3 Ways to Cook an Image from RAW

© Stuart Little 2010

The image on the left is the fine quality jpeg image that I shot along side the RAW image with Canon G9 pro compact. This image has all the settings processed into it as soon as it was shot. That’s why Jpeg’s will look better straight from the camera because all the heavy lifting has been done by the camera’s image processor. But, when you shot a RAW image, unless you tell the Adobe Camera RAW processor which way you want your image cooked! Then its going to slap it in the microwave and put it on Adobe Standard for a minute or so… or if you have the older version of ACR? it will default to ACR 4.4.

Now, in the screencast, I show you how to use the built-in camera profiles, so that you can cook up a nice juicy “Camera Standard” or “Camera Vivid” image thats full of color goodness. Camera profiles may have generic names, but don’t be fooled, they are actually unique to your cameras make and model. (Ever wondered why the camera RAW plug-in gets updated each time a new camera comes out?). So whether you use Lightroom or Adobe Bridge, I am going to teach you a really simple technique that you can introduce into your workflow that makes the most of that RAW image format whether it be (.NEF) (.CR2) etc… It may just be so good, you won’t need to make any further adjustments! How good would that be? Remember, get it right in the camera and you will cut down your workload on the computer.

Camera Vivid

© Stuart Little 2010

I decided that “Camera Vivid” was the right camera profile for this particular image and no other adjustments have been applied. You will see it popping up again in a future article about “location shoots” and the importance of visiting the location before hand to do some test shots and make some decisions about lighting, lens choice, composition, exposure, and of course post processing in Lightroom, Bridge or Photoshop.

So pour yourself a drink or put on a brew. Sit back, relax and watch the screencast. Its another epic at 21 minutes… Enjoy! >

© Stuart Little 2009

This is the first in 4 screencasts where I explore sharpening in ACR, Lightroom and Photoshop. Its also where I will be sharing some of my favourite settings and techniques for getting those little pixels nice and crisp. Enjoy!

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