Help With Digital Workflow - Batch Processing Raw Images.

[BlueTit]

I used to work on individual raw files in PSE3, but now I am shooting raw only and there are too many to go through individually. I have tried batch converting to max quality jpeg in Canon Photo Professional, Elements 3 and Rawshooter and they all give different results. I have several questions and I would be very grateful of any answers you guys have.

1. Do you generally batch process raw files or tinker with each individually?
2. When shooting raw, do you also capture jpgs at the same time?
3. Of the three packages I mentioned which would you prefer to use for batch raw conversion?
4. Of any packages, which would you prefer (please don't say Photoshop, I am broke for lenses puchased based on the posts on this forum :D )

Many thanx in advance.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I run a batch when I have a group of photos that I want to process that have nearly Identical light conditions.

In RAWshooter I love the fact that if I tweek a single file and process it.. and like the results,. I can then very easily select a bunch of other files taken in the same shoot, and process them all with the exact same tweeks.. and even from the preview I can see if maybe some of them need a slightly different seting before running the whole batch.

At this point I definitely prefer to use RawShooter.

[BlueTit]

Thanx for that.

I have put all the various conversions together with the raw files and run thru a slide show on ACDSee and picked out which image I preferred of the 4 options, CR2 / PSE3.jpg / DPP.jpg and RS.jpg and CR2 wins almost everything. I am viewing the images with ACDSee.

As the original raw image seems the best, I am wondering which converter to use to do the least to the original version in conversion to high quality jpgs.

This is the part of digital photography I enjoy the least, I just want to take pictues not spend hours on a PC. I do enough of that at work.

[CyberDyneSystems]

There may be a few problems with your methodology,..

1> ACDsee. The version I have does not "do" color management,. where as RAWShooter will do it automatically. If this is the case with the ACDsee you have.. what you are seeing by using it as a viewer is not "correct"

2> I only convert to 16bit tiff files. Not to jpeg.

3> If your unprocessed RAW files are looking better on screen that your processed files,.. then you processing workflow has to be flawed. The idea is to "tweek" your RAW files to make the processed images look better.

(are you viewing the RAW files in ACDSee .. you MUST have a newer version than me)

[BlueTit]

Oh Dear, I am learning how little I know, "Colour Management" I thought I only needed to worry about that for printing!!


I only downloaded ACDSee the other day, it's version 7.0 (Build 102), I got it on recommendation from local camera shop as I was looking for a better photo organiser than Elements 3 and it sure does that, I do not use it for photo editing I have it configured to open PSE3 to do that.


I am happy with raw images converted manually in PSE3 but like today I shot nearly 300 raw images and there is no way I can go through them manually, not even the ones I like or am going to keep, that's why I am looking for the "best" raw to jpg batch convertor.

[tim]

Read this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/032127878X/qid=1113466778/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3047575-5896047?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), or the CS2 version.

I set the parameters for each image or group of images, then I run a batch job to convert to the format I want.

[crc_408]

If using Photoshop CS2, here's from the help file. Used it to convert RAW from the CF to TIFF in a directory on my hardrive.



To convert files with the Image Processor

The Image Processor works with Photoshop (PSD), JPEG, and camera raw files.

1. Choose > File > Scripts > Image Processor.

2. Select the images you want to process. You can choose to process any open files, or select a folder of files to process.

3. (Optional) Select Open First Image To Apply Settings to apply the same settings to all the images.

If you are processing a group of camera raw files taken under the same lighting conditions, you can adjust the setting in the first image to your satisfaction and then apply the same settings to the remaining images.

Use this option with PSD or JPEG source images if the file’s color profile does not match your working profile. You can choose a color profile in which to convert the first image and all images in the folder.

Note: The settings you apply with the Image Processor are temporary and used only with the Image Processor. The image’s current camera raw settings are used to process the image, unless you change them in the Image Processor.

4. Select the location where you want to save the processed files.

If you process the same file multiple times to the same destination, each file is
saved with its own file name and not overwritten.

5. Select the file types and options to save.

Save As JPEG Saves images in JPEG format within a folder called JPEG in the destination folder.

Quality Sets the JPEG image quality between 0 and 12.

Resize To Fit Resizes the image to fit within the dimensions you enter in Width and Height. The image retains its original proportions.

Convert Profile To sRGB Converts the color profile to sRGB. Make sure that Include ICC Profile is selected if you want to save the profile with the image.

Save As PSD Saves images in Photoshop format within a folder called PSD in the destination folder.

Maximize Compatibility Saves a composite version of a layered image within the target file for compatibility with applications that can't read layered images.

Save As TIFF Saves images in TIFF format within a folder called TIFF in the destination folder.

LZW Compression Saves the TIFF file using the LZW compression scheme.

6. Set other processing options.

Run Action Runs a Photoshop action. Choose the action set from the first menu and the action from the second menu. The action set must be loaded in the Actions palette before they appear in these menus.

Copyright Info Includes any text you enter in the IPTC copyright metadata for the file. Text you include here overwrites the copyright metadata in the original file.

Include ICC Profile Embeds the color profile with the saved files.

7. Click Run.

** Before you process your images, click Save to save the current settings in the dialog box. The next time you need to process files using this group of settings, click Load and navigate to your saved Image Processor settings.

[chtgrubbs]

I generally process each photo individually, unless I am running a number of photos shot under exactly the same lighting and exposure, e.g. copy work shot on the copy stand or a group of portraits shot at the same time. I also have all three converters, plus Capture One LE. I mostly find myself using RawEssentials although I sometimes like to use the Curves option in Canon DPP. I convert to TIFFs and convert to JPEGS as necessary.