Editing raws ?

[Jonny]

Today i tried my hand at photographing the 'Solo Tree' (we all have to do it!) and i deliberately underexposed so as not to blow out the detail in the stormy sky.

pics here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66496)

I did this knowing that i would be able to use the Shadow/Highlight tool and some gradient masks to bring the foreground back to life without too much problem. I thought it came out pretty well.

Anyway i got thinking about the Exposure slider in the Adobe Raw pluggin and all the other tools in there and thought how cool it would be if you could use all the PS tools in Adobe Raw.
Why couldn't i mask of the sky in Adobe raw and increase the exposure effecting only the forground.

Will this ever be a possibility?Am i making sense?

[cmM]

why don't you make 2 tiff's out of one RAW file with different exposure compensations and blend 'em in in PS. I know, more work, but that would get you the result you want.
Or better yet, how about s grad ND filter when you take the shot :)

[PhotosGuy]

Why couldn't i mask of the sky in Adobe raw and increase the exposure effecting only the forground. I don't think you can do that with a RAW file. To do it with a tiff, search for info on layer masks & blend modes, contrast control tutorials, etc. Here's a start:
http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

[Jonny]

Thanks guys but i know how to do all that. i was just wondering why you cant work with a raw file in general the way you do with Tiffs and Jpgs.

[KennyG]

You don't actually edit a RAW file, just set the parameters for conversion and there are some things you simply can't do (or should not do) when converting.

[UncleDoug]

When you open a RAW file in say PS, you are "developing" the file.
Basically giving the color numbers meaning.
Slightly similar to assigning an image a color proile but in the RAW dialogue you have global controls over the image to a degree.

The feature you would like would be cool but redundant to operations in PS.

[tim]

There are more tools in CS2, but still basic ones I think - cropping etc. There's an article/first chapter of a book linked from a thread somewhere around here that's quite good.