CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

ACR (accessed as a Filter in Photoshop) is somewhat of a misnomer in that it will work equally as well on jpg files and with layers as well.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

My last Kelby book is for CS4 which was just an updated book for CS3. At that time Adobe Camera Raw was a plug-in stub application, not meant to be a stand alone program. Is this still true? It seemed to me that Kelby's books were not broadly instructional but were siruational prescriptions of procedures. Like color cast correction in which you set the RGB numbers for the black, white, and midtone eyedroppers and then clicked on what is supposed to be white, black, or midtone with the respective eyedropper in Curves. Has Scott't books changed from those earlier days?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

A follow-up to my previous post. Stripping all the whistles and bells from the programs, ACR is the equivalent to developing film in the darkroom. Ps and Lr are the printing portion of the darkroom experience.

As with film, polaroids are the equivalent of shooting jpg. One is pretty much stuck with what one gets. Sure one can manipulate a polaroid, but it is difficult and tends to render less than optimum results.
--Bob

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

It seems to me that the RAW, ACR, DNG issue underlain by there being no uniform standard for raw files. A camera that can produce a JPEG image must conform the the standard file compression and format set by the Joint Photograohers Expert Group. That group or some other should do the same for how the sensor's O & 1 binary data is combined into a 'raw' file with a uniform 'read' coding in a standard file header, right down to the checksum. Because there has been no standard every camera manufacturer has been free to make their own 'raw'-type image files. That is why Adobe and other image editors have had to continually adjusting their raw file reading plug-ins and side converters, like DNG. UHH membership might start a campaign to get a standard 'raw' and then demand it.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Good luck with that one.
--Bob

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

ACR is the raw processing program at the core of BOTH Lr and Ps. Find it under the Filters menu in Ps and in the Develop module of Lightroom. It may look a little different, but does the same things in each.

ACR really is a separate program, so it can be updated separately from the others, but it is quite well integrated into both Lr and Ps.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It works, within the limits of each file format's bit depth, but not equally well with JPEG and raw files!

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Sounds like the one I bought a couple of years ago [on the cover it says "2014 Release]. It definitely spent WAY too much time on ACR, and not enough on how to use PS. I probably should have returned it, but thought that surely it would cover what I wanted later in the book... And, I highlight things as I go, which meant I had to keep it!

Although ACR and LR are considered by many to be the same as LR, I never could get used to ACR. Much prefer LR and the way it works so well with PS and other plug-ins. And with LR included with the Adobe CC subscription, I am very happy using them.

I think Scott Kelby probably bases a new release on those before it. That means just update the things that have changed in the software. Unfortunately he did NOT take into account that many people use LR and not ACR. So while I did learn from the book, I still did not think it was worth the price paid.

The suggestions you have gotten from others are good. Another source of information is CreativeLive - especially if you prefer watching a video over reading a book. [That is why YouTube tutorials are popular - just time-consuming by the time you are done sorting out the good ones from the rest.] CreativeLive has what they call "On Air" where tutorials are broadcast on their website in real time. They have a schedule posted so anyone interested can tune in. The same tutorial videos are also available for "purchase" - you don't receive a CD or a download link, but you have unlimited access to them on their website. One thing I like about the "On Air" broadcasts is that they are re-run on a loop for the rest of that day, and also the next morning. And week-long programs are on a loop also on the weekend. [Have not checked lately, so hopefully this has not changed.] Instructors are good, and you get to "sample their wares" before deciding whether or not to purchase. And many of them have their own websites with both free and pay-for information. One of my favorites is Ben Willmore, who has a LR Bootcamp and a PS Bootcamp video tutorial. These were given "On Air" for two weeks each.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Http://www.jkost.com

Julieanne Kost's site. She is a master trainer for Adobe. GREAT resource!

daveptt

If you need PS, LR, or ACR you did not get it right in the first place, look at the scene, study it, move around it, a meter left or right will change it, think then press the shutter button, I have been doing this since 1948, now at 89 the only artificial aids I need are a mono-pod/walking stick and a mobility scooter. I am not a vanity photographer, it has always paid the rent and fed me, so could not afford to get many rejections. If it don't look right today, go back tomorrow, it will be a different scene. Most of my commissions were for Tourist boards and Publications, but the rule applies what ever your interest. Right first time is better than sitting in front of a computer for hours, when you could be out taking pictures.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I'm really tired of this idea that if you post process, you must not have gotten it right in the camera. There are things you can do to improve your photos in PP even if you've gotten it as good as possible in the camera. Just like in the film days, a perfectly exposed negative could still be improved in the darkroom. And I'm also always hearing about spending hours on the computer. I probably average maybe 15 minutes per image, and sometimes less than that, and that time really pays off in improving my photos.

bedgmon Loc: Burleson, Texas

I just completed a course with Matt Kloskowski for PS that a photographer would use. He has office hours and a live video stream at certain times and you can ask questions directly or mail them. Matt personally answers them all. I learned a great deal from this course and you keep all the video tutorials for referencing. Money well spent and better than a book. I am not sure when his next class begins. Good luck in your search. By the way, I like LR catalog system better than Bridge in the PS system.

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

I am not sure I know what "Raw Processing" is. It sounds like the term encompasses more that editing RAW photos in Lightroom.

I like Lightroom and just want to know enough about Photoshop to be able to transfer photos from Lightroom to Photoshop (I know how to do this.) so I can use "layers" and some of the other aspects of Photoshop that Lightroom doesn't do as well.

My current need from Photoshop appear to me to be very minimal. A book on RAW processing perhaps goes in a direction I'm not prepared for.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

To the contrary, if you're one who enjoys learning. The Matt K. class could logically be your next step. I'd certainly recommend you take a look at it. Well constructed course of learning.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Raw Processing refers to the workflow used to evolve an image to the final product. This can be as simple as small corrections to White Balance, Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, etc. - all things that can be done in LR.

When you start moving images from LR to PS, you are adding another dimension to the editing process. Using layers is one of the most useful capabilities, but it involves also understanding how they work and what you can do with them. For instance, you can create a layer for brightening or darkening part of an image. In LR this is a global effect, the only way to make it specific is to use the adjustment brush. In PS the effect is also global when you make the adjustment [the whole image is either brighter or darker], but you choose which parts will stay bright or dark by painting on the mask that is created as a part of the layer. This involves deciding whether to leave it white and paint in black [which brings back the parts that you do not want bright], or you can "invert" the mask so it is black [which reveals the previous layer where the image was not changed] and paint in white to reveal the parts you want brighter or darker. The brushes can be adjusted larger or smaller, the opacity of the brush strokes can be altered from fully opaque to fully transparent.

You can also create as many different layers as you like, depending on how many parts of the image you wish to change in a particular manner. For instance, I took a picture of my cat, and wanted to emphasize her eye and its color. I used the adjustment for hue/saturation and increased the saturation of yellow. Since it is a small element, I inverted so the image was back to its appearance before I increased the saturation. Then all I had to paint [in white] was the cornea of her eye. That was all I did on that layer!

Editing an image, regardless of its format and where the editing takes place is a "process". So some will refer to it as "Raw processing" while others will just say "RAW Editing". As you said, there are some things PS does better than LR. Using PS, you will begin to know more clearly which program to use depending on what the image needs. Some photos can be done almost entirely in LR, others almost entirely in PS. But you can learn the PS tools in a step-by-step fashion, and decide over time which ones you want to use. That is how I approached it, because there are so many different things that are there to learn. Any other way, I would have felt overwhelmed, and probably would not have continued with it!

I still do not know how to use all the functions in PS, but that's OK. Every now and then I undertake to learn another one that appears like it will be useful. The main thing is to enjoy your photography, enjoy the editing process, and enjoy the results!