Alright so I shot in RAW for the very first time, now what?

TimmyD11 · Oct 29, 2017

Alright so I shot in RAW for the very first time, now what?

A few of them look pretty good...How do I even begin to bring out the most in them?

Assume I know nothing about postprocessing RAW images because I DON'T!

But I want to see what the hype is all about, I want to see these good images become even better.

Please help!

480sparky · Oct 29, 2017

You edit them.

You'll see the difference in just how much you can edit them. You can get more heavy-handed when adjusting the sliders. You can swap colors. You can edit certain colors (ie, make a blue sky pitch black if you're wanting a black & white image).

Editing is not just 'Do this, then do this, then adjust this to here...........'. It's 'this particular image needs this, so I'll do that. And it needs this, so I'll do that too................."

benhasajeep · Oct 29, 2017

It's the fact that you have 100% of what the sensor recorded. And without the camera making adjustments it thinks (programed) is right. You get to choose what to adjust, what to reduce, what to add.

Designer · Oct 29, 2017

See the benefits of shooting in raw format |

What you see on your display is a JPG that is embedded in the Raw file. (We can't really view an actual Raw file.)

When you edit, you're creating another JPG that will have the colors in it that you want to be displayed/printed.

Ysarex · Oct 29, 2017

TimmyD11 said:
Alright so I shot in RAW for the very first time, now what?

A few of them look pretty good...How do I even begin to bring out the most in them?

Assume I know nothing about postprocessing RAW images because I DON'T!

But I want to see what the hype is all about, I want to see these good images become even better.

Please help!

Pick one -- create a free Dropbox account -- post the raw file there and a link to it here. I'll show you.

Joe

TimmyD11 · Oct 29, 2017

Looking at the Canon DPP software tutorials on youtube, the one that apparently comes free with the camera, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of tweaks and changes and alterations you can make. What are the most common tweaks / changes / alterations...if I want to play with a few but not drive myself crazy?

BrentC · Oct 29, 2017

Start easy. Learn and play with white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, white and black. These are the basics.

Derrel · Oct 29, 2017

TimmyD11 said:
Looking at the Canon DPP software tutorials on youtube, the one that apparently comes free with the camera, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of tweaks and changes and alterations you can make. What are the most common tweaks / changes / alterations...if I want to play with a few but not drive myself crazy?

MOST common changes would likely be exposure, highlight recovery, black point, curves, contrast,sharpening. Others would be fill light, shadows; it is difficult to name some of these things in one,single way, since some image editing software refers to some things a bit differently than other applications do.

Designer · Oct 29, 2017

TimmyD11 said:
What are the most common tweaks / changes / alterations...if I want to play with a few but not drive myself crazy?

I think everybody will choose different adjustments, and it will depend on the file you're faced with, but I will first straighten, then check the exposure, white balance, curves, contrast, highlights and shadows, and maybe a bit of sharpening, depending on the subject. The final crop might happen at that point, or when I'm contemplating printing and framing. After that, if it still needs more work, I will usually let it rest for a day or so just to be sure I want to put more work into it.

dennybeall · Oct 29, 2017

If you are used to seeing jpg files the raw files will not look so good. That's because the jpg files have been post-processed in the way the camera companies programmers wanted. You have to PP your raw files the way you want, especially sharpening.

vintagesnaps · Oct 29, 2017

My digital camera is DNG so I get the Raw and an automatically generated JPEG from that (which I rarely use). It depends, sometimes I just open photos in Photoshop and go, okay, looks good... I'll print a 4x6 and if it prints well that's it. Otherwise I may adjust contrast, brightness, or whatever it needs. My post processing is minimal.

I've been a photographer for a long time and learned how to meter a scene/subject and get a proper exposure. Then whether it's digital or in a 'wet' darkroom (using chemistry) I don't have a lot to do most of the time.

What's similar is if I got proper exposures I'll have minimal post work to do. But if I'd want to play with my dodgette set on a photo being exposed under the enlarger I could; if I wanted to play with a photo in Photoshop and max out settings til it looks freaky, I can. But I wouldn't want to do that with every photo that I want to use or I'd never get done!

Make copies to experiment with so you don't ruin your original. Maybe pick one setting to start with and just play around and see what it does. You don't have to save it all, or any of it (or you could save some labeled so you remember what you did), just play til you start getting the hang of it. I'm a longtime film photographer, and if I managed to figure out digital editing... it's a matter of trying and practicing and learning. But maybe don't read so much that you've maxed out your brain! lol before you try it out so you can see what you read about. You can always refer back to your reading and it might make more sense once you've done some.

OldManJim · Oct 30, 2017

Like the OP, I never played much with RAW files. But, thanks to all of you - I'm excited to try. (I think you may have created a monster!)

Tomasko · Oct 30, 2017

I think you already answered your own question...

TimmyD11 said:
Assume I know nothing about postprocessing RAW images because I DON'T!

Designer · Oct 30, 2017

Tomasko said:
I think you already answered your own question...

TimmyD11 said:

Assume I know nothing about postprocessing RAW images because I DON'T!

Click to expand...

How is that helpful? Can you offer anything that will help the OP?

Tomasko · Oct 30, 2017

@Designer , sadly (or fortunately?) I can't learn these things in his stead. It's like going to some woodworking forum and saying "hey, I just bought the gear but I have no idea what to do with it". Duh! Open google, pick ANY raw editor and start learning how to do whatever he wants to do. I don't know what he's trying to achieve with his photos, his level of experience with computers etc., only he can decide what he needs to learn next, how to process his images... Also everyone learns the best a bit differently. Someone prefers written articles, someone learns from youtube videos and some can learn only when guided by another person directly.

The point is, he asked what to do next while saying "I don't know how to process it". The obvious answer is already in the question.