| 10.
Introduction to Adobe Camera RAW (ACR)
Article
10 of 100
Camera
raw files are image files that contain the uncompressed and
undoctored information that your digital camera sensor gathers
when you make an exposure. The information contained in a
camera raw file is much greater than what a JPEG file will
contain because it is comprised of a wide range of exposure,
white balance, tonal range, color saturation, contrast, and
sharpening information. Shooting in RAW file format mode is
somewhat equivalent to using a whole bag full of film and
exposure variables at the same time.
To
interpret camera raw files you need a software application
that can read the specific camera raw files that your camera
produces. For most photographers this means that they have
two choices, the software that came with their camera (or
is available from the camera manufacturer) or a third party
camera raw image file processor such as Adobe Camera RAW (Adobe
Photoshop CS or Elements 3or4 must be present for Adobe Camera
RAW to work).
Since
most professional and advanced amateur photographers use Adobe
Photoshop CS (or Adobe Photoshop Elements) for their image
processing and output, Adobe Camera RAW has quickly become
the standard camera raw image processor in the photographic
industry.
Some
common uses for the Adobe Camera RAW plug-in include:
1.
Previewing camera raw images in Bridge using default image
settings provided by Camera RAW.
2.
Applying settings to camera raw files in Bridge without opening
the Camera RAW dialog box.
3.
Copying and pasting camera raw settings from one image to
another in Bridge.
4.
Using the default settings and opening raw image files directly
in Photoshop CS without opening the Camera RAW dialog box.
5.
Opening and processing camera raw files in the Camera RAW
dialog and either saving them or opening them in Photoshop
CS for further processing.
6.
Automating the processing of a batch of camera raw files and
saving them in a Photoshop CS supported file format.
7.
Saving adjusted settings for a camera as default settings
for that camera for future camera raw files.
8.
Saving valuable camera raw files in the Adobe DNG file format
that allows you to save both the original camera raw file,
Adobe DNG file format and metatags without using sidecar files
that can be lost.
As
you can see from the image of the Adobe Camera RAW dialog
box above, the individual controls over the raw image file
that are available, are far more than can be covered in an
introductory article, so I will save the descriptions of them
for later articles in this series.
Many
of the controls, or actually all of them, are also now available
in Adobe Lightroom and because Adobe Lightroom is not yet
complete (in its feature set), it is difficult at this time
to judge the exact relationship that will exist between Adobe
Camera RAW, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop
CS in the (near) future.
So
please excuse me if I make some mistaken assumptions or errors
in these software application's relationships while this series
is progressing, by the end of June or July we should all be
better informed of Adobe's future plans for our Adobe Digital
Photography Workflow.
P.S.
Please do not get upset if your personal experience and views
are different from my own. These opinions are mine exclusively
and do not reflect the views or policies of any of the manufacturers
mentioned in this article...... George
Mann |
