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Category: Digital Files and Formats

Photography Question 

ANDRAY STROUD
 

Shooting Raw ... By Mistake!


I am a Photoshop CS3 novice, and I accidentally left my camera on the Raw setting while shooting a function. Not sure how but I had fired 60 images before I noticed. Nevertheless, I have CS3 and Lightroom. How can I convert my Raw images to JPEG? Please help.


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May 03, 2008

 

Richard Lynch
  Andray,
Just do the following after downloading the images to your computer:
1. Open Photoshop.
2. Choose File>Open from the program menus.
3. Locate one of the files via the Open dialog, and click the Open button.
4. The image will open in the Camera RAW dialog. Click Open Image.
5. Convert the image to 8-bit by choosing 8-bit from the Image menu (Image>Mode>8-bit)
6. Choose Save As from the File menu.
7. Choose JPEG from the Format drop list.
8. Change the file name and location where you want it saved, then click Save.
9. When the JPEG options dialog appears, move the quality slider all the way right.
10. Click OK.
This will save the highest quality JPEG. Others may chime in to tell you to make adjustments in RAW - but that is a whole additional can of worms.


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May 04, 2008

 

Pat Harry
  Richard, why do you do step 5 - convert to 8-bit?


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May 04, 2008

 
- Carlton Ward

BetterPhoto Member
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  Pat, you can save 16 bit as TIFF but not as jpeg so you must convert to 8 bit first.


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May 04, 2008

 

Richard Lynch
  Carlton's got it. The other possibility would have been using Save For Web, but then there is a whole additional dialog to deal with.


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May 04, 2008

 

Pat Harry
  I've just never done that step. I do a "save as" and then select .jpg. Does this possibly do the conversion for me and I just didn't realize it?


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May 04, 2008

 
- Pamela Bosch

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  You can covert by batch in Lightroom as well if you have imported them into Lightroom from your card. This will save your raw images and create a new set of JPEG files.
1. Select all the images in the library mode (CTRL-A).
2. Click on Export button in lower left side (library mode).
3. Follow the dialog boxes and choose where you want to store the files, how to name them and the quality.
4. New converted files will be saved in the new folder of your either created or used.

You can then import the JPEG files into your Lightroom library.

It's quick and easy.

Pam Bosch


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May 06, 2008

 

Bunny Snow
  16-bits is huge. Especially as tif, it will clog up your computer and empty the amount of mega bytes you have within the computer in no time flat.

16 bits is wonderful to work in, but not for storing images.

Bunny
another novice


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May 06, 2008

 

Zj >>> ZJ Images
  Another approach:
1)Go to Bridge
2)Select(ctrl+click) all images you want to convert
3)Under Tools/Photoshop/Image processor click
4)PS3 opens and presents a dialog box
Make the changes you want here: JPEG file size, resize, quality and where you want to save the converted JPEGS. Now PS3 takes over the conversion of all your selected images.


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May 06, 2008

 

Mary C. Legg
  If you have software with the camera, it might give you very nice options such as with the Canon Digital Professional. I was intimidated by chatter on RAW, but I had no choice but to jump for it in situation and pressure I had. Everything was new to me and CS3 can be very unwieldy and doesn't like batching and tagging things easily.

1.Open the Canon software, click open he folder on the sidebar. You have options to do all your light editing, dust delete, exposure.

2.You can batch. Use your CTRL key +mouse click to highlight the images.

3. Right click mouse and choose "edit in edit window" if you wish to do any light editing and this helps you review what you really want to save. You can delete anything from the list which you wish to trash.

4.on top menu, choose Batch under file. Now you have several choices that are automatic. you can make your file tags for entire folder very easily. You can save 16bit, 8bit, JPG or tiff + thumbnail or customize your size and res.


5. I delete all big jpgs off my computer and create a low-res image 640 x 427 72dpi for reference. After the light editing of the CR2 RAW, I move all the Images over to my archive, but keep the small 640 x 427 jpg 72dpi on my computer for reference. All images are also backed up on disk as well as the external terrabyte.

anything I want to delete, I just don't batch and the file gets deleted. Maybe it seems like work, but it saves tons of space on my computer when I am shooting multiple 4gb cards a day.

The quality of this batching is high enough to pass Alamy and AGE Fotostock and this was how I got my contract with AGE from the first images off the new camera with a portfolio of 100 butterflies in 6days. I'd never used RAW before, had no idea what EXIF data was or used Photoshop. CS3 was just horrible experience for me. It killed my computer. Now I used the CS3 for final edit of tiffs, but I am not techie oriented and have little skill for sophisticated photo editing.

this cuts time for preparing new submission portfolios for stock photography because usually only low-res 72dpi small jpgs are wanted for the review round and at the same time I am able to spin off my 16bit tiffs into separate folder to await the final selection for final edit and jpg conversion or direct tiff submission. What remains rejected I can easily recycle to 2nd and 3d agents.

It's not the easiest way to learn photography or a camera, but I made the jump with first images off the camera from the first 6days. I'd only used the small Kodak Z700 or Canon pocket before for a year. The 25th image of the Canon 400D is here on BP. Don't laugh, but I spent a day just practicing putting on the 100mm 2.8 lens so I would do it without anxiety.

I should thank BP, because I received the contract from AGE Fotostock on the one-year anniversary of the Finalist recognition of Berger's Clouded Yellow with Kodak Z700 in Sept 2006. It took one year for me to move from the KodakZ700 to getting a exclusive stock agent contract. It's very hard work and I still don't know anything.


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May 07, 2008

 

Richard Lynch
  Pat,
If you are not shooting in RAW or if you convert to 8-bit when you open, you don't have to convert to 8-bit again. I was assuming the RAW shots were being opened in 16-bit.

Bunny,
The files should be roughly twice the size with 35 trillion color possibilities rather than 16 million -- or 2 million times as much color. Granted you can't yet use it in 8-bit printing or display, but certainly the potential for higher fidelity and greater latitude in corrections. I consider a few dollars on storage a worthwhile investment in the potential and where technology may lead in the future.

Mary,
Interesting story. Photoshop is indeed tough to learn. I am still at it after 17 years behind the wheel. It can improve your photos and your photography, though, and can be worth investing the time to learn. My Photoshop 101: The Photoshop Essentials Primer course here on betterphoto is all about helping people get started.

Richard Lynch


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May 07, 2008

 
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