elements question

essoxranger · Feb 5, 2014

hi guys
a query .I notice on photoshop elements 12 there is the option to open in raw,,,now i am wondering what is the point in shooting in raw then,as if this part of the programme opens jpeg and lets you do the same thing as you can with a raw file,thanks in advanve
jim

KmH · Feb 5, 2014

Raw files have a 12 or 14 bit color depth, which provides maximum editing headroom
JPEGs are limited to an 8 bit color depth and have very little if any editing headroom.

Check out this group of tutorials- Photo Editing Tutorials

WayneF · Feb 5, 2014

There is vastly more to the subject of this question. Maybe even philosophical, but certainly day and night.

Not only better, but easier and faster. Some people may tell you the opposite, but they simply don't get it yet... too scared of it to try it maybe.

Raw is Raw, the file has no processing included, such as white balance and contrast, and not even any JPG artifacts.

Raw is the first image the camera takes, what is seen by the digital sensor. Then either automated JPG processing does something to it, or as Raw, we can defer it to the computer, when we can see it, and can see what it needs.

Shooting JPG, we set up White balance and other settings before we even take the picture. We really are not sure how it will turn out. Maybe we set White Balance last month, before we ever even imagined this scene. It is never right on.

Shooting Raw, we are not yet concerned with white balance. We ignore it for now, and we wait until we can see it later at home, to know what it needs. Plus we have much more sophisticated tools than the camera has, tools designed for the camera jobs (tools called white balance and exposure), much easier to do the stuff we need to do, after we can see what the problem is. We can try several white balance tweaks, either by eye, or using a white card (which is just one click to get perfect white balance). If the exposure was off a bit, we simply tweak it to be like we want it. We have the overwhelming advantage of seeing what we are doing, what it needs, what effect it has, etc. The Raw file is still 12 bits in our computer, vastly better than working on 8 bit JPGs. It really is day and night. Did I mention that now we can see what it actually needs?

Some people view this incorrectly as a need to edit all of our pictures. Edit is a scary word to them, they really must imagine they are to dumb to do simple stuff. But this is what makes all the difference. So in spite of the that notion, Raw is what makes it easy and fast and good. Far from the opposite imagined.

Plus, there is greatly more, even than that. Raw is Lossless Editing, meaning if next week we decide we want it a little different, we do NOT have to Undo anything, and change it again, shifting tones back and forth, which is real bad news to do. Instead, the system still has the original Raw file, unchanged, and we simply replace the first list of edit instructions with a new list. Everything stays perfect and pristine. The Adobe Raw tool will even do this part on JPG images (lossless editing - also with no additional JPG artifacts every time you change something). This may not be understandable the first day, but you quickly catch on and realize the huge benefit.

Raw is a really big deal, but sadly, not everyone gets it. See Why shoot Raw?

KmH · Feb 5, 2014

To be something we humans see as a photo a Raw file has to have a lot of processing applied to it.

An image made from a Raw file is not what is seen by the image sensor.

The image sensor in a digital camera is not a digital sensor. The image sensor is an analog device and - get ready for it - the image sensor cannot 'see' colors.

Each Raw converter application uses a unique set of algorithms that perform demosiacing (color interpolation), set a gamma curve, and tone-map at a minimum.
If you put the same Raw file through different Raw converters, the image each Raw converter produces will have a different 'look', because of the different processing each Raw converter applies.

JPEGs are made from Raw files, either right in the camera, or post process in image editing software.

WayneF · Feb 5, 2014

OK, and the light within the lens is not digital either, but immediately after that analog light is captured, within the same sensor chip, A/D is performed, and it is digital RGGB.

Same starting point as for the JPG process.

essoxranger · Feb 7, 2014

greatly appreciate the replies gents,,,my next question for those in the know,,,I find it little bit confusing as to the best way to save the file after editing.Do i open image in the raw editor and do the editing then click the option on bottom right to "open image" and save to jpeg from there?,,,,,there is an option to save file on the raw processing page that seems to save as a dng file or something,,can someone explain the purpose of this?thanks again in advance...

another thing is how do i use the option at bottom 8bit/16bit....

WayneF · Feb 7, 2014

essoxranger said:
greatly appreciate the replies gents,,,my next question for those in the know,,,I find it little bit confusing as to the best way to save the file after editing.Do i open image in the raw editor and do the editing then click the option on bottom right to "open image" and save to jpeg from there?,,,,,there is an option to save file on the raw processing page that seems to save as a dng file or something,,can someone explain the purpose of this?thanks again in advance...

One option is to save the conversion there (at bottom of Raw editor), as JPG, TIF, DNG.. It will save all that are selected (a batch, so to speak). Or maybe better, you can click the Open Image button to send it (them) to Elements, and save it (them) regularly there. This gives you the option to resample it to a final size first.