Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5 [Kindle Edition]

Primary objectives of a photographer's work flow in digital imaging are to optimize editing flexibility, do so non-destructively and maximize image quality. There are technical reasons, well explained in this book, why it is best to accomplish as much image adjustment as possible at the raw processing stage in order to achieve these objectives. Therefore it has been a long-standing technical objective at Adobe to gradually build and expand the versatility and capability of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to give photographers more and better tools for maximizing image adjustment potential at the raw processing stage. As a result, the application has matured a lot over the years and the authors of this book have been very closely associated with this evolution (people and processes) from the beginning. It is no surprise, therefore, that Jeff Schewe has written what I would call the "definitive guide" to ACR 6, and indeed to a number of processes and applications closely enmeshed with it.

The book is divided into several logical stages of exposition, which altogether end-up giving the reader a very deep and comprehensive knowledge of what the program does, how to operate every detail of it, and strategies for using the program to successfully address a variety of common and not-so-common image adjustment challenges we deal with when crafting fine photographs, be it for the web or for print. The final chapters cover associated aspects of the imaging process - for example Chapter 6 on Adobe Bridge being a mini-book in its own right which provides the most comprehensive exposition of this application I've ever seen. Even as a very experienced user of ACR, I couldn't help but be amazed at what ACR can achieve in the hands of competent users, as shown on page 39, where a seemingly hopeless image many would most likely trash, comes out actually looking quite fine. Apart from these acrobatic rescue missions, what's truly determinative is how informed use of ACR can make acceptable photos into excellent photos. People who buy and read this book will vastly shorten the learning curve to become competent users and to improve their photos in ways they may not have thought possible.

Typically, when a new version of this or the other imaging applications in the Adobe suite get published, they host not only a short-list of new features which grab the marketing headlines, but also a slew of improvements under the hood and very helpful tweaks to existing features which add-up to a package of enhancements justifying the upgrade. An important function of books such as this is to cover all of these features in some depth, and Jeff Schewe has done so remarkably well in this volume.

The first two chapters are an absolutely essential discussion of the structure of the raw digital image, why to shoot in raw format and why to maximize image editing in ACR before doing anything in Photoshop. Both the qualities and limitations of working in raw are very well addressed here.

Chapter 3 provides an overview of how ACR integrates with other related Adobe applications (Bridge, Photoshop, the DNG converter), dealing with the advantages of hosting ACR in Bridge, aspects of metadata, the practicality of parametric editing, the DNG advantage, how your computer's operating system affects whether to manage ACR from Bridge or from Photoshop, and other such considerations users should know about.

Chapter 4 includes over 100 pages of material explaining the purpose and operation of every tool, option and control in the application. Space constraints prevent me from going into a detailed description of everything you'll find here, so I'll just mention several topics which I think most readers would really appreciate.

Sharpening is a very critical process to do correctly for making a good photograph: images need to be "right-sharpened" relative to their content, and the use of sharpening controls to achieve this is something which challenges all beginners and even some intermediate users. Pages 85 to 89 in this chapter, complemented by a more extensive discussion in the next chapter (pages 236 to 246) tells us everything we need to know about how to sharpen a digital image correctly in ACR - after reading this, the only requisite is practice.

Noise reduction is one of the functions which the ACR team has vastly improved in ACR 6 relative what existed in previous versions. Along with that improvement comes new controls and practices and the ways to make the best use of them. That too is well explained here.

"Black and white" remains very popular with many photographers for its sheer graphic qualities. The exposition of how to convert color images to outstanding "black and white" gets readers up-to-speed on ACR's extensive capabilites in this area, including imaginative effects such as split-toning and mixed color/grayscale interpretations, without the need for other programs. While I would have liked to see a bit more expansive discussion of these grayscale tools, what's here is good enough to launch users into a well-guided path of personal exploration with their own images.

Pages 99 to112 (and later pages 176-191) contain a very important discussion on how to set-up and implement lens correction algorithms in ACR. All camera lenses produce images with minor or not-so-minor lens-related imperfections which can be corrected in post-capture processing. This latest version of ACR includes much expanded capability to do this, and accordingly Jeff has allocated a lot of space to providing a clear, detailed explanation of what these features do and how to use them, in order to maximize the efficiency of one's image processing.

Pages 126-129 and later 166-169 provide really fundamental information users need to know about how to make the right choices (for their purposes) of program settings, preferences and presets. This is complemented on pages 132-136 with equally important pointers on workflow and image saving options which users should know about before they start down the path of processing large numbers of images.

There is an excellent in-depth discussion of the Adjustment Brush and the use of the Graduated Filter on pages 150-164, showing how to convert a blah image into a very interesting one. It shows intelligent and time-efficient use of these features to do localized image edits that make all the difference in the world to the impact of the final image.

Turning to Chapter Five, having now explained what the tools are and how to use them, this is where the authors become truly "hands-on" guiding readers step by step through the editing of a series of images, each of which presents a different, but frequently encountered set of issues needing their own editing strategies. Key examples include how to "tame" images with excessive dynamic range (too bright and too dark in the same photo), and how to enhance images that are dull and flat. The book takes us through how to evaluate what the images need, and then how to do the needful. In over 70 pages, there is a lot of "meat" in this chapter. Between a reading of chapters 4 and 5, readers will develop a pretty clear idea of how to approach an image editing workflow in terms of "what to do when" - an issue which perplexes just about every newcomer to digital image processing - and more experienced users can often be reminded a thing or two about workflow logic as well.

Again, space prevents me from describing all the content in this chapter, but I must mention a couple of topics - they are significantly enhanced features, and one of which is "all the rage" in imaging circles these days. Page 227 shows how ACR can handle keystoning, a very common technical problem encountered photographing buildings and monuments which automatically used to send us to Photoshop, but perhaps now less frequently. Pages 251-159 present what Jeff calls "poor man's HDR" (high dynamic range), I guess because he shows us here how we can use a combination of Bridge, ACR and Photoshop (all bundled in the same package) to expand the dynamic range included in a photograph without buying other applications. It's a good exposition which photographers should digest BEFORE even making the images which will enter the process.

Chapters 6 onward are not ACR-specific, but they move into a lot of depth on workflow tools and related applications relevant to the use of ACR. For example the multiple uses of Adobe Bridge described here may surprise many people - such as how to produce very sharp-looking photographic web galleries, much like those produced from Lightroom. The book concludes with a rich compendium of information on automated file handling procedures, metadata, tethered shooting, process automation and much more.

This is all truly valuable, well-presented content. Very highly recommended.

As a user of Lightroom 3, not Creative Suite, I took a chance that this book would provide some good details on Lightroom. It exceeds my expectations by a wide margin. Probably 95% of this book is directly applicable to Lightroom; the only significant deviations are in the file management when Camera Raw is under control of Bridge or Photoshop whereas in Lightroom some of the file management features don't exist, or are covered in the Import function. A few other minor differences don't detract at all from the applicability of this book to Lightroom 3.

The organization, clarity of writing, and the full round trip from big-picture overview of concepts to the details of *how* to do operations are just magnificently done. While this is a book on specifically Camera Raw 6, the first couple of chapters are broad applicability to any digital photographer who wants to understand where the data in a digital image comes from (it's not very intuitive), how it is processed within the camera (surprisingly complex), and what needs to be processed externally and how the data and metadata in the image affects all steps of image processing. The tradeoffs of RAW vs. processed/compressed images (JPEG) are well addressed in a reasonably unbiased fashion.

I have about half a dozen books on various topics related to Lightroom, color, workflow, and so on, and Real World Camera Raw (RWCR) far outshines all of them in both breadth and depth of useful, practical techniques. Every feature of Camera Raw is covered, not as a checklist but with very clear emphasis on the things that are most important and always within the context of why and what is going on with the data. Short passing mentions of less important or duplicated functions don't clutter the book and keep the reader focused on the key concepts and techniques. The goal of the book is to equip the reader with the conceptual framework, the understanding of the important questions and tradeoffs, all the way down to the specific techniques, that make for the best possible image file to feed into the next stage of processing. In the case of a Lightroom user like myself, that "final stage" is actually the end result -- the printed, displayed, or shared image, so to a large extent RWCR is an absolutely outstanding "Missing Lightroom Manual", far and away the best I've seen.

I particularly enjoyed the clarity of discussion of how the basic tone controls impact the available data in the image, and the resulting observation that photos should be just slightly overexposed to maximize the information that can be produced. The discussions of sharpening and noise reduction are also very well done, and these features in Lightroom 3 (or, Camera Raw 6) are particularly well evolved.

After reading RWCR you will have a firm grasp of how to approach optimizing the quality of each image, whether you are a beginning or advanced Lightroom 3 or Camera Raw 6 user. Hats off to the authors for an outstanding work with immediately useful information on almost every page.

Admittedly this book has useful hints and tricks about using Camera RAW, but there are also a lot of less useful sections.

Many sections are not tightly linked to RAW processing, like the chapter about Adobe Bridge, where the authors go to details like configuring workspaces. Useful? Yes if you have not already read several other descriptions about configuring workspaces in Bridge. But it is not in any way necessary knowledge to adjust RAW images.

There is an entire chapter dedicated to meta-data and another one to automation. Both of those contain useful information, but it is not directly linked to improving your RAW pictures.

One annoying thing with the book is that it partly is written like an ad. Expressions like "remarkable" and "impressive" may accurately describe what the authors feel about parts of Camera RAW, but I am more interested in facts than emotions. In addition, they try to sell Adobe's DNG format to the reader. There are many good reasons to use DNG but also many good arguments against. The book is heavily biased in favour of DNG, omitting crucial facts for anyone who may use the book to get an objective understanding of the issue.

Those were the main negative points.

What is left is still mostly very useful and interesting descriptions of how one can, could and should use Adobe Camera RAW. The authors describe not only what different settings change, but often also how and why they should be used. The subject is often complex, but they manage to describe it in a fairly simple way. About any reader, no matter how much experience s/he has of photo editing, will probably find at least a few things that are useful. Whether it is worth buying the book and wade through the less useful sections to find the good bits depends on the reader.

This review is based on the Kindle version. Just like many other photo books in Kindle editions, the pictures are not as good as one would like. It is a pity, but it is not a major obstacle to reading the book, at least if you read it with Camera RAW running, so you can try the examples out yourself.