RAW Troubles

[paigegreen916]

i shot in RAW for the first time last week. (family portraits) about 3 gigs from a 10.2 mp camera (which translates to about 550 images) and it is taking FOREVER to edit them. i can't preview the images so i have to open each one in the converter to even see the image, then it has to convert to Tiff. before i can edit in photoshop, then i have to convert to JPEG. before i can send them off to be printed and i still haven't even figured out how to do that! (its not given as a file option under "save as") the quality may be slightly better, but the headache is causing me to consider simple shooting in JPEG from now on!
*exhale*
sorry, i needed to vent.

 

[iflynething]

Do you have RAW Capture. Photoshop should be able to open up the images with no problem. Now if you're just using the windows viewer (I assumer you're using PC) then you will not be able to view those images. You can view them through InfranView (just google search it....it's free, don't worry). Anyways, please do not go back to JPEG. Once you get into the heavy editing, and even before then, and start messing with white balance and bringing back highlight and bringing out the shadows, you will see the diffference. RAW captures SO much more information. I won't get into that though. Searching RAW on here will give you much more information about that. Do you have CS2 or 3? Like I said, it shouldn't be a problem to open in photoshop

~Michael~

 

[paigegreen916]

i have CS2, and i mostly edit through actions. i dont even know what RAW capture is. is that through photoshop?

 

[davebmck]

You should be able to preview your pics in Adobe Bridge. From there you can open the files in Camera Raw. Go to the Adobe site and make sure you have the current updates. If you have pictures that were taken in similar lighting conditions, you can open multiple images in Camera Raw and apply the same adjustments to the group. You can also save your files in jpeg format from Camera Raw.

I do 95% of my PP in Camera Raw now. I only use Photoshop to do major editing.

 

[lockwood81]

If you have XP or Vista there is a plug-in that allows you to view raw files in your regular viewer.

(You don't need adobe to do everything)

 

[sdesha]

MAC's are the fastest for all of that! I love my MAC!:heart:

 

[pez]

If you have XP or Vista there is a plug-in that allows you to view raw files in your regular viewer.

(You don't need adobe to do everything)

?? link?

 

[Photog]

If you have the option, don't just shoot RAW, shoot RAW+Jpeg, then you always have the option of firstly viewing the jpegs, and then keeping any jpegs and not editing the RAW file if you're happy with them.

 

[pez]

If you have the option, don't just shoot RAW, shoot RAW+Jpeg, then you always have the option of firstly viewing the jpegs, and then keeping any jpegs and not editing the RAW file if you're happy with them.

That's what I do, but I've been considering shooting RAW only to save space, as the in-camera JPG isn't very good on a K10D (but converted from RAW it's just fine).

 

[lockwood81]

Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8e-b10d-4ce4-a141-5866fd4a3286&DisplayLang=en

Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx

MAC's are the fastest for all of that! I love my MAC!:heart:

I don't believe the hype.

 

[ddm1975]

If you have XP or Vista there is a plug-in that allows you to view raw files in your regular viewer.

(You don't need adobe to do everything)

Thanks for that tip!

 

[Big Mike]

There are plenty of programs that will allow you to preview your RAW files. The Photoshop browser or Bridge should certainly let you preview them.

I would suggest that you look into Adobe Lightroom (download the free trial)...it's a work flow software that really helps you to edit RAW files in a quick and efficient manor. You can make adjustments and uncomplicated edits in Lightroom but it's not a replacement for Photoshop as an image editor, however, I know several photographers who use Lightroom and have practically cut Photoshop right out of their workflow, doing it entirely in Lightroom...and making their workflow much faster.

 

[paigegreen916]

i do have lightroom, but it will only allow me to save as a lightroom document. in order to post to my site or blog, it has to be JPEG. the time it takes my editing process has trippled since shoooting in raw. (and if i shot in raw+Jpeg, i would't use the raw files at all...i know it.)

 

[settons]

Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8e-b10d-4ce4-a141-5866fd4a3286&DisplayLang=en

Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx

quote]

This is great...thanks for this. It will be nice to have a quick preview without having to open bridge.

Great find.

 

[Big Mike]

i do have lightroom, but it will only allow me to save as a lightroom document.

Well then you aren't using Lightroom properly.
Lightroom works differently than Photoshop and most other computer programs. When you import and make changes to an image, it doesn't save the image file with the changes applied to it. Instead, it saves the changes in a separate file. This is a 'non-destructive' work flow because you can open Lightroom and make changes, as many times as you like, and it won't degradate the original image image at all.

Then, when you are done with the edits/changes...you export the image into the format that you want...JPEG, TIFF, web sized, print sized etc.

I'd suggest reading a book or some tutorials about lightroom and workflow. There is certainly a learning curve involved with shooting RAW, compared to shooting JPEG...but the results are worth it.

I would suggest you check out this site: www.luminous-landscape.com and consider purchasing the Lightroom tutorial(s). If RAW editing is really taking you 3x times longer....then it would be well worth the money for you to learn about and develop a better workflow.