A raw image file contains unprocessed or unmodified data straight from the camera¡¯s sensor. A raw file obtained from a digital camera is the equivalent of the negative image of film photography, it has all the necessary information to create an image. In the past, only expensive professional cameras were able to save images in a raw format. Nowadays, more and more digital cameras offer you this option. By saving your pictures in raw format, you will analyze the image taken and make the necessary adjustments. By comparison, by saving a picture in a compressed format (JPEG), you let the camera¡¯s internal algorithms deal with the image¡¯s characteristics. By choosing to shoot raw, you can use editing software (such as Adobe Photoshop) to set the image¡¯s settings: white balance, tonal range, contrast or the amount of sharpening.

In conformity with the camera used to take the picture, the resulting raw file will have different extensions: .nef (for Nikon cameras), or .crw (for Canon cameras). You can use import the raw formats from many camera manufacturers into Adobe Photoshop for further editing. Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is the Photoshop¡¯s component which allows you to process the raw files.

When you start editing a raw camera file, Photoshop does not alter the initial file content. After you have performed the desired modifications, you export the edited image and in this way the original remains unchanged.

You can open raw files with both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, as they have the identical Camera Raw dialog box.

Open the raw file you want to edit. Do this just like with any other image type, by choosing File > Open in Adobe Photoshop¡¯s main bar. If you are using Adobe Bridge, select one or more camera raw files from the thumbnails and choose File > Open With > Photoshop CS2. You can select more than one raw files to be opened at one time.

Once you have selected the raw file to open, the Camera Raw dialog box appears, dialog box which offers you extensive options for editing the image: white balance, exposure adjustment, contrast and sharpness editing and many moreThe Camera raw dialog box is divided in many parts: in the center you will notice a large preview of the selected raw file. If you selected more images, there will be a filmstrip on the left side with thumbnails of all opened raw images.

In the top right part of the screen you will see the image¡¯s histogram, showing the tonal range. In the bottom part of the dialog box the information about the picture are shown (resolution, color space, bit-depth and size). At the top of the window you will find some tools which you can use to edit the image. You can zoom in, pan, crop, rotate or select colors. The in-depth settings for the white balance, tone, detail, color, camera calibration and lens correction are found on the slide bars in the right of the dialog window.

If you have selected more than one raw image, click the forward arrow button which you will find under the main preview area to the right to view each of the thumbnails. Another way to do this is to scroll down in the filmstrip on the left of the image.

In order to see in real time the adjustments you make to the raw image, make sure that the ¡°Preview¡± button found right above the large image in the center of the dialog box, is checked.

You can use tools located on the top part of the window to adjust the image: shadows, highlights ( if selected, the shadow and highlight areas will appear clipping in the previewed image) or zoom in the picture.

You can also chose to rotate the image (in 90¡ã steps in both clockwise direction and counter-clockwise).

You can use the Color Sampler Tool also found on the top part of the dialog box to place up to four color samplers in the previewed image. When you have places such a sampler, the RGB readout for that sampler will appear above the large preview image.

After you have familiarized and used the tools found on top of the dialog box, it is time to edit the other settings of the image. The main things you must set-up when dealing with raw files is the white balance and the exposure. The white balance represents the lighting conditions under which the picture has been taken. When it calculates the exposure, a digital camera also records the white balance. The two components of an image¡¯s white balance is the temperature and tint. The temperature is measured in Kelvin degrees and according to it, the image will have a cooler or warmer tone. The tint compensates for magenta or green color cast in the image. You may find that most of the time the camera has recorded a correct white balance, but there may be cases in which you may want to change it, either to correct the image¡¯s tone, either to give the image a certain effect.

Click the ¡°Basic¡± button situated under the histogram. This will display the Basic white balance pop-up option menu. You can select the appropriate white balance setting from the pop-up menu, or you can enter the desired values in Kelvin degrees in the slide below.

If you move the ¡°Temperature¡± slider to the right, it will correct a photo taken with a higher color temperature of light. If , on the contrary, you move the ¡°Temperature¡± slider to the left, it will correct a photo taken with a lower color temperature.

If you want to compensate for a green or magenta tint, you can fine tune the white balance in the Tint setting bar. If you will move the slider to the left you will add green to your picture. You will add magenta to the image if you move the slider to the right.

After you have made the desired changes to the white balance, you can change the other sliders in the Basic palette. If for example you want to raise the mid-tones of the image and thus make it look bolder and more dimensional, you can try the following settings: set the Exposure to +1.20, the Brightness to 50, the Contrast to anywhere between +20 and +30 and the Saturation to ¨C5.

As you use any of the editing settings in the Camera Raw dialog box, you will notice that the histogram in the top-right corner of the window changes accordingly. When you move any tool over the preview image, the RGB values for the area where the cursor is at that point appear above the histogram in numeric form.

You will need top add sharpness to the picture if you want more detail to be observed. The Sharpness setting is the next icon after the white balance under the histogram (you may find it under the detail section).

In order to work better and more accurately when modifying the sharpness of the image, it is recommended to view the image at a zoomed level. Use the zoom option so that you will find yourself at a minimum 100% rate.

Move the detail slider to the right or to the left if you want to add sharpness to the image. If you set higher sharpness values, it will give a stronger definition to the details and edges of the picture¡¯s elements.

You will find a reduce noise option in the Detail tab of the Camera Raw dialog box. You can use the sliders to reduce the amount of visible artifacts in the picture. There are two elements of noise you can control here, the luminance noise, which makes an image look grainy, and color noise, which is usually visible as colored artifacts.

The Lens Compensation option window allows to correct some problems caused by a not-so-perfect lens with which the picture had been taken with: chromatic aberration and the amount of vignetting present in the image.

The Curve adjustment is another option you can edit in Camera raw. You can select the level of contrast added to the image by selecting the options in the pop-down menu or you can set it manually.

The final setting tab in the Camera raw window is the Calibrate. You can use it to correct a color cast in the shadows and adjust the non-neutral colors. This is helpful because of the difference in behavior present between the camera that took the picture and the Camera Raw¡¯s profile for that model.

After you have finished editing the raw image file and are satisfied with the outcome, you can proceed to performing the same modifications to the other raw images if you have opened more than one raw file. You do not need however to do all these steps again. Instead, you can use the Synchronize command to let Camera Raw automatically do them on all files.

You will have first to select all the thumbnails on the filmstrip. Do this by clicking the ¡°Select All¡± button which is situated in the upper left corner of the dialog box.

Click the Synchronize button. A dialog box for the Synchronize menu will appear. You will see all the settings you want to synchronize for all the selected images. By default, all options are checked, but you can select only some of the settings to be applied to all raw files.

After you have finished editing all the images, it is time to save the files. Make sure that all the images are selected in the filmstrip in the left part of Camera Raw¡¯ dialog box.

Click the Save images button. When you save multiple images, you will first have to select the location for the output files. Select the desired folder.

The Save option window will appear. Leave the ¡°Document Name¡± field under File Naming blank.

Chose to save the images as JPEG files and click Save. All the files will be saved in the same directory, having the same name as the image opened in the preview window, followed by an ascending numbering (01, 02, 03, etc).

If you have modified only one raw file, all you have to do to save it is to go to the Save as button and select from there the output directory, file name, extension and quality.

The most common used saving option for images is the jpeg extension. However, there are additional file formats you can save your images in: Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), Adobe Digital Negative (DNG), Photoshop format (PSD).

There are some more buttons in the Camera Raw window: Done. It closes the Camera Raw dialog box and stores file settings either in the camera raw database file or as a sidecar XMP file and the Cancel option, which cancels all the modifications made to the image.

Adobe Photoshop and its element, Camera Raw, are flexible tools, as they allow you to save the camera raw settings for a specific camera or a specific lighting condition and allowing you to reuse them to modify another camera raw image file later on.