pecohen Loc: Central Maine

In the short time I've been following this site, a topic I've found particularly interesting is working with RAW files. What I'd like to see are some short reviews of the various software.

The two that I am familiar with are Corel's Paintshop Pro and RawTherapy. I surely have more to learn about each, but at least I have a strong opinion about what to expect from them.

PSP 6 has three operating modes that appear as tabs on the opening window. The first is Manage, the second is Adjust and the third is Edit. While I've generally thought the purpose of the Manage tab was for basic file management, it also supports a very simple way of processing RAW files that is easy to learn and gives good results. To process a single RAW file, you first specify an exposure adjustment and a bracketing interval ; this generates three images to look at and then choose to have merged through some undisclosed process. The process is automatic and if you don't like the results, you can only go back and try some other choices for choosing the three images. The approach is simple but it seems to work surprisingly well.

Another alternative in PSP 6 is to open the Edit tab, which for a RAW image brings up PSP's RAW lab. The RAW lab seems similar to Nikon's software form managing RAW images. You can adjust brightness, saturation and shadow using sliders, choose a scenerio (e.g., daylight, cloudy, tungsten, etc.), a strategy for highlight recovery (5 mysterious choices; try them all and you might like one) and a noise reduction threshold.

RawTherapy takes the quite opposite approach of giving the user a bewildering array of options and adjustments; yes, there is a manual. It has the feel of a full-featured photo editor, so don't expect to pick it up and start getting perfect results immediately. I've spent a couple hours with it and still feel at the very low end of the necessary learning curve. It does seem worth the effort though, if only for that rare shot that deserves special attention, and it is available as a free download.

A nice feature of RawTherapy is that, after you have made whatever adjustments you feel are needed (or perhaps just using a processing profile you particularly like), you can ask for the overexposed or underexposed areas to be highlighted. This suggests what areas could be improved with further adjustments.

So let me invite you to give a similar overview for raw processing in your favorite tool or tools. I'd like to know if I'm missing out on any important alternative and I suspect others might as well.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

The RAW processing you describe assumes there are perhaps 2 exposure levels above and below what a standard .jpg file would contain. Thus, the ability to create two additional image files, each with a different exposure range. That is fine until you need greater range in an image, but then it is too late.

If you wan to experiment with RAW imagery stick to PSP X-6, you have much more options, and save your work in the PSP native format.

Take a good long look at your camera manufacturer CD, it should have some basic image processing, including RAW. For this option save all your files in the non-compressed format .tif. This can later be imported into PSP for later PP.

What ever you select, save your finished products in a non- compression format like .pspimage, or .tif, save your exported image file (sending to an outside printer, e-mail, or web sites in .jpg.

Michael G

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

The HDR tool (in the Manage Tab) actually allows the interval to be as large as three steps so the interval from bottom to top is actually as much as six steps. However, PSP works internally with 48-bit pixel representations so I'm not sure why this is even an issue. I suspect that this splitting up into three images is more a matter of the user interface; it provides a way of specifying how broad a spectrum of data to take into account as the three images are merged. As is too often the case, particularly with photo software, it's hard to know how the computation is done and all you can look at is the results.

Likewise, it is hard to know exactly what is happening inside PSP X6. I tend to think of the process in two steps, the first of which is to read the RAW file and store it in the PSP working memory. I think this is the purpose of the RAW Lab step. The second step is to edit that image and then export it, just as one might do with any other image.

So it is just the first step that I was talking about previously and presumably that step is largely concerned with some necessary loss of information, perhaps only dynamic range but perhaps other issues. It is interesting that PSP X8 does use a 48-bit internal representation of a pixel and I believe that most RAW files do as well - so there should be no necessary loss of dynamic range until it is necessary to export to a JPEG file.

This observation raises a question in my mind. Perhaps what you meant by suggesting that I do all the RAW processing in PSP was that I should just accept whatever default that the RAW Lab opens with and just process the image from that point on just as I would with a JPEG or any other image. From this point of view, the only thing special about handling RAW images in PSP is to make sure that the final save in JPEG retains the image quality seen on the monitor.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

I think we have stepped outside the bounds of the first post, that post was concerned with PSP dividing one RAW image into 3 separate images, and then using the HDR tools to process the images into one finale image. This is also called Pseudo HDR, not true HDR.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing requires at least three exposures; one at 0 Exposure Compensation, one over exposed, and one under exposed. If the over and under exposed elements of a scene are on the order of exposure loss RAW captures may be able to save the image, if the elements are .5 stops over, or under RAW may not be able to save the image, but HDR captured images where the exposure compensation is +1, 0, and -1 can merge the three captures into one and present a reasonably good final product.

Michael G

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

In PSP X6, one of the modes under what they call HDR processing is to process a single raw file in what you call Pseudo HDR mode. I introduced the HDR terminology to be more clear about what, in PSP X6, I was referring to.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

:thumbup:

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

I shoot a Canon and do RAW processing in DPP, save as Tiff, finish in PSP X6, lately I've been trying Perfect Effects on the finished photos, Bob.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Have you tried PSP X6 to do the RAW processing? I've not tried DPP, I assume it is Canon's software, but I've found Nikon's software similar to the RAW lab in PSP X6.

As an experiment, I took a RAW image (shown Below #1) and processed it two ways after which I edited in PSP X6 as best I could. In image #2 I used the RAW Lab approach and in #3 I used HDR to process the image.

There's nothing conclusive about this experiment, but the two approaches did yield different results.

#1 As Shot

(Download)

#2 Using RAW Lab

(Download)

#3 Using HDR

(Download)

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Yes, I tried it, perhaps because of my familiarity with DPP but I was not as happy with PSP for RAW processing,
Bob.

Kristoes

Thank you for your demo pics! Nice

Kristoes

I just purchased this, need to use phone order due to problems with online promo codes (what I was told). Thanks to Dan for sending this to me.

B&H has lightroom 5 on sale for $69.00 with promo code 151042155934954816 at check out. 2days only, President's Day weekend Sale thru Mon.

Thought you might be interested, normally $149 (I think)

zincgt Loc: Tucson AZ

I've used Paint Shop Pro for a lot of years, from Jasc software Paint Shop pro 5 or 6 to and including Corel Paint Shop Pro x6. I use the batch Process all the time, to convert to Tiff files, 16 bit, but I've never been able to find a way to use the RAW lab adjustments, and batch process all shots from there after adjustments to 1 RAW file. Shooting 2-300 RAW files, would make this extremely time consuming without batch processing. Only adjustments with batch processing are in Edit Tab, and have to use presets, like Auto White balance etc..

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Just to complete the experiment I took the same RAW image and applied Raw Therapee to it. This took me more time than the other two combined, but I'm still a rank beginner with that software.

I should repeat, There's nothing at all conclusive about this experiment. If I tried to reproduce it I'm sure that all three images would be noticeably different from these.

(Download)

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Thanks for the tip, but I'm really not sure why I want Lightroom - compared to PSP X6, which I already own and know how to use, what does it get me?

I was hoping that my original post would generate some answers to this and similar questions.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Since you already know PSP and I don't (it doesn't work on mac platform anyway ), I will respond with what I do know and like about Lightroom, which is my base program.

1. It keeps me organized, with all my files neatly put away by year/month/date and keyworded with all the terms by which I would sort to find certain photos. I make collections (virtual albums) for specific purposes
2. It is a great quick RAW developer. I have a basic import preset so that my photos appear with a starting point I customized- similar to the way my camera delivers in camera jpegs but with tweaks to my liking so that many of my photos are already looking their best when I first view them.
3. It is a great basic RAW editor. After the preset is applied, I can further edit to get a photo to my liking with global and targeted editing - fine for about 95% of my photos. Setting white and black points is quick and visible. It is a fantastic black and white conversion tool, with direct management of tonalities by color, which was a great benefit to me in learning b&w conversion.Virtual copies let me develop my photos different ways without adding extra files.
4. Everything stays in RAW till I'm ready to do something else with it. I don't have to turn anything into jpeg or TIFF until there's some fancy editing I want to do or I'm ready to print/post. When I do extra editing and accrue a TIFF, PSD or jpeg file, I can easily keep it with its master file, and it shows up right beside it in LR. This is a huge benefit to me. Export is quick, easy, and customizable.
5. LR plays well with my other programs and plugins - Photoshop, NIK, Perfect Effects, Topaz. Export & re-import is easy, again keeping everything organized and preventing redundancy.
6. It was easy and intuitive for me to learn. Getting the hang of the cataloguing options required a bit of reading to make good choices about how to set it up, but the developing part was easy.
7. I can use the same LR files on my laptop and my desktop via a portable external drive. On the laptop I can even edit a "smart preview" of the file without the external drive when traveling and sync it back when stationary again.
8. Good print manager.

Programs need to work for the people who buy and use them. What one prefers another may find completely unworkable. If you consider buying any further software, I'd suggest you download a trial copy and use it for a while before making your mind up.