Camera Raw with Photoshop

About This Book

I’ve spent the past few years perfecting my processes with Photoshop — which can be a very intimidating software program. The last few versions offered even more capability to master — the File Browser, the new Bridge pro¬gram, and Camera Raw, now in its third or fourth version. This book gives me the opportunity to share that knowledge with photographers who shoot in raw format and want to get up to speed with these new Photoshop capabilities.

I’ve selected the content of this book based on what’s most important to us as photographers. The chapters are also organized in a manner in which we use parts of Photoshop according to order, or in an overall workflow. Some of these topics include


* The importance of and implementing color management.
* The importance of and implementing workflows.
* Using Bridge and managing digital images.
* Understanding color.
* Using Camera Raw.
* Making overall color and tonal corrections in Photoshop.
* Making edits in Photoshop.

Mastering the skills in these areas of Photoshop and digital photography will help you organize and streamline your digital photography processes, making digital photography even more fun and gratifying.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into parts that address general areas such as organizing photos, converting raw files, or working with Photoshop. I even include some fun chapters in The Part of Tens. Feel free to skip around, and if you have the time, read the book from beginning to end!

Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet

Okay, not all of us plunge right into digital photography (underwater or other¬wise). So Part I offers an overview for the Photoshop and Camera Raw con¬cepts covered in the rest of the book. It’s a quick-start for shooting in raw format and getting your images into your computer. Chapter 1 briefly intro¬duces shooting raw, using Bridge, and then using Camera Raw and Photoshop to process your images. Chapter 2 goes into more detail about the benefits of raw format, and takes a look at Adobe’s new DNG file format. Chapter 3 speaks to a topic near and dear to my heart — color management. Chapter 4 explains the workflows covered throughout the book, and why they can improve your overall photography and your Photoshop skills.

Part II: Image-Management Workflow with Adobe Bridge

Adobe Bridge is what ties together all the Photoshop processes, your habits of image management, and the tweaks you make in Camera Raw and Photoshop. Image management, in essence, is keeping your digital files orga¬nized and backed up for safekeeping. After all, before you can use ’em, you have to be able to find ’em, and they have to be where you put ’em. So Chapter 5 shows you how to get around Bridge and take advantage of its file-management functions. Chapter 6 shows you how to add information to digi¬tal images to organize and reference them even better for future usage.

Part III: Working with Raw Images

Camera Raw is the program you’ll use to process all your raw images, and Part III shows you how to do just that, in a smooth raw-image-processing workflow. Chapter 7 starts you out with understanding color, the basis of pro¬cessing raw images. Chapter 8 gives you a tour of Camera Raw, while Chapter 9 shows you how to use all the tools and controls Camera Raw has to offer.
Part IV: Photoshop CS2 Image-Processing Workflows

All aspects of processing images in this book are presented in separate work¬flows that make up your overall image-processing activities. This part explains the workflows needed to process images in Photoshop after you’ve converted them in Camera Raw. Chapter 10 shows you workflows for correcting color and tone in Photoshop. Chapter 11 explains image editing as a workflow — you know, removing red eye, blemishes, and miscellaneous unwanted parts of your image (use your imagination). Chapter 12 is dedicated toward prepar¬ing images for output by correctly sizing them, applying color profiles, and routing them through an efficient printing workflow.

Part V: The Part of Tens

Always the favorite part of any For Dummies book, The Part of Tens provides you with a few chapters that add to your growing technical knowledge (and might enhance your reputation as a guru). Chapter 13 provides you with 10 cool things to do with your photos — such as creating abstracts, creating a photo Web site, and stitching panoramas. Chapter 14 shows you 10 cool Photoshop filters to use when you want to add special effects to your images. You know. The fun stuff. (Always my favorite subjects to show!)
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