Working with a RAW file is the equivalent of working with film. It gives the digital photographer much greater control over the final product. However, like working with film, theres a lot more work involved. There are several steps that a camera performs for you when it spits out a JPEG image. With RAW you have to perform those steps yourself. The process of applying those steps is typically referred to as a workflow..
With film, your first step is to develop it. The end result can be affected by your chosen development chemicals. With a RAW file, the development process is called demosaicing. Like chemical development, the result will be affected by the particular demosaicing algorithm that you decide to use..
There is a very good free application called Raw Therapee that allows you to select your demosaicing algorithm. The author has a web page that compares the results of various algorithms. Its very interesting. See it here:.
Http://www.rawtherapee.com/comparison.html.
Once youve completed demosaicing you now have the equivalent of a film negative...that is, you can see an image but it's not quite ready for display. At this time you can save the resulting image in any image format you like, though the use of JPEG is not recommended. RAW files are proprietary in nature. Some photographers fear that a particular camera maker will drop support for an old RAW format and neither produce new software that can process the files, nor maintain the existing software. Such a loss could be devastating to a photographers collection. So for insurance, some photographers will save the output of demosaicing as a TIFF or some other popular format.
Now you must process the image. Load the image into your chosen image editor and start performing the steps that a camera would have performed had it spit out a JPEG. That usually means the application of noise reduction, white balance, contrast, and sharpening at the very least..
Why go through all this? Because your computer is a far more powerful tool for this type of processing than the chip inside the camera. You can use this extra power to produce a much better result than the camera ever could have on it's own. Of course, like anything else worth doing, theres a learning curve that you have to get over. But most people feel the results are worth the effort...
Browntown wrote:.
I started playing around with raw files but don't quite understandwhat to do with them..
That's the norm. You are not alone being confused..
Is there a step by step website out there thatexplains this..
Probably....
Do you convert them to tiff, jpeg or another format..
Yes. Depends on what you want to do with 'em..
I have CS3 and Lightroom..
Start with LR. It's simpler..
I suggest you do the following:.
1. Take some RAW pix with complex lighting (combo of incandescent and flourescent or daylight and incandescent).2. Be sure that somewhere in the pix is a neutral grey or white object.3. Overexpose some of the pix and underexpose some too.4. Import them into LR.5. Go to the Develop pane and set the WB with the eyedropper tool..
6. Adjust the exposure. There are 4 adjustments. Either use the individual silders or you can alternately grab and move the 4 areas of the histogram. The goal is to get the histogram to "fit" the window...plus make the shadow areas visible.7. Adjust the sliders for NR and sharpness to suit..
It helps to have a semi-calibrated monitor!.
Charlie DavisNikon 5700 & Sony R1CATS #25PAS Scribe @ http://www.here-ugo.com/PAS_List.htmHomePage: http://www.1derful.info'I brake for pixels...'..
Chuxter, you are a great human being. Pax vobiscum.Leonard Migliore..
Shux!.
I think you just like me because I are an inginere too? .
Charlie DavisNikon 5700 & Sony R1CATS #25PAS Scribe @ http://www.here-ugo.com/PAS_List.htmHomePage: http://www.1derful.info'I brake for pixels...'..
Assuming you are comfortable with your tools (and hopefully have a properly profiled and calibrated monitor), you can try this general workflow that I have devised for my own RAW and JPG files.
1. adjust overall exposure (get it reasonably close, but not always perfect, in part by looking at histogram)2. adjust white balance3. adjust tonal values (global and/or local contrast)4. adjust color (global/local saturation, hue/tint).
5. adjust alignment/perspective/crop, etc. (these can be done at any stage, but I usually do it here)6. remove dust spots, red-eye, etc..
Then, viewing the image at the size on-screen at which it will be output (to web page, print, etc.), perform the following adjustments that tend to vary with output size and viewing distance:.
7. Remove noise8. Sharpen.
You almost always will have to sharpen, as raw files by definition, should not have any sharpening applied in-camera (while JPGs created in-camera do)..
You can adjust this workflow in any way that suits your needs; it's not a commandment from the RAW god, just my own way of working. I shoot mostly RAW with my DSLRs and mostly JPG with my point and shoot..
Browntown wrote:.
I started playing around with raw files but don't quite understandwhat to do with them. Is there a step by step website out there thatexplains this. Do you convert them to tiff, jpeg or another format.I have CS3 and Lightroom..
..