Chapter 5. Hands-On Camera Raw: Evaluating and Editing Images

Knowing what each control does in Camera Raw is only half the battle. The other half is in knowing how the various controls interact, and when (and in what order) to use them. So with these goals in mind, let's first look at a simple scenario, processing individual images, one at a time, in Camera Raw. Later in this chapter we'll look at the ways Camera Raw lets you apply edits to multiple images at the same time, and to transfer edits from one image to another, but unless you've mastered the art of editing one image at a time, these features are as likely to help you destroy multiple images as to enhance them!

It's useful to split the work into three phases, even though the third phase is where most of the work gets done, because if you mess up the first phase, you won't get the results you wanted, and if you skip the second phase you may miss critical issues in the image when you execute phase three. The three phases are:

• Setting up Camera RawPreferences and workflow settings

• Evaluating the image

• Editing the image

Let's look at these in turn.