Series: Secrets of Camera RAW
We continue to study the chapter from the book “ Secrets of RAW. Full color edition. 2nd ed."Alexandra Efremova, today we will consider adjusting images in Camera Raw.
Some professionals who are accustomed to working with curves in Photoshop may decide that this is the tab for adjusting the image in Camera Raw. This is the wrong approach. The Curve tab works in conjunction with the Basic tab. First, make all the necessary settings on the Basic tab, and then, for a more accurate correction, go to the Curve tab.
The curve on the nested Parametric tab is used to adjust values in specific tonal ranges in the image: Highlights, Lights, Darks, or Shadows. The middle region properties (Dark and Light) mainly affect the middle region of the curve. The Highlight and Shadow properties mainly affect the extreme values of the tonal range.
To adjust the curve, move the Highlight, Lights, Darks or Shadows sliders on the Parametric tab. Thus, the areas of the curve affected by the sliders expand or contract. Another way to correct can be to move any point on the curve in the nested Point tab. As you drag that point under the tonal curve, the Input and Output values change.
Working with the parameters of this tab, you should view the image at a scale of 100% and larger, since in a small image such details of the image as sharpness or noise are simply not visible.
Sharpening(Sharpening). Some of the sharpening settings are similar to those of the Usharp Mask filter in Photoshop.
Amount(Power). A zero value does not sharpen. When you open an image, Camera Raw calculates the value to use based on the camera model, ISO value, and exposure compensation.
Radus(Radius) sets the radius of the outline in pixels. Choose the lowest setting for photos with fine detail. For photos with low detail, the radius can be increased. If the radius is too large, the image quality will deteriorate. By default, the Preview Only option is enabled to allow further image processing in Photoshop. If you do not plan to process the image in Photoshop, you should activate the Sharpening option in the Preferences dialog box (these settings are discussed later in this chapter).
Detail(Detail). At low values, sharpens contrasting edges without affecting flat areas of the photo, such as the sky. Higher values increase the definition of image textures.
Masking(Masking). This parameter creates a mask and specifies where to sharpen. If the value is zero, the sharpness is the same throughout the image. At a value of 100, sharpness is mostly enhanced near pronounced edges. By pressing Option (Alt) while dragging this slider, you can see where the sharpening will be - the white areas, and where not - the black areas. The gray areas will have an intermediate value. Attention! The option works when displaying 100% or more.
Noise Reduction
Luminance(Brightness). Brightness noise increases with slow shutter speeds and even more with increasing sensitivity. In these cases, the image looks more grainy, especially in the shadows.
Color(Color). Visually, color noise is similar to colored snow and tends to show up in shadows, especially in the blue channel. In some camera models, color noise increases with increasing light sensitivity. Adjusting the Noise Reduction settings is always a tradeoff between preserving image detail and reducing noise.
The options on this tab allow you to adjust individual color ranges. For example, if the subject looks too bright and distracting from other elements of the photo, then you can lower the saturation in the Saturation tab.
Hue(Chromaticity). Shifts the color to one side or the other of the color wheel (Fig. 3.34).
Saturation(Saturation). As the name implies, changes the color saturation. For example, you can change the color of the sky from a dull gray to a deep blue or cyan.
Luminance(Brightness). Changes the luminance component of a hue. When the Covert to Grayscale check box is selected, one Grayscale Mix subtab is displayed.
Details on converting photos to grayscale, more precisely - to black and white, will be discussed in the chapter "RAW and black and white photography".
The settings on this tab allow you to color a black and white photo in one or more tones. (For details on toning images, see the chapter “RAW and black and white photography”.)
By applying these settings to a color image, you can, for example, simulate a cross-process.
Lens Corrections Tab
The settings of this tab (Fig. 3.23) allow you to remove or minimize chromatic aberration, which, first of all, appears on low-quality and / or wide-angle lenses. Chromatic aberration is more noticeable on matrices with small pixels.
Fix Red / Cyan Fringe Options(Remove red / blue border) and Fix Blue / Yellow Fringe (Remove blue / yellow border) to minimize chromatic aberration.
Defringe(Removing the border). Select All Edges to remove chromatic aberration for all edges, including abrupt color changes. If, when using the All Edges item, thin gray lines or other unwanted effects appear near the edges, you should select Hightlight Edges (Edges of highlights) to correct the colored border only for the edges of the highlights. Select Off to disable border removal. The Fix Red / Cyan Fringe and Fix Blue / Yellow can be changed, but chromatic aberration can be removed only for one corner of the image.
The parts of the tab related to Vignetting make it possible to reduce (rarely increase) the darkening of the corners of the frame, which primarily occurs when shooting with wide-angle lenses.
Amount(Effect) - the degree to which the corners of the frame are lightened or darkened.
Midpoint(Midpoint) defines the scope of the Amount parameter.
Presets Tab (Fig. 3.24)
Settings for any parameters can be saved as specific presets, and then applied to specific images either through Bridge or Camera Raw. When you save the settings (the first button in the lower corner of the tab), a window will appear in which you should set a friendly name and specify the parameters to be used (Fig. 3.26).
Snapshots Tab
While working on a specific image, you can save options for the current session (Fig. 3.25). It should only be remembered that states, unlike presets, are saved only for a specific photo and during the current session.
Camera Calibrate Tab (Fig. 3.27)
The controls on this tab are designed to fine tune the profile of a specific camera model. At the same time, you can calibrate the colors for different lighting conditions: for daylight, flashlights (flashes), incandescent lamps, etc. On the Adobe website (Adobe Labs page) you can download profiles corresponding to different cameras and standard scenes, for example scenery. And Adobe Standard profiles significantly improve color reproduction, especially in reds, yellows and oranges. When you install an update to Camera Raw (5.3 at the time of this writing) or Lightroom, such as version 2.2, the profiles are installed automatically. The conversion profile for a specific image or group of images should be selected from the pop-up list (see Fig. 3.27). For this profile to be applied to all photos, after selecting it, you must save the settings. To do this, select the Save New Camera Raw Defaults menu item. This operation must be performed for each digital camera model.
If these profiles are not enough or there is a need to build profiles for specific standard lighting conditions, you can use the free DNG Profile Editor (Fig. 3.28). To edit any profile in the program, open an image saved in DNG format and edit it. To create a profile, you need to take a picture of the Color Checker scale and build a profile on it (Fig. 3.29). The latest beta version of DNG Profile Editor was released on October 22, 2008.
To download profiles, you need Camera Raw 4.5 or Lightroom 2.0 or later. The profiles can be used in any Raw converters that support the DNG 1.2 standard.
Please note that different profiles only work with RAW files. Profiles do not support images converted to, for example, TIFF or JPEG.
You can also use the Camera Calibrate tab to creatively convert your RAW file.
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First of all, open the ACR settings dialog. It can be found in the top toolbar (third button from the right) or called by pressing Ctrl / Cmd + K.
In chapter General, in the Save image settings in item, select where the processing parameters for each edited image should be saved - in separate .xmp files (Sidecar “.xmp” files) or in a special database (Camera Raw database). I prefer the first option i.e. after saving the results of the work, the program creates an additional settings file with the extension .xmp next to each RAW file, in which it writes all the changes made. In the case of a database, all information is stored centrally, which is inconvenient for me. In both cases, the RAW file itself is not subject to any changes, and therefore you can always go back during the editing process or even reset all settings and start editing again. Also, a factory reset occurs when the .xmp file or ACR database is deleted.
In chapter Default Image Settings uncheck all the boxes to prevent the program from correcting images without permission.
In chapter Camera Raw Cache specify the maximum amount of temporary files acceptable for you (at least 1 Gb) and the folder where they should be stored (preferably not on the system drive).
Section DNG File Handling you can leave it alone, but in the section JPEG and TIFF Handling Disable JPEG and TIFF support (Disable JPEG support and Disable TIFF support), as these formats are best handled directly through Photoshop.
Save the settings by clicking "OK".
At the very bottom of the Adobe Camera Raw window, in the form of a blue underlined link, there is a description of the workspace that will be assigned to the image after you finish working in ACR and open it in Photoshop. Click on the "link". In the window that opens, check the following points:
Space(color space). If you don't know what this is, then you should choose sRGB. However, even if you are familiar with the concept of color space, I would not advise you to switch to Adobe RGB, much less ProPhoto RGB, for no good reason. The final result of your work, whether intended for print or for publication on the Internet, will still eventually need to be translated into commonly used sRGB, and the less often you change the color space, the less the quality of your photos will suffer.
I'll make a reservation that for Adobe Camera Raw it is completely indifferent what color space is in the settings of your camera (these settings are for JPEG, not for RAW), and therefore, even if you plan to use Adobe RGB when editing, you can shoot everything with a clear conscience. in sRGB - you won't lose a bit of information for RAW images, but you will be sure that your JPEG images will be displayed correctly everywhere.
Depth(color depth). In theory, the more bits, the better the quality, but in practice the difference between 8 and 16 bits only becomes noticeable with very aggressive editing, so most of the time I use 8 Bits / Channel and only switch to 16 bits when really necessary. If you are not looking to save space on your hard drive, you can immediately select 16 Bits / Channel, but do not forget that when saving an image in JPEG format, the color depth will still be changed to 8 bits.
The choice of color depth can only matter for post-processing in Photoshop. Camera Raw, where I advise you to do basic manipulations with brightness and contrast, will in any case work with the native color depth for your camera, i.e. 12 or 14 bits.
Image size (Size) and resolution (Resolution) can be left unchanged, and in the Sharpen For item, select None - it is always better to sharpen manually.
Make sure there is no checkmark in the Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects item and click "OK".
Now find the right tab Camera Calibration and in the section Camera Profile select a profile that will be responsible for the basic settings for color reproduction and overall contrast. I usually use Camera Neutral as it is easier for me to work by increasing contrast and saturation as needed, rather than decreasing them. Any profile can be customized to your liking.
If you chose a profile other than the default Adobe Standard, you can change the default settings so that each new RAW file opens with the profile you want. To do this, click on the barely visible menu icon to the right of the tab name and select Save New Camera Raw Defaults. Basically, you can force any changes you routinely make to all images to defaults to save yourself the hassle.
Due to frequent questions about the influence of various in-camera settings on the original RAW file when developing it in third-party converters, I decided to conduct a small test and dot the i's.
First, you need to turn off all sorts of settings in the camera designed to improve the image. These are various noise suppression, automatic brightness correction, highlight priority, etc.
The test was carried out using a Canon EOS 6D camera and Canon EF 24-70L f / 2.8 II USM and Canon EF 100L f / 2.8 Macro IS USM lenses.
Adobe Camera Raw converter was used to open RAW.
Now you can start. To see the difference (if any), hover the mouse cursor over the image.
1. Priority of lights.
D + or D-Lighting, there may be other names depending on the manufacturer. Adjust the exposure to get some clipping in the light areas of the image. If the settings do have an impact on the original RAW file, then with D + on, we should get a lot more detail in the highlights. Let's see what happened.
It can be seen that this setting has practically no effect on the image (if third-party converters are used). It is there, but quite insignificant.
2. Suppression of noise at high ISO.
For this test, I set the value to ISO 6400. If the noise reduction settings have an impact on the original RAW, then when you turn it on, we should get a significant reduction in noise. What is really going on?
It can be seen that the noise level has not changed, therefore, this setting is not read by third-party converters.
3. Reduction of noise at long exposure.
With this setting, we should get the removal of noise arising from long exposure (noise from dark currents). In this case, the camera takes another frame without exposing the matrix, with the same shutter speed, so the time required to take a picture is doubled. Then the noise of this frame is subtracted from the original one. This noise should not be confused with that which occurs when the ISO is increased.
Let's check if Camera Raw will read this data. I set the shutter speed to 10 seconds, adjusting the lighting accordingly.
As you can see, the frames are absolutely identical, that is, third-party converters will not be able to read this setting.
4. Auto-correction of brightness.
When this parameter is enabled, the pixel brightness is redistributed in such a way as to reveal more details in the shadows.
As you can see from the test results, no correction occurs when working with third-party converters.
5. Styles of the image.
For this test, two pictures were taken with identical parameters, but one using the standard picture style, on the other I twisted the contrast, saturation, sharpness and hue settings to the maximum.
As you can see, the pictures are absolutely identical.
General conclusion: when using third-party software, and these are any RAW converters, except for those supplied on CD with the camera, the above-mentioned in-camera settings (and the like) have practically no effect on the original RAW file, or this effect is extremely weak.
When using the proprietary software supplied with the camera, all settings will be read when the RAW file is opened and applied when converting.
RAW is translated from English as "raw, unfinished". If in ordinary life this quality cannot be considered a plus, then in digital photography the "raw" format is the most perfect. Only the most serious digital cameras allow you to save images in RAW in order to defer some of the important settings until the stage of processing and get the most out of your photographic equipment.
What is RAW
If the universal image formats JPEG and TIFF can be considered the digital equivalent of a slide (or final print), then RAW is an analogue of a film negative. "Semi-finished product", involving various options for further processing, during which one or another result will be obtained.
To understand the meaning of the "raw" format, it is worth going for the opposite. When using JPEG, the picture goes through five stages: capture of the analog signal by the matrix, conversion to digital form (analog-to-digital converter), color interpolation, processing in accordance with the camera settings, compression with loss of quality. Half of the settings are found in any cameras, including film cameras (exposure, ISO sensitivity, metering method, autofocus operation). The rest of the settings are related to the JPEG format: * Color rendition. Various options ("lively", "rich", "natural colors"). Monochrome shooting modes. Correction of color components RGB. * White balance. If the photo comes out blue or red, the wrong White Ballance setting has been selected. * Brightness and saturation. * Micro contrast. Figures under the English word sharpening or Russian "sharpness", although it has nothing to do with real sharpness. * Compression ratio. Variations like "super-fine" actually mean that losses are kept to a minimum.
The digital "negative" is recorded on the card immediately after the stage of digitizing the analog signal. Its use allows you to postpone all these settings until the stage of processing on a PC.
Color interpolation
A typical matrix of a digital camera consists of cells located on the same plane, which respond only to brightness, forming a monochrome image. To obtain color information, Kodak engineer Bruce Bayer 20 years ago suggested installing a filter in front of each cell in one of three colors - green, red, and blue - that add up to the desired hue. This technology is used to this day. For each cell with red and cyan filters there are two with green, since this color contains basic information about brightness.
Once digitized, the picture is composed of red, green, and blue pixels. For direct work, such an intermediate image is unsuitable. In order for each pixel in the output to have a natural tint (that is, it includes all three color components), the camera processor or RAW converter sums the color of neighboring pixels, for which a complex color interpolation algorithm is used.
Depending on the manufacturer and the specific DSC model, the RAW file can contain data both before interpolation and after (up to the final processing stage). Most modern digital cameras use the first approach, as RAW conversion programs almost always offer better algorithms. In addition, they are constantly being improved, and the camera processor can be changed by purchasing a new one. Improvement of in-camera JPEG algorithms is developing in parallel with the improvement of matrices. It is this that often determines the advantages of new models over their predecessors - for example, Nikon D40 DSLRs over D70.
Same sensor, but the D40 is a more recent model and therefore provides better JPEG quality. But even better quality can be achieved with the D70, if you ditch the JPEG format altogether!
Raw quality
There is potentially always more information in a RAW file than in the final one. RAW converters use this data in various ways. Some are better suited for handling underexposed images, while others “squeeze out” the maximum from those taken with optimal settings.
Typically, an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) provides a color depth of 12 bits. There are also more advanced exceptions: Canon 40D (14 bit), Fuji S5 Pro (14 bit x 2), Pentax K10D (22 bit). When shooting in JPEG format, we get ordinary 8-bit files, immediately suitable for printing. "Superfluous" information is used by the processor to compensate for the disadvantages of the digital matrix (narrow range of brightness, noise). But even in the most powerful and advanced models, "extra" information is not used 100%. RAW stores all the information that the ADC unit gives, including the original bit depth (color depth).
Once the files are copied to your computer, you decide what to do with the 12-bit data. 12-bit RAW allows safe exposure compensation within two exposure stops on each side. Using the exposure compensation tool in the RAW converter (by simply moving the slider), you shift the working area of the final file (8-bit). If your camera is slightly mistaken in its exposure settings, this will pull out shadows and highlights without any of the tonal distortions or other side effects that come with serious tonal adjustments.
If the exposure is initially determined accurately, due to the higher bit depth, you can get deeper, more detailed images by converting raw files to TIFF format with 16-bit color. The bit depth of RAW allows you to use this format to obtain photos with a high dynamic range - High Dynamic Range (HDR).
Variety of formats
If the RAW format was the same for all manufacturers, it would be very convenient in terms of software compatibility. There have been attempts in history to create a universal digital negative standard similar to JPEG and TIFF. The most successful of them is the Digital Negative (DNG) format from Adobe, which has found application in some modern digital cameras (Leica M8, Pentax K10D, Samsung GX-10). However, this is an exception to the general rule.
Not only does each manufacturer promote its own standard for raw files (CR2, NEF, PEF, variations with the RAW extension), but also within the line of one manufacturer the formats do not coincide: as a rule, a software update is required for each new generation of digital cameras.
Formats differ not only in terms of data structure. Sometimes manufacturers save space on memory cards by using raw data compression (for example, as in the case of Nikon Electronic Format). In theory, this compression can result in a minor loss of quality. In practice, even minimal losses are absent. The only drawback is that the compression process itself takes up resources and can affect the speed of recording images. The Pentax Raw Format (PEF) takes the opposite approach.
When not to shoot RAW
The RAW format provides the best quality and the ability to make even not the best pictures something that pleases the eye. But there are several situations when shooting in RAW is impractical: insufficient memory card capacity, continuous shooting (on some "slow" cameras), household shooting, direct printing, lack of personal time for image processing.
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At the time of this writing, I am using the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in version 7 that ships with Adobe Photoshop CS6. This is the first version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), where fully automatic chromatic aberration correction is humanly implemented, which is very important to me. Earlier versions of ACR I find unacceptable, and before Adobe Camera Raw 7 I used DxO Optics Pro as my main RAW converter. DxO does not have a very user-friendly interface, but it provides an excellent quality of converting RAW files, which Adobe was only able to come close to in 2012. Since the ACR interface is more convenient for me, I, having appreciated the merits of the seventh version, changed the converter.
If you are using any other RAW converter, try to follow the analogy with what is written in this article. The general principle of operation of all converters is the same, and they differ, by and large, in details. Among the popular converters, in addition to Adobe Camera Raw, I can recommend DxO Optics Pro and Phase One Capture One PRO. converters from photo equipment manufacturers - Canon Digital Photo Professional and Nikon Capture NX do an excellent job of converting images taken with Canon and Nikon cameras, respectively, but have an extremely inconvenient interface. The widespread Adobe Lightroom works on the Adobe Camera Raw engine, and therefore does not differ from the latter in the conversion quality.
When choosing a RAW converter, make sure that the images converted with it are not worse in quality than the JPEG obtained by the camera. In recent years, intra-camera conversion has provided (with the correct settings) such good results that often shooting in JPEG is preferable to inept processing of a RAW file in an old-fashioned converter (see "RAW or JPEG?").
Let's look at the basics of processing RAW files using the example of a photo of a picturesque valley in the Skole Beskydy. Let's open the file in Adobe Photoshop, and the Adobe Camera Raw window will unfold in front of us. The raw landscape, as is always the case with RAW files, looks pretty washed out, but we'll fix that shortly.
At the top left is a panel of the most commonly used tools from the point of view of program developers. I usually have a loupe ( Zoom tool- key Z) or hand ( Hand Tool- H key or held down space bar). In the upper right corner you can see a colored histogram, and below it are the tabs of the groups of tools for editing images.
If you open several RAW files at once in ACR, then on the left you will see them as a row of icons. Camera Raw supports batch processing of files, i.e. by selecting several images, you can change various parameters at the same time for the whole package. You can also apply uniform parameters to all open files using the already edited sample using the Synchronize function.
Before starting to work with Adobe Camera Raw for the first time, you should configure some plug-in settings so as not to be distracted by them in the future.
Customizing Adobe Camera Raw
First of all, open the ACR settings dialog. It can be found in the top toolbar (third button from the right) or called by pressing Ctrl / Cmd + K.
In chapter General, in the Save image settings in item, select where the processing parameters for each edited image should be saved - in separate .xmp files (Sidecar “.xmp” files) or in a special database (Camera Raw database). I prefer the first option i.e. after saving the work results, the program creates an additional settings file with the .xmp extension next to each RAW file, into which it writes all the changes made. In the case of a database, all information is stored centrally, which is inconvenient for me. In both cases, the RAW file itself is not subject to any changes, and therefore you can always go back during editing, or even reset all settings and start editing again. Also, a factory reset occurs when the .xmp file or ACR database is deleted.
In chapter Default Image Settings uncheck all the boxes to prevent the program from correcting images without permission.
In chapter Camera Raw Cache specify the maximum amount of temporary files acceptable for you (at least 1 Gb) and the folder where they should be stored (preferably not on the system drive).
Section DNG File Handling you can leave it alone, but in the section JPEG and TIFF Handling Disable JPEG and TIFF support (Disable JPEG support and Disable TIFF support), as these formats are best handled directly through Photoshop.
Save the settings by clicking "OK".
At the very bottom of the Adobe Camera Raw window, in the form of a blue underlined link, there is a description of the workspace that will be assigned to the image after you finish working in ACR and open it in Photoshop. Click on the "link". In the window that opens, check the following points:
Try to avoid clipping in highlights by constantly monitoring the histogram. By pressing the O key, you can turn on the warning about clipping highlights. Clipping of shadows is acceptable a lot more often, but it also requires caution.
Contrast- contrast. Controls the overall contrast of an image using an S-curve, modifying the difference in brightness between the darkest and lightest areas. I rarely use Contrast values greater than +25, and now I will not touch it at all.
The following two tools work in tandem to selectively control the brightness of highlights and shadows:
Highlights- Sveta. Helps to show details in overly bright lights. I'll put it at -50.
Shadows- shadows. Brightens shadows like a fill flash. +25 will be enough.
The next pair of tools operates even more narrowly, affecting only the extreme points of the histogram, which is sometimes necessary to combat clipping, or, conversely, with a lack of contrast:
Whites- white point. I will move the edge of the histogram to the right by +30, although more often I use negative values.
Blacks- black point. I will leave it unchanged - black is already in its place.
Experiment with the Highlights / Shadows and Whites / Blacks to see how they differ from each other.
Clarity- clarity or local contrast. Clarity is the most useful tool, because in many scenes you have to deal with a lack of local contrast, while the overall contrast is fine, or even excessive. But be careful, it's easy to go overboard in the pursuit of detail and get unnatural halos around objects. I usually do not exceed the Clarity +50, but today I will make an exception and put +75.
Vibrance and Saturation control the saturation of the color. The difference between them is in selectivity. While Saturation increases the saturation of all colors indiscriminately, Vibrance works more delicately, increasing the intensity of only the least vivid colors. I'll set it to Vibrance +50 and Saturation +15, which is pretty much. More often, you have to use lower values in order to then selectively increase the saturation of only individual color channels.
Often, after I've tweaked all of the Basic tab tools, I go back to the white balance sliders to adjust for any changes in brightness, contrast, and saturation that might have affected color balance.
Here's what we got at this stage. You can compare the processing results with the original image by hovering over the image.
I am not happy with the sky - it is too light, has an unnatural brightness gradient from left to right, and its color is not intense enough. In addition, I would like the mountains closest to us (left and right) to look a little more contrast and relief. I will work on the mountains later in Photoshop, and a gradient filter will help me to improve the sky ( Graduated Filter- G key). It is an imitation of a real gradient filter, but it has a wide variety of adjustable parameters.
First of all, to shade the upper left corner, I'll apply a diagonally oriented gradient filter with the following parameters: Temperature -10; Exposure -0.50. Then, across the sky, from the top edge of the photo to the horizon, I will stretch another gradient with the parameters: Temperature -20; Exposure -0.50; Contrast -25; Highlights -25; Clarity -50; Saturation +15.
Note that the gradient filter allows you to selectively change the color balance in specific areas of the image, which is useful if, for example, you want to warm up the landscape while keeping the sky cool and blue.
Since I started working on gradients, I will add, perhaps, another one at the very bottom of the photo in order to make the water in the river bluer, and the grass on the near bank more green. The only parameter is Temperature -20.
Compare the image with and without gradient filters.
To influence image areas with complex boundaries, it is advisable to use not a gradient filter, but its analogue in the form of an adjustment brush ( Adjustment Brush- K key).
Tone Curve Tab
Here you can fine-tune the brightness and contrast of the image using curves. I rarely use curves in Camera Raw because I usually get enough of the Basic tab capabilities.
Detail tab
This tab is responsible for sharpening ( Sharpening) and noise reduction ( Noise Reduction). I prefer sharpening in Photoshop, and therefore I turn off sharpening in ACR by setting Amount to 0. With suppression moderate noise, especially chromatic, ACR copes quite well. As a rule, I use the following parameters: Luminance 25; Luminance Detail 100; Luminance Contrast 100; Color 50; Color Detail 100. The first three parameters are responsible for achromatic (brightness) noise, the rest - for chromatic (color) noise. When suppressing luminance noise, be very careful not to get a blurry picture. When working with the Detail tab, always view the image at 100% magnification, otherwise you will not see what is happening with small details.
HSL / Grayscale tab
An irreplaceable color correction tool. The HSL / Grayscale tab is designed to work with individual colors and includes three sub-tabs:
Hue- shade or tone. Here I will move Oranges to the left by -10 to make the clay on the bank more red, and Aquas to the right by +10 to make the bottom of the sky look fresher.
In general, I observe that Adobe Camera Raw tends to make the image a little more yellow-green than I would like, and therefore I have to correct individual shades in one way or another. If you are personally happy with the ACR color reproduction, you can leave the Hue subtab alone.
Saturation- saturation. To improve the look of the clay, I'll set the Oranges slider to +25. Often I increase the saturation of the Blues, but in this case I solved the sky and water color issue mainly with gradient filters.
Luminance- lightness or brightness. I will make the sky a little darker by moving the Blues slider to -15.
The Split Toning tab is for toning black and white photos and we will skip it for now.
Lens Corrections Tab
Here you can correct lens aberrations as well as perspective distortion. There are two underlays - for automatic and for manual correction:
Profile- automatic correction of lens aberrations based on a special profile. Profiles for most popular lenses come standard with Adobe Camera Raw. To enable automatic correction of lens distortion and vignetting, check the box next to Enable Lens Profile Corrections. I recommend doing this only in cases where distortion or vignetting is visible to the naked eye, since removing distortion leads to a slight deterioration in sharpness, and vignetting is not even always a disadvantage. In the case of our example, everything suits me anyway, and therefore I will only check the box next to Remove Chromatic Aberrations. Chromatic aberration elimination works perfectly in ACR 7 (which cannot be said about earlier versions), and I always use it, especially since it helps to improve sharpness at the edges of the frame.
Manual- manual correction. Here you can correct the blocked horizon and distortion introduced by perspective. In my shot, both the horizon and perspective are fine, so I'll leave everything unchanged. If you will be working in manual override mode, I advise you to turn on the mesh by pressing the V key so that you can better see both the distortion itself and your edits.
At the same stage, I usually use the Crop Tool (C key) if the standard 3: 2 aspect ratio does not suit me or if the edge of the photo has captured some foreign objects. No cropping is required now.
Effects Tab
There are only two effects: grain ( Grain) and vignetting ( Post Crop Vignetting). I'll leave the grain for lovers of pseudo-antique photographs, but moderate vignetting can beautify many pictures. I will slightly shade the edges of the image by setting the Amount to -15.
So, we went through all the functional tabs. You are already familiar with the Camera Calibration tab, but there are still two additional tabs:
Presets Tab
You can save all the changes that you made to the image as presets, which can later be applied to any other images.
Snapshots Tab
Snapshot means snapshot. This is the same as preset, but only within the same RAW file. In other words, you can create several processing options for the same photo (for example, color and black-and-white versions), and then work with each option individually.
This completes the editing process of our landscape in Adobe Camera Raw. I will carry out the final finishing using Adobe Photoshop.
By clicking "Open", you will open the image for further processing in Photoshop, and by clicking "Done", simply save the results of your work in a .xmp file.
I suggest you compare the photo processed in Adobe Camera Raw with the original version.
Thanks for attention!
Vasily A.
Post scriptum
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