Adobe Lightroom: RAW Edit 76 (FroKnowsPhoto)

RAW file 76. Well, actually, it’s a DNG file again.

This week’s file is from a D800 – the 36 monsterpixel camera from Nikon. The file is 4912×7360 pixels and weighs in at a whopping 29.6MB. Yikes. I twiddle my thumbs waiting for my measly 12 megapixel files to import so I can’t imagine what waiting for this thing must be like. I suppose good things come to those who wait though… I mean, who needs to bother carrying a zoom lens any more when you can just crop to infinity?

Adobe Lightroom: RAW Edit 75 (FroKnowsPhoto)

RAW file 75

Oh my word. If I was trying to purposefully create an unflattering pose, it would probably look a bit like this. And to make things worse, the perspective is almost voyeuristic. Captain crop to the rescue… 

Adobe Lightroom: RAW Edit 73 (FroKnowsPhoto)

RAW file 73

It’s that time again and this weeks RAW file is taken from inside some kind of amusement arcade. It’s quite a vivid file straight from the camera, but let’s see if we can wring out something a bit more striking.

Adobe Lightroom: RAW Edit 72 (FroKnowsPhoto)

RAW file 72

This is one of the most interesting files I’ve edited recently. Colour, lines, texture, shapes, tension, contrast, glamour… it has a bit of everything. In fact, it has so many different elements, I’m honestly not sure what to do with it.

Sod’s Law

Also known as Murphy’s Law. Anybody who has been paying particularly close attention will know that I’ve been using the Lightroom 4 trial for the past 30 days. I ordered my full copy of the new Lightroom from Amazon weeks ago and have been waiting patiently for it to pass through my letterbox ever since. It wasn’t a big deal, though, because you can just input the key when it arrives and continue using the software.

Last night the trial expired and, of course, I had no product key to activate Lightroom and I needed to use it. So I went through the entire rigmarole of uninstalling the trial, finding my copy of Lightroom 3, installing it and then importing all the photographs I have scattered around everywhere all over again.

I get in from work this afternoon and guess what’s waiting for me…

Arrgh!!!

Adobe Lightroom: RAW Edit 71 (FroKnowsPhoto)

RAW file 71

This weeks file is kinda cool. I’m looking forward to editing this! What do you think before you read on? Will I crop it?

DNG (wait, what?) Edit of the Week 69 (FroKnowsPhoto)

This weeks RAW file is actually a DNG file. Not that it makes a big difference.

So you might be wondering – what the hell is a DNG file? Well as it turns out, this weeks image is a sample taken from a brand new Nikon D4. The problem is that this camera is so new the RAW file support is a bit patchy across the spectrum of image editing software.

DNG or ‘digital negative’ is an open raw file format from Adobe designed to alleviate some of the incompatibility problems expected in the future, and as you can see is having some use even in the short term. It just goes to show that scrambling to get the cutting edge gear right out of the block isn’t a risk-free no-brainer and can bite you in the arse if you’re not careful.

Anyway, on with today’s edit.

RAW Edit of the Week 44 (FroKnowsPhoto)

How will I edit this RAW file?

I took a dip into some of the older RAW files I haven’t done before with this edit because the current file didn’t inspire me at all. I liked the look of this one, and you can see straight away there is room for improvement. The photographer must have used a long lens with a big aperture to get that kind of background blur! Read on to see what direction I go…

RAW Edit of the Week 67 (FroKnowsPhoto)

Original image. Read on to see the final edit...

I’ve been without my computer for most of the week. I reinstalled Windows, which in itself is quite easy, but it takes time to get the rest of your configuration back up to speed. I thought I would take the opportunity to try out Lightroom 4, so I downloaded the 30 day trial. This is the first photo I have edited with the new version of Lightroom.

RAW Edit of the Week 64 (FroKnowsPhoto)

Original RAW image. Read the full post to see my final edit!

I really enjoyed working with this weeks RAW file. It’s always a good sign when an image stands on its own without any additional editing – and that’s what these Lightroom tutorials are all about; making good images even better.

The idea is to take you through the way I process my images. If you’re new to Lightroom, it can be a bit overwhelming when faced with graphs and sliders and I encourage you to experiment. But just knowing what these options do is only the start – the real knack is knowing when and why you want to use them. By talking you through my methods and motivations behind them you might just pick up a tip you can use yourself.