For those that don't know what Raw files are they are the digital camera equivalent to a 35mm negative. Like scanning from a negative versus a photographic print you get much more image data to work with if you use Raw files. More and more prosumer cameras these days are offering the option to shoot in Raw so Raw is no longer a feature for the high-end professionals.

 

The down side to Raw files is that they require extra time for processing. Unless your images are of the same subject and same lighting you are going to have to process each Raw file separately. By processing that means adjust exposure, color, white balance, sharpness, noise reduction and the like then saving the image as a JPG for TIF. This can be time consuming if you have a lot of images each of a different subject with different shutter and aperture settings. Myself I find this to be a little too much trouble and so I only shoot RAW when I am going to take a picture that is going to be tricky. For example back lighted subjects, evening subjects where you have the ground and the sky and you know that the sky (sunset) is going to cause the ground areas to go dark or almost black, things like that. Given time you will learn when you are going to need RAW and when you're not.

 

It doesn't matter if you shoot RAW 100% of the time or only occasionally sooner or later you are going to have to process a RAW file and the chances are that unless you have lots of experience processing RAW files that you are going to need some help. A book perhaps, that is where Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2 comes in. While this book deal strictly with Adobe Photoshop CS and Adobe Camera RAW a lot of what you learn can be applied to other programs many have similar features.

 

Real World Adobe Camera Raw is a modest sized book with 292 (not counting the index) full color pages. It has lots of screen shots and sample images to help illustrate the subject at hand. It is easy to read and easy to follow no matter what your skill level is. I do recommend that you have at least a basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop CS2 and of course your digital camera. This will make things go more smoothly.

 

Besides covering the tools in Adobe Camera Raw it also talks about automating the Raw to JPG/TIF (or other format) conversion process. It talks about Adobe Bridge, how Raw works, how to go about setting up a good streamlined workflow and more.

 

Chapters:

 

Chapter 1: Digital Camera Raw
Chapter 2: How Camera Raw Works
Chapter 3: Raw System Overview
Chapter 4: Camera Raw Controls
Chapter 5: Hands-On Camera Raw
Chapter 6: Adobe Bridge
Chapter 7: It's All About the Workflow
Chapter 8: Mastering Metadata
Chapter 9: Exploiting Automation

 

If you are looking for a good book on Adobe Photoshop CS and Adobe Camera Raw you have found it. This book is very thorough, it is easy to read and it is easy to understand.