Saving RAW Files in Adobe s Digital Negative (DNG) Format


Saving RAW Files in Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) Format

At this point in time, there's a concern with the RAW file format because there's not a single, universal format for RAW imagesevery digital camera manufacturer has its own. That may not seem like a problem, but what happens if one of these camera companies stops developing or supporting a format and switches to something else? Seriously, what if in a few years from now there was no easy way to open your saved RAW files? Adobe recognized this problem and created the Digital Negative (DNG) format for long-term archival storage of RAW images.

Step One

As of the writing of this book, only a few major camera manufacturers have built in the ability to save RAW files in Adobe's DNG format (although we believe it's only a matter of time before they all do); so if your camera doesn't support DNG files yetno sweatyou can save your RAW file to Adobe DNG format from right within the Camera Raw dialog. Just open your image in Camera Raw and hit the Save button. This brings up the Save Options dialog, which saves your RAW file to DNG by default.

Step Two

At the bottom of this dialog, you have some additional DNG options: You can choose to embed the original RAW file into your DNG (making the file larger, but your original is embedded for safekeeping in case you ever need to extract itand if you have the hard disk [or CD space]go for it!). There's a compression option (and it's "lossless," meaning you don't lose quality like you do with JPEG compression). You can also choose to include a JPEG preview with your DNG file. That's itclick Save and you've got a DNG archival-quality file that can be opened by Photoshop Elements (or the free DNG utility from Adobe).



The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers
The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers
ISBN: 0321384830
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 201
Authors: Scott Kelby

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net