Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS [Paperback]

Bruce Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 2004

Call it a control thing, but until recently--or, more specifically, until the availability of digital raw camera formats--you simply weren't ready to make the move to digital photography. Raw formats, however, changed all of that by allowing you to retrieve images before any in-camera processing has been performed. Photoshop's Adobe Camera Raw plug-in makes that process even easier by providing a standardized way of accessing and working with these uncompressed digital negatives in your favorite image-manipulation software. In the first volume devoted exclusively to the topic, best-selling author Bruce Fraser shows you how to take advantage of Adobe Camera Raw to set white balance, optimize contrast and saturation, handle noise, correct tint, and recover lost detail in images before converting them to another format. After learning about the raw formats themselves, you'll discover hands-on techniques for exposing and shooting for digital raw, using the File Browser to preview images and automate tasks, and building a workflow around the digital raw process.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Call it a control thing, but until recently--or, more specifically, until the availability of digital raw camera formats--you simply weren't ready to make the move to digital photography. Raw formats, however, changed all of that by allowing you to retrieve images before any in-camera processing has been performed. Photoshop's Adobe Camera Raw plug-in makes that process even easier by providing a standardized way of accessing and working with these uncompressed digital negatives in your favorite image-manipulation software. In the first volume devoted exclusively to the topic, best-selling author Bruce Fraser shows you how to take advantage of Adobe Camera Raw to set white balance, optimize contrast and saturation, handle noise, correct tint, and recover lost detail in images before converting them to another format. After learning about the raw formats themselves, you'll discover hands-on techniques for exposing and shooting for digital raw, using the File Browser to preview images and automate tasks, and building a workflow around the digital raw process.

About the Author

Bruce Fraser is an internationally known author, consultant, and speaker on the topics of digital imaging and color reproduction. He is a contributing editor for Macworld magazine as well as co-author of the best-selling books Real World Photoshop and Real World Color Management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (July 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032127878X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321278784
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Use PS Camera Raw, Read This Book, August 14, 2004

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS (Paperback)

Let me start out by saying that when it comes to photography, I'm a control freak. I love the histogram and blinkies on my DSLR, and naturally I shoot in camera raw so that I can control processing even more. I've used the camera raw plug-in for PhotoShop ever since it came out. But I;ve been unhappy with the information I?ve been able to find about camera raw in the various books and magazines I've read. Oh, everything you need to know is in the off-line and on-line documentation, but I've always found you have to know what you are looking for to find some of the features. A typical example for me was sharpening. I knew that I wanted to sharpen my images after I got done with all of my adjustments so I set sharpness at zero in the camera raw plug-in, but sometimes that meant that I had to make adjustments in camera raw on fuzzy images. I never knew that you could set the preferences for camera raw so that there was sharpening of the preview but not of the image exported to PS. It was in the manual but I never found it.

All that's changed since reading "Real World Camera Raw". It's all in there along with lots of information about the File Browser, metadata and automation. And it's in a readable form! You can start on page 1 and go through to the end on page 218 in a day without too much trouble. Of course, you'll have to return to individual paragraphs when you go to apply what you learn, but you will know the power of these features.

This book is not about art, or what adjustments you should actually make to get the output you want. For that, I still recommend Barry Haynes' "PhotoShop Artistry" series, with its extensive tutorials. This book is about procedures. For example because the gamma of the raw image is linear, so that much more data is concentrated in the highlight end of the scale, the last adjustment that you should make in the plug-in is normally shadows.

Much of this book is aimed at heavy-duty users. I doubt that I will ever need to process hundreds of images a day so that I will need to use most of the automation functions described by Fraser. But there are a few I will try.

Obviously this book is for the serious PhotoShop user. But if you fall into the category, I can't see how you will not benefit by reading this book

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and to the point- Must have book for Photoshop RAW, August 2, 2004

By 

H. Domke (New Bloomfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS (Paperback)

Many find his other books a bit overwhelming (Real World Photoshop, Real World Color Management). This one is short and to the point.
He tells you how to squeeze every drop of quality from your digital capture. And, he says how to do it quickly and reliably with Photoshop's built in RAW processor.

The language in this book is simpler. Or maybe it is just that I have already read the other books.
One idea that I have picked up already and will use every day is "Highlight recovery" using the exposure slider. I had always figured that burned out highlights meant a trip to the trash can. "Not necessarily so" he says.

Highly recommended for intermediate to advanced users.
He has given me more useful advice for Photoshop than all other writers combined.
Henry Domke
www.henrydomke.com

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Explains RAW Thoroughly, December 9, 2004

By 

Sylvia Burse (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS (Paperback)

I gave this book only 4 stars because of the photos, the before and after of which are surprisingly similar, if not identical. Didn't anyone proof the photos in a Photoshop book?!

If you are an intermediate or advanced Photoshop user, it is a most informative and easy to understand book. If you want to learn about why to shoot in RAW and how to process with the RAW format, it's all here. Having used the basic Camera Raw program that came with my camera, it is such a joy to use Photoshop Camera Raw program with understanding and skill!

Other than this book though, you should know that there is a wealth of information on Camera RAW right on the Adobe website under Support. Click on Search and enter first the White Papers, and next enter "Digging into Camera Raw" under tutorials and troubleshooting. This information gave me all the instructions that I needed. But I also copied the links for you:

[...]
Many of the Adobe Digital Photography White Papers and primers discuss the same topics covered in this book

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