Working with RAW

[BenLou]

Hi guys,
Just wondering if any of you can tell me about RAW. I get the idea and what it does(I think I do anyway!!) but I wanted to ask a question on it. If I take a pic and have it as a RAW file, can I then go in and adjust the white balance to what it should be? My buddy has a white strip on her wetsuit, so if she is in the shot and I have shots around the same depth and light can I adjust them all by using the strip on her wetsuit as a white base so to speak. Sorry about asking this question in an awkward manner but I know what I want to know, just getting it hard to ask it!! I'm thinking of buying a Canon G9 and want to know if I will be able to edit my pictures like this if I have RAW on the camera. Thanks for your help.

 

[Choyster]

We had a little discussion about this very topic a few weeks ago. Basically, the answer is yes. With RAW, you can just shoot away and adjust the color balance afterward. Here's the link to the discussion.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/235103-canon-a570-help-please-2.html

Good luck!

 

[Kim]

The short answer is yes..... you can adjust white balance to get as close to what the camera would have been able to capture with perfect settings.

If you take a normal JPEG picture, the camera actually creates a compressed file to save. It decides on the spot, according to your settings, what of the available information it "sees" is worth saving or not. Consequently it might decide that certain information isn't really necessary and not include it.
RAW saves everything. It saves ALL the information that the camera can record. It doesn't compress, or dump, anything. That's what YOU get to do later when you look at it and make the adjustments to produce what you want.

Of course - if the camera couldn't see it at all..... like a red channel at 30 meters..... then even RAW won't save you. But if it got even a glimpse of what was actually there.... you can amplify and play with balances to get much closer to what it really looked like in proper light!

The G9 is a great camera. I'm intending to buy one myself.... I would advise though that you also buy Adobe Photoshop Elements, or even the full Photoshop if your budget stretches that far..... to do your post-processing. It's a LOT better than the Canon software that comes with the camera.

 

[alcina]

Yup, you can. I highly recommend Lightroom - download a free, fully functional version but be warned you'll likely end up buying it - as it's incredible at working with white balance and will make your life so much easier than many other programs out there.

I do virtually all of my processing in LR, it's cut processing time significantly, and I rarely even open Photoshop during the normal course of things any more.

 

[DevonDiver]

Another question on this topic. Can anyone offer some advice on how to import RAW files into Photoshop for processing? I have Photoshop CS2.

Cheers, Andy

 

[Kim]

Another question on this topic. Can anyone offer some advice on how to import RAW files into Photoshop for processing? I have Photoshop CS2.

Cheers, Andy

Most RAW files will open with no problem. If they don't you might need an update. As new RAW formats come out Adobe updates their software usually.

 

[alcina]

You'll need to use Bridge, which comes with PS or use something like Lightroom.

Your camera may also have software to install (such as Canon's DPP)

 

[Christian]

Andy

There is a dedicated Adobe RAW-editing software plug-in to Photoshop, called Adobe Camera RAW - ACR. You have to download it from their site.

/c

 

[vondo]

My buddy has a white strip on her wetsuit, so if she is in the shot and I have shots around the same depth and light can I adjust them all by using the strip on her wetsuit as a white base so to speak.

Yes. A sandy bottom is also a pretty good source of "white" (gray, actually) that you can use to adjust your photos.

 

[Eskasi]

Hi guys,
Just wondering if any of you can tell me about RAW. I get the idea and what it does(I think I do anyway!!) but I wanted to ask a question on it. If I take a pic and have it as a RAW file, can I then go in and adjust the white balance to what it should be? My buddy has a white strip on her wetsuit, so if she is in the shot and I have shots around the same depth and light can I adjust them all by using the strip on her wetsuit as a white base so to speak. Sorry about asking this question in an awkward manner but I know what I want to know, just getting it hard to ask it!! I'm thinking of buying a Canon G9 and want to know if I will be able to edit my pictures like this if I have RAW on the camera. Thanks for your help.

You got it right....in Photoshop Lightroom, all you have to do is click on the eyedropper to choose it, then click on the part that you think should be white...presto!....however, keep in mind that it is best to choose something "white" as close to the subject in question. Take for example a reef scene that stretches out into the distant background, the color can change dramatically if you choose a sandy patch nearby to call white as opposed to using a distant patch as a sample.

In your own example, if you buddy's wetsuit has a white patch (or even if using a grey steel tank), her colors would come out properly white balanced. If you used a sandy patch because you can't find any white on her, try using something in the same plane or distance as your buddy.

Hope this helps. Most people I show this to think its magic...I have even been accused of cheating!