Camera RAW for a total newbie

[Deb7456]

I'm considering switching over to Camera RAW, but I'm a little nervous about it. :think:

First... here's my hardware & software, in case it makes a difference:
- Canon Digital Rebel EOS 350D
- printing on a Canon Pixma Pro 9000
- MacBook
- Photoshop CS4

And... here are my questions:

1) Can I get better resolution when I print bigger pics? I'm already shooting in the highest JPEG format. It doesn't look like I get any more ppi if I switch to RAW.

2) Will my shutter speed be slower? I already get frustrated b/c I have to wait for the red blinky focus light to beep & tell me I'm focused on the right thing!

3) Is it a pretty steep learning curve to make adjustments in RAW? Right now I'm using layers (or partial layers) and photo filters to make adjustments. Sometimes it seems like that decreases the photo quality (like when I use a "screen" layer and it adds black dots to my pic).

4) How are my changes "saved?" Do the sliders just stay where they were when I closed the file, or do I need to save them to a JPEG? If the sliders stay where they were, how do I go back to the original settings, if I don't remember what they were? What if I want to try different versions of the same pic?

Thanks so much! :D

[Karen]

Hi Deb

To answer your questions

1. Yes as in there is more info for printing larger images.

2. No shooting RAW has no effect on your shutter speed, if you shoot in burst mode it
may take a little longer to write the files to the card, but it won't affect your shutter speed.

3. I don't think it is, its probably more time consuming because you are starting from the raw file, not one already processed by the camera like with a jpeg. Like anything new there is a learning curve, I assume you will start out using Bridge from CS4?

4. Yes the settings stay as you leave them, but you can return to use an image later and revert back to the original file, just right click on the image and click on Develop Settings and then previous conversion or Camera Raw defaults.
After I open the RAW file in Bridge I take it into photoshop to do the rest of my editing and from there save it as a jpeg, you can do this trying out different versions just by renaming them.

[shazzt]

I thought Camera Raw would be difficult - but really it is way easier than trying to edit your photos in the main part of Photoshop. I use it for 90% of my photos these days. It does mean that you have to "process" each photo - but there are tools for applying one setting to many photos (if they have similar lighting etc) which are time savers and once you get your head around it, it can take very little time at all. If you want different versions of the same pic, you can use the Snapshots feature which will save your different versions in the one Raw file. Very useful.

[Deb7456]

Thanks so much for the replies!

When you import your photos to your LOs, how do you do it? Right now I drag JPEGs into a 300 dpi 12"x12" canvas. Do you convert to JPEG before adding them to your LOs?

Thanks for the tip on Snapshots and how to return to default settings. I have a ton to learn.

I have a Photoshop book (Scott Kelby) that should take me through the steps to get my RAW photos set up in Bridge. (Right now I use Bridge to organize my photos, elements, and LOs.) When I started to read his book, it was completely different from what I expected. A huge portion of the book was about Camera RAW - I don't think I had ever heard of it before.

Anyway, it seems like it's worth the switch. We're headed on a mini vacation this weekend, so I'll try to read some of the book on the road... and then maybe take some of my vacation pics in RAW! I'm really glad now that I bought an enormous memory card when my old one messed up last month! :)

Thanks again for the answers & tips.

[shazzt]

I use Bridge to select my pics for layouts (luckily my new laptop is speedier than my old one!). Raw photos open automatically in Camera Raw. Once I make any required edits, I just open in Photoshop. It is fairly straightforward and seems to work for me :)

[MurlieMac]

Enlighten me about Bridge. I know I have it on my computer but I don't know what it's for or how/when to use it.

[Deb7456]

Muriel - I use Bridge b/c I'm on a Mac, and I don't think they make Lightroom for Mac. It's a way of viewing multiple photos at once.

Your photos aren't actually "in" Bridge - they're in regular folders on your computer. But Bridge looks for those photos and allows you to view them more easily - several at a time, zoomed in, etc.

You can also add "keywords" to help you sort and find photos. And you can create "collections" - you don't move the actual location of the photos on the computer, but Bridge saves a folder that shows all your selected photos in that folder. (I use collections for things like finding all the items in my kits that I've labeled with a keyword "bugs." Otherwise, it might take forever to remember where that grasshopper was...)

You can also rate your items. If I've taken 20 pictures of my kids doing essentially the same thing, I'll go through and rate the top five with 4 stars or 5 stars. That way when I go back & do my LOs, I don't have to examine all the photos closely.

HTH!

[shazzt]

Deb - Lightroom definitely has a Mac version.

[Deb7456]

Deb - Lightroom definitely has a Mac version.

Really?! Thanks! I'll have to look for it, so I can start using all the "Lightroom preset" tools out there.

On a different note... My HD crashed over the weekend, for the second time in three months. :( I posted a question in "Hardware" about your ideal setup... We may be getting something different for me!

[starxlr8]

I will second using Bridge for organizing/tagging both photos and scrap supplies... but to the question at hand... I'm a huge fan of RAW.

The biggest difference for me is getting exposure right. Since the RAW file captured every bit of information, you can adjust the exposure using Adobe Camera RAW with minimal impact on the quality.

It does add a little bit of work, but you can streamline the process by setting up Bridge to do many things on import - like convert to DNG, rename files etc.

[addicted]

I was just looking into shooting RAW, this has been helpful. Is shooting in RAW the best thing to do? How do you know when you should shoot RAW vs. JPEG? Is there a book that can help me edit and know what to do? TIA!!

[Karen]

I was just looking into shooting RAW, this has been helpful. Is shooting in RAW the best thing to do? How do you know when you should shoot RAW vs. JPEG? Is there a book that can help me edit and know what to do? TIA!!

Shooting RAW is the best way of shooting for me, but I think you need to try it and decide for yourself if its the way you want to go.

Depending on what software you use is how you will edit, its all pretty straight forward just something more you need to learn :)

[addicted]

I have CS4 and lightroom. I don't know anything about lightroom, but I think I've heard people talk about using that?! Are there tutorials here about editing in RAW?