Workflow for New Raw user?

A good friend wants to progress from editing JPegs to Raw, and asked for advice re processing. She is starting from scratch with no softwear at all beyond PS 7.
She is really an excellent photographer and will benefit from better editing ability.
I don't feel qualified to advise, with my very limited skills. I know there will be differences of opinion !

What Raw software?
Breeze Browser?

CS 3 ?
Lightroom?
sharpening software if not only CS3?

Thanks from Elisabeth -

Sandy r

Hi Sandy, You don't mention your friends financial status, but she could upgrade from PS7 to CS2 pretty darn cheaply if she didn't want to make the jump all the way to CS3. CS2's RAW converter (ACR) is a very capable RAW converter in it's own right, even though I don't particularly care for it. I would suggest that she begin there simply because it's part of CS2/3 and it's already integrated. After she becomes familiar with RAW and proficient with conversions, then she may want to branch out and try a few other RAW converters through the 30 day trial versions most offer. As for sharpening software, I prefer PK Sharpener for sharpening for printing. However once again, I might suggest that she begin with learning sharpening through CS2/3 before branching out just to prevent being overwhelmed by all the available offerings. If she chooses CS2 or 3, Tim Grey's book Digital Workflow for Photoshop CS2 (or CS3) is an excellent resource - easy to read and understand, and very comprehensive. Just my 2 cents...

I'd have a look into lightroom, you get quite a few excellent raw editing features and you get DAM, she can try it out for 30 days, to see if she likes it.

Wim

All cameras capable of shooting RAW will ship with conversion software. You don't say what camera your friend is using, but Canon's DPP that comes with every digital SLR is a very good basic RAW conversion tool. It may not have all the features of the stand alone editors, but when first exploring RAW, that might be a good thing.

I'd have your friend look more deeply into what else she'd like to accomplish with a program. As David said Canon's DPP is fairly good and, in some people's opinion, does a better job with some photos than ACR (Adobe Camera Raw).

If she wants to do local corrections of contrast, colour, etc - A new photoshop with the adjustment layers would be great.

If she does mostly global adjustments and would like a DAM - Lightroom is probably better

I'll 2nd Photokit sharpener by Pixel Genius - the 3 step sharpening workflow has done wonders for my printing results.

If she's got some nearby friends with these programs having a little vist and watch someone with experience using them might show you what they are all cabable of. A good book might also help - I'll throw up Real World Adobe Camera Raw CS3 for an example (but only if you're going the CS3 route).

Cheers,
Alex

Thanks to all - she is a Nikon person.

Sandy

Sandy, I initially received Capture NX with my D200. Then it was a 30-day trial and cost about 99 bucks. (Today it ships with the D300 for free )

Anyway, I've worked with Capture NX for a year. I always shoot RAW and alway do my initial editing in Capture NX. If I'm going to do adjustment layers, I move to CS3 and I always do my final processing for the web in CS3. I'm sure if I were processing more images I might change my workflow but for the moment it works just fine.

Hope that helps.

Carol

I'll chime in briefly. For CS2, and especially Capture NX and CS3, new standards apply for RAM when moving up from PS7. I'd say 2g is minimum and 4 is better. And you will distinctly notice the effects of slow processors! My old Mac G4 with its whizzing 933 MHz processor and 1.25G of RAM is swimming in molasses compared to our newer twin processor Macs stuffed with RAM. Bottom line, your friend may get really frustrated with RAW processing if she's RAM limited and using an older, slow machine.

What is DAM that everybody is talking about with Lightroom?

It's "Digital Asset Management" if I recall correctly. It's a management system for your digital files reminiscent of what Apple's Aperture provides, but with differences.

If you're friend wants to go the CS2 or CS3 route, I'd highly recommend "Real World Camera Raw" by Bruce Fraser. There's a new version out for CS3 that's even better than the CS/CS2 version. (CS3 version is co-authored by Jeff Schewe).