Digital Home Thoughts: Real World Camera Raw with Photoshop CS

Introduction
I've been shooting in raw format ever since I got my digital SLR two years ago, and my current workflow for processing images involves three separate applications: Pixort for sorting, C1LE for raw conversion, and Photoshop for editing. I don't mind the workflow, but I'd heard great things on the Web about Adobe's raw converter so I wanted to give it a whirl. With Real World Camera Raw at my side I sat down to learn how to adjust my workflow.

The first two chapters of the book are an extremely detailed look at how digital cameras capture information and what raw files are. From the JPEG versus raw debate to which edits are best performed at the raw conversion stage, Fraser leaves no stone unturned. The downside to these chapters is that the images used to explain the text are far too small to be useful and often lack useful clarifying text. For example, here is the page that illustrates different forms of clipping:


Figure 1: Clipping. (click for a larger image)

Even in print the differences between the images are so subtle, and the histograms so small, that it's impossible to understand the point Fraser is trying to get across. This problem, unfortunately, continues throughout the book.

Processing a Single Image
Chapter 3 is dedicated to an in-depth look at each of the controls in Photoshop's Camera Raw converter. The first half covers each control in massive amounts of detail, including discussions on whether the control is actually useful at the raw stage or better left to post-conversion editing with other Photoshop tools. While the detail is good, the supporting graphics are simply too small and the changes between images too subtle to be useful.

The second half of the chapter covers the workflow for editing a single image in Camera raw, and takes up a whopping 41 pages. While I appreciate the author's desire to give detailed information, sorting through a workflow that covers so many pages is daunting. It's even more challenging as the process isn't explained using a single image from start to finish. Instead, multiple photographs are used to illustrate different types of issues that can arise during conversion. A more effective approach would have been to cover a single image in one workflow, and to then offer specific techniques for problem images later in the chapter.