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Processing <strong>Focus</strong> Stacks Lightroom, Step 2 I have selected these four photos to be stacked. Next, I select the PHOTO tab at the top <strong>of</strong> the screen, scroll down to the EDIT IN option, and within that option I select the “Open as Layers in Photoshop” option. This will automatically send all four photos to Photoshop where they will appear as consecutive layers, ready to be processed as a focus stack. Instructions continued on next two-page spread. Note: Color Space Color Space (in a camera or in s<strong>of</strong>tware) sets the practical limits on how much color can be handled. <strong>The</strong>re are three main types <strong>of</strong> color space commonly encountered in cameras and their s<strong>of</strong>tware, sRGB, AdobeRGB, and ProPhotoRGB. <strong>The</strong> AdobeRGB color space is wider than the sRGB color space, and the ProPhotoRGB color space is much wider than the AdobeRGB color space. Which color space to use depends on a number <strong>of</strong> considerations including how are you going to use your finished photos? Most DSLR Cameras <strong>of</strong>fer you the choice <strong>of</strong> two color spaces, sRGB (web output) and AdobeRGB (printed color). AdobeRGB has a broader range <strong>of</strong> color coverage than sRGB, so many folks use that. However, please note: If you are going to shoot JPEG in the camera then you want to set your color space to sRGB. <strong>The</strong> same goes if you are shooting JPEG and outputting to the web or a computer; use sRGB. Otherwise, you will have to convert to sRGB later in the process. HOWEVER, if you shoot camera-RAW images, you don’t have to worry or choose a color space ahead <strong>of</strong> time or be concerned what your camera color space is set to BECAUSE raw images are independent <strong>of</strong> color space and their color space is automatically assigned by whichever raw converter (s<strong>of</strong>tware) you use, that is: whatever color space you set your raw-image converter to. Repeat: raw images are color-space independent. As mentioned above, if you are shooting raw then it does not matter how you set your color space in the camera BECAUSE your s<strong>of</strong>tware/converter can be set to whatever color space you want. Right now, the broadest color space is ProPhotoRGB. Adobe Lightroom defaults to the ProPhotoRBG color space and Adobe Photoshop can be set to ProPhotoRGB. I use ProPhoto RGB and convert to whatever other color space (sRGB, etc.) when I output images from the above programs. I set both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop to ProPhotoRGB. <strong>The</strong> ProPhotoRGB color space is said to resolve 90% <strong>of</strong> all possible surface colors in the CIE Lab color space and 100% <strong>of</strong> likely real-world surface colors, which is saying a lot. <strong>The</strong>refore a combination <strong>of</strong> the RAW format from the camera and ProPhotoRGB color space in your s<strong>of</strong>ware is the best available at the moment and a good argument for not using JPEG compression. Note: JPEG or Raw Format Most sophisticated DSLRs <strong>of</strong>fer two output formats, Raw (native) or .JPG compressed, although almost all pr<strong>of</strong>essionals that I am familiar with shoot their important photos using the Raw format. <strong>The</strong> reason for Raw is that by using the raw format there is much greater flexibility to adjust your light balance and other important factors later (like years!) back in the studio, while with a compressed bit-map format like .JPG, you lose most <strong>of</strong> that flexibility and may live to regret it. With .JPG, light-balance factors are fixed forever in that format, and can only be tweaked a little, so you better be a skilled photographer and get the shot right in the first place. I shoot in raw (native) format at the highest bit rate, which is 14-bit Raw in the Nikon cameras that I use. Yes, it uses more space, slows down the computer, etc., but you get a better photo as a result AND can dicker with the photo years from now, when some new development will allow us to pull more from the raw format than we can now. All the bits and bytes that the camera saw are there. If you are a macro or close-up photographer, I would very sincerely suggest you shoot RAW, because if you get any good at it, years from now you may really regret using the .JPG format which loses some <strong>of</strong> your precious data. 89