RAW files are a way of shooting with your DSLR Camera that will allow you to “edit” straight out of camera. They are not compressed in anyway, giving you much more versatility to fix your photos without losing detail.
Here is how you do it:
Step 1: Open Photoshop Elements
Step 2: Choose File, and then Open
Step 3: Find the folder containing the photos that you wish to open in Camera RAW
Step 4: You may select more than one, either by holding down your control button as you select photos or by clicking and dragging until all the photos are selected. Now click on “OPEN”
Step 5: Your pictures should load into Camera RAW. It should look like this:
When I am in Camera Raw, I am unable to toggle back and forth between other things on my tool bar and I am not sure why, but as you can see, there is a strip of your RAW files down the right side and whatever picture you choose will show up in the middle. Now, as I have already done my adjustments to this photo, the left side for you will probably look very similar except that your sliders may be in different positions and your White Balance will be set to “AS SHOT”. Play around with this and learn what each slider does to your photo and get your picture just the way you want. Notice that at the top, above all of the sliders, you have a histogram and a densitometer (the small R G B box to the left of your camera info). These are tools that will help you determine the correct exposure of your photos. Watch your histogram at the top as you change your sliders…unless you are on purposely trying to make this a high key image (like the photo I have on the screen), then you really want your histogram to show you good highlights(Right side) and Shadows (left side). The main thing that you want to try to avoid (unless of course you meant to do it) is to have very high peaks on either side. This means that you have loss of detail in the Shadows or the highlights. You will also notice if you run your cursor over the photo, your RGB numbers will change. If you have loss of detail in the shadows or highlights, you can run your cursor over the parts that look like they may have loss of detail and watch your densitometer: The RGB Numbers will read very high or very low. For loss of shadow detail the numbers will read 0 or close to it. For Highlights, the numbers will be close to 255. Anything over zero for shadows or under 255 for highlights, means that you still have some detail left in those places on the photo. Your numbers and your histogram will probably never really be the same for each individual photo and they shouldn’t be! These are just guidelines to help you make the best possible photo you can! : )
Here is an example of a more “even” histogram:
With the exception of the Shadows being clipped (notice how high the peak is on the left side), this photo has quite an “even” dynamic Range. The only reason it is showing clipping for the shadows is because she is wearing a black coat.
Step 6: When you have your photo(s) just the way you want them in RAW you can then select the one(s) that you want to open in Elements by holding down control and selecting the ones you want. Click on “Open Images” and they will load into Elements and close your Camera RAW window.
Notice that all of the images that I selected in Camera RAW appear in the project Bin below the Workspace Area.
Now, you can make even more adjustments to your photos if you wish! For example, you can make a few more changes by adjusting the lighting levels or the shadows and highlights or just by running an action (or two or three) over your photos! There is another tutorial that I have already posted if you would like to learn how to use actions! : ) I will get another tutorial up to help with some other simple enhancements of your photos in Elements itself soon!
Good Luck and hope this was helpful!!
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