Working in Camera Raw

Working in camera raw gives you the most control over your images. Camera raw eliminates any processing by the camera and lets you set the parameters for each image – parameters such as white balance, contrast, color saturation, sharpening, and tonal range.

In contrast, when the camera is set to capture images as JPEG files, the camera automatically interprets the image data and makes adjustments and conversions to the data. The beauty of camera raw is that the camera simply captures the image and gives you the raw data. However, because there is no processing and interpreting of the data, be aware that camera raw files are larger files.

Every camera manufacturer has their own file format when capturing images in camera raw. Nikon is NEF, Olympus is ORF, Canon is CRW and CR2. Set your camera to capture images in the raw format, then use Adobe Bridge (File/Browse in Photoshop) to open your images after you download them to the computer.

In the image below, I selected four images inside Adobe Bridge and opened them in Camera Raw. To open images in Camera Raw, right-click on an image in Adobe Bridge and choose Open in Camera Raw.

Open Image in Camera Raw

Camera Raw Desktop

Let’s take a closer look at the Camera Raw Desktop. On the left side are thumbnails of the images we selected to open in Camera Raw. The center panel shows us the currently selected image and lets us navigate through the images via the arrow keys at the bottom right. The right panel lets us make adjustments to the selected image.

You’ll quickly notice that we can’t just close this window via an X in the top right corner. Instead, we have four options across the bottom of the window:

Save Image. This saves the selected images in the specified format (jpg, tif, psd, etc.). It does not overwrite the camera raw file. If multiple images are selected, this option changes to Save Images (plural).

Open Image. This opens the currently selected image (the highlighted image on the left side). This option changes to Open Images (plural) if more than one image is selected.

Cancel. This option simply discards any changes we have applied and closes the Camera Raw window and returns to Adobe Bridge.

Done. This option saves the changes we made to the image but does not open the image in Photoshop. The changes are saved through metadata. The pixels of the image are not changed. We can always get back to the raw image.

If alt is held down, three of these options across the bottom change. Save Image makes a slight change in that the Save dialog box is skipped. (The ellipse disappears from the button.) The Open Image option changes to Open Copy and the Cancel option changes to Reset.

We won’t go into detail about making specific changes to an image, but will give you a general overview how the Camera Raw utility works. The right panel is used to make changes. You’ll notice a row if icons below the histogram. Click on these icons and adjust the given parameters to make a host of changes to the image.

Right Panel

The initial panel is the basic panel. I use this panel the most. I can set many of the common changes in this panel. The beauty of the Camera Raw utility is that if I have shot a number of images in the same setting, I can make the necessary changes to one of the images, then apply those same changes to all of the images taken in that setting.

To do this, after making the necessary adjustments from the right panel(s) to one of the images, I select the images on the left side (requires that we have opened all the images) using the shift key, or control key, or clicking on Select All at the top, then clicking the Synchronize button at the top. This applies all the changes from the one image to all of the selected images. A photographer once shared with me he was able to easily and quickly save all the images he took at a wedding because of this feature. All of the images taken at the wedding were too dark, but because he had the Camera Raw utility, he was quickly able to salvage the images. The same could have been done in Photoshop, but it would have been much more time-consuming.

This is only the tip of the iceberg in introducing you to the Camera Raw utility. Take time to explore this exciting utility. Dig into the various options in each of the panels on the right side and discover the power of using Camera Raw.