Question regarding post editing (hue/saturation)

CaptainNapalm

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Hey folks,

I recently started shooting RAW format for all the benefits everyone talks about, but specifically so that I can adjust the white balance after the picture was taken. I'm liking it so far but I need some clarification on one feature. So when I open a RAW photo in PSE 11 a special 'RAW Editing Menu' pops up allowing me to do a number of adjustments before I proceed to save the file or convert it to JPEG. The first thing I can do is adjust the white balance from which I can pick any one of the standard: cloudy, sunny, fluorescent, as shot, etc. and then fine tune more as required. After using this feature for some time now I notice that it essentially does the same thing as adjusting the 'hue/saturation/lighting' when working in JPEG format. Please correct me if I'm wrong but if that's the case then why does everyone say that the white balance issue can't be corrected in JPEG after taking the picture. I'm suspecting that perhaps PSE is not the best program to edit RAW files to their full capability so that's why maybe I'm missing something. My other guess is that when you're adjusting in RAW you're maintaining picture detail and quality but when adjusting in JPEG any adjustment you make takes away from the photo detail or quality. This would explain why RAW files (even when converted later to JPEG post editing) are so much larger. Some of the other features I get in the RAW menu are sharpness adjustment, denoise adjustment, colour fixes, clarity, etc. all of which are available for editing in JPEG as well. Can someone maybe shed some light?

Thanks in advance!!
 
Changing the white balance in a raw converter is not at all the same as applying a hue/saturation change to an existing JPEG. Very different operations with very different results.

The version of ACR incorporated into Elements is simplified but what it does it does well. Always think of photo editing as a double-edged sword. Every time you make an adjustment that seems to improve your photo remember to ask what got cut by the other side of the blade.

Joe
 
Basically, it's the difference between Destructive editing vs Non-Destrcutive editing. Google that, and you'll get your answer. Work as non-destructively as possible to preserve image data, and ultimately, quality of the image (color depth, etc.)
 
You can do a lot with JPGs but it's not the same as working in RAW, with a JPG every adjustment you make degrades the image, that's just how they work. There are some pretty good tools for fixing white balance but they're still a bodge. You'll see if you try fixing a really off WB jpg compared to RAW, in RAW the WB is never actually off, it's just previewing the incorrect setting.

As I understand it in RAW you're always processing the original data that the beyer array captured, you make an adjustment, it previews it, another adjustment, it previews it again and so on until you decide it's ready and export it as (for instance) a JPG when the developing you've done is applied to the image, the final level of control you have is over JPG compression, the lower you set it the higher the quality of the JPG and the larger the exported file.
 
Thanks guys. You all confirm what I suspected I just wanted some confirmation. Cheers.
 
PsE 11 Camera Raw, Lightroom 4's Develop Module, and CS 6 Camera Raw all use Adobe Camera Raw 6 (ACR 6).

However, since PsE 11 is a less expensive consumer grade version, itonly has 1/2 the tools, panels, features ACR 6 has.

JPEGs are edited in the camera, and those edits cannot be undone in any Raw converter. Plus one of the JPEG file compression steps is to lock the pixels in a JPEG into Minimum Coded Units (MCU's) of 8x8 pixel, 8x16 pixel, or 16x16 pixel blocks.
many times when people think they are seeing pixelation in a JPEG, they are actually seeing the edges of those larger blocks of pixels.

ACR cannot edit pixels. The edits are line commands that affect the image processing algorithms the Raw converter uses to make a Raw image data file something we humans can perceive as a photo.
 
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OP, hit option + click (on open) and it will open RAW file as smart object and keep it as a RAW, but you can work in the adobe work environment. Then, ALL of your editing is done in non destructive adjustment layers. That's how you avoid any loss. Simple and effective
 
OP, hit option + click (on open) and it will open RAW file as smart object and keep it as a RAW, but you can work in the adobe work environment. Then, ALL of your editing is done in non destructive adjustment layers. That's how you avoid any loss. Simple and effective

Thanks for that tip.
 

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