Wading into RAW... timidly

[WesternGuy]

It is a little difficult, at least for me, to give you a few "ground rules" for processing RAW files, e.g., do this, then do that, etc., as everyone tends to be a little different, and Raw processing is not something that necessarily lends itself to a formula approach, at least in my personal opinion, so you might want to consider investing in a good introductory book on Camera Raw. There are quite a few around. The one I found quite helpful when I was first starting out was Adobe Camera Raw for Digital Photographers Only by Rob Sheppard. As well, there is Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5 by Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser. Also Camera RAW 101: Better Photos with Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom by Jon Canfield and many more. If you do a search of Amazon with "Camera Raw" as the search criteria, the you will find many more including Camera Raw for Dummies with Photoshop. I would try and find a book that covers the aspects of the version of Camera Raw that you are working with, if possible. The latest release from Adobe is version 6.3.

If you are not someone who learns well by reading a book, not everyone does, then you may wish to Google "Camera Raw workflow" and see what results you get. What follows, will give you some idea of what I do, but be aware, that a lot of the detail is omitted, because to include it would mean writing a book on the subject and there are so many books out there that explain it a lot better than I can.

Note that before I start any image "development" I will usually crop the image to the size I want and to get rid of any intruding or miscellaneous stuff in the image, e.g., sensor dust. I will also rotate the image as required if there are any horizons, or similar things that need straightening. I may also look at the effect of lens correction, camera calibration and other aspects that can be checked with the current version of Camera RAW (6.3).

Using ACR 6.3, basically, I start with tonal adjustments - adjusting exposure and recovery to bring out details in some of the brighter parts of the image, then check "blacks" to see if there are any adjustments needed. I then experiment/adjust things such as fill light, brightness, contrast and clarity. I then check the tone curve and see if further adjustments are necessary to bring out details of any additional highlights or shadow details. Sometime I do most of my adjustments using the tone curve panel (all of these things become personal preferences and sometimes what works for one image may not work as well for another, it is a matter of experimenting to see what works for you and on what type of image). Once I have all the colour and other details adjusted to my liking, then I will look to see if there are any noise corrections and what amount of sharpening is required as most RAW images require some sharpening.

Please do not take this as gospel as everyone who processes RAW does things a little differently, which is why I suggest that you buy a good book and start from there - there are no magic formulas for this work. I know this may not be exactly what you are looking for, but I hope it will give you insight into the fact that processing RAW images is just not a Step 1, Step 2, etc., approach - there is a lot more to it and it is just a matter of setting your mind to learning what is involved. HTH.

Regards,

WesternGuy

P.S. Any further questions, please post and I will try and answer them (no promises), or at least try and point you in some relevant direction.