| Processed: Mouse Over For Original | Using QuickFix |
 The origninal jpeg photo was taken by Frank Chism in San Francisco, and processed using the Adobe Camera RAW plugin in Elements 6, with a correction layer for the sky. |
 Here is the original jpeg processed the easiest way, using the tools available in Elements 6 QuickFix, and selecting the automatic options for levels, color and sharpening. |
| Comparison of Detail |
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| Here's a comparison of the detail you can get to pop out, even on a jpeg, plus the fairly non-destructive bluing of the sky. On the left is the original jpeg, on the right is the same jpeg after a trip thru ACR, followed by the addition of a special layer to make the gloomy gray San Francisco sky look at least a little bit bluer. I probably over-did the color vibrancy just a bit. My goal was to make a good photo more exciting by increasing the visible detail, making the color more vibrant, and get some color into the sky. While the QuickFix does help some, using ACR and a special layer accomplished everything. |
| JPEG Treated as RAW | Processed as JPEG |
 The origninal jpeg photo opened in the Camera RAW processor, and all corrections made there. |
 The same jpeg opened normally in Elements, and processed to bring out its best qualities using the regular editing tools. |
| Actual RAW Photo | Some Explanation |
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To the left is a shot very similar to the above, only it really was photographed using Canon's Camera RAW format. It was then opened in Adobe's Camera Raw Processor and adjusted there, then opened into Elements and tweaked a tiny bit. If you compare it with the jpeg directly above, you can see that the genuine RAW photo and the jpeg processed as if it were RAW both look much more alike than either looks like the jpeg processed directly in the Elements editor. The foliage is more vivid and seems to have greater clarity and depth. The regularly edited jpeg seems, in comparison, to be rather flatter, less vivid, and was obviously shot using a flash. I had been less than entusiastic about the RAW files produced by my Canon PowerShot S50, and the results I got processing them in the early version of the Adobe Camera Raw Plug-in, for Photoshop CS1, so I had then ignored the whole business. Recently I found out that you could open regular jpegs in ACR, and that there were a number of very knowledgeable folks who were very committed to doing just that. So I tried it. Now I'm very excited about it too. |
| Tree Time |
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| Here's a shot taken by my sis-in-law, Anne Lindsay, who is a professional photographer, but is as likely as the rest of use to take snapshots while on a family vacation that don't turn out quite right. This one was taken last Easter on San Juan Island, and got the highlights blown out while the shadows have no detail. It's also slightly out of kilter and the focus leaves something to be desired. But I rather liked the subject of the tree, the pond, an ocean inlet, and a bit of mystery, so thought something could be done with it to bring out more of an emotional reaction. |
| JPEG Treated as RAW | Processed as JPEG |
 I opened the jpeg in Adobe Camera Raw and fiddled with settings there, where I got the tree and the reflections to look very vivid. |
 I also opened the jpeg in Photoshop Elements and used every trick I could think of, making very natural looking color, especially for the water. |
| Final Tree | Some Explanation |
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When I first started fiddling with it, I got the idea that it would look neat as an atmospheric piece, and hoped to get a feeling of a late afternoon in the early spring, with the sunlight waning and giving the tree a nice glow. While it certainly glowed in the raw processed version, I lost the feeling of lateness. The regularly processed version had more vivid water, but the tree just didn't glow--it was too cool, while the raw version was too warm. So what I did was opened the raw processed jpeg in Elements and then tinkered with it some more using Elements own editing tools. The final result, which I cropped to straighten and get rid of the human signage, does seem to combine the best features of both. The reflection is more interesting and complex than in either of the other versions, the feeling of late afternoon slanting light is there, and there is a hint of the detail largely lost in the shadows in both the original and normally edited version. After fooling around with this photo I became a bit of an evangelist for the Adobe Camera Raw Plug-in. If you try it yourself I think you will too. I discovered a number of other great things you can do very easily in the ACR plug-in, that can be done only with quite a bit of effort in the full editor of Elements. In the next pages I'll show the basic steps to use this feature, and give some examples of cool things you can do with it. |