Complexity of RAW processing?

[mark_sam]

I've never shot in RAW. I shoot a 20D. Haven't sold prints, I use highest

setting on camera and jpeg. QUESTION? How labor intensive is it when one

downloads the files to have them usable? Do most RAW programs "automatically"

make some adjustment? If one shoots 40 or 50 pics at a ball game, dance, etc.

Does it take hours and hours to make them presentable? With jpeg, many times I

simply resize and hit "auto correct" with Photoshop and for what I'm doing

they look fine, or even a quick adjust "levels" takes only a moment. As I get

further into this, I can see that to have the quality of pics one needs to

sell them, RAW is apparently the way to go. Just don't know how complicated

the process is. Thanks.

[don_e]

I find raw conversion fairly simple and fast. What software do you intend to use?

 

 

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Don E

[don_e]

Ah, Photoshop. Assuming it is uptodate version, just get the free download of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) from the Adobe website, install as directed, and open a raw file in photoshop.

 

 

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Don E

[gdanmitchell]

It isn't really that hard, especially once you develop a workflow that works for you. You can

even use the ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) presets to open files with generally good default

settings. Even if you do it this way, at least your original files are still the full RAW files, and

you can go back and work with the highest quality source images in the future if you need to.

 

My workflow is roughly: View the files in Bridge, double-click the interesting once to convert

in ACR, accept settings and the files opens up in PS ready for editing.

 

Give it a try.

[geoffs1]

As with many post-processing activities, establishing a comfortable and efficient workflow is the key to success. There are many things that you can do in batch-mode to make life much easier. I'd suggest getting a copy of Bruce Faser's "Real World Camera Raw" book. He has many technical tips as well as quite bit on workflow.

 

IMO 40-50 shots won't take too long to process to a fixed size JPEG if you have little/no hand-adjustment to do. ACR has some automatic modes that might be helpful, although I've stopped using them and find I can do a "good enough" adjustment of levels in ACR in 15-30 seconds. After that I let the Bridge "Batch" or "Image Processor" churn through converting all the shots to my desired format.

 

Also, remember you can shoot RAW+JPEG. That's often a very handy combination that allows you to quickly process the JPEG, but gives you the flexibility to go back to the RAW for shots that are valuable or difficult.

 

Just an example. Here's a gallery I put together from RAW files pretty quickly:

http://www.geoff-s.net/mtp-gallery/thumbnails.php?album=63

In this case the snow was a bit of a problem, so I spent a bit of time (5 minutes) processing one shot and creating an action that brought out the details I wanted. I also spent a bit more time than usual tweaking the exposure in ACR (probably about 30 seconds a shot) before running them all through the action which created the final downsampled JPEG.

 

FWIW, there are some corrections (ex. leveling horizons) that ACR does way more easily than Photoshop itself.

 

Cheers,

 

Geoff S.

[godfrey]

BTW, if you use Adobe Lightroom, rendering from RAW is done with the same control

interface and the same ease as adjusting JPEG files.

 

Godfrey

[geoff_foale]

The only problem with RAW is large file sizes which do take a lot more time to process if you have older and slower computer equipment. No trouble if you are processing 10 images but it can take 'forever' if you are converting 100. I use RAW or JPEG depending on the volume and final output size. For best results, convert RAW to 16 bit TIFF.

 

Secondly, if you are thinking about producing images that are good enough to sell I would advise keeping clear of any auto adjustments and manually adjust individual photos as required.

 

Geoff.

[catchlight]

"If one shoots 40 or 50 pics at a ball game, dance, etc. Does it take hours and hours to make them presentable?"

 

Took 46 shots in RAW+small JPEG at a basketball game this afternoon, and it took about 25 minutes in ACR/Photoshop to post-process them, including adjusting the WB to correct the warm cast of the gym lights (no flash).

 

I look forward to improving on this time when I get Lightroom.