Andrew Smallman outlines the advantages in shooting Adobe Camera RAW format images, as well as some techniques which improve them.
Over the last few years image processing has undergone a quiet revolution. In the not-so-distant past, using RAW files was a two-stage process. First you had to send the file to a RAW converter, then you had to transfer it to an image-editing program for adjustment. The new RAW deal is that most image adjustments can now be made directly in a RAW converter. I use the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), which is very user friendly and in which image quality, even from older files, has greatly improved.
For those readers not familiar with the RAW workflow, a little background will be useful. In a digital camera light energy is focused by the lens onto the sensor, producing electrical signals. These are gathered and organised by the camera’s processor into an information packet called a RAW file. This is the ‘first generation’ image file produced by the camera and it contains all the information which the camera can collect from the sensor. Most digital cameras immediately process the RAW file, making adjustments to the colour, brightness, sharpening and many other parameters such as lens corrections. The resulting file is compressed, using a process which permanently discards at least half the original data, and is then sent to the card as a JPG - also known as a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) - file.
Some cameras, including all DSLR and CSC types and a few advanced compacts, can save the original RAW file and both RAW plus JPEG files to the camera’s memory card. You can download a RAW file, but neither your computer’s operating system nor any image-processing software can read it. How can this be so? Imagine you can only read English, but you’re presented with a document written in Chinese ideographic language (Hanzi).
You can see the Hanzi symbols, copy them and transfer them, but you have no idea what they mean. The symbols need to be decoded before you can understand them.
Converter Options
RAW files need to be decoded using a special software program called a RAW converter. This converts the file to a format - typically TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) - which does make sense to your computer and image-processing software. Cameras which can save RAW files usually ship with a RAW converter which can be installed on your computer. Canon has Digital Photo Professional, Nikon uses Nikon Capture NX and others, and Olympus uses Image Converter Plus. Several brands use a version of Silkypix. These proprietary converters have two advantages. Most come free with (or built into the price of) the camera, and they’re ready to go. You don’t have to wait until your camera is added to the list of supported models for an independent RAW converter. These include, for instance, commercial products such as Bibble and Phase One, and free downloads like DCraw...
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: A revision of the dictionary of photographic terms; Ballarat International Foto Biennale; How to shoot sports; Annual Education Special; Locations - Townsville, Qld; Sony a35 SLT
