Where to Begin

No matter what your level of experience, if you've never worked with raw files before, you should read Chapter 2, "What Is Raw?" to get a better understanding of what a raw file is and how it differs from a regular JPEG file.

Whether you're shooting raw or JPEG, a lot of your image editing operations will be the same. If you aren't already familiar or comfortable with reading a histogram or using levels, then you should read Chapter 3, "Image Editing Basics." If you're a fairly experienced image editor, then you can probably skip this chapter.

With this editing foundation you're ready to start working on raw files. Chapter 4, "Getting Started with Camera Raw," starts with a quick run through some of the raw conversion programs that are available. My personal preference is Camera Raw, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop Elements and Photoshop, and the rest of the book is built around Adobe's raw converter. If you have Photoshop Elements 3 or 4, Photoshop CS, or Photoshop CS2, then you already have Camera Raw. If you're using Photoshop 7, you'll need the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe no longer sells the plug-in, but you may be able to find a used copy. Chapter 4 introduces you to the fundamentals of Camera Raw, provides an overview of the interface, and explains the basic steps you'll take for all of your raw processing.

Now you're ready to learn about streamlining your raw shooting workflow. Unlike JPEG files, you can't just copy raw files from your camera and start printing or uploading them, so developing a smooth workflow is essential to raw shooting. Chapter 5, "Workflow," walks you through the procedures you need to understand for streamlined raw processing. In addition to learning techniques for quickly reviewing and sorting your images, you'll see how to process entire batches of images and how to build automated processing mechanisms that perform a lot of routine functions for you.

In Chapter 6, "Advanced Editing in Camera Raw," you'll return to raw image editing and explore a few tools that weren't covered in Chapter 4. Then you'll look more deeply into how raw files differ from JPEG files, how your camera perceives light and dark, and how all of this affects your image editing practices. You'll learn about Camera Raw's Curves tool, which enables you to perform highly refined edits, along with Camera Raw's highlight-recovery features. You'll also explore Camera Raw's ability to create high-dynamic-range images, a feature that allows you to capture scenes with an extremely broad range of light and dark tones.

In the final chapter, Chapter 7, "Shooting Raw," you'll explore exposure and shooting concepts that will help you produce raw images that have more editing latitude. You may have heard the phrase "garbage in, garbage out," and while you probably haven't been shooting outright garbage, you'll find that making a few raw-oriented exposure choices when you're shooting will afford you more editing flexibility when you're back at your computer. Finally, you'll see how raw facilitates better low-light photography and how to shoot high-dynamic-range scenes.