| Photography Forum: Digital Darkroom Forum: |
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Q. RAW processing advice please
Asked by Daniel Guerin
(K=7961) on 9/20/2005
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I've recently started shooting digital with a Pentax *ist DS. Although I well versed in Photoshop, RAW is new to me.
I gather it is important to do as much processing in Photoshops' RAW software, but I'm wondering to what extent. Of course, colour balance is important but how much importance should I put on the exposure/shadow sliders etc, against levels/curves and shadows within PS? And then sharpening and noise reduction. I have some great sharpening routines I normally use at the end of my processing and good NR plugins for at the beginning.
I'm just wondering where I should draw the line between RAW processing and my usual PS processing.
Thanks for reading and for any advice given.
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Dana Finchum
(K=2200) - Comment Date 9/20/2005
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Hi Daniel,
I do basic processing with my Pentax RAW files,
exposure compensation, maybe a curves adjustment.
I use the Pentax utility or raw shooter for this.
Output is 48bit color. I like you do USM/NR in the final steps. I have found little if any difference doing further processing in the raw converter.
Dana
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Vojtech Tryhuk
(K=900) - Comment Date 11/15/2005
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To understand RAW processing, it is neccessary to know, that every pixel on the sensor records only one component of the color and that the rest of the information is gained through interpolation. From this you can deduce that it is good to perform all operations affecting color, that means white balance, chromatic aberration, noise reduction. You can also adjust exposure, but imho it isn't that neccessary if you import the image in 16bits/channel and work in that depth. I'd also mention that it is good to watch for quality of interpolation, when looking for a good raw convertor, because many watch for speed and they don't notice, that their images are full of awful artifacts.
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Derek Dixon
(K=4948) - Comment Date 11/28/2005
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I normally do the colour/light retouch in RAW, as the amount of information kept is greater then doing so in PS. As for sharpening and noise reduction I find myself that PS gives better results.
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