You Can Master RAW
You Can Master RAW
You Can Master RAW
RAW
RAW
Learn how to process your raw files to perfection
INTRODUCTION
Download the
start files for
these projects
page 10
Selective control
page 16
From hand-colouring to
solarisation, you can treat your
raw files to a surprising number
of different effects in ACR
www.bit.ly/
dc161files
CAMERA RAW
INTERFACE
1 SELECT ALL
VERSIONS OF ACR
ACR is regularly updated with new
data and tweaks to the settings, so
make sure you keep Photoshop up to
date (Help>Updates). Your version of
Camera raw will depend on your copy
of Photoshop. For example, if you have
CS5 you will have version 6.7, whereas
CS6 owners can use version 7.1. Some
of the slider names have been changed,
but the majority of the features remain
the same in all versions. Elements users
can also edit their raw files in the ACR
plug-in, but the Elements version is
more basic, with access to three panels:
Basic, Detail and Camera Calibration.
A few tools are also missing, including
the Adjustment Brush. Its
still a powerful plug-in (the
Basic panel alone makes it
an essential step in your
workflow) but youll have to
enter the main interface for
more advanced adjustments.
2 SYNCHRONISE
TARGETED
4 THE
ADJUSTMENT TOOL
5 CROP TOOL
BRUSH AND
7 ADJUSTMENT
GRADUATED FILTER
8 SAVE IMAGES
9 WORKFLOW OPTIONS
11
10
12
9
13
incapable of displaying them all). But it will also
limit your image-editing options. Selecting 8
Bits/Channel will give you fewer colours, but
more options. You can also alter the bit depth
in the main editor interface.
10
HISTOGRAM
11 CLIPPING WARNINGS
12 SLIDERS
13 OPEN IMAGE
CAMERA RAW
PANELS
Discover the wealth of features in
Adobe Camera raws 10 panels
See Camera
Rawin action
with our video
www.bit.ly/
dc161video
BASIC PANEL
TONE CURVE
DETAIL
HSL/GRAYSCALE
SPLIT TONING
LENS CORRECTION
EFFECTS
CAMERA CALIBRATION
SHARPENING AND
NOISE REDUCTION
Find out exactly what each slider in the
Detail Panel does, and when to use them
Sharpening your raw files
Amount
Radius
Detail
Masking
before
After
Fixing noise
before
After
If youre shooting at
ISO 100 then noise isnt
a problem for modern
digital sensors, but if you
have to push ISO to 400
or higher, or use a long
exposure, then its likely
youll begin to see more and more noise in your images. The
forest scene here was shot at ISO 3,200, so the noise is
very visible, particularly in the shadow areas.
A bit of noise isnt necessarily a bad thing; it can add
atmosphere to landscapes or create a gritty documentarystyle effect. But large levels of noise can spoil a shot.
Fortunately, ACR has a range of excellent sliders that
combat noise. The main tools for noise reduction in ACR are
the Luminance and Color sliders. Luminance reduces grain
and blotchy dots, while Color reduces unsightly spots of
random colour. The trade-off to noise reduction can be
slight blurring and loss of detail, so youll need to decide
whether to accept the noise, or attempt to correct it.
Sharpening and noise reduction are two sides of the
same coin, so if you sharpen a noisy image its likely that
youll increase the visibility of the noise. Youll need to
strike the right balance between sharpening and noise
reduction by experimenting with different sharpening
amount and luminance settings. Toggle the Preview box on
and off to judge the results.
Luminance
Luminance Detail
Luminance Contrast
Color
Color Detail
SELECTIVE
CONTROL
Learn how to make selective
adjustments to your raw files
with three essential tools in ACR
Since the days of dodging and burning in the
darkroom, making selective adjustments to
different areas of your image has always been
an essential skill for photographers. Before
Photoshop CS4, adjustments made in ACR
were limited in that you could only apply them
to the entire image. But with the introduction
of the Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush,
ACR suddenly became a whole lot more useful.
In ACR version 7 (which comes as standard
with CS6) the Adjustment Brush and
Graduated Filter tools have been improved
with extra options to adjust white balance,
making it easy to selectively correct white
balance and warm or cool an image.
The tools have been used here to cool down
the sky and add warmth to the land, and to
tease out details in the foreground. Weve also
used the Targeted Adjustment tool to boost
the saturation of the orange colours in the sky.
GRADUATED FILTER
The Graduated Filter lets you plot a
gradient over an area then change
the tones. As well as altering
exposure, you can also make
useful tweaks to things like white
balance, sharpness and colour
saturation. Whats more, you can
set more than one gradient, which
makes it easy to change different
areas or create a retro film-style
border as weve done here.
Graduated Filter tips
Hold Shift while dragging a
gradient to keep it perfectly
horizontal, vertical or at a
45-degree angle.
Click a gradient to alter any setting,
or press Delete to remove it.
The tool remembers the last-used
settings, which isnt always
helpful. Double-click any slider to
quickly reset it.
Press V to toggle the gradient
overlay guidelines on or off.
start imag
e
SELECTIVE CONTROL
ADJUSTMENT BRUSH
The Adjustment Brush is perhaps the
most powerful tool in ACR. Use it to
selectively alter areas of an image.
It behaves in much the same way as
the Graduated Filter (note that the
tonal settings for each are identical).
Except rather than plot a gradient,
you paint a mask. Each mask is
represented by a pin. These pins
and their masks can be added to,
altered, or deleted.
Adjustment Brush tips
Tick New to start painting a
fresh mask, Add to continue
painting a mask, and Erase to
remove parts of it.
Press Y to toggle the visibility of
the selected mask overlay.
Tick Auto Mask for automated
assistance when painting a mask.
The tool will snap onto edges, lines
and shapes.
Use the number keys to quickly set
a density for your brush: press 1 for
10%, 2 for 20% and so on.
TARGETED ADJUSTMENTS
ACRs sliders arent the only method for
adjusting tones. If you prefer interactive
control, there is an alternative. The Targeted
Adjustment tool lets you click and drag
within the image to target and alter specific
colours or tonal ranges. Dragging left or
down decreases values, right or up increases
them. Grab the tool from the Toolbar then
right-click for five sets of parameters:
Parametric Curve
Drag to lighten or darken Highlights, Lights,
Darks, or Shadows.
Hue
Target and alter the Hue of eight
different colour ranges.
Luminance
Make colour ranges lighter or darker by
dragging left or right over them.
Saturation
Increase or decrease the Saturation of
specific colours in the image.
Greyscale Mix
Convert to mono then target colour ranges
to lighten or darken.
RETOUCH
IN RAW
Use the powerful Adjustment Brush
to give your portraits a pro makeover
Add make-up
RETOUCH IN RAW
Watch these
techniques with
our video
www.bit.ly/
dc161video
e
start imag
RAW SMART
OBJECTS
Get to grips with image blending using
one raw file and Smart Objects
Process a raw
image with
ourvideo
www.bit.ly/
dc161video
ge
start ima
Open coast_before.DNG from our project files into ACR then set
Temperature to 5000, Tint -7, and Vibrance +50.
Go to the Lens Correction option in the menu and then tick Remove
Chromatic Aberration.
Graduated Filter
Click on Graduated Filter tool. Hold Shift then drag a line from sky to
land. Set Exposure to -1.35. Hold Shift and click Open Object.
Tonal tweaks
In the Layers Panel, right-click the layer and choose New Smart
Object via copy. Double-click copys thumbnail to go back to ACR.
start image
Five creative
raw effects
Learn how to add a variety of cool creative effects using
nothing more than the tools in Adobe Camera raw
Create five
special effects
with our video
www.bit.ly/
dc161video
Solarised
Creative effects
Cross process
Split tone
Hand colour
Youll need to make your image black and white, but do this
using the Saturation slider in the Basic Panel rather than the
HSL/Grayscale Panel. Next, select the Adjustment Brush and
paint colour with a low saturation onto the image.