How rare is RAW? (1 Viewer)

mr_birdman · Apr 1, 2008

I only shoot RAW.

ultimateaddons · Apr 10, 2008

I only shoot in raw as i change the white colour balance and exposure etc a lot. I find if you are shooting stills raw helps a lot, get a copy of PS CS3.

ChickaD · Apr 10, 2008

I have shot jpegs for the past 2 years, just within the last two weeks I have started shooting RAW ( a friend's gentle suggestion) and I use PS Elements 6.

While I will be the first to say I'm certainly not an expert on this topic, I have found through experimentation to have greater choices over a jpeg.

Don't know if it's me, but when it's time to crop and doing a RAW vs jpeg, seems to me the RAW turns out way better; what's your thoughts on this?

Thanks all

baillieswells · Apr 15, 2008

bmarnell said:
Photoshop Elements 2 tells me to do this (copied below) to open my RAW files .... all I get is an army blanket ... where am I going wrong please?
I admit I don't know the values for width & height or whether the file was saved with interlaced or not ...

"The Raw format is designed to accommodate images saved in undocumented formats, such as those created by scientific applications. Compressed files, such as PICT and GIF, cannot be opened using this format.

To open a file using the Raw format:

Choose File > Open or File > Open As (Windows).
Choose Raw from the file format list, and click Open.
For Width and Height, enter values for the dimensions of the file.
To reverse the order of the width and height, click Swap.
Enter the number of channels.
Select Interleaved if the file was saved with an interlaced data option.
Select a color depth and, if necessary, a byte order.
For Header, enter a value.
If you are missing the dimensions or header value, you can have Photoshop Elements estimate the parameters. Either enter the correct height and width values to estimate the header size, or enter the correct header size to estimate the height and width, and then click Guess.
To have Photoshop Elements retain the header when you save the file, select Retain When Saving.
Click OK."

This seems awfully complicated. I either put my compact flash card(from Canon 40D) into the card reader and click on the image I want, CR2, and it opens in RAW. Similarly with images previously downloaded to my hard disk.

sidwemn · Apr 15, 2008

Help please.

I have upgraded just last week from a 350D where I always shot jpeg to a 40D which I have started to shoot in RAW (mainly because everyone tells me thats better!). The only post processing I ever do is a bit of sharpening and cropping. The trouble I don't honestly have a clue what I am doing when post processing. Is there an idiots guide to post processing available (a book or something?) that I could buy or a course that I could take?

I have Canon DPP software and also Photoshop CS2 available.

Cheers
Martyn

ultimateaddons · Apr 15, 2008

What i do is this, connect my camera to the computer, access the Memory card via my computer and cut and paste the raw images into a folder i want on my PC normally somthing like Photography\Wildlife\birds\12-12-2008\raw.

Now go to your folder and simply click on the files you wish to edit they will be .CR2 file names, if you double click and it does not open you need to go and get the raw file update from adobe.

Link http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html

You can then play about with the exposure, wb, sharpness and a lot more, once you have what you want click on save, then select the file type and size you want to save them as. Select the folder i tend to do in the same date for ie Photography\Wildlife\birds\12-12-2008\ so you have a sub folder raw if you want to keep the raw files.

Some useful links
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/pdfs/ps_cameraraw_userguide.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/raw_tips.mspx
http://tutorials.lombergar.com/raw_workflow_for_photoshop_cs2.html
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/cs3/acr4.htm

Hope this helps you Martyn

hollis_f · Apr 16, 2008

sidwemn said:
Is there an idiots guide to post processing available (a book or something?) that I could buy

Andy Rouse has got a new book out - Understanding Raw Photography - that should be just what you want.

sidwemn · Apr 17, 2008

Thanks Stevie.
It's the "playing about with it" bit where I'm unsure. I don't seem to have developed a logical/structured workflow yet.

The Andy Rouse book looks ideal. I've just ordered it. Thanks Frank

Cheers
Martyn

Keith Reeder · May 4, 2008

Late to the party, but - because there's very little about RAW that's so mystical that it warrants buying a book - I'd have suggested just spending an evening on these pages:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/RAW-file-format.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

WHIMBREL · May 4, 2008

Keith Reeder said:
Late to the party, but - because there's very little about RAW that's so mystical that it warrants buying a book - I'd have suggested spending just an evening on these pages:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/RAW-file-format.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Nice link Keith, lots of interesting tutorials here for any interested wildlife photographer to enjoy (or wrestle with) for a while...:t:

Best Wishes,

Bill

How rare is RAW? (1 Viewer)

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mr_birdman

No longer a Canon Snob.

ultimateaddons

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ChickaD

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baillieswells

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sidwemn

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ultimateaddons

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hollis_f

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sidwemn

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Keith Reeder

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WHIMBREL

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