Raw file editing?

Tricia · #1 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 07:01 PM

I have Elements 8 and the Raw facilities do not include the brush tool or any way you can isolate small areas or details for editing. I cannot find these tools in the Nikon software which came with my camera either.

My question is, does anyone know a reasonably priced Raw editing programme which has these tools?

I was looking at PhotoPlus X4 but am not sure what the Raw editing capabilities are. I want the brushes where you can, for example, whiten the surf on a wave or pick out small areas to adjust.

Once I have saved my photo to Jpeg format I can do a lot of editing in Photoshop Elements but it would be nice to be able to do it in Raw.

Thanks

slimrbp · #2 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 07:06 PM

Hi,

As far as I am aware there is no program that will do that for you.

The original RAW file is always converted into an 'editable' format by the RAW conversion program.
When I used elements I would use the RAW converter to bring the file into Elements and then save the file off as a TIFF rather than jpeg as this is a lossless format.

squishy · #3 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 07:20 PM

Doubt there is anything that can do this.

As slimrbp says, you can save the RAW as a 'lossless' TIFF, to keep some of the data you'd lose saving it as a jpeg.

When you alter a RAW file, what you're doing is telling the software specifically how you want it to convert the file into a jpeg, and localised editing is probably too complex for this.

pressld2 · #4 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 07:58 PM

Lightroom lets you make selective adjustments to parts of the image in raw processing via a brush tool. It's a bit limited, but you can adjust the exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, clarity and sharpness. You can change the brush size and feathering and you have two brushes that you can set up differently and switch from one to the other, plus you can add as many different brush strokes as you like. I'm hoping that a future release will add noise reduction to the brush tool.

In addition, Lightroom has a filter tool which can also be used to make selective adjustments to part of an image.

The trouble is that Tricia asked for "reasonably priced" which, at over £200, Lightroom isn't. Unless you're a teacher or student and can get it for about £60.

Dave P.

Geoff F · #5 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 09:11 PM

Never mind the price, get Photoshop CS5 which should be available at a little under £500.

Admittedly, it is a good comprehensive programme if you can afford it. But as other contributors have mentioned, for what you want to do, Tricia, would probably be best achieved by working with layers after converting to a Tiff. Yes I agree with converting to Tiff instead of Jpeg at this stage of editing.

I think that your current software should, with a little thought, be sufficient for your requirements.

We have previously discussed Raw Conversion software in depth, but basically I would say; don't touch Photo Plus for Raw conversion. P Plus from version X2 onwards is, I think, a good logical editing programme but I found their converter to be rather basic and I just didn't like it at all.

Amongst the alternative free converters, UFRaw has many supporters http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/ while Scarab Labs http://www.scarablabs.com/scarab-darkroom is another easy to use piece of software. Personally, I found Raw Therapee http://www.rawtherapee.com/?mitem=3 was amongst the best of the free converters; but, initially, it may appear somewhat complicated to use, although you should soon get to understand the chief principles.

Jim Ford · #6 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 09:34 PM

If you keep the raw file (or convert to the digital negative format DNG), I can't see any point in filling your HD with TIFFs of the same image. If you want an image for whatever purpose, you can always bring up the raw file and reprocess it to whatever format you may need at the time.

Jim

Jim Ford · #7 (**permalink**) 02-03-2011, 09:42 PM

Regarding actually editing a raw file.

If you really want to experiment, you could use a Unix file editing program to do it (Windows of any flavour is a bit lightweight). Some interesting and unusual effects might be obtained by changing all the (say) F0s to F1s and processing the resulting file with a raw converter. I might try it myself sometime!

Jim