|
|
Post by mwhiteaz on May 18, 2016 17:10:52 GMT
I've been reading up on shooting and processing with raw and have done a couple of minor edits--I think--on PSE 10. Several questions:
1. How do I know which version of raw I have? Is it called Camera Raw or ACR when it's part of PSE 10? I take it it's an older version and not the v9 people are mentioning here?
2. By "I think," I mean, I opened some regular ol' jpg photos using the File-Open As window in PSE and selecting Camera Raw. Made some tweaks, saw the enormous potential, and realized I want to learn this thing. So if the original photos were jpg, was I actually using the raw processing? Or was PSE just humoring me and the photos reverted back to jpg? I've since read there's a difference between Save and Done. The photos in the PSE folder still have the jpg extension but they open up in the raw window. The thumbnails of those photos in my main photo file have RAW RGB in one corner.
3. My camera is a Canon T2i, if that makes any difference. I just switched the setting to raw but haven't processed the photos yet.
4. I've been going through back issues of PET to understand what raw is and the whys and hows of using it. What I'm getting is that you start with the raw part first, then do any other tweaking with PSE, right?
Many many thanks to the authors of those articles, by the way--they were quite readable and pretty easy to understand, and made a lot of sense.
5. Are there some practice tutorials around here that I can view? I didn't see any for raw, but may not have been looking in the right place.
Thanks for any help you can provide. You should by now realize I'm somewhat technically challenged so speaking slowly and using simple words would be appreciated.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 17:52:30 GMT
Hi mwhiteaz, I cannot help you with the majority of your questions as I use Lightroom to process all of my RAW images, however, here is a tutorial that gives you a good starting point. In general, think of a RAW file as a film negative, it comes straight out of the camera, contains a lot of information, which cannot be revealed without developing it first. So yes, you import your RAW file into your chosen program and edit away. Once you are happy you can then move on to do more complex edits. I use the tif file format to transfer the RAW file from Lightroom into PSE, as it is the next best thing (for me anyways) to RAW as jpeg files will loose their integrity the more you edit, close, reopen, edit, close them. I am sure others will be along to give you answers to the rest of your questions. |
|
|
|
Post by Sepiana on May 18, 2016 18:09:53 GMT
1. How do I know which version of raw I have? Is it called Camera Raw or ACR when it's part of PSE 10? I take it it's an older version and not the v9 people are mentioning here?
You can find out which version you have by going to Help>About Plug-In>Camera Raw.
Both names are OK. Some people just call it Camera Raw; others call it ACR (Adobe Camera Raw).
Adobe regularly updates the Raw Converter to offer support for new cameras. The last ACR update compatible with Elements 10 is ACR 6.7. You cannot install a more recent ACR update in your version of Elements. (In theory, you can but it won't work. When you open the Raw Converter, you will get an error message that the installed ACR update is not compatible with your version of Elements.)
Camera Raw-compatible Adobe applications
Raw is just a file format. When you shoot Raw, you are getting unprocessed data straight from the camera. On the other hand, when you shoot in JPEG format, your camera does a certain amount of processing to the JPEG file (sharpness, color saturation, contrast, etc.) before it saves this file to the memory card.
No, Elements is not teasing you. You brought a JPEG file into the Raw Converter. That’s the format of your file when you take it into Elements after processing it in the Raw Converter.
You should have no problems processing your camera’s Raw files using the Raw Converter in Elements 10. See the chart below.
Cameras supported by Adobe Camera Raw
Yes, you start in the Raw Converter and bring your file into Elements for further tweaking.
We don't really have ACR practice tutorials here in PSE&M. We do offer some resources though.
Adobe Camera Raw -- Resources
See if this will help. -- Process camera raw image files
|
|
|
|
Post by mwhiteaz on May 19, 2016 19:49:46 GMT
Thank you both for the patient replies and excellent resources. It's all given me a good start for experimenting and making mistakes. I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but will try to consolidate them so as not to wear out my welcome.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 20:37:17 GMT
but will try to consolidate them so as not to wear out my welcome. No chance of that - just pop back any time with your questions, consolidated or otherwise, that's what this forum is all about - answering questions and helping each other out! Glad the resources are of some help, it does take a bit of getting used when switching from jpeg to RAW shooting. I remember when I made the switch 3 years or so ago; I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to cope with RAW files. I remember that one workshop lead was preaching that you shouldn't bother shooting in RAW, cause, who's got the time to go through the developing process, I wish I had not listened to that individual's advise. RAW gives you control of what your final image looks like according to your vision, and yes, there are those that will preach that you should get it right in camera first and then it shouldn't matter what format you shoot in, but I disagree with that. RAW files have so much more detail, even if your white balance and exposure were spot on in camera, with the details these file types retain it means you can bring out so much more than the jpeg version ever could. After all, cameras do not have the ability to identically capture what our eyes see, so by shooting RAW you enable yourself to bring back the details and colours etc of how you actually saw the scence before your eyes. |
|
|
|
Post by mwhiteaz on Jun 12, 2016 20:20:15 GMT
Well, Raw processing is making me like digital photography a whole lot better! It is a lot easier to use than I expected it to be; it's easier to do it than read about it. I feel much more in control of my photography.
I"m getting to like the new, Raw images of some of my old favorite jpgs, the ones that I had really liked before. Raw processing changes them so dramatically it's taken time to appreciate how much better they really are, because I had been so wedded to the old images (often with dark, "mysterious" shadows that aren't so mysterious anymore--there was actually a lot in there!). I wonder if this has happened to some of you who came late to Raw?
|
|
alexr
Established Forum Member
Posts: 555
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
|
Post by alexr on Jun 13, 2016 13:01:45 GMT
I wonder if this has happened to some of you who came late to Raw? It certainly did for me. I changed from shooting JPEG to RAW a few years ago now, but that resulted in a significant step-change to the quality of my resultant images. I have had new kit and new software since; these have given me incremental improvements, but none had the impact of that single change that enables me to use all of the image captured by the camera, and not just a small sub-set chosen by the camera. You seem to be saying that you are currently mostly re-editing JPEGs in ACR. That's great, but wait until you start capturing in RAW and processing those... |
|
|
|
Post by mwhiteaz on Jun 13, 2016 13:20:01 GMT
I have switched to shooting Raw, but am having an awful lot of fun playing with some of my favorite old jpgs.
As an aside, is there a standard or preferred way, at least on this forum, to write Raw and jpg? I've seen the terms Capitalized, all CAPS, all lower case, spelled "jpg," and "jpeg." How do the cool kids do it?
|
|
alexr
Established Forum Member
Posts: 555
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
|
Post by alexr on Jun 13, 2016 14:36:05 GMT
There is no standard used in this forum, we are all pretty free and easy and I would have absolutely no idea how the cool kids do it. For me, I typically say JPEG, because it is an acronym for the Joint Photographers Experts Group, who developed it, and that is how I believe acronyms should be written. I only use 'jpg' when writing it as as a file extension. How to show Raw/RAW is much less clear to me as it isn't an acronym, and indeed it isn't a file extension either (as far as I am aware) but I tend to capitalise it simply to be more consistent because I'm usually including it in a sentence with JPEG, TIFF etc.
But as I say, each to their own, we all know what we mean and I wouldn't expect you to be shunned in this particular playground whatever you use.
|
|
|
|
Post by hmca on Jun 13, 2016 16:41:51 GMT
As an aside, but still to your topic of shooting RAW, I thought I'd share a recent experience. We were traveling last week and somehow my camera setting got switched from RAW to JPEG for an entire's day shoot. I was so upset when I realized what I had done. After shooting in RAW for a number of years the depth of the color in the images shot that day just can't compare to my other images. It also took me a long time to make the switch but once made, there is no going back.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sepiana on Jun 13, 2016 16:57:48 GMT
I've seen the terms Capitalized, all CAPS, all lower case, spelled "jpg," and "jpeg."
JPEG and JPG mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably. The difference lies in the number of letters (4 vs 3). This difference has its roots in earlier versions of Windows which required three-letter file extensions. More recent versions of Windows (Windows XP and above) were designed to also accept the four-letter ones.
|
|
