DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Converting raw images
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 15 of 15, (reverse)
AuthorThread
 01/09/2004 11:25:08 PM · #1
Lately I've taking more raw images and I convert them to tiff in Photoshop CS. I do most adjustments like white balance, color temp, exposure, shadows, brightness/contrast, saturation, color noise reduction, shadow tints and RGB hues/saturation. Having a lot of flexibility is a sweet thing about raw images, even better is the raw camera plug-in in PS CS. The ease by which all these adjustments are done on the fly and you can see the results in real-time is such a blessing.

However after saving the raw file to tiff, I find that I'm still doing additional adjustments in levels, curves, color correction. At one point I had to stop because I realized I could have done all this while in raw mode. I question myself for doing that and frankly I don't know the answer. So I'm throwing this question up to you guys: how do you do it? Do you do all your adjustments in raw and none after convertion to tiff or other formats? I realize that cropping, resizing, some color tones (duotone, etc), usm still need to be done after conversion from raw. But the ones that you would normally adjust thru levels, curves, color adjustment, etc. can all be accomplished while working on the raw images.

Also I'm really liking shooting in raw so maybe a new CF card might be my next purchase.

Opinions pls, need to learn to do it properly.

Thanks in advance.
 01/10/2004 04:34:14 AM · #2
I shoot it raw exclusivly now, and open up in C1pro. I have a demo but not sure when it runs out. You can do all your levels etc in that, then it exports them to .TIFFS. I sometimes do some more adjustments with PS levels etc but hardly at all.

//www.c1dslr.com/
 01/10/2004 04:35:01 AM · #3
the seem to have a special for your rebel too.
01/10/2004 04:42:52 AM · #4
I just started shooting in RAW and am curious as to the best work flow too.
I am using the Canon software because I don't have PS CS. I am finding that I am not doing many adjustments at all before I save as a TIFF. I'm not sure if I should be doing more in that stage, but I'm not all that used to that software. The images that I have adjusted didn't seem to need all that much...maybe I got lucky.
I do then move on to PS 7 for the rest of the adjustments.

How is Photoshop CS?
I heard there are lots of bugs... is it worth moving up from 7?
 01/10/2004 05:44:43 AM · #5
Originally posted by TerryGee:
...How is Photoshop CS?
I heard there are lots of bugs... is it worth moving up from 7?


Yes, it is full of bugs...wait, those are my macro shots!

Seriously, if you have a version to upgrade from, it is definitely worth the $169. The Canon RAW converter isn't the best (by a long shot); the Adobe converter is second only to C1 (even C1 has a couple "issues").
The other functionality & useability improvements in CS definitely make it worth the upgrade, IMO. Shadow/highlight tool is a thing of beauty. Browser is MUCH improved. There are still a few "WTFs", like you still have to convert to an 8-bit grayscale prior to going to duotone, but for the most part, thumbs up!
 01/10/2004 07:20:24 AM · #6
yeah...everything Kirbic said as far as CS goes.

and as far as the RAW workflow, I only do WB and exposure at the RAW conversion stage, since I feel i have more freedom after it's a .PSD (ex; I'd rather use curves than brightness/contrast, and I'd rather use unsharp mask than "Sharpen"). Besides, you don't really want to be making a bunch of changes until you're done your final crop, which you can't do at the RAW conversion stage.

If I need to make mass changes to one or more elements in a series of photos, I will occasionally use the PS RAW converter, because you can do a batch application of settings to a series of photos without having to commit to the changes (meaning you can change the batch settings on each photo to fine tune if necessary). Which is wonderful when you do something bone-headed like forget to adjust a setting on your cam before a series of pix. Not that any of us ever do that... :D

Pedro
 01/10/2004 07:22:00 AM · #7
Originally posted by TerryGee:
I heard there are lots of bugs... is it worth moving up from 7?


I don't know who you're listening to, but I for one haven't found any serious bugs (the 8-bit duo thing K mentions I agree is a PITA, but by no means serious), nor have i heard anything but good things ('cept for people bit%^ing about the price - particularly overseas)

P

edit: and I use PS a lot

Message edited by author 2004-01-10 12:23:45.
 01/10/2004 08:26:29 AM · #8
Thanks for the replies guys. I feel better now that I know some adjustments are still needed after the conversion from raw. Actually, I do very minimal adjustments after conversion mainly to fine-tune.

TerryGee, before I upgraded to CS I tried the Canon converter only a few times, it turned me off because it is slow like molasses. With CS it's very quick and you can do batch application which is really sweet.
 10/03/2005 11:28:10 AM · #9
Breathing some life into this... So, just to be sure, You cannot open Raw Images in PS7? I have never shot RAW but it looks as if the benefits are worthwhile. Just trying to get my ducks in a row before I start shooting.
10/03/2005 11:34:06 AM · #10
I'd like to hear all the details on this as well. My friend has been urging me to shoot in RAW and I never have. Today I finally loaded my RAW software on my computer and am going to venture out and do my first RAW photos. I need all the help I can get, so I'm going to have to pay attention to this thread!
 10/03/2005 11:47:17 AM · #11
Originally posted by Picture This:
I'd like to hear all the details on this as well. My friend has been urging me to shoot in RAW and I never have. Today I finally loaded my RAW software on my computer and am going to venture out and do my first RAW photos. I need all the help I can get, so I'm going to have to pay attention to this thread!


You really can't lose. You can't overwrite the RAW files once they are on your computer, so you can play with them endlessly without the worry of losing or corrupting your original images (think validation requests here). I urge you to just play with it to satisfy your curiosity. There really seems to be no going back, as an experiment after shooting RAW, I shot a card full of JPEGs recently and got really fed up with having to open each one individually and rotate them (I tend to shoot in portrait orientation a lot). I treat Capture One as an extension of taking the pictures - I can delete the no-hopers and develop those that I want and batch process. Only rarely do I find that I need to open the image in Photoshop, if I do, it's most often to do some cloning or other spot editing.
 10/03/2005 02:15:58 PM · #12
Originally posted by Picture This:
Today I finally loaded my RAW software on my computer and am going to venture out and do my first RAW photos.


Any suggestions on RAW software (prefereably on the free side) to pick up? Again, I only have PS7
 10/03/2005 02:30:26 PM · #13
I do as much manipulation as possible in Camera Raw on CS2. This is much, much better than the previous version in CS. However, the options are still limited it is still not usually enough. So I then open in PS and finish off the editing there doing whatever it takes to get teh image right - sometimes a lot sometimes a little. The way I see it is that RAW gives me the opportunity to start my PS editing with a much higher quality image - well worth the 2 extra minutes spent in Camera Raw (that's all it usually takes).

I've looked at other RAW editors and decided that none of them offer enough advantages to me at my low level of skill to warrant having yet another software program to deal with.

Message edited by author 2005-10-03 18:31:26.
 10/03/2005 04:42:33 PM · #14
Ditto to what joezl said. I had the Canon software for RAW but really see no point in using it when CS2 is functional enough. Now if Apple would just update the OS to natively read Digital Rebel XT RAW format...
 10/03/2005 08:17:24 PM · #15
Originally posted by reeldeal4:
Originally posted by Picture This:
Today I finally loaded my RAW software on my computer and am going to venture out and do my first RAW photos.


Any suggestions on RAW software (prefereably on the free side) to pick up? Again, I only have PS7


I haven't quite mastered the software end of my whole RAW experience. I did venture out today though and shoot in RAW. I am using the "hyper-utility" software that came with my camera. I got it in April but had not loaded it until today. I didn't have a long stretch of time to devote to it, but I was having trouble finding where I could adjust things in the photo? I have Photoshop 7, not CS so I don't have the option of doing the whole process with that as I believe I read some people do.

I'm going to devote more time to figuring out the software tomorrow. Did you get anything similar with your camera??
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 04/07/2025 02:56:09 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/07/2025 02:56:09 PM EDT.