Digital Photography
Using Camera Raw

Are you getting the most out of your digital photographs? If you're not using your camera's RAW format—and Adobe Photoshop's Camera Raw feature—you're missing a whole world of picture quality.

Developed by noted digital photography expert Ken Milburn, this advanced 6-lesson course explores every facet of editing RAW images in Adobe Photoshop CS2. You'll learn when, why, and how to incorporate Camera RAW into your photography workflow, practicing techniques for managing and editing images you'll capture in creative photoshoots.

Learning basic adjustments and special effects, you'll bring out the beauty in your RAW shots and produce professional-quality images that are rich in detail and accuracy. You'll also explore techniques for calibrating your camera and correcting common flaws like sensor noise and fringing. In the final project, you'll learn how to create intense HD images by combining RAW images at different exposure settings.

The goal of the course is to teach you how professionals approach the RAW photography process. Designers, photographers, and image editors will all benefit from the techniques explored.

Important: Access to a camera that shoots RAW files is required, as is some experience shooting digital images and editing them in Photoshop.

Ken Milburn is a professional photographer and leading expert in digital photography... get bio

Discuss and utilize the basic benefits of RAW files and the Camera Raw application.

Manage RAW files and automate imaging tasks using Adobe Bridge.

Use Camera Raw to set a photo's white balance, perform automatic adjustments, and modify image contrast.

Apply appropriate settings to correct and enhance portraits and product photography.

Shoot color-accurate photos using camera calibration techniques.

Determine appropriate image adjustment settings and apply them automatically to a series.

Correct common image problems including definition loss, sensor noise, vignetting, and fringing.

Create high and low key interpretations of images using Camera Raw histograms.

Shoot and merge multiple exposures to create fully-detailed, high dynamic range (HDR) photos.

LESSON 1 Understanding the RAW Advantage What's all the buzz about? Lesson One explores the benefits of working in RAW format. You'll learn about the productivity and quality benefits of using this method and look at how Adobe Bridge and Photoshop's Camera Raw application are used to manage and edit RAW photos. In your first project, you'll go on a RAW photo shoot, capturing the subjects of your choice and trying out some Camera Raw adjustments on them. You'll revisit these shots later in the course when you've got more Camera Raw experience under your belt.

LESSON 2 Adjustments and Curves Photoshop's Camera Raw application allows you to perform a variety of adjustments on your RAW photos, from just tweaking the color to setting accurate white balance and curves. Lesson Two covers these critical techniques as well as some ways to use adjustments and curves to achieve dramatic color effects. You'll learn routines for creating black and white images that pop in addition to subtle toned monochromes. You'll also examine how to use photographer's color cards to get perfect color balance. In the exercise, you'll conduct a portrait photoshoot in different subject situations. Back in your studio, you'll use adjustments and curves to perfect your shots.

LESSON 3 Calibrating Your Camera Professional applications such as product photography call for a heightened level of color accuracy that you can only achieve through camera calibration. In this lesson, methods for calibrating your camera are examined in depth, including the use of color cards and the Calibrate feature in Camera Raw. You'll also learn to save calibrations for your usual shooting conditions, saving you lots of time. Accuracy is key in this lesson's exercise, in which your client requires professional-level shots that are perfectly representative of their products.

LESSON 4 Automating Camera Raw All of these intense adjustments and edits are great, but they can get a little time-consuming when you apply them to photo after photo after photo... Why not let Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge do all the work? In Lesson Four, you'll learn various methods for saving time when working with RAW files, including winnowing and automation. You'll also learn handy techniques for leveling and cropping your images. In the exercise, you'll revisit the photo series you took in Lesson One and apply automation to make all of your shots look great in a flash.

LESSON 5 Special Purpose Raw Adjustments No matter how great a photographer you are, digital images can be plagued by a number of common problems including sensor noise, lack of definition, vignetting, and fringing. Lesson Five examines techniques for addressing these problems using the Camera Raw environment so you can have flawless final photos. In the project, you'll find some problem images in your collection (or intentionally shoot some), then apply these techniques to clean them up.

LESSON 6 Multiple Exposures in Camera Raw Every digital photographer knows that even a perfectly-shot, flawless photo sometimes isn't powerful enough to convey the message. Special effects can help you communicate just the right feel with your photos, and these can often be achieved with Camera Raw. First, you'll learn to create glowing high-key and smoky low-key effects that add a touch of glamour to portraits. Then you'll explore high dynamic range (HDR) images that are full of detail because they are created with multiple exposures. To wrap up the course, you'll create stunning high and low key portraits and construct an HDR image from multiple exposures.