New to RAW

Hi there,

I'm new to this board and also to RAW image processing. In 1993 I started amateur fotography with an EOS 5 after having learned the basics on my fathers A-1. I went on to an EOS 350D and have just recently purchased a 550D.

Having recaught te bug after years of just trying my best at shooting my kids, I want to improve both my fotography in itself as well as my image processing. So I have decided to shoot RAW from now on. I have also decided to get back into macro photography. Not ready yet to work with models.

I thougth I knew how to take a decent picture, but seeing all of yours is somewhat depressing. They are just so good.

Basically I was wondering what sort of RAW processing you put most photo's through? Any pointers? Pitfalls?

Alex

Think of it as a two step process, the first part is converting the raw to a tiff or dng, then edit that in photoshop. In the raw conversion process I make adjustments to the white balance, and exposure. I use adobe camera raw (bundled with photoshop) then use photoshop for the rest of the editing like sharpening, levels and curves adjustments, and saturation.

Welcome to the forum and to this great section! Take your time to read through the stickies at the top of this section -- there is much useful information that it could otherwise take a long time to absorb!

I would heartily recommend that you make full use of DigitalPhotoProfession​al (DPP) that is supplied with your Canon DSLR, and make sure that you go to the Canon site and download/install the latest version (3.8 ) to get the best use of the software. DPP does a very good job of processing your Raw files and has a huge benefit for those starting out in Raw in that it uses the in-camera Picture Styles to create your Raw preview as a "starting point" and then you are free to switch Picture Styles and White Balance settings and make your own adjustments to get the most out of your photo.

From there it is largely workflow choices and preferences -- you will want a decent pixel editor, such as Photoshop/Elements or another capable one (many use Gimp) for those images that need those capabilities.

But, then will be the question of how much you want to work with Raw and how much you want to use that pixel editor. I do almost all my work in my Raw processor and convert almost all my output jpegs from that Raw processor because they meet most of my needs, but I do occasionally go to Photoshop for special needs. Others prefer a workflow where most if not all their chosen photos go through Photoshop for various needs -- only you can decide for yourself what works best for you.

One thing that the above recommendations don't touch on is image management, such as the layout of your folders and files and tools to manage those folders and files. As long as you have a relatively low volume you can afford to be somewhat casual about such things, although I'd give some thought as to what you want your "library" to look like (organization of files and folders, naming preferences, etc) and it can be very helpful to at least look at assigning keywords to your files using either the built-in tools in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop Bridge or else an external app. From there, you have special "workflow" apps such as Lightroom or, for Mac users, Aperture, that surround a Raw processor with all kinds of useful things, but those are considerations to make over time as you happily produce good results with DPP and your editor of choice.

Hope that helps some!

Oh, and check out our RAW Conversion Thread where many people have contributed great examples of Raw processing from numerous Raw converters! Our first anniversary is happening this weekend!

Thanks so far for the tips!

I'll be sure to read a lot the coming weeks. I've found some topics touching this subject so there is no shortage of reading material!

Seems to be a great forum. I've been browsing it a bit...

Thanks again.

If you do not have Adobe CameraRAW - Digital Photo Professional (came with your Canon) is a good start.

For my images I generally just see if they are sharp, improve sharpness.
Check highlights and shadows - maybe correct those.
Check for colour fringes (cameraRAW does this, don't think DPP does)

The 5D MK II is pretty much "editing free"...

Other options that can be important:
Contrast - via the "curve" or via sliders as well as white balance.
Maybe vignetting - although I don't have a problem with that I think - only one lense exhibits it, I won' use it a lot and I actually like the effect.

Else:
Photoshopping - I'm too lazy to spend time with bothering to edit an image in Photoshop
Most of my RAW edits are done in a few seconds.

The software I have so far is:

- All canon supplied software (so DPP as well)
- Corel Paint Shop Pro X3 Photo
- Adobe Elements 6.x I believe

I'm a regular user of Paint Shop Pro and it is claimed to have good raw support as well and it is the absolute latest version available.

I'd like to know if there's anyone familiar with X3 photo's raw capabilities so they can be compared to the canon DPP.

Stupid delivery of my 550d is delayed so temporarily I'm cameraless and have no raw files to experiment with.

Eurogranada wrote in post #10049391
The software I have so far is:

- All canon supplied software (so DPP as well)
- Corel Paint Shop Pro X3 Photo
- Adobe Elements 6.x I believe

I'm a regular user of Paint Shop Pro and it is claimed to have good raw support as well and it is the absolute latest version available.

I'd like to know if there's anyone familiar with X3 photo's raw capabilities so they can be compared to the canon DPP.

Stupid delivery of my 550d is delayed so temporarily I'm cameraless and have no raw files to experiment with.

As far as I am aware in terms of performance DPP is very Similar to CameraRAW in CS4 (except that CS4 has considerably more functions)

Photoshop Elements will allow you basic RAW editing, but its not that great... you might be better off with RAW editing in DPP if you only have Elements.

And I can't comment on "X3"