Help editing RAW files!! PLease help!

[Kristynb85]

Ok so I have a Nikon D60 and last night I went out to photograph the eclipse. Well it turns out that my camera setting was set to "RAW" because my boyfriend changed it without me knowing. I don't know anything about RAW files. In the LCD camera screen they looked really good but in Picasa they were dull, grainy, etc. What is the easiest way to get my pictures to look like they did on the LCD??
Please Help. Like I said I don't know anything about editing RAW files so please be very specific. Do I need to download any programs?

Thank you,
Kristyn

 

[kundalini]

The image you saw on your LCD was a jpeg rendition of the RAW file. You will need a RAW editor and edit the file. I believe GIMP does RAW and is free.

 

[Kristynb85]

Thanks for the information. Once I download the program..what do I change to get it to look like it did in the LCD?
I really have no idea what I'm doing and would really appreciate some editing help.
Thank you

 

[The Whole Whirled]

You should thank your boyfriend, RAW looks so much better than JPEG.

 

[Garbz]

You should thank your boyfriend, RAW looks so much better than JPEG.

You're a winner .... for least helpful comment of this year.

Thanks for the information. Once I download the program..what do I change to get it to look like it did in the LCD?

RAW converts will all give their own rendition of what the image should look like. In GIMP you'd need a lot of tweaking to get things to look like your camera JPEG. Also the RAW engine used by GIMP in my opinion is feral and you'll need some divine intervention to get it looking like the camera.

Go to the manufacturer's website and download their RAW converter. For Nikon it's Nikon View or Nikon Capture NX. Not sure but I think Canon's is called Digital Photo Professional. All of them have 30 day trial versions and they will render the image exactly as the JPEG. All you need to do is open the RAW file (if you're going to do something like play with the contrast or brightness then do it now), and save as a JPEG. The results will be as close to the camera JPEG as you could possibly hope for.

 

[DVC Mike]

Ok so I have a Nikon D60 and last night I went out to photograph the eclipse. Well it turns out that my camera setting was set to "RAW" because my boyfriend changed it without me knowing. I don't know anything about RAW files. In the LCD camera screen they looked really good but in Picasa they were dull, grainy, etc. What is the easiest way to get my pictures to look like they did on the LCD??
Please Help. Like I said I don't know anything about editing RAW files so please be very specific. Do I need to download any programs?

Thank you,
Kristyn

Nikon ViewNX2 is a free program you can download from Nikon's web site. Or, you can pay for Nikon Capture NX2, which allows extensive editing of Nikon raw files, as well as JPEG.

 

[cnutco]

Email me the files if you want... I will send them back in jpeg.

cnutco@gmail.com