So editing Raw...

Derek Zoolander · Jan 28, 2009

I was listening to Camera Dojo's podcast this morning and they were talking about editing Raw. The guy said he can adjust 2 full F-stops in Raw.

1st question, F-stop has to do with Aperture, right? If so, I thought the benefit to Raw was going +1 or -1 in EXPOSURE.

2nd question, when I import all my files into Lightroom (I shoot Raw+JPEG) does Lightroom automatically work on the raw file? In my case it is .CR2?

3rd question, once it's in lightroom and I notice that the picture is too dark/under exposed, is it just a matter of changing the Exposure to +1, assuming I'm working on the Raw file?

4th question, is that even the right way to think of Raw? That I can simply go in later and change the exposure as though I would had I changed it before I took the picture on the camera?

Thanks!

Josh66 · Jan 28, 2009

Derek Zoolander said:
I was listening to Camera Dojo's podcast this morning and they were talking about editing Raw. The guy said he can adjust 2 full F-stops in Raw.

1st question, F-stop has to do with Aperture, right? If so, I thought the benefit to Raw was going +1 or -1 in EXPOSURE.

You can adjust the exposure up or down a stop (or more) using aperture (or shutter speed, or ISO), but you don't have to use the aperture.

Derek Zoolander said:
2nd question, when I import all my files into Lightroom (I shoot Raw+JPEG) does Lightroom automatically work on the raw file? In my case it is .CR2?

Lightroom will work on whichever one you click on.
If you're importing both of them there should be two of every image in Lightroom. Pay close attention to the file names when you're working on them. I would just import the RAWs.

Derek Zoolander said:
3rd question, once it's in lightroom and I notice that the picture is too dark/under exposed, is it just a matter of changing the Exposure to +1, assuming I'm working on the Raw file?

Pretty much, but there are limitations. If you change the exposure too much you're going to introduce noise. You can also use curves to tweak the exposure.

Derek Zoolander said:
4th question, is that even the right way to think of Raw? That I can simply go in later and change the exposure as though I would had I changed it before I took the picture on the camera?

It's not like you can just run around without ever checking your camera settings and just fix it all later, but you do have a little room for error. You still need to get everything right in the camera as much as you can.
You can use it to fix some things though - a blown out sky for example. If it's not completely blown out (all white) you can usually recover it.

tirediron · Jan 28, 2009

It's hard to say what the 'right' way to think of RAW is really. Here are my thoughts: The main benefit to RAW files is that they contain significantly more information than .jpg files.

This extra information will give you some extra latitude in adjusting your exposure, that is darkening highlights and lightening shadows, that said. Blown highlights or full black are unrecoverable if there's no info, there's no info. Aperture is 1/3 of exposure. The other two components are shutter speed and ISO. It doesn't matter if the adjustment is made with shutter-speed or aperture, or by adjusting ISO, a stop of exposure is a stop of exposure. That is: If you adjust the image by opening the aperture one (or two) stops, or by changing the shutter speed, it makes NO difference to the exposure of the image.

Lightroom will not do anything automatically to your images (except I believe orient them) unless you have created and run actions. Importing the images just puts them into a catalogue and makes them available.

If your image is too dark, use all of the tools to adjust it, that is, exposure, highlights/shadow, fill light etc. Moving the exposure slider only will improve the image, but not necessarily make it as good as it can be.

Derek Zoolander · Jan 28, 2009

So exposure is really a combination of those three things? I always thought it was a matter or how long your shutter speed was left open for... and aperture was intended more for DOF, while helping with lighting if it's a small F-number. I guess I didn't really understand what ISO is, just that it helps lighten photos in trade for some noise.

mrodgers · Jan 28, 2009

Derek Zoolander said:
So exposure is really a combination of those three things? I always thought it was a matter or how long your shutter speed was left open for... and aperture was intended more for DOF, while helping with lighting if it's a small F-number. I guess I didn't really understand what ISO is, just that it helps lighten photos in trade for some noise.

Yes, it is a combination of all three. What you begin to say there is true. Shutter affects motion/action, aperture affects DOF, and ISO affects noise and sensitivity of the sensor. They all affect the light entering the camera.

I think of it this way. My perfect exposure I will give a value of 30. I have to come up with a combination of aperture, shutter, and ISO to achieve exposure of a value of 30.

A + S + ISO = Exposure

10+10+10=30

If I want a faster shutter speed to freeze action or movement, I'll change the shutter speed.....

A+S+ISO=Exposure
12+8+10=30
or
10+8+12=30

When you remove value from one, you must add a value of another to equate to the same exposure.

That's how I think of it.

tirediron · Jan 28, 2009

mrodgers said:
I think of it this way. My perfect exposure I will give a value of 30. I have to come up with a combination of aperture, shutter, and ISO to achieve exposure of a value of 30.

A + S + ISO = Exposure

10+10+10=30

Excellent analogy! :thumbup:

Derek Zoolander · Feb 1, 2009

yeah, that's a great analogy thanks!

One more thing, I was told that if im shooting in RAW + JPEG, that I would see two of every picture in lightroom. This is not the case for me. what's the deal?