nikon and Canon.

Editing software, such as Elements, Photoshop and a host of others will have the same photo processing abilities as the processing software. The processing may not be as intuitively easy and they lack the cataloging features. What they provide over processing software however is the ability to work with layers, add/remove elements in a photo, etc. Editing, not just image corrections.

About 90% of the time most people only need processing software, not editing software. Depends what you want to do.

My suggestion is to go to Adobe and download the trial versions of Elements, Lightroom, and even Photoshop and play with them. Same thing with Aperture if you are a Mac user. Most software of this nature will have some sort of trial version. Pick the ones you are interested in, try them and then decide from there.

Personally my work flow starts with Lightroom 3 and I transfer the image to CS5 if I want to do more in depth editing.

[WesternGuy]

A couple of things, first, Lightroom is the only one of the three that can process raw files directly, in fact its Develop module really looks a lot like Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) which is why when a new version of Lightroom is released, there seems to be a new version of ACR to go with it - for example Adobe just announced a Release Candidate for Lightroom 3 and ACR 6, being Lightroom 3.4 and ACR 6.4. Elements and Photoshop CS (latest version is CS5) do not process raw files directly as indicated by Old Clicker when he noted that you need ACR 2.4 to go with what you currently have.

If you open a raw file in Elements or CS5, then it looks for the corresponding ACR version and uses it so that you can process your raw file before passing it to either application. Like gryphonslair99, I do most of my editing for my raw images in Lightroom (LR) and only pass them to CS5 if there is some editing I need to do at the pixel level, for example, it is easier to add words to images to be used in a slide presentation in CS5 or Elements, than in Lightrrom, not that it can't be done, but LR's ability to do this sort of thing is very limited.

If I were you I would upgrade to Elements 9 - the latest version and download the appropriate version of ACR to go with it (probably ACR 6.3). You can download Elements 9 from the Adobe site and use it for 30 days before you have to buy it - ACR downloads are free. I would also get a good book on Elements 9 and ACR and if you do a few Google searches, you can find lots of training stuff (short videos, web sites, etc.) on both products on the web. If you are interested in specific sites or references, then post back and I can suggest a few. If you decide to go with LR, then you will find it is a bit different than either Elements or CS5, but there is a lot more to it than meets the eye, as I am finding out. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[chopperward]

Thanks for response.

I will concentrate on post processing for now and will download the trial of lightroom 3 for starters I think.

One thing I like the idea of is to take a picture of a grey card before I take the pictures and set the white balance in processing. Would Lightroom allow this.

Also would lightroom allow for changes in changes to exposure? ie for photo's that are underexposed.

[OldClicker]

Thanks for response.

I will concentrate on post processing for now and will download the trial of lightroom 3 for starters I think.

One thing I like the idea of is to take a picture of a grey card before I take the pictures and set the white balance in processing. Would Lightroom allow this.

Also would lightroom allow for changes in changes to exposure? ie for photo's that are underexposed.

LR will easily let you adjust exposure and WB. I would use the gray for exposure and white for WB. For either (or both) of these you can also apply the same change to a group of images. - Terry

[chopperward]

So if I took a picture of grey card (for exposure), could I use this pic to edit exposure in lightroom. Basically what it allows for the white card for WB?

I know I can take a picture of grey card to get correct exposure but would be cool if the card could be used for exposure tweaks with Lightroom.

Thanks

[OldClicker]

So if I took a picture of grey card (for exposure), could I use this pic to edit exposure in lightroom. Basically what it allows for the white card for WB?

I know I can take a picture of grey card to get correct exposure but would be cool if the card could be used for exposure tweaks with Lightroom.

Thanks

You can adjust exposure, but to do it with auto, the gray card would have to nearly fill the frame. Possible with macro – real hard with landscapes.

Gray cards are not necessarily neutral for WB.

If you use white, there is an 'eye dropper' in LR that you click over the white area and it sets WB to make that area neutral.

Terry

[WesternGuy]

Thanks for response.

I will concentrate on post processing for now and will download the trial of lightroom 3 for starters I think.

One thing I like the idea of is to take a picture of a grey card before I take the pictures and set the white balance in processing. Would Lightroom allow this.

Also would lightroom allow for changes in changes to exposure? ie for photo's that are underexposed.

I agree with what Terry has said about adjusting white balance etc, using a grey card. As far as correcting, or adjusting, underexposed images in Lightroom (LR) - this can be done, but it is something I would do after I have established any WB for my images. Setting WB is quite different than adjsuting image exposures. I usually shoot a ColorChecker Passport for a days shoot and then use it to "correct" for the WB in my days images. If any of them are underexposed/overexposed, then I can do a certain amount of adjustment using LR, but, from my experience, it really only works well if the original image is a raw image, but then I haven't shot jpegs in so long, I can't really remember if it will do anything for them (one of many reasons I shoot raw). If the image is badly underexposed/overexposed, then what you can do in terms of "corrections" in LR is limited.

If you are going to use Lightroom, then I would suggest you get a copy of Scott Kelby's book "The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 book for Digital Photographers". As well, I have a copy of "The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book" by Martin Evening which I find is a very good reference, but get Kelby's book, download the example files that he uses (not each one is available, but a lot of them are) and work through the sections of the book - the first 5 or 6 Chapters will get you going. This is what I did when I started in LR about a year ago and it helped me get a good start. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy