Hi I need help processing raw, I want to learn how to get the raw file to have the same colors as my jpg, but with higher quality for blowing up and editing. I know that Raw will never look exactly like the jpg right out of the camera, but I want my jpg colors. I take raw+jpg in camera. I have a Nikon D300 and Capture NX and photoshop elements 6.0 for editing.
Any good sites or books or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on April 15, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Chad,
It's hard to know exactly what Nikon's software does to the image before saving it to your memory card as a JPEG, but there are a few basics to snazz up the RAW file. Remember that the RAW file isn't a worse-looking image, it's a file FULL of your picture data, much more than the compressed JPEG, so you have the latitude to adjust it.
Here's a place to start, then you can experiment (there are 99,000 ways to do this, this is just A way):
* While in the RAW window, make sure the color temperature is where you want it... nudge the slider slightly to see how it changes. Then open the image up in PE6.
* Open levels (CTRL + L) and if there is blank space on either end of the histogram (meaning the "mountain" at the bottom stops before hitting the edge), move the slider in on either end to touch the bottom of the "mountain", i.e. histogram. This will boost contrast.
* Hit CTRL + U to open Hue/Saturation and boost the the Saturation up about +10 to +15.
* Lastly, you will probably want to sharpen the image a bit. This in itself could take 50 pages, but the simplest way to start is just to apply the Sharpen filter once and see how it looks. It may not be on your Filter menu in PE6, it may be on the Enhance menu. If you feel adventurous, a better way is the Unsharp Mask on that Enhamce menu. Try %150 with a .7 radius and a Threshold of 1 as a start.
Your image should look more like your JPEG at this point. Chad, these are VERY BASIC adjustments I've listed, believe me, it can get way more complex than this. Experiment!
Now, on the other side of the coin, since you have Elements, there is a QuickFix mode you can try which boosts saturation and other things auto-magically. Try that too, just remember to not over-saturate the colors, it's too easy to do that.
I would urge you to get this book. It helped me greatly when I was first getting started with all this.
Enjoy!
Posted by Dan Borzynski on April 15, 2009 at 10:53 PM
One thing to keep in mind is that the RAW file is not designed to maximize the quality of the images. Instead, it is designed to maximize the amount of information contained in the image. What this means, practically speaking, is that every RAW file will need some work to make it looking its best. The jpeg shouldn't be considered the final point - if anything, it might be a starting point for what the final image will look like.
As Paul says above, you'll need to adjust the saturation, sharpness, color balance and contrast for almost every image. Often, it won't be by much, especially the color balance, but there will be some work.
I'd start playing with those adjustments, just to see what happens. Also, I'd spend a fair amount of time with some colorful images, playing with all of the color tools in your editing software. Maybe photograph the contents of a bag of Skittles and play with that file. Unfortunately, the best way to learn is to work with images and make lots of mistakes, especially those with the end result of "Ewwww!"
And post your results here. Don't worry if it is not a "great" image. Post with a direct question: "I am learning Elements and am wondering what I can do in processing better." The experienced eyes here will be glad to give you tips on working with specific images. You'll find that those comments will carry over to other images you work on.
One last thing: sharpening should be the last step in any image processing workflow. The reason is because it is a fairly destructive process. Later resizing, color corrections, or sharpening will become very noticeable. (Edit: there are two step sharpening procedures out there that work really well. Worry about those later). The best way to see why is to open the Unsharp mask tool, set it moderately high, such as amount = 300, radius = 3 and threshold = 0, and apply it a couple of times. You'll see the image go from decent to bad very quickly.
I have not looked at the book Paul recommends, so I can't comment on that. There are a fair number of introductory PS and PS Elements books out there that will explain the basics reasonably well so an evening reading at Border's or Barnes and Noble may be well spent.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on April 15, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Dan, thanks, you explained RAW the way I had wanted, it just didn't come out right the way I worded it!
Capture NX offers all of the in-camera adjustments (under Camera Settings) if that is what you are looking for, but your goal should be to use the raw format and its inherently greater color and dynamic range to produce an image that way better than a camera-generated jpg. These will give you the same presets as the camera, but you also have the ability to really take control over you image with very precise adjustment tools, and lastly you have the Nik software-styled intuitive control points that allow you to do things easily that would require the creating of masks and layers and a complex series of steps.
Sharpening is indeed a big topic, but shooting RAW requires at least one additional step. Since a RAW file is an exact copy of the data as recorded by the sensor, it has not undergone demosaicing. Or put in more simple terms, the sensor records light through a filter which splits the light going to each sensor into its red, green and blue components. A raw image is a collection of these, and the distance between these will yield an image that looks uneven and soft when viewed at a large magnification. Demosaicing is a process (in camera or in post processing) that averages the information for each pixel, with further softens the image but with significantly smoother color transitions. A base level of sharpening is necessary to make the image appear as if it were properly focused. A second, more aggressive sharpening is necessary to bring the image to a proper level when printing, and it is based on viewing distance and print size.
Finally, for the best large prints you should generate uncompressed TIFF files. That way you will be able to print your images free of jpg compression artifacts, which look like a faint 'basket weave" pattern throughout your image when viewed at high magnification, especially visible in areas with little detail such as blue sky, etc.
Posted by Linnet Long on April 16, 2009 at 6:18 PM
One small question - do you have NX2? or just the first NX? I myself don't have NX2 *yet* but I understand it has significant workflow improvements. And as Gene said, the Nikon software would be able to "duplicate" the processing that makes the jpeg what it is--and then a lot more. Possible that NX might be a good starting point. Also the NIK sharpener plug-in has the two steps separated--pre and post processing.
Also, thanks for the question--and everyone's comments! I've recently realized I need to "learn" sharpening (not to mention color) so all the comments have been very helpful.
Discussion
5 repliesAny good sites or books or tips would be greatly appreciated.
It's hard to know exactly what Nikon's software does to the image before saving it to your memory card as a JPEG, but there are a few basics to snazz up the RAW file. Remember that the RAW file isn't a worse-looking image, it's a file FULL of your picture data, much more than the compressed JPEG, so you have the latitude to adjust it.
Here's a place to start, then you can experiment (there are 99,000 ways to do this, this is just A way):
* While in the RAW window, make sure the color temperature is where you want it... nudge the slider slightly to see how it changes. Then open the image up in PE6.
* Open levels (CTRL + L) and if there is blank space on either end of the histogram (meaning the "mountain" at the bottom stops before hitting the edge), move the slider in on either end to touch the bottom of the "mountain", i.e. histogram. This will boost contrast.
* Hit CTRL + U to open Hue/Saturation and boost the the Saturation up about +10 to +15.
* Lastly, you will probably want to sharpen the image a bit. This in itself could take 50 pages, but the simplest way to start is just to apply the Sharpen filter once and see how it looks. It may not be on your Filter menu in PE6, it may be on the Enhance menu. If you feel adventurous, a better way is the Unsharp Mask on that Enhamce menu. Try %150 with a .7 radius and a Threshold of 1 as a start.
Your image should look more like your JPEG at this point. Chad, these are VERY BASIC adjustments I've listed, believe me, it can get way more complex than this. Experiment!
Now, on the other side of the coin, since you have Elements, there is a QuickFix mode you can try which boosts saturation and other things auto-magically. Try that too, just remember to not over-saturate the colors, it's too easy to do that.
I would urge you to get this book. It helped me greatly when I was first getting started with all this.
Enjoy!
As Paul says above, you'll need to adjust the saturation, sharpness, color balance and contrast for almost every image. Often, it won't be by much, especially the color balance, but there will be some work.
I'd start playing with those adjustments, just to see what happens. Also, I'd spend a fair amount of time with some colorful images, playing with all of the color tools in your editing software. Maybe photograph the contents of a bag of Skittles and play with that file. Unfortunately, the best way to learn is to work with images and make lots of mistakes, especially those with the end result of "Ewwww!"
And post your results here. Don't worry if it is not a "great" image. Post with a direct question: "I am learning Elements and am wondering what I can do in processing better." The experienced eyes here will be glad to give you tips on working with specific images. You'll find that those comments will carry over to other images you work on.
One last thing: sharpening should be the last step in any image processing workflow. The reason is because it is a fairly destructive process. Later resizing, color corrections, or sharpening will become very noticeable. (Edit: there are two step sharpening procedures out there that work really well. Worry about those later). The best way to see why is to open the Unsharp mask tool, set it moderately high, such as amount = 300, radius = 3 and threshold = 0, and apply it a couple of times. You'll see the image go from decent to bad very quickly.
I have not looked at the book Paul recommends, so I can't comment on that. There are a fair number of introductory PS and PS Elements books out there that will explain the basics reasonably well so an evening reading at Border's or Barnes and Noble may be well spent.
Capture NX offers all of the in-camera adjustments (under Camera Settings) if that is what you are looking for, but your goal should be to use the raw format and its inherently greater color and dynamic range to produce an image that way better than a camera-generated jpg. These will give you the same presets as the camera, but you also have the ability to really take control over you image with very precise adjustment tools, and lastly you have the Nik software-styled intuitive control points that allow you to do things easily that would require the creating of masks and layers and a complex series of steps.
Sharpening is indeed a big topic, but shooting RAW requires at least one additional step. Since a RAW file is an exact copy of the data as recorded by the sensor, it has not undergone demosaicing. Or put in more simple terms, the sensor records light through a filter which splits the light going to each sensor into its red, green and blue components. A raw image is a collection of these, and the distance between these will yield an image that looks uneven and soft when viewed at a large magnification. Demosaicing is a process (in camera or in post processing) that averages the information for each pixel, with further softens the image but with significantly smoother color transitions. A base level of sharpening is necessary to make the image appear as if it were properly focused. A second, more aggressive sharpening is necessary to bring the image to a proper level when printing, and it is based on viewing distance and print size.
Finally, for the best large prints you should generate uncompressed TIFF files. That way you will be able to print your images free of jpg compression artifacts, which look like a faint 'basket weave" pattern throughout your image when viewed at high magnification, especially visible in areas with little detail such as blue sky, etc.
Also, thanks for the question--and everyone's comments! I've recently realized I need to "learn" sharpening (not to mention color) so all the comments have been very helpful.