Raw Tuesday: how to edit raw files for immaculate colour and tone

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Get to know the Adobe Camera Raw interface

The Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) interface can be daunting, especially if you’re figuring out where to start and which tools to use first. As a rule of thumb it’s best to start working clockwise around the interface, starting with the tools in the top options bar to crop and compose before moving onto the main adjustments under the Basic tab. Here’s a few of the most common ACR adjustments.

White Balance tool  
Click into an area of neutral grey within the image to set the white balance. In this image the rocks in the foreground seem like a good point to use.

Straighten tool
If you think your picture is a tad askew, click on the horizon on the left of the image and drag the cursor across to the right to quickly level your landscapes.

Temperature
It’s very easy to adjust the ‘climatic’ mood of your shot. Moving the Temperature slider to the left will cool the image, while moving it to the right will add warmth.

Exposure
Move the slider to the left to darken and right to lighten, but try not to push the exposure more than two stops either way for the best quality image.

Recovery 
ather than cutting the brightness of the whole image, Recovery only darkens the brightest areas of the photograph, helping to recover lost highlight detail.

Fill Light 
Working in the exact opposite way to the Recovery slider, increasing the Fill Light slider will draw out  lost detail from the very darkest areas of shadow.

Clarity
his adjustment subtly increases the midtone contrast without affecting other tones in the image – the result is better clarity, especially in finer detail.

Vibrance
Increasing Vibrance will give a boost to the less saturated colours to a greater degree than the more saturated, which will help to minimise garish colour.

Posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 at 2:00 am under Photoshop Tutorials, Tutorials.