Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Ever Tried Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements for processing your RAW or JPEG files?



I love Adobe Camera Raw Adjustment controls in Photoshop Elements. Most of the times I use these controls to process my NEF and JPEG files. As you might know that Adobe Camera Raw dialog is used for processing/editing Camera Raw files generated by different SLR Cameras... Like Olympus, Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc... It supports files of different Cameras. To know more about this CLICK HERE...

Here I would share some information about different adjustment Controls in Adobe Cameara Dialog. I have chosen one image for applying different Adjustments. So note slider value for each control in first image and then compare the next images... I have tried to explain each adjustement control by its impact on image I have chosen...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
Original File in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog... (Notice the state of all sliders...)

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
CLARITY Adjustment Control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    This control sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce. But you are seeing exactly opposite thing in above image. Here edges are very smooth because I have moved the slider to extreme left which softens all the edges... But this is what I like to apply for my images to get dreamy effect....

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
CONTRAST Adjustment Control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    This control adjusts midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow and Brightness values.... Also it depends how you want to use these controls. In my case, when there are lot of dark areas in my photogrpahs and I want more details, I decrease contrast and it help in getting more details but of-course other controls need to be used intelligently...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
SATURATION Adjustment Control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    Saturation adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation). In above Photograph I have decreased Saturation to -93 and you can see that its near to monochrome.. If you want vivid colors in your photographs move this slider towards right...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
EXPOSURE Adjustment control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    It controls the brightness or darkness of an image. Move the slider to the left to darken the image and move it to the right to brighten the image. The values are in increments equivalent to f‑stops. An adjustment of +1.50 is similar to widening the aperture one and one-half stops. Likewise, an adjustment of ‑1.50 is similar to reducing the aperture one and one-half stops... I assume you understand F-Stop which is used to control Aperute in Cameras..

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).

FILL LIGHT Adjustment Control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    This controls helps in recovering details from darker areas which we call shadows without brightening blacks. It can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black.So basically when you move this slider from left to right, it starts recovering details form darkest areas and start processing less dark area....Try out and you will understand.... Its very useful sometime when you have any dull image of any dark area.... In above image you can notice the change that details are available where we had dark spots...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
RECOVERY Adjustment Control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    Recovery control, as the name tells it helps in recovering details from brighter areas technically called as highlights. It can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white. It works on highlights in similar fasion as Fill-Light works on Shadows...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
TEMPRATURE Adjustment control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    Temperature helps in White Balance Adjustment for the Photographs. It adjusts white balance to a custom color temperature. Move the slider to the left to correct a photo taken at a lower color temperature of light: the plug‑in makes the image colors cooler (bluish shade) to compensate for the lower color temperature (yellowish shade) of the ambient light. Move the slider to the right for correcting a photo taken at a higher color temperature of light: the plug‑in makes the image colors warmer to compensate for the higher color temperature of the ambient light. Just play with this slider to get relevant colors if you feel above description a bit complex... Sometimes I use it to give attractive look to Photographs... As an example, I move the slider towards right in photos shot during Sunset.. It gives yellowish/redish shade to our photographs...

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).
BLACKS adjustment control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    This adjustment control tells which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows with less change in the midtones and highlights.I use Blacks with Brightness.. I increase Blacks  by increasing Brightness to get nice contrast in photograph with clean & bright depiction of main subject... But yes, it also depends upon the type of photograph you are processing. Obviously it will look bad if you are processing a Landscape... It works well for static subjects....

I love Adobe Camera Raw Dialog in Photoshop Elements 8: Recovery:Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.Fill Light: Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect. Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the appearance of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the image, much as the Exposure slider does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights (areas that are completely white, with no detail) or shadows (areas that are completely black, with no detail), Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders.Contrast: Adjusts the midtones in an image. Higher values increase the midtone contrast, and lower values produce an image with less contrast. Generally, use the Contrast slider to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Shadow, and Brightness values.Clarity: Sharpens the clarity of edges in the image. This process helps restore detail and sharpness that tonal adjustments may reduce.Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation, changing the saturation of all lower-saturated colors with less impact on the higher-saturated colors. Vibrance also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. Saturation:Adjusts the color saturation of the image from –100 (pure monochrome) to +100 (double the saturation).

BRIGHTNESS adjustment control in Adobe Camera Raw Dialog of Photoshop Elements

    It helps in controlling brightness of the image much as the Exposure slider does. In general, use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness after you set the white and black clipping points with the Exposure and Shadow sliders... 

Saturday, March 13, 2010

What is Stock Photography and what all a Photographer should focus for this?

Stock Photography is a modern way of generating revenues through your Photographs.On web there are many website where you can upload your good photographs with good resolution and find clients to use them by paying some amount. These websites charge some comission on sale and some may charge some fixed amount. So its very important to read all these conditions in advance for deciding the website you want to use for this. There are many Stock Photography sites these days like Fotolia, dinodia, Shutterstock, crestock etc. Just find out more and explore which is best for you.

Stock Photography, a way to generate revenues and clients on web don't care who you are, they are just concerned about the Photographs you have. So you need not to struggle for proving that you can do better than Professional Photographers in a particular area or other.


Its not a fast way to earn money and may take 5 Years to establish yourslef on these websites to earn decent money. And all this also needs significant time for shooting, editing and uploading. So need to give suffiecient time for this and with appropriate content as per market needs.



 Stock Photography needs market oriented Photographs with good compositions and creative ideas... Will add more on same blog about the areas one should focus for Stock Photography, in terms of genre, color compositions, resolutions etc...

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