The PSE6 Book for Digital Photographers

[Cassie O]

Yesterday, I bought a copy of The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski. I think it will be a great addition to my (growing) PSE library. I love the format, the in-depth, step-by-step instructions and the side-by-side before and after comparisons. I have a concern, however:

They spend an entire chapter (Chapter 2, so it must be pretty important) on processing images in Camera Raw. I barely understand the concept of Camera Raw and don't think I'm advanced enough yet to delve into it. I have no photos in Camera Raw (well, none that I'm aware of). Will I miss something important to me, the complete newbie, if I skip this chapter?

[kevq]

Cassie,
it's an excellent book and I'm sure that you will learn from it.
Don't worry about RAW, in PSE 6 you can open and manipulate your JPGs using the Raw editor. You will need a plug in and I'm sure that someone will be along to tell where to find it.
Kev.

[Cassie O]

Thank you, Kev! I think editing with RAW (are "Raw" and "RAW" interchangable?) may be a bit too advanced for me just yet. Do you think I can skip the chapter and, once I'm more comfortable with the entire editing process, go back and learn about Raw? I've noticed that many of the processes covered in the Raw chapter are covered elsewhere in the book. One example is Red-Eye removal. It's covered in the Raw chapter and again without Raw. I'm just worried about missing some essential point if I skip this chapter.

[kevq]

Cassie,
just ignore it until you feel confident to give it a try.
Kev.

[Jeff Perry]

Cassie,

First some symantics. The term "raw" when used in conjunction with your camera/image, is a proprietary image file format that retains all of the image data captured by your camera's sensor (when you take a photo). The camera is set (by you) to capture (store) images in some format, usually either JPG, TIFF or the native raw format which depending upon your camera has a differnt file extension (last name), e.,g, .NEF for Nikon (I thin Cnanon uses CR2 or something like that).

The phrase "Adobe Camera Raw" "Camera Raw" or "ACR" for short, is a shoftware plug-in used by Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Bridge (and Elements' Organizer), to process raw format files (from every camera maker known to man) and now JPGs. At the expense of complicating the matter, beacuse all the camera makers have proprietary raw formats (that ACR has to deal with to stay in the game) Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, has created a open source format they call DNG that they would dearly love all camera manufacturers to adopt as a format used "in camera" (few have to date). In the mean time, the ACR plug-in will save your JPG or native raw format files in a DNG format for safe keeping (without going inot Photoshop or Elements), or you can pass the file along thru ACR to PS or PSE and then save as a PPSD or JPG or whatever file format you choose.

Now, the ACR program is like a pre-processor for Photoshop/Elements, and is not really an editor. Think of it as a set of convenient and simple adjustment tools (similar to the ones found in PS or PSE). The ACR implementation in the Elements environment is a scaled down (read easier) subset of controls what you see in the full Photoshop implementation.

The simple slider controls in ACR let you make quick work of tweaking exposure, white balance, blacks, fill light (very handy for boosting shadows), vibrancy and saturation, and the oft overlooked pre-edit sharpening. Some of the tools at your dispoosal, I would argue are nearly impossible duplicate (if at all) in Elements, at least not as easily.

In ACR you have almost all the controls (sliders) you need to adjust your image (notice I didn't say edit) on one screen to make the adjustments that in PS or PSE would require a half-dozen or more adjustment layers and/or destructive menu adjustments.

The most important feature about ACR that makes it stand out against PS and Elements is that ALL of the adjustments you make are non-destructive. They never make permanent changes to the native files. You can make the adjustments "stick" when you leave the ACR processor, and even pass those adjustments along to Photoshop and Elements for the real editing job.

Try ACR on a JPG that is "flat" in contrast, with a light blue color cast, that has some exposure and shadow problems, and you'll be hooked! The white balance (called "temperature") and/or the "Fill Light" sliders are alone worth the "price of admission" (which incidentally is free with the PS or PSE).

When you are ready, don't be afraid to give it a try.

Jeff

[Cassie O]

Thank you, Jeff. That was very informative! I have a couple of images that would probably benefit greatly from a Raw treatment. Example: I have some pictures of my breakfast nook, taken with the shades open on a bright, sunny day. The nook looks very dark, even though it was bathed in sunlight.

Once I have more (much more) experience, those will probably be the some of first images I try to adjust with Raw.

[suecan]

I hope my question fits in here.
I just shot the last several hundred images of a recent trip in RAW for the first time.
I have also been using the Scott Kelby book mentioned above to help me edit my images in Camera Raw. So far I'm very pleased with the editing I have been able to do, but have a question about saving the edited images. Each image seems to save as an NEF file and a PSD file. Since I'm not sure what these actually are, I don't know which ones to save to my "best" folder which will eventually be made into slide shows, calendars, individual prints, DVDs etc.
Any advice would be appreciated.
PS I especially like the way you can work with the exposure- the highlight clipping warning and recovery slider are great!

[ljameso1]

NEF is Nikon's raw file. PSD is adobe's version of TIFF. While all programs can usually use TIFF files, not all can use PSD. Any adobe program can use PSD. Both PSD and Tiff enable you to save without flattening(losing) your layers. I do remember there being a thread as how to process jpg in acr via bridge, but don't remember as I only shoot raw. Maybe someone else will.

[Simenon]

Hi Cassie - Well, I don't have PSE 6 as I find version 4 with the addition of a few plug-ins is serving me just fine. However, I do have a friend who recently purchased PSE 6 and the same Kelby\Kloskowski book you mention. Like you, the book has him confused about RAW. I saw one reviewer at the Amazon site who felt that this text was not suitable for beginners. Perhaps the authors tackle RAW too early on.

To my notion, a better Kloskowski starter text is The Photoshop Elements 5 Restoration and Retouching Book. This tutorial offers a host of practical solutions to common photo problems and will ease you into the mechanics of the program so that you will be better prepared to handle more advanced topics with confidence later on. You might want to browse it at a book store near you. The adjustment from Elements 5 to 6 is minimal.

One note: this Kloskowski text does not go into RAW at all so it won't be much help on that score.

FWIW

~ Simenon

[Jeff Perry]

Suecan, when you "process" a NEF file either in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), you are not "saving" as NEF file. Your ACR settings that you mentioned are saved but nothing has been done to the original NEF file. When you tweak a NEF in ACR, and then "Open Image" and launch Photoshop or Elements, you can then continue editing and save as JPG, PSD, TIFF etc. It is your choice. The original NEF file is not overwritten.

If you do want to "save" to something while in ACR (and not go into Elements with the file), in the Elements' implementation your only choice is to save in Adobe's open source DNG format. Most people I know that use ACR do not do it that way, they process the raw NEF file in ACR, then either hit "Done" which closes the NEF file and saves the settings you made, or they "Open Image" it in PS or PSE and then do a "Save As" in some format of choice.

Clear as mud, right?

Jeff

[ljameso1]

I also remember watching videos about acr on the subscriber area that made it pretty easy to understand.

[patkc2000]

I barely understand the concept of Camera Raw and don't think I'm advanced enough yet to delve into it. I have no photos in Camera Raw (well, none that I'm aware of). Will I miss something important to me, the complete newbie, if I skip this chapter?

I'm also a newbie, so take what I'm about to type with that in mind.

I bought the same book and understand your confusion with "raw". My understanding is that you don't have to shoot in "raw" to edit a picture in "raw". But editing in camera raw avails you of many editing options you couldn't use otherwise.

Make sure you choose Camera Raw from the Open As pop-up menu when opening your picture. That way you're editing on a copy of your picture and nothing you do is effecting the pixels of the original photo. So if you screw it up, no harm done. (See page 49 in the pse6 digital photog book)

When done editing, you can save it as a jpg by renaming it or adding "edited" to the name so you won't save over the original jpg, or save as a Tiff for use with other programs. You can then accumulate all your edited pics in a seperate folder from the unedited versions.

I hope that helped. Pat

[CarolLHB]

Jeff-that was a wonderful explanation of raw and adjusting in ACR-thanks so much. What I still don't get is shooting in raw. Specifically (and I am fairly new at digital SLR's) can the camera be shooting in raw and program modes at the same time or do you have to shoot all manual in order to shoot in raw. Got the pre/post processing thing down, just not the shooting!:o

[suecan]

Hi Carol,
On my last trip I only shot in RAW using my Nikon D50. Many of the pictures I took were totally on automatic and some on various other settings. It is something you have the option of setting in the menu of your camera under image quality. You can use it for just certain shots or just keep it at that setting all the time. Up until this last trip I was using the JPEG fine setting, but I'm pleased with the editinging I've been able to do with the RAW images in Camera Raw of Elements 6.The only down side is the amount of memory the pictures take up, so I bought extra memory cards for my camera.
Sue

[Jeff Perry]

Carol, Sue has explained the answer to your question quite well. The camera's "shooting modes" like Auto, Program, Aperture, Shutter, or Manual, or for that matter any "scene" modes your camera may have like Portrait or Landscape, are independent of the format to which you save the actual image, either JPG, or the camera's native raw format, NEF for Nikon, CR2 for Canon, etc.

Just remember that capturing in raw format will require all images to be post-processed, even with Adobe Camera Raw defaults, before they can be saved in some other format. For instance, before you can send a photo to a friend, you will want to save it as a JPG before e-mailing it, otherwise the recipient may not have the software to handle the raw file.

Jeff

[CarolLHB]

Thanks Sue and Jeff-your explanations are perfect and I will be trying that ASAP-I am psyched!!!!!!:cool:

[sharonb]

You guys are great! Even I think I understood all that and I am definitely a "dummies" kind of reader.

[LauraE]

I always felt intimidated by Camera Raw. Thanks to the advice given here, I am going to give it a try.

Thanks again.