RAW shooting 101

[DebsSisterFlo]

Ok you pros (not me), please give us clueless slr users a 101 course in shooting in RAW mode. I have not tried it yet as I have no clue where to begin!

[wharyat]

Just set your camera to RAW.

The shooting is exactly the same, it comes down to the post processing where you can adjust all sorts of settings without any loss in quality. It depends on what software you use; some of them are more straightforward than others. I personally use Photoshop CS2.

Also, make sure you have a big memory card.

[DebsSisterFlo]

my card is 1gb. I use the program that came with the camera, photo something or other! So do I just shoot in RAW and then upload them to the computer like normal, no other settings or things to worry about?

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

My pictures seem clearer and sharper in Fine settings.

When i first got my D-100, the raw were better........now that i have the camera tuned and am taking better pictures than i ever have of my reefs......raw isnt working for me.

The pictures i take now are typically just shy of 3mb. The raw ones are 16-20mb.

Any ideas why i am having this result???? I would really like to play with the raw a little more

i posted this in another thread in this forum.....still looking for any rhyme or reason as to why.......

[marcuspajp]

Sorry for beeing slightly OT:

You need to sharpen RAW-pictures to remove some of the effect of the blur-filter that is in front of your sensor. When you shoot jeeg your camera does this for you. But if you do it yourself then you can have more control, and also apply it after you have post-processed your images.

Most image editors have an oddly named tool called Unsharp mask that works fine for sharpening up.

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutori...ding-usm.shtml

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by marcuspajp

Sorry for beeing slightly OT:

You need to sharpen RAW-pictures to remove some of the effect of the blur-filter that is in front of your sensor. When you shoot jeeg your camera does this for you. But if you do it yourself then you can have more control, and also apply it after you have post-processed your images.

Most image editors have an oddly named tool called Unsharp mask that works fine for sharpening up.

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutori...ding-usm.shtml

Thanks marcuspajp........thats not OT at all.......thats answering my question. : )

I just woke up....but i will play with that later today and see if it fixes it

thanks

[marcuspajp]

Glad to help. Let us know how it goes


As to the original question, if you get 100 photographers in a room you would probably get 100 awnsers on how to shoot RAW.. I personally would not bother if I was only using the software that comes with the camera. But I havn't tried them all, Nikons seems decent.

I would get a trial version of one of the many consumer grade RAW-converters out there: Capture One LE , Rawshooter essentials (Free!) or maybe Adobe Camera RAW if you have Photoshop Elements or CS. They are all capable of great results, if you can get along with them.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by marcuspajp

Glad to help. Let us know how it goes


As to the original question, if you get 100 photographers in a room you would probably get 100 awnsers on how to shoot RAW.. I personally would not bother if I was only using the software that comes with the camera. But I havn't tried them all, Nikons seems decent.

I would get a trial version of one of the many consumer grade RAW-converters out there: Capture One LE , Rawshooter essentials (Free!) or maybe Adobe Camera RAW if you have Photoshop Elements or CS. They are all capable of great results, if you can get along with them.

I have photoshop 6 installed.........i have never taken the time to learn any of it. I use the nikon editor to crop and other than that i just try to take good pics as i have no idea how to fix the pictures otherwise.

Is there any easy way to explain to a noob how to do what you are talking about in my photoshop 6??

[marcuspajp]

Try Filters -> Enhance -> Unsharp mask


If you want to use Adobe Camera Raw you need PS CS (8) or newer. A new version of PS Elements (the cheaper consumer version) would also do. The other programs I linked to are completly indipendent of PS. Usually you convert your RAW file to TIFF with one of them and then finish it up in PS.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by marcuspajp

Try Filters -> Enhance -> Unsharp mask

i found where my nikon editor does the "unsharp mask" automatically......

here is one that came out ok.......

[DebsSisterFlo]

With my Canon Rebel XT I got this program: ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5. Anyone else use this program?

[marcuspajp]

I took the liberty of adding some more USM to your pic. Probably a little too much but it shows whats possible.

[DebsSisterFlo]

wow, I need to learn how to do this!

[Fly Guy]

whats "USM" .....lol

im sure whatever you did would have been easier on an unshrunk picture............

I like the smoothness of my pic better...but if we could do that with the detail of whtever it was you did.........

forgive me...im CLUELESS : )

[Doug1]

Very nice shot, amazing what the new tech stuff can do