Thread: RAW Processing Resources

If you are going to use Lightroom, you need to buy into the whole database workflow model that it uses. I got Lightroom 1 for free because I had paid for the full version of a now defunct program called RawShooter Pro. Adobe snapped up the company that made that because they held several patents that Adobe wanted and also Adobe wanted several of the programers.

Anyway as part of that deal I got a free copy of Lightroom 1 which sat on my harddrive for 6 months with very little use because I did not buy into the whole database way of workflow, mainly because it was different than what I was used to and I never read or heard a good reason of why you would want to work that way. Then one day I was killing time in a bookstore and looked over a copy of Scott Kelby's Lightroom book. Right off the bat he talked about the workflow and why you would want to work that way, using real world situations, and it all clicked in my tiny brain.

So I purchased the book and the Video tutorials by Michael Reichmann online, and now I can't imagine not working that way.

I upgraded to version 2 when it first came out but did not upgrade to version 3 until a few weeks ago. I mainly upgraded so I could run my RAW files from my Samsung TL500/EX1 without converting them to DNG files first, but I am AMAZED at how improved the noise reduction is. I can now get very useable files at 800 and 1600 iso with my EX1.

I said all that to say that if you download the free trial of Lightroom make sure that you study up on the workflow part of it which is what really makes Lightroom a great tool. One other thing about Lightroom is that it also works great with JPEG and TIFF files and has the same workflow. So you can have RAW files from your DSLR or serious compact, JPEG files from your phone or any other digital camera, and TIFF files from film scans all together all side by side.

I just bought the Adobe CS5 Production Premium package and as a bonus it comes with Photoshop Extended. So I guess I'm doing down the Photoshop way, it seems.

To add to Wally's remarks
The Video tutorial for LR3 by lynda.com is excellent and a fast way to gain speed with LightRoom

GIMP opened the Oly raw files from my E-P1 as well as the raw files from the LX3 with no problems. I'm still using CS3 so was a bit taken aback when I couldn't open the Oly file with CS3. The current GIMP version is 2.6.11. It takes some getting used to, but it is a powerful program and the price is right. GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

Bringing this extremely helpful sticky thread up for some fresh air and eyes.

Great idea BB. My preferred RAW developer is, um, RAW Developer by Iridient. Just the basics, but does them really well. The deconvolution sharpening is very effective. I also like how it converts to B&W.

But for B&W with character I love Silver Efex Pro 2. I'm also trying out Alien Skin, which includes both B&W and color emulations. Last night I even layered a SEP filter over an Alien Skin filter!

I tried Capture One Pro but found it very confusing. I've read that it works well for portraits and fashion, though, probably how it handles skin tones.

I still use Lightroom for some RAW development, but less and less.

Having been a long time Bibble Pro user I switched to AfterShot Pro when Corel bought out Bibble some time ago, running on a Linux platform. However I have always maintained an old computer running Windows 2000 and Photoshop 7 for its ease of printing photographs. That machine recently died and I rashly decided to purchase a PC running Windows 7 (tantamount to going over to the dark side for a Linux user). I also elected to obtain LR4 and Silver Efex Pro 2. My experience with the import/export and cataloging system in LR4 has been nothing short of disastrous, I have been totally unable to get to grips with it. Whilst Bibble and then AfterShot Pro support a cataloging system they also readily support opening files from normal folders stored on ones hard drive and have a treed system in the left hand pane much as per windows explorer, and this is what I have always used. I had purchased an e book for Silver Efex Pro 2 The Photographer's Guide to Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro 2.0, by photographer Jason P. Odell, Ph.D. and that indicated that as well as the supported plug in installation of Silver Efex Pro 2 in such as LR4 that it could support the import of 16 bit TIFF files from Nikon Capture NX2, although this was not a documented use for the program. I therefore decided to see if it would do the same for 16 bit TIFF files from AfterShot Pro and so loaded the windows version of AfterShot Pro to my new PC along with the stand alone version of Silver Efex pro 2. Having set the Preferences > External Editor in AfterShot Pro to Silver Efex Pro 2, 16 bit TIFF and Adobe RGB colour space I found that with a raw file selected in AfterShot Pro under Edit there was an option to edit with Silver Efex Pro 2 (shortcut Ctrl+E) and that Silver Efex Pro 2 happily imports a raw file from AfterShot Pro in exactly the same way that it does from LR4.

I am not aware of this being documented any where, so it might well be of interest to any AfterShot Pro users out there on the forum.

Barrie