Help with RAW format

[galanthus]

Okay. After a week in the house recouperating, I decided to bite the bullet today and go out for an hour shooting in raw for the first time. I have a canon 400d, I chose the L and RAW format and started piccing.

I've got home and I'm very confused

First of all I tried to use the canon utility thing, that came up with zoom browser and I eventually managed to work out how to download to pc. Being unable to find something called viewfinder which I apparently needed, I opened a few files in CS3.

There were options for changing white balance etc but I can't seem to try settings out without cancelling the whole edit. Also is this what actually converts the files after playing with them ? I feel so daunted I'm ready to go back to jpeg. Can someone tell me if this is as complicated as it looks

[ron1863]

Hope this helps:

Camera Raw tutorial in Photoshop CS3 Video

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Hope this helps:

Camera Raw tutorial in Photoshop CS3 Video

I will look immediately, thanx ron

................... I just did and it doesn't work :-(

[Tormentil]

Which Camera Raw version do you have? You should have v4.6 if you use CS3

[ron1863]

Try these, hope they help:

Camera RAW in Photoshop CS3 (Video Tutorial) | Photoshop Basics

Photoshop CS3

[jennyb]

Do you have Digital Photo Professional? I got that with my camera (either the 350D or the 40D) and that is what I use for converting RAW. It is fairly simple, but I only use it to tweak the white balance and a couple of other things, then I convert and save as jpg. I then edit the jpg with Paintshop Pro. I don't use Photoshop.

I was very reticent to start using RAW but now I would not go back to jpg. I am completely incapable of getting the white balance correct in the camera! RAW gives you much more flexibility.

Jenny

[galanthus]

Right then guys. I did have 4.6 so thanx Tormentil Went through piles of my photo mag cds and got a very basic idea of what to do, will check your link later Ron thanx .

Fairly potchy compared to high quality jpegs, however, the idea of today was to take challenging exposures to see if RAW had it's place. VERDICT..... I am stunned beyond belief. I've done all possible to the jpeg and that's the best I can come up with. The second is the RAW file. Don't forget they're meant to see what I could do differently and not meant to be fab shots





I think I'll definately stick to raw for a few weeks to explore further, tho I would only take raw next time not both due to memory space.

[Ed Tyler]

Hi There,

Shooting in RAW is no different to shooting in JPG but do bear in mind with JPG images there is a certain amount of post processing that goes on in your camera before you even get to see the image on the LCD.

RAW is the the digital "Negative" for your photo and has a greater dynamic range than a JPG so the colours etc will be better in RAW.

Remember to use the software to bring out the best in your images. It does take a little while to get used to but well worth the effort if done correctly.

I personally use Photoshop Elements 6 and that's great for improving your images.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

[BillyPilgrim]

The frustrations which you describe are just about exactly how I felt the first time I tried RAW shooting. I threw the towel in immediatley

Then a few months later I heard about Lightroom so I tried again and I haven't used jpegs since. Except for uploading to the internet of course.

Good luck and I hope you persevere. IMO it is well worth it.

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by Ed Tyler

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

I already did


Thanks Ed, Yeah I knew the theory behiind the two formats but wanted to try the practicalities. Everyone has a preference, I just wanted to shift myself out of my comfort zone and give it a go with some harmless, non-precious pics.

Ron that tutorial was really helpful and taught me some much needed basics.