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By Mikkel Aaland
First Edition
March 2006
Pages: 224
ISBN 10: 0-596-00851-1 |
ISBN 13: 9780596008512
(Average of 6 Customer Reviews)
The RAW file format is the uncompressed data file captured by a digital camera's electronic sensor. Because RAW files remain virtually untouched by in-camera processing, working with them brings greater flexibility and control to the editing process--if you know how to use them. Adobe Photoshop CS2 has emerged as the best way to edit RAW images, and Photoshop CS2 RAW is dedicated to working with RAW in Photoshop. This comprehensive guide explores the entire RAW process, focusing extensively on Photoshop editing techniques targeted to professionals and photo hobbyists alike.
Full Description
The RAW file format is the uncompressed data file captured by a digital camera's electronic sensor. When your camera saves an image in RAW format, settings like white balance, sharpening, contrast and saturation are not applied to the image but are saved instead in a separate header. Because RAW files remain virtually untouched by in-camera processing, they are essentially the digital equivalent to exposed but undeveloped film.
Post-purchase benefits:
This makes RAW an increasingly popular format with amateur and professional digital photographers, because it affords greater flexibility and control during the editing process-if you know how to work with RAW files.
Most digital camera manufacturers supply their own software for converting RAW data, as do some third party vendors. Increasingly, however, the RAW converter of choice is a plug-in included in the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, the most popular and widely-used digital image editing tool in the world. Adobe Photoshop CS2 is emerging as the best place to edit RAW images, and the best way to master this new format is with Photoshop CS2 RAW.
An important book dedicated to working with RAW in Photoshop, this comprehensive guide features a unique design that helps readers grasp the subject through visual instruction and prompts. The entire RAW process is explored, from shooting to using the Adobe plug-in converter and new Bridge navigation software. The primary focus of Photoshop RAW is, as the title suggests, Photoshop editing technique: automating RAW workflow, correcting exposures, extending exposure range, manipulating grayscale and working with the new DNG (Digital Negative) open standard that Adobe supports.
Presented by photographer Mikkel Aaland, a pioneer of digital photography and author of eight books, including O'Reilly's Photoshop for the Web and the award-winning Shooting Digital, Photoshop CS2 RAW investigates and instructs in an accessible visual style. Required reading for professionals and dedicated photo hobbyists alike.
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Book details
First Edition: March 2006
ISBN: 0-596-00851-1
Pages: 224
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 6 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Useful to someone with intermediate to advanced skills, April 07 2008
Rating:
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
Please read our review here: http://www.elug.linux.ab.ca/reviews/photoshop_cs2_raw.shtml (http://www.elug.linux.ab.ca/reviews/photoshop_cs2_raw.shtml)
Recommended for Photoshop users AND others, April 04 2008
Rating:
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
The title of this book is an accurate description, as you would expect, of its contents. It is specifically written for users of Adobe products: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw.
So, if your camera does not provide the RAW format, and/or you do not use Adobe products, should you buy this book?
This book is, obviously, going to be most useful for Photoshop users. However, I suggest there are several reasons why anyone who likes to edit digital images can benefit from the book, regardless of camera capabilities or image editing software preferences.
Chapter 1, Shooting and Importing RAW, has the best description that I have seen of the trade offs between the RAW and JPEG formats.
Chapter 5, Advanced Tonal Control, has examples of what can be achieved with a full-featured image editing application. True, the step-by-step procedures are unique to Photoshop, but seeing the results demonstrates--dramatically--the possibilities.
Chapter 6, Sharpening RAW Smoothly, contains very useful information on "When to Apply Sharpening." Information that is independent of software. To quote the author: "There is a lot of misunderstanding about when and how to apply sharpening." The examples provided effectively demonstrate the use of this software tool.
There is more--a total of 10 chapters. The printing quality is very high. I certainly recommend this book to Photoshop users, but others will find valuable information in this book as well.
Useless without access to RAW files, November 16 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
I was wondering why you would need sample files for this book when, if already using Adobe CS2 you could shoot your own RAW files and mess around with them?
It would be hard to have examlpes of RAW files listed someplace on the web for example when the fact is that most RAW files are somewhere around 12mb to start!
I think you are giving the book a bad rap and may chase away others that do understand what working with RAW files means and how this book is a great info source for people using CS2.
Canon has a few cameras that support the RAW format as do many other companies, look around, you can pick up a good camera for around $600.00 to $3000.00.
Later Dude!
Great Book! Lots of information., November 15 2006
Rating:
Submitted by
Designdude
[Respond | View]
First and formost one of the best books I have come accross in a long time.
If you already understand RAW then, this book will add to your knowledge base. Remember, you will need a camera that has the RAW setting!
Later Gaters!
Useless without access to RAW files, June 05 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
I am sorry, but the title itself already says it - so why would you buy a book about processing RAW if you do not have a camera capable of giving you this format? To blame the editor for not giving you what already the title tells you what it is all about is somewhat - well, shall I say: flawed?
Useless without access to RAW files, May 10 2006
Rating:
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
Definitely missing the sample files. This costs a few stars. Book is almost useless without sample raw files that you can test. THIS publisher should know better and PROVIDE the sample files used in the book. Basically if you don't have access to a camera that gives you RAW files, stay away from this book until you do.
Review of Photoshop CS2 RAW, April 29 2006
Rating:
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
The book is excellent, but right now I am very disapointed about the book examples, no place to download or get them, I guess it would be very helpfull for the readers any way to get the book examples online to test with it or practice.
Review of Photoshop CS2 RAW, April 21 2006
Rating:
Submitted by
Jim Hawkins
[Respond | View]
Photoshop CS2 RAW
O’Reilly Media, Inc.
First Edition: March 2006
ISBN: 0-596-00851-1
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/photoshopraw/>
I first learned of RAW digital images via the Olympus e-10 camera I bought in early 2001. However, the proprietary software that Olympus provided to process their RAW files was so clunky that I didn’t actually switch over to the format until the free version of Adobe Camera Raw software came out as a Photoshop 8 add-on. The problem then became that there was (and still is) no instruction manual for Camera Raw and some of the choices in the user interface are less than intuitive. The value of using RAW files was obvious however, so I have stayed with shooting that way routinely. Thus, I brought to this book review several years of catch-as-catch-can Camera RAW editing experience … but still some nagging questions remained such as, “Just what is Luminance Smoothing all about?” and “What am I really doing when I change Shadow Tint?”.
On the cover there is a subtitle which is easy to miss but that really tells the whole story: “Using Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge, and Photoshop to Get the Most out of Your Digital Camera”. Five of the 10 chapters do provide a systematic and detailed understanding of all the editing functions of Camera Raw along with a very complete set of screen shots that provide a visual complement to the text. But really, there is more to the book than that. It is organized as a comprehensive look at how Adobe has provided a set of interrelated software packages for digital workflow, editing, and data management needs. This coverage begins with making the choice to shoot in the RAW format and how to set up your camera in order to provide the best digital data for editing. We then go to getting the files out of your camera and into Adobe Photoshop by using Adobe Bridge software to open Adobe Camera RAW. We learn about keeping the software up to date (though I must say, I find the Adobe internet link works only sporadically at best). After we learn to edit in Camera RAW, we learn about batch processing, automating tasks, archiving, and distributing files. There is even a section on writing custom scripts.
This book is an easy read. The author has a “sharing” style in which he passes the most technical of information by acting as a guide rather than a tutor. As a knowledgeable reader, he hit me just right. I didn’t agree with everything I found here however. He has a whole chapter on “Making Better Black & White Images in RAW”. Now, there are a lot of ways to go from color to monochrome in Photoshop. I tried his suggestions and decided never to repeat that approach again. On the other hand, I agree with him that reducing noise is usually better done in Photoshop. He tells all about how to reduce noise in Camera RAW (and answers my quandary about Luminance Smoothing in the process) but then he goes on to show and tell how to do it better in Photoshop CS2. I’m not sure where any part of this book fits in with Photoshop Elements. Elements isn’t even found in the index. I’m sure parts of the content will be helpful to Elements users but as usual, you will have to figure out how to make the transfer.
Jim Hawkins
http://home.earthlink.net/~jhawkinssprint5/index.html
Light and Shadow Camera Club
Media reviews
"Mikkel Aaland has combined a creative photographer's sensitivity with a widely published author's clarity of expression."
-- Michael Reichmann, photographer and publisher of The Luminous Landscape
"I am pleased to be able to recommend Mikkel Aaland's new book, PS CS2 RAW, as a good basic introduction to processing and working with RAW files in Camera RAW. Aaland's book is a straightforward, reader-friendly, and is filled with tons of clear illustrations.... pick up a copy of Photoshop CS2 RAW."
-- Ethan G. Salwen, The Picture Professional
"...this comprehensive guide features a unique design that helps readers grasp the subject through visual instruction and prompts."
-- , Photo Life
"This is the best books available on using Adobe Photoshop to work with raw images...This book is enhanced with a superb design and you-are-there text that makes this a pleasant journey that will help you capture and produce high-quality image files. While all the chapters are excellent, the one on better black and white files is truly amazing from the standpoint of text, design, and illustrations."
-- Joe Farace, Shutterbug Magazine
"The premise behind Mikkel Aaland's book is simple--a great digital photograph begins with RAW capture and processing. Aaland demystifies the process...your finished photos are the proof."
-- Jack Howard, Popular Photography & Imaging
"Aaland’s book is clear and understandable and provides the information that people need to use ACR, particularly if they can’t get a handle on Adobe’s rather bare-boned and non-linear instructions contained with Photoshop."
-- Conrad J. Obregon, Nikonians
"The book is not about photographic technique. It is about taking a RAW image and processing it to achieve the best desired effect...If you are at all remotely interested in RAW and its potential, read this book. If you have a digital camera that can capture in RAW format, and want to know how to use this facility, read this book. If you're looking for ways to produce 'fine art' images it is an essential resource."
-- Major Keary, PC Update
"...contains enough technical information to provide the background necessary to understand the choices you must make for each image, but you won't feel overwhelmed by data, graphs, and tables."
-- Peter Bauer, Photoshop User
"Photographer/writer Mikkel Aaland understands how intimidating the move [to working with RAW images] can be but also makes very clear its importance. His latest book is not particularly wordy but it sumptuously illustrates the introduction into the raw (pun intended) power of this format, and, how it can be tamed with the able assistance of Photoshop CS2 and Bridge... Photoshop CS2 RAW will take your art and craft to an entirely new level."
-- , Mac Directory
"...not particulary wordy but it sumptuously illustrates the introduction into the raw (pun intended) power of this format, and how it can be tamed with the able assistance of Photoshop CS2 and Bridge."
-- Ric Getter, MacDirectory
"I must admit, I took a long time switching to digital for photo work, and then I thought I was set. It appears that not only do a I have to master the camera for settings, but in those instances where the money talks, I have to learn about RAW format rather than the high res JPG format I thought was dealing me a good deal...[This book is a] must for professional digital photographers and illustrators. Handy for designers dealing with photos. Not relevant to non photo centric people. Printers will have an intrest in this as it relates to client work."
-- Todd Yeadon, Halifax Creative User Group
"If you have Photoshop CS2 and are shooting RAW (or considering it), I seriously recommend you get this book. It’s easy to read: lots of visuals, clear directions and straight-forward explanations. It won’t break either your back (206 pages) or your wallet, and you’ll enjoy the results."
-- Richard L Reaser, Tuscan Computer Society
"Photoshop CS2 RAW goes into great detail the tools to use within Photoshop to achieve the perfect image. A background in photography or design would be considered an asset before purchasing the book. Knowing terminology within these subjects will ease the learning curve and quicken the pace."
-- Cynthia Walker, Edmonton Linux User Group
