Raw Editing

Hi guys I have my D5100 about 2 months now, and I have just tried shooting in Raw and Jpeg fine. Ive selected Raw and fine so I can see the photo after shooting.

I think its brilliant and thanks to all you guys talking about editing in raw and now ive tried it and love it.

I like the idea of editing the raw file for white balance and exposure so any mistakes made while shooting can be corrected.

I have only used the Software that came with the camera is the Nikon ViewNX2.

So can I ask what you guys use the edit raw files, I also have Adobe Photoshop Element's 10

What a brilliant forum ive not stopped learning since I joined

Its worth shooting RAW just for the WB option - I use ACR 6.3 and Adobe CS5 extended. For other quick fixes, I use Photofiltre and for unusual stuff, ( a round crop for instance ) I use Photoscape

I bought Adobe Lightroom 4 recently. Works great with RAW files.
Nice file organization feature as well.

I used the Adobe Camera RAW editor that comes with Elements for a while. It's a very good editor and comparable to the one I now use in Lightroom 4. I like the Lightroom layout better, and I rely on its ability to serve as a catalog to both manage my images and act as an interface with Photoshop and the Nik Software tools that I also use.

I am another one that uses Lightroom4.. I do not have a recent version of Photoshop ..

Pat in NH

Anyone ever use Apeture for Mac?

Hi guys one again you have given me sound advice and plenty to thing about.

Have anyone tried to Nikon software

Regards To you all

I use aperture for Mac, works very well IMO, nice easy "batch editing" and file organizing.

87mstng said:

I use aperture for Mac, works very well IMO, nice easy "batch editing" and file organizing.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I've been considering using Aperture.

I use Light Room 4 or PS CS6.

Hi guys I have just downloaded a trial version of Lightroom 4 and I just have a question I have loaded a Raw photo and done a little editing but when I save the photo it saves it as a Jpeg.

So is it possible for me to edit a raw image then save the edited version still as a raw file so I can carry on with the edit later?

Also I have tried my version of Photoshop Elements 10 and I like that very much but when I save the edited file I get to save in (Camera raw 6.6 or later with a file extension of .dng

Then I am not able to view the photo

So what am I doing wrong please

No saving in Lightroom is necessary. All adjustments are non-distructive and saved in the Lightroom catalog file along with the history of adjustments. If you want to save versions of the edits then you can create a vritual copy (right-click on the image in the catalog) and it will allow you to apply multiple edits to the same RAW file, saving both in the catalog side-by-side.

I highly recommend Scott Kelby's Lightroom book to help learn the hows and whys of the product.

sam49 said:

Hi guys I have just downloaded a trial version of Lightroom 4 and I just have a question I have loaded a Raw photo and done a little editing but when I save the photo it saves it as a Jpeg.

So is it possible for me to edit a raw image then save the edited version still as a raw file so I can carry on with the edit later?

Also I have tried my version of Photoshop Elements 10 and I like that very much but when I save the edited file I get to save in (Camera raw 6.6 or later with a file extension of .dng

Then I am not able to view the photo

So what am I doing wrong please

Click to expand...

Are you "exporting" the file after editing? That would get you a jpeg. As Backdoorhippie said, you don't need to save after editing. All you need to do is exit out of the Develop module, back to the Library. All of your edits to the raw file will be kept.

Hi cbg
Yes I did export the file after editing and that's when I got the jpeg, thanks for the advice.

I need to read about this lightroom a little I just think I need to save the file after editing.

If I want to upload a file for you guys to asses to see if I have made some improvements do I just upload the Raw file or the jpeg.

Regards to you all for your help and advice

Hi I have done a little work on this photo in lightroom, how can I make it better please

Not a lot wrong really sam. The kid is a bit cramped by the crop of the photo, and there's a little bit of over blown highlights, which can be brought back.

Just my take on what I'd do, but others may see different. I slightly sharpened as well, and slightly saturated the eyes, but nothing much

One of the things I like about Lightroom is that while editing your incremental Steps are recorded over on the left side panel. If after a few edits, you decide you've done too much, you can click on the step before you overcorrected and your changes go back to that step. Also if you decide none of your changes are working you can click the reset button to start over.
As backdoorhippy said. Changes are not made to the original image. They are stored in a sidecar file for that photo. When you leave lightroom and come back, the alterations are reapplied for view. You never really need to save as a JPG unless you want to share the shots on the internet or email or such

sam49 said:

So is it possible for me to edit a raw image then save the edited version still as a raw file

Click to expand...

As I understand it, a raw file is quite different to an image file and is not editable, it's the raw (unaltered) data recorded by the sensors in your camera.
This allows you to mess around as much as you like with the image and the raw file is still there as your "negative".
Being able to edit a raw file would not be a good thing.

Pierro said:

Not a lot wrong really sam. The kid is a bit cramped by the crop of the photo, and there's a little bit of over blown highlights, which can be brought back.

Just my take on what I'd do, but others may see different. I slightly sharpened as well, and slightly saturated the eyes, but nothing much

Click to expand...

Hi Pierro, thanks for your input. I agree the child is a little cramped in the shot and I can learn from that, I like your version a lot better, I just wish I knew how to saturate the eyes like you have?

I also understand a little more about raw files now.

So I am thinking along these lines the original raw image remains the same all the time with the edits stored in a sidecar file with a .xmp file extension and that file holds the edited data, so if I then need to move the raw image I need to move the .xmp file as well to preserve all the edits I have done is that correct.

I dont know if you have Photoshop Sam ? If so, you can increase the view size to make things easy, ( I use 200% or more ) then use the lasso tool to select the eye, then Image tab > Adjustments > Saturation

Yes, all my .xmp files automatically get saved in the same folder as the RAW ( as long as I dont change the destination ) after making any adjustments in RAW / Photoshop. If you want to keep any changes you did in RAW, then you must keep the .xmp files. If you didnt make any changes to the RAW, then the .xmp is not important