help with raw photos

[lowincwrx]

My computer at home is not working so i went to wal-mart with my card to save my photos on a disk and the photos shot in raw form would not pull up. I am totally new to dslr and am not sure why this happened is it normal? my camera is a sony a200 this is my first time shooting in raw my camera has a raw+jpeg option should i shoot in that instead?

please help i'm going out of town today and i need to erase the pictures off my card. i can probably save them on my computer here at work but will i have the same problem later when i try to save them on a cd?

 

[swjim]

You'll need to convert the pictures to jpegs in order to print them. Raw+jpeg would allow you to do this but it would obviously allow you to keep fewer pictures on the card due to the additional space taken by the jpegs.

 

[BlueCorn]

It's unlikely that Wal-Mart system recognizes RAW images. You'll need to use a computer to download that card.

 

[lowincwrx]

thanks guys i already saved them on my computer at work. I also went ahead and downloaded my cameras software and am in awe at the options raw photos have i am a little overwhelmed.

 

[BlueCorn]

Download the trial version of Adobe Lightroom. You'll never go back to processing any other way.

 

[swjim]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13296919#post13296919 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
Download the trial version of Adobe Lightroom. You'll never go back to processing any other way.

I agree. Lightroom makes processing much faster and easier.

 

[lowincwrx]

will do once i get the computer at home up and running again. Don't think the boss would appreciate all the extra downloads on the computer but then again she probably wouldn't like the time i spend on rc

 

[BlueCorn]

Tell her that I said it was okay.

:lol:

 

[swjim]

if you decide to go with Lightroom, you can get a really good discount if you, your wife or your kids (if you have any) are students. check out academicsuperstore dot com.

 

[lowincwrx]

SWEEEEET! Forget that blue tort i was thinking about buying this will be my next purchase (I have a daughter in the 3rd grade). Well technically I can tell the wife w/ the money i'm saving i should be able to buy a couple of corals.












This thread sounds like women run my life doesn't it? boss, wife, and daughters

 

[BeanAnimal]

I can't wrap my head around lightroom vs the nikon capture

I keep going back and forth. I think my biggest problem is the way that ANY program like that handles the file storage. I have the same odd feelings about iTunes, etc. I am a file and folder type of guy...

Anyway, I suppose i need some help with digital workflow as my digital photos are starting to pile up by the thousands.

How many of you shoot JUST RAW and how many of you shoot RAW+jpg?

 

[BlueCorn]

With Lightroom, or Aperture, you can maintain any folder structure that you wish. I don't use Nikon Capture (because I use a good camera) so I can't comment on it. LR combines makes shooting RAW completely transparent. It takes no more effort than processing a JPG file. It's all of the benefit of RAW with none of the pain.

RAW+JPG offers no value to me, it just takes up extra space.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I don't have an opinion one way or the other betwen the Nikon and Canon stuff. I think they are both wonderful platforms. I am not sure if it is a "user preference" or "feel" type of thing or in fact one is truly better than the other. I invested in the Nikon platform but could have as easily been swayed at the time towards the Canon.

I will give lightroom another try (I only fiddled with it a little in the beta stage).

Do you use it to catalog your photos or just as step in your workflow?

Can you point me to a good workflow methodology for hobby type photographers? My lack of depth with regards to a good workflow and system are starting to drive me nuts.

 

[Jacob D]

Bean -

I tried various software packages years ago, didn't like certain aspects of them, went into full "manual" system and never looked back. This was too much work; when I revisited some of the current options recently I found a solution that I like so far. In my case I'm using all Canon freeware, Nikon probably has something similar. Maybe this will give you some an idea or two...


* My filing system contains folders by subject first, then date shot - i.e. "Aquarium \ 2008-08", or "Baja \ 2007-08" for example. I don't care about the day shot.

* Config the camera to control the file names. My images come off the camera in the format yyyy-mm_####, i.e. "2008-08_0100"

* Download all images to the same location. My images download into a "pre-processed" folder in my image library. From here I can sort them into the appropriate directory after downloading them.

* For viewing/browsing I use Zoombrowser. It allows for rating images and adding tags to images for further organizing/searching.

* For editing I'm using Digital Photo Pro. It is non-destructive on RAW files of course. For a typical set of photos I make RAW adjustments to one, then "paste" those adjustments to the rest. Probably 80% of the images don't need further adjusting this way.

When I convert to jpeg I keep the file name the same as the RAW. If I convert to another size I append this to the end of the file name, i.e. "600x400". If I need to do more processing in photoshop I save the PSD with the same name as the RAW.

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13301513#post13301513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal

I will give lightroom another try (I only fiddled with it a little in the beta stage).

Do you use it to catalog your photos or just as step in your workflow?

I use it to download my cards, catalog, rate and keyword, process and print. I do still use Photoshop but I launch it from LR.

You don't have to use it to download from your card. If you've got a process that you like, you can just point to your existing file structure.


Basic workflow is:

Download.
Select your picks and rejects
Do basic global (whole image) processing; i.e. initial sharpening, color correction, noise reductions.
Do localized edits (using layers so it's non-desructive).
Save a copy of the image with layers intact.
Flatten the layers, resize for output and convert to sRGB for web use.
Do output sharpening at the images final resolution.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I will see if I can get into the swing of a new methodology. The "what to do with crops, resizes, originals, etc." problem is part of what plagues my current method.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[swjim]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13306700#post13306700 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I will see if I can get into the swing of a new methodology. The "what to do with crops, resizes, originals, etc." problem is part of what plagues my current method.

If you haven't already tried it, look into the snapshot feature in LR. You can use this to get different versions of the same photo i.e. different crops, bw vs color, different toning, etc. I think it might help you out.

 

[IPT]

I also use DPP (Canon's Digital Photo Professional). I have read that the software from the manufacturer of the camera is just a tad better at reading the RAW files (they wrote the code afterall). In particular the shadows. That being said I have also read that the difference is probably not really noticable in the real world. I find the workflow in DPP to be good for me and then it is a quick press of a botton to send it directly to PS CS3.

I am looking the Adobe Bridge to help me sort and manage my growing library. Supossed to be VERY good at labeling and tagging with key words for easy searching down the road. Can also use to batch process renaming and conversions etc.. I just really statrd learning about it this weekend but so far I am intrigued.