Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Digital Photography Workflow - Adobe Camera RAW

Adobe Camera RAW is a module in Adobe Bridge and Photoshop used for making adjustments to images ranging from very basic to in-depth adjustments and edits. Clicking on a RAW file will automatically open it in Camera RAW, but TIFFs and JPEGs can also be opened by selecting the image in Adobe Bridge, going to File in the Toolbar and pulling down to Open in Camera RAW.

In this class, our workflow will use Camera RAW with the following settings:

1.) in Adobe Bridge, select an image and open it in Camera RAW

2.) set up Camera RAW as follows:
     a.) at the very bottom and in the middle of the Camera RAW window, you will see a long line of letters and numbers that are underlined - this is the current setting for Camera RAW images - click the underlined line of letters and numbers to open the Workflow Options window
     b.) in the Color Space section, set the Space dropdown menu to ProPhoto RGB and set Depth to 16 Bits/Channel
     c.) in the Image size section, set the Resolution to 300 pixels/inch
     d.) in the Output Sharpening section, do NOT click Sharpen For:
     e.) in the Photoshop section, at the moment, do NOT click Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects
     f.) click OK to save these settings





3.) Camera RAW automatically open to the Basic module where you can make basic edits such as Color or Black and White, White Balance, Temperature and Tint, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Clarity, Dehaze, Vibrance, and Saturation
     a.) White Balance is essential if you need completely neutral and accurate colors in your images; White Balance changes the Temperature and Tint controls to help neutralize colors in an image
     b.) Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks are rather heavy-handed adjustments and I prefer to use the Tone Curve module for these adjustments
     c.) Clarity is mis-labeled as it is really a mid-tone contrast adjustment
     d.) Dehaze does exactly what it states - it removes the atmospheric haze from an image by trying to estimate light that is lost due to absorption and scattering through the atmosphere
     e.) Vibrance adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation and changes the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less effect on the higher-saturated colors - Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming over-saturated
     f.) Saturation is also rather heavy-handed and adjusts the saturation of all image colors equally from -100 (monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation) - the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) module is much better for making adjustments to saturation

4.) once you have created your edits in Camera RAW, you have three (3) options:
     a.) Open Image - opens the image in Photoshop with your adjustments intact for further edits and retouching
     b.) Cancel - eliminates all of your Camera Raw adjustments
     c.) Done - retains your adjustments and edits for future use and returns your to Adobe Bridge

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