RAW newbie AND new 35mm lens

lizp130

New member
I'm co-mingling questions here - and am new to figuring out which forum topic to post to - AND, have used the search but perhaps I need some tips on that as well :confused: So, no doubt this has been discussed elsewhere - feel free to steer me to any/all posts!

Question 1:
I was reading a well overdue article on shooting RAW - and for whatever lazy reason have shot in the perfunctory jpeg only (D7200). I set up Raw (NEF) in slot 1, jpeg in slot 2. Is this the norm, using both slots as such? And, what do I do now that I have both a RAW and jpeg image? Or, I should ask, what do you do? :)

Question 2:
Related to question 1 - I received my dandy new nikkor 35mm lens yesterday, and today tried just a handful of shots of my cat, to get my first feel for the lens. The images are dup in Raw and jpeg. Furthermore, I have Photoshop CS6 and the file opens with the plugin Camera Raw9.1.1. That much I'm sure I can find a tutorial for, but anyone using CS6 Raw with tips would be a great help :)

Also! Best place to post/share photos? I'm assuming that's based on the purpose of sharing said photos (Feedback, new lens, photo subject, etc...)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi I'm Liz! Here's my gig:
Nikon D7200
Nikkor 18-140mm AF-S VR f/3.5-5.6
Nikkor 35mm AF-S f/1.8
Nikkor 200-500mm AF-S VR f/5.6
iPhone 7 Plus
Photoshop CS6

 
Question 1:
I was reading a well overdue article on shooting RAW - and for whatever lazy reason have shot in the perfunctory jpeg only (D7200). I set up Raw (NEF) in slot 1, jpeg in slot 2. Is this the norm, using both slots as such? And, what do I do now that I have both a RAW and jpeg image? Or, I should ask, what do you do? :)

I started off this way but only shoot RAW now. This is a good way to start learning RAW. Just remember that you must add sharpness to the RAW photos. Just don't overdo it.

Question 2:
Related to question 1 - I received my dandy new nikkor 35mm lens yesterday, and today tried just a handful of shots of my cat, to get my first feel for the lens. The images are dup in Raw and jpeg. Furthermore, I have Photoshop CS6 and the file opens with the plugin Camera Raw9.1.1. That much I'm sure I can find a tutorial for, but anyone using CS6 Raw with tips would be a great help :)

Also! Best place to post/share photos? I'm assuming that's based on the purpose of sharing said photos (Feedback, new lens, photo subject, etc...)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.







 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
I shoot raw only and slot 2 is set to backup. So I have two cards with the same info. Others do thing depending their needs and experiences. Can't give you any help with PS don't use it. As far as were to post you can start your own thread or you can post in what ever thread seem most relevant. Some try to post everyday and have a thread in the Project 365 other weekly and post in their own thread in the 52 both in general photography. Others start their own thread and post when ever. And don't overlook the Monthly Assignment and Weekly Challenge.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
I still, after four years, shoot both jpg and raw. The jpgs typically never get used, other than for a quick share or reference image, and anything meaningful goes through Lightroom as raw to be processed. I do not try to edit the jpg files directly, if a jpg from the camera needs editing, I go to the raw and edit there.

Hope that helps, and welcome to Nikonites!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
I shoot raw and jpeg in most situations. jpeg because it's easy to show if I know I will need it in a pinch or I'm shooting jpeg only for a high action sport where I know the buffer may be an issue. If I'm jpeg only then I make darn sure I have my white balance right and my exposure since you simply don't have the latitude of adjustment you do with raw. If I know I'm going to have the time to edit and I know that there will be few images I will actually keep, then I'm raw only.

There is no wrong right answer, but what works for your workflow.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Question 1:
I was reading a well overdue article on shooting RAW - and for whatever lazy reason have shot in the perfunctory jpeg only (D7200). I set up Raw (NEF) in slot 1, jpeg in slot 2. Is this the norm, using both slots as such? And, what do I do now that I have both a RAW and jpeg image? Or, I should ask, what do you do? :)
It's not uncommon for someone new to shooting raw to shoot with raw files going to Slot 1 and JPG's going to Slot 2. This way you have raw files to learn on and a finished product you can share right away while you secretly polish your processing skills. As you get more confident in your processing you may decide to forgo JPG's altogether; that will be up to you. It's good to have choices though. Personally I rarely shoot JPG but when I do, the raw files to go to Slot 1 and the JPG's go to Slot 2.

.....
Question 2:
Related to question 1 - I received my dandy new nikkor 35mm lens yesterday, and today tried just a handful of shots of my cat, to get my first feel for the lens. The images are dup in Raw and jpeg. Furthermore, I have Photoshop CS6 and the file opens with the plugin Camera Raw9.1.1. That much I'm sure I can find a tutorial for, but anyone using CS6 Raw with tips would be a great help :)
I would suggest you start here: Adobe Camera Raw Tutorials and here Photoshop CS6 Tutorials.

If you're serious about wanting to learn ACR/Photoshop/photography in general I can't suggest getting a subscription to Lynda.com too highly. There are sooooo many great courses on Adobe Bridge, ACR, Photoshop and just general photography on Lynda... Really fantastic site.
 

lokatz

Senior Member
Hi Liz, I'm another photographer who used to shoot RAW+JPEG and now shoots RAW only because I have absolutely no use for the JPEGs anymore. Shooting JPEG means you mostly leave it to your camera how the picture eventually looks. Like @RocketCowboy said, JPEG might occasionally be useful as a quick reference, but I mostly kept deleting them eventually anyway without using any. Shooting RAW means you retain full control, but it also means, almost more important to me, that you can always keep the original RAW file to go back to, even if you find down the road you no longer like the look you created in editing your image, or if you bought some software with new features you would love to apply to your old pics.

I own PS CS6, too. Make no mistake: it takes years to learn at least the majority of its features. The nice thing is, though, that you don't have to - you can start with some basic editing stuff and then take things from there as you develop your skills. For instance, start with Camera RAW and just play a little with its sliders. Most pictures benefit substantially if you lower the highlights, increase the shadows, increase clarity (careful - not too much), and then slightly increase vibrance and/or saturation. Go to the White Balance tab if you think the colors are a little off, add some Sharpening to make details stand out more and use other tools as you see fit, then click Open and save the image. At some point, you will feel you have a pretty good idea of what all of these tools do with your RAW, and you'll probably never go back to JPEG. That's when you're ready to start figuring out how to apply masks, make local changes, etc. in PS.

BTW, Lightroom is an easier tool to use, which is why it is often mentioned, but unless you're willing to subscribe to it, using Photoshop for all your image editing is just fine and will support you all the way from simple adjustments to very complex image editing.

Most importantly: have fun!


I backup my pics from the camera card frequently. Alternatively, you can always set Slot2 as backup as @Needa suggested.
 
Last edited:

lizp130

New member
..
I would suggest you start here: Adobe Camera Raw Tutorials and here Photoshop CS6 Tutorials.

If you're serious about wanting to learn ACR/Photoshop/photography in general I can't suggest getting a subscription to Lynda.com too highly. There are sooooo many great courses on Adobe Bridge, ACR, Photoshop and just general photography on Lynda... Really fantastic site.

Thanks Paul! I've had one formal intro to Photoshop CS5 class (thru work), which of course barely scratched the surface - and have been using CS6 for a few years now. I need to look at Raw tutorials for sure - and check out Lynda as well :)
 

lizp130

New member
Hi Liz, I'm another photographer who used to shoot RAW+JPEG and now shoots RAW only because I have absolutely no use for the JPEGs anymore. Shooting JPEG means you mostly leave it to your camera how the picture eventually looks. Like @RocketCowboy said, JPEG might occasionally be useful as a quick reference, but I mostly kept deleting them eventually anyway without using any. Shooting RAW means you retain full control, but it also means, almost more important to me, that you can always keep the original RAW file to go back to, even if you find down the road you no longer like the look you created in editing your image, or if you bought some software with new features you would love to apply to your old pics.

I own PS CS6, too. Make no mistake: it takes years to learn at least the majority of its features. The nice thing is, though, that you don't have to - you can start with some basic editing stuff and then take things from there as you develop your skills. For instance, start with Camera RAW and just play a little with its sliders. Most pictures benefit substantially if you lower the highlights, increase the shadows, increase clarity (careful - not too much), and then slightly increase vibrance and/or saturation. Go to the White Balance tab if you think the colors are a little off, add some Sharpening to make details stand out more and use other tools as you see fit, then click Open and save the image. At some point, you will feel you have a pretty good idea of what all of these tools do with your RAW, and you'll probably never go back to JPEG. That's when you're ready to start figuring out how to apply masks, make local changes, etc. in PS.

BTW, Lightroom is an easier tool to use, which is why it is often mentioned, but unless you're willing to subscribe to it, using Photoshop for all your image editing is just fine and will support you all the way from simple adjustments to very complex image editing.

Most importantly: have fun!


I backup my pics from the camera card frequently. Alternatively, you can always set Slot2 as backup as @Needa suggested.

While I lament so many photos I didn't shoot in RAW format, I sure look forward to my future pics. And getting used to RAW editing. Thanks all for the solid advice on this from everyone in the thread :)

I'm fortunate to have CS6 on my work laptop, hence until that changes I will stick with it. I would consider myself an experienced "basic" user - as indeed it is hugely robust, beyond what I need to know for my editing purposes. I have a macbook too and have contemplated Lightroom - maybe someday!

Always fun! Thanks Lothar (and everyone) for the great info!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
... I have a macbook too and have contemplated Lightroom - maybe someday!
As far as editing image files goes, Adobe Camera Raw *is* Lightroom without the Digital Asset Management aspect (aka "Catalogs"). ACR and Lightroom use different graphic interfaces but the under the hood the applications are the same. Anything you can do in LR, you can do in ACR. Further, I don't think Lightroom is any easier, nor is Photoshop any *more* difficult, to learn than any other application. Photoshop is a staggeringly powerful application that has enormous flexibility and i think many assume that equates to being difficult to learn. I'm telling you it's not. It's just not.
 

nickt

Senior Member
When I switched to raw, I shot raw+jpg for about 2 weeks. The clutter made me crazy. I use LR and don't know much about PS. I quickly learned how to make LR spit out a batch of decent jpg's with very little thought on my part. I don't normally do that, but knowing I could easily match the camera jpg output made it easy to say goodbye to +jpg. I will shoot +jpg on occasion, like a family event because I know my wife will be looking for pictures to upload and share as soon as we get home and I will be looking to lay on the couch. No idea if PS has presets or some other way of quickly processing a whole batch with basic tweaks.
 

lizp130

New member
As far as editing image files goes, Adobe Camera Raw *is* Lightroom without the Digital Asset Management aspect (aka "Catalogs"). ACR and Lightroom use different graphic interfaces but the under the hood the applications are the same. Anything you can do in LR, you can do in ACR. Further, I don't think Lightroom is any easier, nor is Photoshop any *more* difficult, to learn than any other application. Photoshop is a staggeringly powerful application that has enormous flexibility and i think many assume that equates to being difficult to learn. I'm telling you it's not. It's just not.

Thanks Paul - my point was more that I have PS CS6 on my work (windows) laptop. If I want Adobe Camera Raw on my own macbook, I'll have to foot the bill, and at this point not worth it. Agreed, I don't feel either Lightroom or CS6 is difficult to learn - to your point, just incredibly robust.

As a sidenote, I'm in IT as a business analyst and use CS6 photoshop and illustrator to provide mockups and wireframes for our dev team. That said, the photo editing comes into play in my personal life - a nice perk to have the tool :)
 

singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
As far as editing image files goes, Adobe Camera Raw *is* Lightroom without the Digital Asset Management aspect (aka "Catalogs"). ACR and Lightroom use different graphic interfaces but the under the hood the applications are the same. Anything you can do in LR, you can do in ACR. Further, I don't think Lightroom is any easier, nor is Photoshop any *more* difficult, to learn than any other application. Photoshop is a staggeringly powerful application that has enormous flexibility and i think many assume that equates to being difficult to learn. I'm telling you it's not. It's just not.

I'm sure you'e right. But to us long-time LR users, it's tough to give up something you know to learn something new. I've tried ACR several times and prefer LR's interface.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I'm sure you'e right. But to us long-time LR users, it's tough to give up something you know to learn something new. I've tried ACR several times and prefer LR's interface.
I would find switching difficult as well at this point in time. My comment was more directed at those without any prior learning on either application, though.
 

lizp130

New member
DSC_6654aweb.jpg


Here's my first try at both my 35mm lens, and Adobe Camera Raw. I found some great tutorials, and can see as it goes with any robust editing tool, practice practice! I'm not sure if this automatically adds the camera/photo data, so here it is:

Camera: D7200
Lens: Nikkor 35mm f/1.8
Exposure: 1/500 sec.; f/2.0; ISO 900
 
Top