Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
If you've ever wondered why RAW images look good on your camera's LCD, but look
flat when you open them in Camera Raw, it's because what you see on your LCD is a
JPEG preview (even though you're shooting in RAW), and your camera automatically
adds color correction, sharpening, etc., to them. When you shoot in RAW, you're
telling the camera, “Turn all that color enhancement and sharpening off—just leave
it untouched, and I'll process it myself.” But, if you'd like that JPEG-processed look
as a starting place for your RAW photo editing, camera profiles can get you close.
Step One:
Click on the Camera Calibration icon (the
third icon from the right) near the top of
the Panel area, and in the Camera Profile
section, click-and-hold on the Name pop-
up menu, and you'll see a list of camera
profiles available for your particular cam-
era (it reads the embedded EXIF data,
so it knows which brand of camera you
use). For example, if you shoot Nikon,
you'll see a list of the in-camera picture
styles (shown here) you could have ap-
plied to your image if you had taken the
shot in JPEG mode (if you shoot in RAW,
Camera Raw ignores those in-camera
profiles, as explained above). If you shoot
Canon, you'll see a slightly different list,
but it does the same type of thing.
Step Two:
The default profile will be Adobe Standard.
Now, ask yourself this: “Does the word
'Standard' ever mean 'Kick Butt?'” Not
usually, which is why I suggest you try
out the different profiles in this list and
see which ones you like. At the very least,
I would change it to
Camera Standard
,
which I think usually gives you a better
starting place (as seen here).
