Real World Camera Raw with Photoshop CS [Archive]

Neil Enns

12-17-2004, 05:00 PM

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov30_cover.jpg" /> Product Category: Books Title: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS Author: Bruce Fraser Publisher: Peachpit Press Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/032127878X/qid=1101879254/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8707298-5069502?v=glance&s=books&n=507846&tag=jasondunn-20">Amazon</a> Price: $20.99 USD System Requirements: None, it's a book :) Pros:<li>Detailed explanation of raw images and why they're useful; <li>Covers all of Photoshop CS's Raw features in detail.Cons:<li>Supporting images are far too small and subtle to be useful; <li>Writing is lengthy and lacks clear, step-by-step, instructions.Summary To paraphrase someone from somewhere: "it's all about the workflow, stupid". When professional photographers have thousands of photographs to process after a photo shoot nothing is more important than getting through the mountain of images quickly to get to the one or two that are worthy of printing. Real World Camera Raw promises to provide "expert techniques for building a workflow and automating tasks" using Photoshop CS and its built-in raw conversion tools. Does the book live up to its promise? Read on for the full review!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Introduction I've been shooting in raw format ever since I got my digital SLR two years ago, and my current workflow for processing images involves three separate applications: Pixort for sorting, C1LE for raw conversion, and Photoshop for editing. I don't mind the workflow, but I'd heard great things on the Web about Adobe's raw converter so I wanted to give it a whirl. With Real World Camera Raw at my side I sat down to learn how to adjust my workflow. The first two chapters of the book are an extremely detailed look at how digital cameras capture information and what raw files are. From the JPEG versus raw debate to which edits are best performed at the raw conversion stage, Fraser leaves no stone unturned. The downside to these chapters is that the images used to explain the text are far too small to be useful and often lack useful clarifying text. For example, here is the page that illustrates different forms of clipping: <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov30_clipping_large.jpg"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov30_clipping_small.jpg" /></a> Figure 1: Clipping. (click for a larger image) Even in print the differences between the images are so subtle, and the histograms so small, that it's impossible to understand the point Fraser is trying to get across. This problem, unfortunately, continues throughout the book. Processing a Single Image Chapter 3 is dedicated to an in-depth look at each of the controls in Photoshop's Camera Raw converter. The first half covers each control in massive amounts of detail, including discussions on whether the control is actually useful at the raw stage or better left to post-conversion editing with other Photoshop tools. While the detail is good, the supporting graphics are simply too small and the changes between images too subtle to be useful. The second half of the chapter covers the workflow for editing a single image in Camera raw, and takes up a whopping 41 pages. While I appreciate the author's desire to give detailed information, sorting through a workflow that covers so many pages is daunting. It's even more challenging as the process isn't explained using a single image from start to finish. Instead, multiple photographs are used to illustrate different types of issues that can arise during conversion. A more effective approach would have been to cover a single image in one workflow, and to then offer specific techniques for problem images later in the chapter. <PAGEBREAK> Working with Multiple Images While knowing how to process one image is fine, the reality is that even on a small photo shoot I'll come back with anywhere from 50 to 100 images that need to be sorted through. Powering through those images quickly is what chapters 4 and 5 of the book cover. Chapter 4 is all about Photoshop's File Browser feature. While not strictly related to converting raw images, it is a necessary tool for doing bulk image processing. Fraser gives the File Browser, as expected, a thorough explanation including three separate methods for ranking images from a shoot. This chapter is actually pretty good, and the explanations and images do a good job of covering what the File Browser is capable of. Chapter 5 is what the rest of the book was leading up to, and it's unfortunate that it takes over 130 pages to get to this point. In Chapter 5 Fraser gives a complete workflow for dealing with raw images in Photoshop. Sadly it suffers from the same problem as chapter 3: the workflow sprawls across 37 pages and lacks a concise, step-by-step, explanation. For example, when it comes to the "Selecting and Editing" stage, three approaches to selecting the images are discussed in detail even though the previous File Browser chapter already covered the material. After getting this far with the book I felt no closer to applying Photoshop's tools efficiently. Advanced Techniques The final two chapters cover some advanced Photoshop techniques. Chapter 6 looks at metadata all the way down to the inner workings of the .xmp file format (used to store metadata in Photoshop). Chapter 7 covers batch processing for tasks such as saving images to JPEG, or saving TIFF files with pre-applied filters so they're ready for editing. Conclusion Unfortunately Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS fell short of my expectations. While there's a wealth of technical and workflow information in the book, it is hampered by poor supporting graphics and a lack of concise explanations. With better pictures and a more step-by-step approach to the basic techniques it could be a winner.