How do you convert raw files?

*incomplete article*

I was asked about how to convert raw files, so I thought I’d post my answer here so it’s useful to all of you.

Camera’s have proprietary formats. Nikon uses .NEF and Canon .CR2

The first thing to remember is that straight out of the camera, RAW files aren’t particularly good as they haven’t been processed in the slightest. It’s how you process the RAW files that brings out the information and greatness that isn’t captured when you shoot JPEG (.jpg). How you process them is important in producing a better end result. It’s not just a case of shooting RAW and expecting them to look better when you hit the convert button.

Software: I recommend using Lightroom which is built for photographers. You can download a free trail from the Adobe website. If you have Photoshop you can also use the Adobe Raw Dialogue to convert raw files (which will open up by default when you open a raw file in Photoshop) which gives you essentially the same options as Lightroom when processing a raw image. When you have finished processing the file you can save or export the file as a JPG ready to be viewed on the web. You should pay particular care with colour space in which you export the file. I’ll cover this topic later.

WB – White balance is one of the main factors that make shooting RAW infinitely better than shooting a JPEG. When you shoot a JPEG the white balance is determined by the settings on the camera. When you shoot RAW you can choose the white balance setting afterwards. If you try and alter the white balance on a JPEG image you’ll find that it degrades the image massively and you can’t actually get the same colours that you can pull out of a raw image.

I’m not going to talk too much now about the pro’s and con’s (although there aren’t many disadvantages) of shooting raw, but I’ll say one thing. If you have the space on your hardrives then you should ALWAYS shoot raw. If you don’t, then you should buy some bigger hard drives.

Conversion:

If you just want a quick preview and you don’t have any software installed then you can download a piece of software called Irfanview which is a quick easy way view raw files, but you do need to install the plugins for Irfanview which come as one easy file. You can also use Irfanview to do various other basic things. If you use Lightroom then it’s also not necessary to do any conversions until you have finished processing an image and wish to output to web, print or continue editing in Photoshop. When exporting from Lightroom you can choose which file format, such as .jpg and it’s at this stage the file will be converted using the settings which you have applied whilst editing or retouching. In photoshop after you open a raw file, and you are presented with the raw dialogue you can (once you’ve finished tweaking the settings) choose to either open, or save the file. If you open it, it will open in photoshop and then you’ll need to save it, choosing a format that you wish to save in. It’s important to note that the settings used to edit or tweak a raw file are only ever applied to the file when you export/save the file. These settings are like a recipe for the image, and whilst you are appying them you can preview what they will make the image look like. This applies to Lightroom, the Adobe Raw Dialogue in Photoshop, and Aperture (for Mac) and any other non-destructive image editing software.

note: this is an unfinished article. I’ll come back to this soon, so please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

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