Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

Chapter
6
Chapter
Process Photos
in Camera Raw
Camera Raw is a plug-in automatically included
with Photoshop. RAW is a file format, such as
CR2 on advanced Canon cameras or NEF or
Nikon’s advanced cameras.
All digital cameras first record the raw data on
the sensor, and then the camera’s internal
processor converts the data into the file you
see on the camera’s LCD screen. If you select
the JPEG file format in your camera, the
camera’s built-in processor applies the
manufacturer’s predetermined settings, and it
decides what capture data to keep and what
data to throw away to create a pleasing image.
It also automatically compresses the file. When
you make any changes to a JPEG or even a
TIFF file, with Photoshop, you change pixels
that have already been processed and
compressed inside the camera.
If instead you select the RAW format on your
camera, the RAW file includes all the original
uncompressed captured data. You can then
process the file with Camera Raw in your
computer, so you can control the desired tonal
rendition, color balance, saturation, and other
characteristics of the final image.
You can still adjust JPEG and TIFF files in
addition to RAW files with Camera Raw and
benefit from nondestructive edits. Then all the
image data in the file, whether it is a JPEG, TIFF,
or RAW file, is preserved and the adjustments
are simply stored as metadata, in a separate
small file, called a sidecar XMP data file.