Inside Camera Raw: JPEG and TIFF vs. RAW: by John Trefethen

Inside Camera Raw
JPEG and TIFF vs. RAW: by John Trefethen

Shooting JPEG is the equivalent of shooting transparency film: you have to get everything right in
the camera. You can not do much with the image once it has been shot. (re-compression issues)
Shooting TIFF takes up a lot of space on the CF card and requires a lot of processing time from
the camera. This also means less shooting time smaller burst groupings and less battery time. I
believe we will begin to see prosumer cameras use this file format less and less as time goes on.
Shooting RAW is like shooting negative film and having the control of processing each image with
its own custom development settings. I.E: when you take a batch of 4x5 film to a processing lab
you ask them to push or pull certain exposures for certain types of light and shots. RAW has this
same flexibility.
File size: most imaging sensors record only one of the three primary colors for each pixel, the
other values are determined through interpolation. Since the RAW file represents JUST what the
camera saw only one third of the final pixel values actually need to be stored. QUICK send to CF
card.
No in-camera processing. Retains all full control of all camera setting for post processing.
Retains full bit depth camera is capable of capturing, which is usually 12 bits per channel (4096
possible tonal values for each color channel). Thus allowing greater control of color correction.
RAW is the clear choice whenever possible.
Within Adobe Camera Raw:
Navigation: Zoom and Hand (double click zoom for 100% and hand for fit in window) Viewing at
100% is important for accurate correction.
Histogram: understanding the histogram is critical. You should know how to read this scale
before shooting digitally. Most Prosumer digital cameras provide an in-camera histogram for each
image you shoot. Avoid clipping highlights or shadows. Use the clipping display while adjusting
your highlights and shadows, (option) while moving the exposure and shadow sliders.
White Balance: an excellent feature within Adobe Camera Raw. Here you can set the
compensation for any given exposure. As you know digital cameras provide a white balance
setting that compensates for the color cast created by different light sources. For example the
camera will shift the color toward blue to compensate for the yellow light of an incandescent light.
The great thing about the white balance of a RAW file is that if you used the wrong white balance
preset when you created the image, you can select a different one or make your own custom
one. Therefore is makes sense to set the camera to Auto White Balance and fine tune your
images within Camera Raw.
Fine Tuning:
The temperature sliders indicates in Kelvins, the color of the light for which Camera Raw is trying
to compensate. Moving the slider toward higher color temperatures (bluer light) results in warmer
yellower images. Moving the slider toward lower color temps. (yellower light) results in colder, bluer
images. Temp slide is a Blue to Yellow control

The Tint slider controls the red and green in an image. Negative values add green and positive
values add magenta.
Tonal and Color Adjustments:
"The Exposure adjustment allows you to produce a linear shift in brightness, where all pixels in an
image are brightened or darkened to a similar degree." (real world digital photography p.395) Since
this adjustment shifts every pixel in equal proportion to each other it is possible to clip highlights or
shadows in an image. Therefore you should watch the histogram display as you adjust the
exposure slider. You may also want to us the clipping display at this point in your adjustment (hold
down the option key while adjusting the slider).
The shadow slider functions in the same way the black point slider within the levels dialogue box
does in Photoshop. By adjusting the slider you are defining a black point for your image. This
allows maximum contrast in your final image. (Option sliding the shadow adjustment will give you
an indication of where detail is being clipped from your image. Once black appears you have
forced that area of your image to pure black.)
The Brightness slider will adjust the overall brightness of the image. However it will not clip
highlights or shadows when adjusted. This slider functions in much the same was as the middle
tone adjustment in the levels dialogue box within Photoshop.
The contrast slider adjust the contrast in the middle tones of your image. This slider will not clip
your image either.
The Saturation slider will allow you to fine-tune the colors in your image. This slider behaves much
like the Hue/Saturation slider within Photoshop. Take care not to increase saturation too much,
thereby avoiding the artificial looking colors and the lose of detail in the highly saturated areas of
the image. It is a good idea to leave this adjustment for Photoshop.
Output settings
Color space: Adobe (1998)
Bit Depth: 16 bit vs. 8 bit
Size: best done in Camera Raw as it involves interpolation and is done best at the same time the
RAW files colors are interpolated at Raw conversion.
Res. will not effect actual output size of the image-only the default res of the image. So if you
plan to print this image you may set the print res you typically print at.
Batch Process with Camera Raw
A great way to speed up the process of converting a group of images shot under the same
conditions.
To batch:
1. open one image and apply the conversion settings of your choice.
2. then go to the file browser, select the group of images you want to convert, and from the File
Browser menu select automate> Apply Camera Raw Settings. In the box that appears, select the
option to apply settings from "Previous Conversion" and click update. Then hold the shift key
while opening the group of images (holding shift prevents the Camera Raw dialogue box from
opening) and the images will be converted using the same settings.

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Inside Camera Raw

JPEG and TIFF vs. RAW: by John Trefethen

images. Temp slide is a Blue to Yellow control

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