Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
The Raw Converter
Probably the most useful thing Adobe has done for photography buffs is to include the
Adobe Camera Raw Converter in Elements. For many people, this feature alone is worth the
price of the program, since you just can't beat the convenience of being able to perform con-
versions in the same program you use for editing.
If you don't know what raw is, it's just a file format (a group of formats, really, since every
camera company has its
own
raw format with its own file extension), but it's a very special
one. When your digital camera takes a photo, it doesn't really take a picture. It captures three
separate sets of data, one for each of the color channels (red, green, blue). That information
then needs to be processed into something that you can recognize as an image, and your di-
gital camera contains a little computer that processes your photos right inside the camera. If
you shoot in JPEG format, for instance, your camera makes some decisions about things like
sharpness, color saturation, and contrast before it saves the JPEG files to its memory card.
But if your camera lets you shoot raw files, then you get the
unprocessed
data straight from
the camera. Shooting in raw lets you make your own decisions about how your photos
should look, to a much greater degree than with any other format. It's something like getting
a negative from your digital camera—what you do with it in your digital darkroom is up to
you.
That's raw's big advantage—total control. The downside is that every camera manufacturer
has its own proprietary raw format, and the format varies even among models from the same
company. Also, no regular graphics program can edit these files, and very few programs can
even open them. Instead, you need special software to convert raw files to a format you can
work with. In the past, that usually meant you needed to get software from the camera's man-
ufacturer before you could move your photo into an editing program like Elements.
Enter Adobe Camera Raw, which lets you convert your files right in Elements. Not only that,
but the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in that comes with Elements lets you make sophisticated
corrections to your photos before you even open them. Many times, you can do everything
you need right in the Converter, so that you're done as soon as you open the converted file.
(Of course, you can then open the file in the Editor and use any of the program's tools on it.)
Using Adobe Camera Raw saves you tons of time, and it's compatible with most cameras'
raw files.
