Adobe Camera Raw Workflow CS2

This is a summary of Adobe Camera Raw post processing steps taken from Rob Sheppard's book. The page numbers included below, refer to pages in the book. There are three major adjustments: Tonal, Color, and Detail.

TONAL or COLOR Adjustments First (page 160)
In general, make Tonal adjustments (Whites/Blacks/Midtones) first. However, if the color is "way off", such as in underwater images, then make Color Adjustments (White Balance) first. Detail Adjustments (Sharpen, Luminance Smoothing) are always last.

TONAL ADJUSTMENTS (page 101)
1. Exposure (Highlights/Whites)
Check white and light areas, Adjust Highlights (use ALT key), Use "Exposure" slider
2. Shadows (Blacks)
Check black and dark areas, Adjust Shadows (use ALT key), Use "Shadow" slider
3. Brightness (Midtones) - or use Tone Curves
Adjust overall brightness, Use "Brightness" slider
4. Tone Curves (Midtones) - preferred over Brightness control
Curves is a more powerful "Brightness" tonal adjustment. You can make one tonality light, and another darker.
To quickly cycle through options, double click on menu and use "arrow" keys.
To remove anchor point, grab and drag off graph.

• To brighten dark midtones, set anchor point 1/3 from bottom and pull up. Pull down to darken.
• To brighten light midtones, set anchor point 1/3 from top, and pull up. Pull down to darken.
5. Contrast
This slider is too heavy handed, skip this, leave at default.
6. Final Check
Turn on "Shadows", "Highlights", you should see some red and blue, but not much.

COLOR ADJUSTMENTS (page 110)
White Balance correction is used to remove "color casts" (unwanted color) from an image. Color temperature is used to measure WB and describes the spectrum of light which is radiated from a "blackbody" with that surface temperature. A perfect blackbody is an object which absorbs all incident light. White Balance can be adjusted by either using the WB Slider or Eyedropper. Use the "Tint" slider if the light source doesn't resemble a blackbody.
Temperature: minus increases Blue, plus increases Orange
Tint: minus increases Green, plus increases Majenta

1. White Balance Slider
Use White Balance, adjust "Temperature" slider, use "arrow" keys to select options.
To quickly cycle through options, double click on menu and use "arrow" keys.

2. White Balance Eye Dropper
This tool is used to remove color from neutral tones.
Temperature and Tint change automatically as different neutral points are selected.
Use this only if the photo has neutral areas, not all photos have such areas.
3. Saturation
Boost color as needed, use "Saturation" slider, use sparingly.

DETAIL ADJUSTMENTS (page 112)
1. Noise
Zoom in, look for general noise (i.e., skies), adjust "Luminance Smoothing" slider.
2. Color Noise
Zoom in, adjust "Color Noise Reduction" slider
3. Sharpen
Zoom in, adjust "Sharping" last.