Raw and photoshop

harleridr

Senior Member
Hi guys
I am finally going to bite the bullet. I am changing one of the memory chips in my 7200 to record in the raw format. Which Photo Shop package do you suggest for retouching?
Harle
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Hi guys
I am finally going to bite the bullet. I am changing one of the memory chips in my 7200 to record in the raw format. Which Photo Shop package do you suggest for retouching?
Harle
If you want to use Adobe Photoshop specifically (meaning instead of Photoshop Elements or some other similar application) your options are pretty limited.

You can spend $10 a month for the Photography Plan that includes Photoshop, Lightroom and 20GB of online storage; $20 a month for the Photography Plan that includes Photoshop, Lightroom and 1GB of online storage or you can spend $21 a month and just have Photoshop CC. All three options will include the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in as well as Adobe Bridge. All three "roads" lead you to Adobe Photoshop CC.

I don't know if retail packaged versions of Photoshop CS6 can still be found or not.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Both Lightroom and Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements) have the ability to edit Camera RAW files. The controls are just laid out differently. Lightroom has the advantage of cataloging your images. Photoshop allows layers, layer masks, and a variety of things that might not be able to be done in Lightoom.

Photoshop Elements offers some of the same features as the full version of Photoshop although it is missing some things (offhand, I don't know what they are now because I haven't kept up with it). I learned on Photoshop Elements before switching to Lightroom. It's probably easier to learn how to edit in Camera RAW first - which can be accessed in the full version of Photoshop, Lightroom, or in Photoshop Elements (which might not have everything but should have quite a few similar options for editing).
 

nickt

Senior Member
I like Lightroom. I found it easy to use and I like the catalog. I have the $10/month plan so I use photoshop on occasion too, but I'm not so comfortable with it. PS Elements is OK, I used to use that. I wasn't super comfortable with that either, Lightroom just 'clicked' for me. You can download trials of these, but don't do it all at once, 30 days goes too quickly to try them all at once. You could also watch some of the 'getting started' type adobe training videos for each before downloading anything to see if any of them appeals or offends before you bother downloading and trying it.
Be careful if you sign up for any of the subscriptions. Adobe experiments on offerings. At one time I think they had true monthly plans that you could cancel. What you see now is "annual plan, paid monthly", so you are signing up and agreeing to pay for the year via monthly payments. Not sure what the penalty is for quitting, but there is one in the fine print.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Basically, all the available editors have the same basic features... You can install the Nikon suite of software that came with your camera, or you can just download it from Nikon's web site. It's free... After you're comfortable using the various editing features, then you'll have a basic understanding of the available features...then you can look at the "for money" programs that do the same thing ...
 

nickt

Senior Member
An advantage to using the Nikon software as Fred suggested is that the Nikon software will give you a decent looking image without doing any editing at all. The Nikon stuff will apply the camera picture settings so you will start off editing with something that looks exactly like the camera jpg. The Adobe stuff and any 3rd party editor will give you a more 'blah' image to start with that must be worked on. Not a big deal, you can apply a preset if you want. For somebody just starting out though it might be comforting to start off with an image that is already pretty good.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Not that I care who processes what, or what software application/s they use to do it, but one thing I really like about the newer versions of ACR is the "Auto" button. Somewhere around version 10.0.0 Adobe changed how the Auto button in ACR is configured and these latest versions work really, really well. I seem to recall Adobe saying something about implementing what it calls "Sensei AI", whatever that means. However it does what it does, the Auto button generates a really good, really clean base-image from which to start working on probably +90% of the time. The Auto button in ACR is so good I almost always give it a shot, straight away, just to see what it will give me. It's a huge time saver and, combined with the Hue Light profiles for my camera bodies, cuts down on my processing time significantly.

Blake Rudis has a really good video on this topic.
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Not that I care who processes what, or what software application/s they use to do it, but one thing I really like about the newer versions of ACR is the "Auto" button. Somewhere around version 10.0.0 Adobe changed how the Auto button in ACR is configured and these latest versions work really, really well. I seem to recall Adobe saying something about implementing what it calls "Sensei AI", whatever that means. However it does what it does, the Auto button generates a really good, really clean base-image from which to start working on probably +90% of the time. The Auto button in ACR is so good I almost always give it a shot, straight away, just to see what it will give me. It's a huge time saver and, combined with the Hue Light profiles for my camera bodies, cuts down on my processing time significantly.

Blake Rudis has a really good video on this topic.

I thought it was just me that tried the lazy way first :encouragement:,as you say it can now often get you very close if not spot on.
 

Ad B

Senior Member
Hi,


Adobe delivers the best package to work with and on your pics.
I tried others programs, each had their positive sides. But Photoshop has it all in one program.
It will cost you $10 a month... you will always have the latest software, with the newest updates.
With the RAW conversion, ACR, I use the "auto" button always too...
Or my personal settings, after that I'll do my lens settings.
Very handy at the lens correction, is the straightening button...
Horizontal and vertical lines are set properly with the click at one button.
I'm not a Lightroom user... I just use Photoshop.
Those $10 a month are a good investment.
 

Ad B

Senior Member
Hi,
Creative Cloud has to work with W7, W8 and W10.
That’s what Adobe writes.
I have updated my computer as I bought newer camera’s.
I started with pictures from few Mb...
Now, the NEF’s from my Z7 are aprox 55 Mb a piece and I open 30 NEF’s at the same time in ACR.
Bigger cams, bigger Pc’s is my advice.
 
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