Introduction to Raw Conversion

I just want to thank everyone for the overwhelming response to my new Creative Digital Processing video tutorial series. I’m happy to report that the launch has been a great success, and I’m beginning to work on the second part of the series which will start to shift the focus from the ”how” to the “why.” In the meantime, I have embedded below a low res version of one of the two free videos in the tutorial series, Introduction to Raw Conversion, which shows my basic raw conversion workflow using Adobe Camera Raw. You can download the high res version, along with the rest of my videos, from my website.

As I’ve had a few questions from folks about my videos, I thought I’d share some here along with my answers. As a general matter, I will be using this blog to provide “customer support” for issues relating to the videos. Feel free to ask any question you like, but please refrain from open ended “how can I . . .” type questions. If your question will require a whole video tutorial to answer, chances are that (1) I won’t answer the question here, and (2) I will likely produce a video that answers the question at some point in the near future.

Q: You don’t seem to do much image editing during the raw conversion process, why is that?

A: My personal preference is to do as little editing as possible during the raw conversion process. I prefer to do most of my editing in Photoshop because you can more precisely control the process using layers and masks. Although many raw conversion programs are getting more sophisticated in terms of targeted adjustments, Photoshop still offers the most robust tools for making precise edits.

Q: I’m not using Adobe Photoshop CS5, but rather am using an earlier version. Will the processes you discuss in your videos work for me?

A: Yes, they will work, with some minor variation. The basic layers and masks tools of Photoshop have been around for quite some time and haven’t changed much. In earlier versions of Photoshop, the adjustment palette doesn’t open up automatically whenever you create a new adjustment layer—rather, you have to double click on the adjustment layer icon to open up the adjustment palette—but beyond that the basic workflow hasn’t changed much. In other words, you shouldn’t have any problems adapting the workflow to earlier versions of Photoshop.

Q: I see that you recommend using Adobe RGB (1998) as the color space for image processing. I’ve heard that ProPhoto RGB is a wider gamut space and therefore better for image editing.

A: Yes, ProPhoto RGB has a wider color gamut than Adobe RGB, and some photographers use this color space for more precise image editing. If you are using ProPhoto RGB, then by all means continue to do so. That said, I personally don’t think there is a compelling need to use ProPhoto RGB, for several reasons. Adobe RGB is a well accepted industry standard and gives you plenty of flexibility when editing images. ProPhoto RGB offers some more flexibility, but remember that any end use you can think of—whether it is posting images on the Internet, conversion to CMYK for print publishing, or outputting your photo as a print on a desktop inkjet printer—means that you will be squishing your image into a smaller gamut color space. Adobe RGB is already a little bit overkill in this regard, as it is a wider gamut space than any existing end-use application. ProPhoto RGB is even more so. So, bottom line is that I don’t use ProPhoto RGB myself, and I don’t insist that others use it, but on the other hand I won’t say don’t use it either. Adobe RGB is plenty good and will be more than sufficient for your needs.

Q: Why can’t you offer all of your videos for free?

A: Sorry, that’s just the way a free market economy works. Tell you what—I will offer all of my videos for free when you convince Lamborghini to give me a $1.6 million Reventon for free. Man that car looks sick.

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About Ian Plant (275 Posts)

Ian Plant's photographs and instructional articles have appeared in a number of books, calendars, and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer and Popular Photography. Ian writes a regular blog column for Outdoor Photographer online, and he is the author of numerous instructional eBooks and digital processing tutorials. Ian leads several photo tours each year.

6 Comments

Eric E. July 1, 2011 at 8:42 am

Thanks Ian, I continue to be inspired by you and will look into your videos more as a resource. I’m trying to convince Porsche of the same thing!
Mike Toledo July 1, 2011 at 10:02 am

Love that you are expanding your tutorials to photoshop. I have been looking for good instructions and most of what I have found are tutorials showing every little trick that has nothing to do with what I want to learn.

Enjoy Canada
Mike
Margaret July 1, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Hi Ian. I really like your new videos; I have them in addition to your books.
Even though I don’t use photoshop, I find I can adapt the techniques and concepts you use in Lightroom and OnOne’s Perfect Layers. I’m learning when to apply layers and how to use them. Thanks.
- Ian July 1, 2011 at 1:50 pm
  
  THanks everyone. Margaret, stay tuned – Lightroom tutorials are in the works!
Christy July 7, 2011 at 8:12 pm

Hi Ian,
Thanks for this video; really appreciated your easy to understand definitions for some of the sliders that I play around with but never really know just what they’re for. Quick question: is there a difference (and if so, what) between the Adobe Bridge editor and Adobe Raw editor? It looks pretty much the same minus the Adobe Raw header on the top left.
- Ian July 14, 2011 at 10:59 am
  
  Hi Christy, sorry for the late reply, been busy in the field lately. Bridge exports raw files to Adobe Camera Raw, so yes the two are the same – they are integrated.