Raw Image Processing + B&W

[drivin_me_nuts]

Quick questions folks in the know...

Is CS2 able to process Nikon RAW format images directly or does it require a little extra download/'something' to prcocess the images? I have a D70s and shoot in Jpeg but I am not sure how to process RAW images. Any suggestions apart from buy Nikons own software?

Secondly, B&W off a digital cameara. I know some (D80) cameras are able to take straight B&W shots. As a straight like-for-like comparrison are these as good as taking the same image in colour and then stripping it in CS2 or PS?

Cheers

[V6GTO]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Quick questions folks in the know...

Is CS2 able to process Nikon RAW format images directly or does it require a little extra download/'something' to prcocess the images? I have a D70s and shoot in Jpeg but I am not sure how to process RAW images. Any suggestions apart from buy Nikons own software?

I drive a Canon so can't be of much use there, except to say that by shooting in jpeg you are throwing away vast amounts of information.

drivin_me_nuts said:

Secondly, B&W off a digital cameara. I know some (D80) cameras are able to take straight B&W shots. As a straight like-for-like comparrison are these as good as taking the same image in colour and then stripping it in CS2 or PS?

Cheers

Shoot in colour, in RAW, and convert, if you want the best results possible.

Martin.

[speedychrissie]

im fairly sure CS2 cant process RAW images. i use rawshooter essentials to preview all my shots and make adjustments to contrast, exposure, white balance and saturation and then i batch convert them to JPEGs and use CS2 for any other modifications.

RAW takes up a lot more space, but if you want detail it is much better.

[VxDuncan]

CS2 can cope with RAW yes (or NEF in Nikons case). However, be aware that the RAW format isn't standad and varies from camera to camera. I'm sure the d70s is supported - though I had to download the latest RAW converter to open D80 files as it was too new(it's probably included with CS3).

Keep the colour info, then convert to B&W there a myriad of different ways of doing it in PS, some better than others. Doing it in the camera takes away that choice. (I use the channel mixer by preference).

RAW is great to keep all he data - and comparison on skin tones between JPEG and RAW is quite an eye-opener. However I struggle to process night images that well, and it's a lot harder to get a decent result. For that reason I shoot RAW+Jpeg, then use the colour balance of the JPEG as a starting goal for the RAW (the D80 usually does a good job on its own Jpegs!). Once I've got something as good as the jpeg, I know I've got the colour data to go better. Hope this helps!

[drivin_me_nuts]

Thanks for the advice. I went to the Adobe site and there is indeed a download for RAW applicable for the D70s.

Next (and hopefully last!) question on this subject when you open a RAW image will CS2 automatically recognise it as such (needless to say you can tell i'm a complete novice wrt CS2) - or do I need to do someting else to open the image?

Thanks for your patience...

[speedychrissie]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Thanks for the advice. I went to the Adobe site and there is indeed a download for RAW applicable for the D70s.

ooh, interesting. i didnt know that. good find.

[V6GTO]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Thanks for the advice. I went to the Adobe site and there is indeed a download for RAW applicable for the D70s.

Next (and hopefully last!) question on this subject when you open a RAW image will CS2 automatically recognise it as such (needless to say you can tell i'm a complete novice wrt CS2) - or do I need to do someting else to open the image?

Thanks for your patience...

I'm pretty sure that once you have the plug-in in the program files it'll open automatically...

Martin.

[sstein]

CS2 can open .NEF (Nikon Raw Files), just double click them and it will automatically open the raw handler in CS2

-

Stuart

[VxDuncan]

Of course, once you've got the RAW file open the fun is only just beginning... I'd recommend googling for a tutorial on how to use the RAW converter in PS.

I normally turn off all the Auto defaults and set all the sliders to 0, or the middle for exposure etc. Then work from top to bottom down the sliders, starting with the exposure (shouldn't need much tweaking on a decent image), then Shadows, Highlights etc. Note that the shadows slider pulls the shadows further to the left of the histogram the further to the right it is put. It's kinda cack handed.

[drivin_me_nuts]

brilliant. thanks for all the help. That's my evening and tomorrow morning gone!

[drivin_me_nuts]

Well, I loaded the s/w this morning, took a photo and bloody 'ek what a difference! Amazed at the amount of information present in the shots. Quite remarkable.

[stigmundfreud]

if you are up to shooting in RAW always do that - even if the camera is set to BW the raw file will contain the colour infomation - it may appear on the PC as BW but you should be able to get the colour info

Personally if I was you I would always shoot colour then process into BW. On camera BW is just desaturated colour = Grey scale. You want black and you want white (99% of the time) in bw.

Another point, if the camera can incrase the sharpness do so there then increase sharpness after too to take care of the softness that is put in by default due to the shield over the ccd.

Remember when processing to try and get some black and some white the rest should then fall into place nicely...

[TonyHetherington]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Well, I loaded the s/w this morning, took a photo and bloody 'ek what a difference! Amazed at the amount of information present in the shots. Quite remarkable.

I started using RAW properly (on a 30D) about a month ago; amazed at the difference. The only problem is now that when I compress images and turn them into JPEGS (so someone other than me can view them) it looks nowhere near as good!


Damn screens that are really good

[stigmundfreud]

then you need to work more on your RAW processing.

I shoot raw then convert to JPEG and get no real issues, if you worry about the loss you can save in TIF = huge file, no loss of information.

However I'd suggest you work a bit more at your raw processing if you can noticably see the differece - what are you using to process raw? Canon supply a fantastic raw processor Digital Photo Processor - the current version is 3.0. You need to have the original installed to get the update, it came on your Canon CD.

Use that, nail your processing then transfer into your editing suite. Remember when saving your JPEG you want to maintain as much info as possible set the JPEG quality to 10 in Digital Photo Processor and then 12 in CS2 - it sounds like you might not be using the the slider to maximum too?

[TonyHetherington]

I use Adobe CS3 for the image work and get it there using Adobe Bridge CS3. I do a little RAW processing through bridge then save the PSD file. Then I make the image small(ish)...say 700 pixels wide...and save it at about 7 or 8 on the JPEG slider - this is to make about 80kb files.

I should have said, it's with low size files that I see problems; high resolution (i.e. full pizels and slider up to 10) are fine.

[stigmundfreud]

there you go then!

[TonyHetherington]

So always ramped up to 10 on the old slider thing huh?

[Al Up North]

speedychrissie said:

im fairly sure CS2 cant process RAW images. i use rawshooter essentials to preview all my shots and make adjustments to contrast, exposure, white balance and saturation and then i batch convert them to JPEGs and use CS2 for any other modifications.

RAW takes up a lot more space, but if you want detail it is much better.

I'd say that may be incorrect, almost certainly, as even Photoshop v.5 can handle raw data.

Al

[beano500]

Al Up North said:

...as even Photoshop v.5 can handle raw data.

I think I'd have to disagree - or do you mean Photoshop Elements?

[TonyHetherington]

SOME raw data I think it the key here. As others have said, each manufacturer's RAW data is different. PS V7 could handle my 20D RAW files, but not my 30D for example. CS3 just handles everything