Introduction To Camera Raw; About Camera Raw Files; About Camera Raw - Adobe Photoshop CS6 User Manual

Introduction to Camera Raw

About camera raw files

About Camera Raw

About the Digital Negative (DNG) format
Processing images with Camera Raw
Camera Raw dialog box overview
Work with the Camera Raw cache in Adobe Bridge
Work with Camera Raw and Lightroom
About camera raw files
A camera raw file contains unprocessed, uncompressed grayscale picture data from a digital camera's image sensor, along with information about
how the image was captured (metadata). Photoshop® Camera Raw software interprets the camera raw file, using information about the camera
and the image's metadata to construct and process a color image.
Think of a camera raw file as your photo negative. You can reprocess the file at any time, achieving the results that you want by making
adjustments for white balance, tonal range, contrast, color saturation, and sharpening. When you adjust a camera raw image, the original camera
raw data is preserved. Adjustments are stored as metadata in an accompanying sidecar file, in a database, or in the file itself (in the case of DNG
format).
When you shoot JPEG files with your camera, the camera automatically processes the JPEG file to enhance and compress the image. You
generally have little control over how this processing occurs. Shooting camera raw images with your camera gives you greater control than
shooting JPEG images, because camera raw does not lock you into processing done by your camera. You can still edit JPEG and TIFF images in
Camera Raw, but you will be editing pixels that were already processed by the camera. Camera raw files always contain the original, unprocessed
pixels from the camera.
To shoot camera raw images, you must set your camera to save files in its own camera raw file format.
Note: The Photoshop Raw format (.raw) is a file format for transferring images between applications and computer platforms. Don't confuse
Photoshop raw with camera raw file formats. File extensions for camera raw files vary depending on the camera manufacturer.
Digital cameras capture and store camera raw data with a linear tone response curve (gamma 1.0). Both film and the human eye have a nonlinear,
logarithmic response to light (gamma greater than 2). An unprocessed camera raw image viewed as a grayscale image would seem very dark,
because what appears twice as bright to the photosensor and computer seems less than twice as bright to the human eye.
For a list of supported cameras and for more information about Camera Raw, see
To see a list of cameras and which version of Camera Raw each camera requires, see
About Camera Raw
Camera Raw software is included as a plug-in with Adobe After Effects® and Adobe Photoshop, and also adds functionality to Adobe Bridge.
Camera Raw gives each of these applications the ability to import and work with camera raw files. You can also use Camera Raw to work with
JPEG and TIFF files.
Note: Camera Raw supports images up to 65,000 pixels long or wide and up to 512 megapixels. Camera Raw converts CMYK images to RGB
upon opening. For a list of supported cameras, see
You must have Photoshop or After Effects installed to open files in the Camera Raw dialog box from Adobe Bridge. However, if Photoshop or After
Effects is not installed, you can still preview the images and see their metadata in Adobe Bridge. If another application is associated with the
image file type, it's possible to open the file in that application from Adobe Bridge.
Using Adobe Bridge, you can apply, copy, and clear image settings, and you can see previews and metadata for camera raw files without opening
them in the Camera Raw dialog box. The preview in Adobe Bridge is a JPEG image generated using the current image settings; the preview is
not the raw camera data itself, which would appear as a very dark grayscale image.
Note: A caution icon appears in the thumbnails and preview image in the Camera Raw dialog box while the preview is generated from the
camera raw image.
You can modify the default settings that Camera Raw uses for a particular model of camera. For each camera model, you can also modify the
defaults for a particular ISO setting or a particular camera (by serial number). You can modify and save image settings as presets for use with
other images.
When you use Camera Raw to make adjustments (including straightening and cropping) to a camera raw image, the image's original camera raw
data is preserved. The adjustments are stored in either the Camera Raw database, as metadata embedded in the image file, or in a sidecar XMP
file (a metadata file that accompanies a camera raw file). For more information, see Specify where Camera Raw settings are stored.
Digital camera raw file
Digital camera raw file support.
support.
Camera Raw plug-in | Supported
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cameras.
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