A little help with RAW conversion

ottor · May 18, 2009

I have Elements 7 as well as Photoshop 3 on my laptop... I'd like to play with shooting in RAW so I DL'd Adobe Raw ... when I click on it, Elements 7 opens up.. I can't even get to the RAW program to see if the issue is in some default settings... Any ideas?? (Unless it's supposed to open up Elements... then I have no idea what to do with it..)

Dwig · May 18, 2009

You appearantly have things a bit confused.

Adobe Camera RAW is plugin that works with a range of Photoshop variants and versions, one of which is your Photoshop Elements 7. It is not a standalone application. You need to have the newest version that is compatible with your version of PSE. Check to make sure that the Camera RAW plugin you downloaded is appropriate for PSE7.

Next, you need to follow Adobe's instructions to install the plugin in the correct folder. Once done, PSE7 uses the Camera RAW plugin as an import filter. If your system defaults are such that PSE7 is the default app for editing your flavor of RAW file (e.g. Nikon's .nef format) the double clicking on the RAW file will launch PSE7. Initially, you will see PSE7 in the background and the plugin's UI in the forground. The plugin's UI will display the image and the various controls for adjusting the RAW conversion. When you click the OK button (or OPEN, depending on version) the converted file will be displayed in PSE7 itself.

I'm not sure what application you refer to when you say "Photoshop 3". The real "Photoshop version 3.0" is an antique version, which, if I'm not mistaken, was available only for old Mac OS's (if memory serves v3.5 was the first Windows version). The regular Photoshop is now version 11 though its named
"Photoshop CS4". Photoshop CS3 was version 10. There have been several variants of Photoshop that were simplified versions, Photoshop Elements is the current line.

ottor · May 18, 2009

To quote an infamous prior Vice President candidate.... "You Betcha"... I was confused.... So I opened Elements 7 and went to file/open and opened a RAW image.... Up came the Camera Raw as you described with the image and the editing screen..

Now, What I meant was that I had Photoshop CS3 installed.... How would I make the Photoshop the default program instead of the Elements program?

thanks for your help on this...

r

Dwig · May 19, 2009

Changing the default application associated with a particular file type is not a feature of either Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements 7. Its an operating system issue.

What operating system are you using?

ottor · May 19, 2009

Just picked up a very basic laptop for photo stuff, so it has the infamous "Vista Basic"..

tks for your help.... I'm still a little confused about RAW - perhaps Im' making it more difficult than it is... I'd like to hear someones workflow that uses the programs I have.. I have a friend at work, but he uses Lightroom and can't relate..

thank again,,