Question about RAW

ZetZet Registered Users Posts: 77 Big grins
edited January 12, 2012 in Finishing School
Hi! I'm looking to improve my images and have been reading up on shooting in RAW. One thing I don't understand is, do I send the RAW file to the lab or do I have to convert it to a JPG?

Thank you,

Elisete

Comments

  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    You must convert / process the RAW file. The reason you shoot RAW is save ALL the data the camera collects. The lab can't do anything with the RAW file.

    Once processed through a RAW converter and processed to taste in Photoshop or Lightroom you can then save the image in a file format the printer will understand.

    Sam
    www.samlinvillephotography.com
  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    As the name implies, raw data (not all caps either it is not an acronym) is not fully processed image data. Think of it like a digital negative. Like a film negative, one must process the image. Instead of using an enlarger and filter packs, one must create instructions for a raw processor to render the data into an image we desire. That is the beauty of raw data, you process it any way you desire. It is not a baked image like a TIFF or JPEG.

    This article is long but really useful in understanding about raw data, and more importantly how rendering the image is a huge and important process in photography:

    http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/prophotographer/pdfs/pscs3_renderprint.pdf
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
  • ZetZet Registered Users Posts: 77 Big grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    I'm using a Nikon D7000. There is a RAW setting and then a RAW+ setting. The RAW+ gives me two files. One was a JPG 6.15MB and the NEF file is 19.3 MB. I have Photoshop Elements 9 and it would not open the NEF file. I did some searching on line and it is supposed to open a raw file.

    So the RAW+ gave me a raw and a regular JPG file, correct?
    Do you how I can open the raw with elements 9 or do I need to get a different version of PS?

    Thank you.
  • paddler4paddler4 Registered Users Posts: 976 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    (not all caps either it is not an acronym)

    Not to hijack the thread, but that's interesting. I did wonder. Adobe sometimes does not capitalize it but sometimes capitalizes the R. Canon uses RAW. Wikipedia mixes raw and RAW. Wonder where the caps came from.

    Anyway, back to the OP's question: to extend Andrew's comment a little, when you shoot JPG, you are letting the camera develop the negative using a fixed algorithm you have chosen via the camera settings. Everything is fixed: contrast, saturation, color balance, white balance, noise reduction, sharpening, the works. You can edit the results to some degree after the fact--e.g., it is easy to increase contrast, even with a JPG-- but you have much less flexibility. When you shoot raw, you are reserving the developing for yourself. But if the camera does not develop the image, you need to, because you have to send the digital equivalent of a developed image to the lab.
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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,967 moderator
    edited January 8, 2012
    You need to update the ACR plugin to 6.3 or later for the D7000. I don't use Elements, but I imagine there's an Update Software function in there somewhere, maybe on the Help menu. If you're lucky, 6.3 is available for free for Elements 9; if not, you either will have to pay for an upgrade to a later version of Elements or convert your NEF files to DNG format using a free converter that you can get from Adobe's Web site. Or you could use whatever software Nikon provided with your camera to convert the raw images to TIFFs, which you could then process in Elements.
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  • ZetZet Registered Users Posts: 77 Big grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    Ok. Thank you Richard. I will look into that.
  • PeanoPeano Registered Users Posts: 268 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    Zet wrote: »
    Ok. Thank you Richard. I will look into that.

    updateuh.jpg
    Peano
    RadiantPics
  • MomaZunkMomaZunk Registered Users Posts: 421 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    One more thing...I do not think your question about the Raw+jpeg was answered.
    The only reason to use this setting is if you want to share the photos out of the camera without going through the raw processor.
    For example, if you want to share with family or friends on their computer.
    Otherwise, you do not need the jpeg version.
    As you start out with processing your raw images, you may want to use some of the jpegs initially just to compare with.
    Dee Zunker

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  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    Zet wrote: »
    So the RAW+ gave me a raw and a regular JPG file, correct?
    Do you how I can open the raw with elements 9 or do I need to get a different version of PS?

    Correct. The camera is processing the raw itself to produce the JPEG and, with this setting, providing you the raw as well. When you ask for a JPEG, the camera tosses the raw (it always produces a raw, you decide if you want it or not).

    Elements should support raw with an Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. Maybe you need to update it OR convert to DNG (using the free DNG converter from Adobe) if your copy of Elements is old and natively doesn’t support a newer camera.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
  • PeanoPeano Registered Users Posts: 268 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2012
    arodney wrote: »
    Elements should support raw with an Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. Maybe you need to update it OR convert to DNG (using the free DNG converter from Adobe) if your copy of Elements is old and natively doesn’t support a newer camera.

    Elements 9 with ACR 6.3 or 6.4 supports the D7000. No need for DNG conversion.
    Peano
    RadiantPics
  • gmachengmachen Registered Users Posts: 22 Big grins
    edited January 12, 2012
    Another question about raw (or, more precisely, about the Camera Raw or Lightroom developer): When one re-opens an already-"baked" image, such as a TIFF, I know it of course doesn't magically become a raw file again for the duration, but does it get converted into the exact same interim editing format as when loading an actual raw file, to wit, a 16-bit linear "gamma" ProPhoto RGB?
  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited January 12, 2012
    gmachen wrote: »
    Another question about raw (or, more precisely, about the Camera Raw or Lightroom developer): When one re-opens an already-"baked" image, such as a TIFF, I know it of course doesn't magically become a raw file again for the duration, but does it get converted into the exact same interim editing format as when loading an actual raw file, to wit, a 16-bit linear "gamma" ProPhoto RGB?

    The rendered TIFF or JPEG is processed using the LR/ACR engine meaning ProPhoto primaries, linear gamma, high bit. Then you have to decide what you want to end up with a newer re-render. That is, the TIFF or JPEG simply has new metadata describing the new, potential edits. Then you export (or in ACR, ask to Open), you get what you setup for the process in terms of color space and bit depth.

    It is for this reason that if you have a raw, you want to edit that with these process, if you render out a TIFF or JPEG, you are pretty much done using these parametric edits.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
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