RAW processing: how to get the most out of your photos. The best RAW converters - where to process photos

If your camera shoots in RAW, congratulations. You can get much more out of your shots than owners of compact cameras that can shoot only in JPEG.

This article does not pretend to be a complete guide to RAW processing, however, in our opinion, it will be useful for those who have not yet attached importance to the potential of working with RAW.

RAW and JPEG, which is better?

Of course, it is important to understand that RAW and JPEG were originally created to solve different problems, so it is impossible to argue that RAW is better than JPEG.

The JPEG image format was created in order to display the highest quality image with minimal memory consumption. When shooting in JPEG, you immediately get a finished picture, which you can immediately send to a forum, website, social network and maybe in print. JPEG files take up relatively little space and are the unspoken standard for storing images in user albums.

The colors in your photos will be exactly as your camera's imaging system sees them. In the case of RAW, you will either have to resort to using a native RAW converter, or use the correct profiles in a software specially designed for this. If there are no profiles (this is possible in the short term, for example, if your camera is new, and the software company has not yet had time to prepare the correct profiles), you will need to configure the image parameters yourself.

It is important to know that absolutely all cameras shoot in RAW. It's just that saving in RAW is blocked for them, and the camera independently converts the signal to JPEG using its own algorithm known only to developers. Thus, JPEG is the final result of processing the image by the camera, this process proceeds in several successive stages. This is done by the image processing system - this is how manufacturers now call a bunch of a special processor, additional microcircuits and software algorithms.

Knowing photographers love to shoot in JPEG, developers equip almost all modern cameras, including SLR and hybrid models, with advanced JPEG processing options. In Canon DSLRs, this is the Picture Style function, in Nikon DSLRs - Picture Control, in Sony DSLRs - image styles. In addition to several frequently used presets, it is possible to configure all the parameters yourself.

Of course, the processing power and intelligence of processing systems is constantly evolving. For instance, new system processing in Lumix cameras, called the Venus Engine VHD, and the image processing system in Casio cameras are equipped with three-core processors; integrated circuit Canon DIGIC IV is equipped with fast memory and provides multi-channel reading from the sensor. The installation of these two processors in the Canon EOS 7D camera made it possible to achieve a data readout speed of 144 Mp / s.

Venus Engine FHD Tri-Core Processor

The software part is also important, and it is often based on an extensive database of typical shooting scenes. The camera compares the brightness composition of the shot against a database that already contains several thousand typical scenes and uses the optimal shooting settings. When recognizing a certain color in the frame, such as a blue sky, cameras increase the saturation of that particular blue color. It comes to the fact that cameras take into account the time zone, as well as the date and time of shooting. Thus, your camera can, for example, when shooting sunsets, automatically increase the saturation of reds and yellows, making the frame more “tasty” and the owner of the camera more joyful.

Unfortunately, often automatic programs fail or provide undesirable effects, greatly overestimating / underestimating the contrast or saturation of the image.

There are many situations in which shooting in JPEG is more appropriate. It makes sense to shoot in this format if you are sure that the photos do not need significant processing, when shooting large series (not the cheapest SLR models usually have a large RAW buffer, but compact cameras and budget SLR cameras traditionally have a RAW buffer). no more than 10 frames per burst), and also when the memory card is close to full.

What is the path from the moment of shooting to saving the image to the memory card?

The signal received from the sensor is interpolated to RGB, the processor performs color correction in accordance with the white balance settings, and then applies color correction based on the saturation, contrast and other color settings.

After that, the image processing system applies one of the special effects, if they have been selected by the user, for example, miniature effect, tilt-shift optics simulation, fisheye lens distortion. If special effects are not involved, then, on the contrary, software correction of vignetting, chromatic aberrations and optical distortions is carried out.

By the way, these software methods allowed to reduce the cost and size of such popular cameras as the Canon S90 and Lumix LX-3. In order to reduce the price of devices and their dimensions, manufacturing companies decided to abandon the complex optical design of lenses, which minimizes unwanted distortion.

Small dimensions and high image quality in the Canon S90
made possible by software correction of lens distortions

Finally, the camera applies the user-specified sharpening (sharpening) or blur settings, noise reduction settings at slow shutter speeds or high ISO, and only after that it converts the result into an 8-bit image, i.e. JPEG.

The saddest moment is that each stage of transformation leads to an irreversible loss of information in the photo. And if the pictures are of some value to you, then it is very stupid to give all these stages for processing by the camera.

Shooting in RAW format allows you to edit the image in places that are out of reach. JPEG format framework. You can correct the exposure, white balance settings, sharpen and remove noise in the image after. Roughly speaking, all you need when shooting in RAW is to get a technically satisfactory shot. The rest can be improved.

RAW is a specific format that stores information about the signal taken directly from the light sensor without further processing by the camera. Data in a RAW container can be either uncompressed or compressed, with or without loss. However, even in the worst case of lossy compression, a RAW file contains significantly more information than a maximum quality JPEG image: 12- or 14-bit RAW files are much more tolerant of user processing than highly compressed 8-bit JPEGs.

Almost all manufacturers have their own RAW formats: Canon has *.acr and *.cr2, Sony - *.arw, *.srf, *.sr2, Nikon - *.nef, *.nrw, Pentax - *. ptx and *.pef, while Samsung has *.srw. Many new models use the Adobe-developed open format DNG (Digital Negative, digital negative).

RAW is a kind of undeveloped digital image. Although it is recognized by many modern viewers (with or without special plug-ins), it is unsuitable for printing, and the file itself can be interpreted differently by different editors. For example, the same RAW when viewed in ACDSee and Picasa is significantly different.

The RAW format provides extensive post-processing capabilities within some limits without loss of quality. All those operations that the camera's processor does on its own will need to be done manually. There is only one reward here - much better and more effective photos.

However, RAW files take up significantly more space, they are 3-6 times larger than similar JPEG files, and some knowledge and processing time are required for conversion. Fortunately, the process is quite fun, and if you have a good RAW source, you will definitely be happy with the final result.

RAW conversion using the example of Adobe Lightroom

We will look at RAW conversion using Adobe Lightroom version 3.2 as an example. This program deserves attention for several reasons: it is quite easy to use, it is regularly updated and it supports almost all released cameras capable of outputting RAW files. The application is well integrated with the Photoshop family and is very functional, it is equally convenient when working with individual photos or with a large number of images.

Of the disadvantages of Lightroom, it is worth noting the exactingness of computer computing resources and the need to purchase it. The lack of a Russian-language interface also often scares off novice photographers. You can download the program on the official website of Adobe.

Despite a fairly large number of programs of this type, of which we would note the free RawTherapee, Apple Aperture, Phase One Capture One and Bibble Pro, the Lightroom application, in our opinion, is the golden mean.

All of these programs deserve attention, as they are stronger at certain points. For example, Aperture is very easy to use, while Capture One gives best opportunities color control.

In a loose translation, the word lightroom is interpreted as a place for developing pictures. In principle, the way it is - it is a convenient and powerful interface for developing RAW images and even working with JPEGs. Lightroom is a non-destructive image processing algorithm. Until the moment of conversion, the pictures entered into the program remain untouched, and a preview of the effects and settings is available from the application cache. Each file is assigned a document with detailed custom changes, which are written in instructions and then executed when converting images from RAW.

This approach is quite convenient, and thanks to it, an infinite history of actions with a snapshot or snapshots is implemented.

The Lightroom program allows you to synchronize the selected settings for a group of photos, which is very convenient, for example, if you have taken many shots of the same type and want to transfer editing to several pictures at once.

The Library module contains a feature of the program for cataloging images. We will not focus on it. We only note that frames can be sorted by creation time, title, shooting coordinates, lens, focal length, etc. It is possible to create dynamic collections that are automatically replenished according to selected criteria, and much more.

The Library module is very powerful and convenient, as are the modules for preparing for printing (Print), creating a slide show (Slide-show) and publishing on the Internet (Web). Their description would be enough for another article, so we will pay attention to the most important module - the processing module (Develop).

At the very top is an image histogram by color and shooting information. The histogram can be moved with the mouse, its certain areas are responsible for controlling the exposure, dark and light areas of the frame. The histogram is quite clear and allows you to quickly correct frames that were initially not very successful.

It should be noted that all settings follow in a logical order, and if you do not quite understand what you want to improve in the picture, you can move through the settings from top to bottom.

Basic panel

White balance (white balance). In this window, the user can select one of the white balance presets available in your camera, or trust the choice optimal settings automation, which provides surprisingly very high-quality results. If you are not satisfied with the above settings, you can use the sliders Temperature (color temperature) and Tint.

The easiest and most convenient way to correctly set the white balance is to use the White Balance Selector tool (eyedropper), which can be used to specify a neutral tone in the image, such as a white or gray area. This shows a greatly enlarged area under the pipette so that you can more accurately select the correct neutral area on inhomogeneous textures.

exposure- one of the most important tools in the conversion. It is with its help that the primary “pulling” of details from incorrectly exposed photographs is performed.

This parameter sets the overall brightness of the image and its white point. If you hold down Alt while working, the areas of the frame that are knocked out into the light will be highlighted, i.e. they will not contain any information, except for pure or almost pure white color. If there is no artistic idea in this, the details lost in the lights should be tried to be returned. This applies to the bright white wedding dress as well as the texture of the clouds in the sky.

Tool Recovery called upon to help us. It removes overexposure exactly in the right places, almost without affecting the rest of the photo. If you have done color correction before, after applying Recovery, a light gray veil may appear in the picture or the colors may change slightly.

Tool fill light(fill light), on the contrary, increases the brightness of dark areas, while not affecting the light areas.

If Recovery can almost always be turned up to the maximum, then with Fill Light you should be careful - the unnatural brightness of dark areas can give even a good picture a flat and unnatural look. Both tools help to get into the histogram, and their judicious use can be considered a light variation of HDR, high dynamic range images.

Parameter Blacks sets the black point of the image.

Parameter brightness Many consider it a clone of the Fill Light tool, but this is not the case - it changes the brightness for the entire tonal range of your image.

Parameter contrast responsible for the contrast of the photo. Decreasing contrast makes tonal transitions softer, while increasing contrast makes them sharper.

Three interesting tools are in the subblock Presence (appearance), and changing them greatly changes the photo itself.

Tool Clarity affects the micro-contrast of the image, namely, the smoothness of contrast transitions, such as edges, contours of objects. Increasing the value of this setting creates the feeling of a sharp frame, while decreasing it creates the effect of a soft, almost out-of-focus image.

Tool Vibrance- this is perhaps one of the most effective, simple and beloved Lightroom tools. Following its success, Adobe implemented a similar tool in Photoshop CS4. Vibrance is smart function increasing saturation. It does not affect already saturated colors, but selectively and non-linearly increases the saturation of dull shades. This approach avoids oversaturation, loss of shades and various artifacts in the image. In addition, Vibrance selectively enhances the saturation of skin tones and prevents people's skin from turning into a yellow-beige substance.

Tool Saturation increases the saturation of all colors at once. A slight increase in saturation along with the use of Vibrance will allow you to get even more juicy and vibrant colors. However, you should use Saturation carefully, you should not twist the parameter value to the maximum.

The next block is curves. The tone curve in Lightroom is used to adjust the contrast within a certain range of tones. Although this is a very powerful tool in terms of image enhancement, we will not cover it yet, as it is quite complicated for beginners, and The best way to study it is just to experiment.

Color correction block

This block is designed to correct the hue, saturation and brightness (luminosity) of individual colors. Colors are initially divided into several shades: red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, cyan, violet, magenta.

On each options tab Hue(tone), Saturation(saturation), Luminance(brightness) there is a list with sliders to control each color. However, the most convenient way to selectively color correct is to use the dot tool. All you need to do is move it to the desired color in the frame, for example, to the sky, and move it up and down with the mouse button held down. The result of the application is immediately displayed on the photo, and this approach makes the method of working by eye very convenient.

In mode grayscale all colors in the picture can also be varied and use the dot tool.

Split Toning Block

This block will be of interest to people who want to achieve creative processing comparable to effects such as sepia or film color simulation. Here, separate toning with a certain color of light and dark areas of the image is available. We invite you to experiment with the block yourself.

Block Details(detail) includes two very important items - Sharpening and Noise Reduction.

Tool sharpening responsible for sharpening the image. It works on the same principle as the Unsharp Mask tool in Adobe Photoshop. This tab contains a 1:1 scale image fragment and algorithm settings - Amount, Radius, Detail, Masking.

Parameter Amount is responsible for the intensity of the sharpening algorithm.

Parameter Radius is responsible for the thickness of the area on the boundaries of objects in which the algorithm will work. For modern SLR cameras with a resolution above 10 megapixels, the recommended values ​​​​are 0.8-1.

A photographer who shoots a lot often has to process huge arrays of photos. This work takes a lot of time and effort. This article will discuss how to make this work easier, how to speed up the processing of photos in order to give them to the customer on time, and to shift part of our efforts to Photoshop itself.

Beginning photographers are often unaware of Photoshop's ability to automate some of the actions that are repeated for a large number of photos. For example, using batch processing, you can very quickly, within a few minutes without losing quality, compress hundreds of images for publication on the Internet, or quickly process a large folder with equal files. Let's start with rav files.

1. Batch processing of equal files in Photoshop

Photoshop has a built-in "Adobe Camera Raw" module that allows you to edit equal files and convert them to familiar formats, to Jpeg, TIFF or PSD. In order to simultaneously process the required number of sources in the rav format, open them in Photoshop with the usual command in the "file-open" menu.

In the window that opens, select necessary files, let's say 30 or 50 pieces, maybe more, but this will be enough for a sample.

If these shots were taken in the same conditions, in the same lighting, and with the same white balance, then we have the option of editing one of them to our liking and applying the same settings to all the other shots in the series.

Edit the first photo in line, if necessary, using the editing panel, such as correct exposure, white balance, remove noise, remove chromatic aberration, etc. Then apply these corrections to all images opened in the module.

Then apply these corrections to all images opened in the module. To do this, click the "Select All" button in the file browser and then click the "Synchronize" button.

In order not to bother, select "Synchronize All". After that, view all the frames, activating them one by one in the file browser. And if necessary, make a correction for a particular frame individually. When the corrections made suit us, it will be possible to convert our equal files to the format we need, for example, to Jpeg, or to TIFF, if you plan to continue their further fine correction in Photoshop.

To do this, click "Save image" and in the new window that opens, specify the save settings, quality and format, as well as the folder in which we will save our pictures. Have you indicated? Click "Save" Everyone! The process has begun, Photoshop saves frame by frame, and we enjoy and go to drink coffee. Or is tea better? The processing speed will depend on your computer hardware.

2. Batch processing in Photoshop of jeeps

Well, if we need to quickly process a huge number of images in Jpeg format, then we can do this using one or another action and apply it to the entire mass of images. For example, I often use an action when preparing a snapshot for publication on the Internet, or before sending it to a customer via email. e-mail. It saves a lot of time

Or, for example, you need to correct the wrong exposure, say, excessively dark pictures, then you can create a special “lighten” action for them and apply it to all the pictures in the folder. Or add sharpness. There can be a lot of options here.

3. Actions for Photoshop

Where can I get the actions you need in this case? There are two options here. The first is to create the desired action, i.e. this or that action in Photoshop itself. The procedure is very simple and well described on the Internet. A simple action of several actions is done within a minute. For myself, I create this or that action situationally for each specific task. For example, to compress images without losing quality, I use the “1000”px action I created, which reduces the size of the image to 1000 pixels on the long side and adds a little sharpness after that. You can read more in

If you have never used actions before and don't know how to call them, then open any picture in Photoshop and go to the "Window - Actions" menu or press Alt + F9. You will see the “Actions” panel, in it you will see a list of actions that are available by default, select any one, for example, any “50 px frame” and launch it by clicking the green triangle at the bottom of the panel. This is for practice, to know what is at stake.

The second way is to download the desired action for free on the Internet. Now there are a huge number of them. And from purely technical to creative, for example " portrait retouching” or some other spectacular technique. It is enough to download and install it by copying it to your Photoshop folder and you can use it as much as you like. Approximate copy path might be C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop\Presets\Actions

4. Automation in Photoshop

Well, now the most important thing. Let's put batch processing into practice. For example, I'm using my 1000px action. Well, for the experiment, you can specify which one you want. So let's open Photoshop. In the "file" menu, we are looking for the item "Automation - Batch Processing".

You will see such a window in which we indicate the “source” - the source folder, with the images that need to be processed. Specify the action that we will apply, and specify the output folder in which the program will add the processed images. This folder, of course, must be created in advance.

Leave the rest of the settings as in the screenshot. All indicated? Click "OK". Everything, the process has begun, we look at the monitor with square eyes, pointing a finger at it, watching in amazement how files open by themselves, change before our eyes and close, giving way to new ones. I don’t suggest you go to drink tea, you won’t have time, because everything happens very quickly, although of course everything will depend on the number of pictures in this folder, and the power of your computer.

Try it. This will really save your time and effort. Success

As you know, many photographers and sympathizers are gradually starting to switch from JPEG to RAW format (Canon - .crw / .cr2, Nikon - .nef, Pentax - .pef, etc.) The advantages of this move are obvious - you can make changes to the file and then return all to their original positions if necessary; pull up the details from the shadows, “press down” the highlighted areas and so on and so forth. Well, what am I writing, only the lazy did not read about it.

But there is also such an open RAW format as DNG (digital negative). It is officially supported by Adobe; it is free and some manufacturers of photographic equipment (from widespread, in different areas, however, - Samsung, Hasselblad, etc.) have switched to it. Adobe provides a converter for free that allows you to convert RAW "s of cameras from any manufacturer to DNG. There is also a conversion function in Adobe Lightroom.

Question: How justified is it to convert RAW files to DNG? What does it give in practice?

Answer: I switched to DNG a long time ago and I'm not going back. Which is what I advise you. I explain.

Save space: When converting RAW "s from Canon cameras, files are compressed by 20-30%, from Nikon - up to 50-55%, etc. At the same time, all file properties are preserved and they remain editable. Such space savings are justified when you need to store large (by server standards) volumes of raves Yes, it’s not a problem for a home PC to buy five more disks, but when many tens of thousands of files lie and are processed on the server, and all this economy is stored on hard disks connected via a fiber channel, it already begins to affect cost factor.

Preservation of file properties: Settings and previews (and, if desired, the original file) are written to DNG and can be extracted from there if desired.

Versatility: If the latest Photoshop with the latest RAW converter is not installed on the computer, RAW "s parts modern cameras are simply not supported (by the way, this may come as a surprise, but it is closed-proprietary file formats that die out and cease to be supported, and not open ones). For example, from the camera that I mainly shoot now (Canon EOS-1D Mark III), or from the more budgetary Canon EOS 40D, files in Photoshop CS / CS2 cannot be opened even with the latest Adobe Camera RAW. Like it or not, buy and install CS3, and DNG opens with a bang. Such pies. By the way, DNG is also supported by many free file viewers.

Uniformity: The uniformity of the file array also makes sense - for me, for example, RAW "s of completely different Canons, Fuji, Nikon"s and other rascals pass in a constant stream. And all in their own formats. And everyone tries their own settings for each file write everywhere I hope the idea is clear.

Further explanations can be found at openraw.org and adobe.com/dng.

At the end of the studio photography master class, you have a set of photos of the model (who worked under the TFCD contract) in RAW format.

You will not lose if the model receives a disk with all the frames of the shooting before they are processed, regardless of the artistic value of the pictures. For you, such shots should not be considered the actual result of shooting - they are only raw materials from which the final product is yet to be obtained. Therefore, we will not torment the model for months in anticipation of a well-deserved reward and wait for inspiration to process photos “for production”, but we will make every effort to prepare “jpegs” suitable for everyday use from “raves”. I personally don’t put copyright on such photos (and I don’t recommend it to you) - the model already does not have the right to publish these photos except for personal use (you issued a model release, and the model signed it, right?), but to demonstrate your an autograph to hundreds of friends of the model in the photo, in whose quality you are completely unsure, in my opinion it is not reasonable.

So, we need to get a certain number of photos in jpg (jpeg) format to transfer them to the model. But this is a good reason to look at the result of shooting in the first approximation!

I shoot on Canon cameras and for RAW processing (in this case, these are files with the CR2 extension) I use the one offered by manufacturers for free Digital Photo Professional. Even 7 years ago, when I was preparing pictures for printing in a glossy magazine, this program was already ahead of the built-in converter plugins in graphic editors in terms of its capabilities. Now DPP is a powerful tool that does an excellent job with the task of initial image preparation.

Models working under the TFCD contract (from the English "Time For CD" - Time for a CD (with photographs)), as a rule, work out of love for art. And art involves black and white pictures. Therefore, even if the idea of ​​your shooting did not imply a black-and-white version of the photos, it would be better to prepare jpegs for the model both in color and in black and white.

Batch processing of color photos

Figure 1. Out of habit in all graphic editors, I use English language as a workspace language - most of the concepts are more correctly determined in it and there is less confusion. If you do the settings in exactly the order that I describe them below, you should be fine.

1. We choose "by eye" a frame with the most common characteristics of color, contrast, brightness for the entire shooting. Open it RAW to edit the settings (DoubleClick on the thumbnail in DPP), and customize. (Picture 1.)
2. It is very important to decide which white balance will best suit the shooting conditions. If the shooting took place in a studio using monoblocks of pulsed light, then most likely for white balance it will be possible to leave automatic settings. If they do not satisfy you, then I recommend trying to set the numerical value of the temperature of the light. For the most common monoblocs, this temperature is 5600 °K - from this value you start tuning, gradually shifting to values ​​that give shades that best match your expectations. If this does not help, then you can take a neutral color from the frame with a pipette (only not very light and not very dark).
   This survey was carried out on a gray background, so it is logical to use areas of this background to select a gray point. That is why I used Click white balance.
3. Here we adjust the exposure in the range of values ​​​​from -2 to +2 (very similar to the hardware settings +/-2EV, isn't it?). By clicking to the right or left of the slider, we move it by 1 step. A total of 12 steps in each direction, in this case I left the exposure unchanged.
4. Most of the time I use the style standard. I will not explain why here, the choice of profile is a topic for a separate discussion.
   • Contrast (Contrast). By default, my camera has a contrast of -1, but in this shot I turned it up to zero to brighten up the shot.
   • Highligt (Light colors). This setting allows you to muffle or enhance highlights. I use it very rarely, and in this case I did not use it.
   • Shadow (Shadows). This setting raises or deepens shadows. As you can see, I've raised the shadows by 1 step to improve the detail in the hair that was lost as a result of the contrast increase.
   • Color tone. Allows you to make color correction of the image - moving the slider to the right makes the image more "green", to the left - more "magenta". I prefer not to use this as I usually don't need both green and purple skin.
   • Color saturation. Speaks for itself. You can either increase the saturation or decrease it. I didn't touch anything in this case.
   • Sharpness (Sharpness). The name also speaks for itself. I like sharpness (perhaps more than necessary), so I usually set quite high values ​​​​(here - 8). However, if the optics used when shooting, in itself gives a “ringing sharpness”, it is better to set the value lower - around 4. If your glass is “soapy”, you can put all 10.
5. Let's go back to the brightness settings. You may need to increase or decrease the brightness after correcting the Picture Style.
6. To transfer the settings just made from one frame to all the others, you need to copy the recipe (RightClick on the thumbnail of the adjusted file, Copy recipe to clipboard); select all shooting frames (Ctrl + A); and apply the copied recipe to all selected files (RightClick on the thumbnail of any of the selected files, Paste recipe to selected image - you will have to confirm in the pop-up window that you really want to apply the settings to all selected images). Without deselecting all files (or use the Ctrl + A combination again if the selection was accidentally canceled), save all files at once (Ctrl + S).
7. Open each shooting file in DPP one by one. Firstly, this is to check the exposure - it is unlikely that the brightness settings will be suitable for all frames. Secondly, and this is much more important, by viewing the frames you will be able to mark for yourself those that deserve attention for further processing. By the way, Digital Photo Professional allows you to mark your favorite frames with digital labels, and this will allow you to quickly find them later.
8. Batch processing (Batch process). Select all files again (Ctrl + A) and call the batch processing dialog (Ctrl + B). In the batch processing dialog box (Figure 2.) pay attention to the following fields:
   • Save folder. The path to the folder, in which finished files will be saved during batch processing.
   • file format. File format. In our case, it should be Exif-JPEG with quality 8)
   • filename. File name. The program allows you to set an arbitrary name for the entire series, but I strongly recommend keeping the current file name - this will save you a lot of time when the need arises (and it will certainly arise) to find the original raw file corresponding to any jpeg. If you want to somehow specially mark the name of the series in the file names, then use the String field - the expression entered there will be added to each file as a suffix.
   • The Execute button starts the batch processing process, and after a few minutes you will receive all the shooting frames in the specified folder as files in a format suitable for transferring the model.jpg

Figure 2.

Batch processing of black and white photos

1. We return to the same frame that was used to adjust the color image.
   Figure 3
2. White balance adjustment. We do not change anything regarding what was in the color photo.
3. Brightness adjustment. We don't change anything either.
4. Picture Style (Image Style). Replacing the Style standard on style monochrome- please note that the style settings were partially “reset”, and partially replaced by completely different ones that were not in the Standard style.
   • Contrast (Contrast). A black and white image has 65 thousand times less ability to convey the difference between two adjacent points than a color one. Therefore, to give the photo more depth, we increase the contrast - I increased it by 2 steps.
   • Highligt (Light colors). Without changes.
   • Shadow (Shadows). Despite the hair that has gone into darkness due to the increase in contrast, I do not change anything here either. Hair is not a significant subject of the image, so for batch processing, their detail can be neglected.
   • Instead of Color tone, the slider of which we saw when working with a color image, appeared Filter effect (Filter effect). When black and white photography dominated photography, color filters were used to give more depth to the pictures, blocking the light of the corresponding part of the spectrum. At the same time, the detailing did not suffer, but rather even improved. If a red filter was used, red objects in the photo became significantly lighter, if green - green. That is why the use of the yellow filter in the settings ( yellow) brightened the skin, evened out its tone and gave the midtones even greater contrast and depth - the skin has a yellowish tint after all.
   • Toning effect (Toning). Another exclusive setting for monochrome. Allows you to tint a black and white monochrome image to sepia, cyan, or magenta. In our case, this is redundant.
   • Sharpness (Sharpness). We leave it as it was.
5. Save the configured RAW file (Ctrl + S) and close it.
6. We copy the recipe and transfer it to all other files (read how to do this in the instructions for preparing color photos for preview).
7. We open each shooting file in DPP one by one to adjust the exposure. As in the case of color photographs, mark those frames that seem promising for further processing.
8. Use batch processing to save the resulting result (read how to do this in the instructions for preparing color photos for preview).

Figure 3. The basic tools for setting up a black and white version are exactly the same as for a color photo, but there are also their own - special tools

Almost all photographic equipment this moment can take pictures in RAW format (a format with minimal processing of the photo by the camera itself. Such a system allows the photographer to use more features and effects in the subsequent image processing). Perhaps RAW is not as popular as JPEG, but it is better to use it when shooting.

Still, no matter how good JPEG is, it is still a format that uses compression, and any compression, as you know, affects the quality of the final image. It is for this reason that most professional photographers prefer RAW, which allows you to "pull" as much information from the picture as possible. In addition, this format, no matter how strange it may sound now, is very convenient: you do not have to think about adjusting the white balance, you can slightly underexpose the frame, and so on.

So, here you have taken a lot of pictures in RAW format, connected the equipment to the computer, transferred the files ... And what to do next? For all subsequent work with images, you will need a special program - a converter. Similar provision produced by both manufacturers of photographic equipment and third-party companies. The choice (quite wide, the Internet is literally teeming with all sorts of options) should not be approached at random. Different programs, different algorithms - different effect. Especially for your convenience, we have compiled a small guide to the world the best programs for photo processing.

No one needs to represent Adobe. Everyone knows its products: they produce some of the best programs for working with music, video, photos. In this case, this is a specially created software aimed at editing pictures taken in RAW format. In addition, the program can easily work with both JPEG and TIFF. This is what is called providing a "full cycle". In other words, after working with this program, you can already print the finished image.


The software engine provides you with the ability to correct noise, color correction, increase / decrease brightness or contrast. At any time, you can undo the last action and return to the original image, this is the responsibility of a special service file designed for non-destructive editing. You can work absolutely without fear of losing the original picture. The modified version can simply be saved separate file. In addition, the program is attractive with a powerful cataloging system, an impressive set of tools and the ability to integrate with graphic editor Adobe Photoshop.

And since we already mentioned this program, let's take a closer look at it. It is known to many as one of the best photo editing software. It is the recognized market leader in commercial bitmap image editing tools. The program has an impressive set of photo correction tools and supports the following color schemes: RGB, CMYK, LAB, Grayscale, Bitmap, Duotone, Indexed, Multichanne. This is a real photo lab with unlimited possibilities.

Multifunctional RAW editor with support for a wide range of model cameras. It provides all the features for both single and batch file processing, white balance adjustment, sharpening, contrast, color temperature, digital noise removal and much more. This toolkit makes Phase One Captur One one of the best photo editing software. Here you can even find a selection of scene programs specific to cameras.


A special ICC profile has been developed specifically for each camera model, providing best quality for editing. Here there is an opportunity to correct chromatic aberration, distortion, vignetting and other image defects. In terms of capabilities, the program, if it does not surpass Lightroom, then, perhaps, is on the same level with it, but only on condition that you have certain knowledge and skills, and are also ready to work individually with each photo taken.

This is a very popular editor native to Nikon models, designed to work with RAW. The program provides a step-by-step reproduction of the entire process of processing an image in NEF format, with the ability to cancel changes at any time or save intermediate results. The entire interface of the program is based on special "control points", each of which stores individually selected settings that provide the best color correction. The degree of change of all data is controlled by special sliders, which not only make, but also track all the changes that occur. In addition, there are full-fledged tools for all kinds of defect correction. This is one of the best photo editing software out there.

One of the most important advantages of this RAW converter is full-fledged work with "floating points", which has a beneficial effect on the transfer and reproduction of more natural colors. In addition, numerous editing tools for color, sharpness, brightness, noise reduction and more include profiles taken from real films. Of course, the program is not simple and requires certain skills.


Here is a small list of programs that will help you get the most out of your photos, show the beauty of the world around you and capture the most unforgettable moments. Which one to choose - decide for yourself, they are all worthy of attention even by professional photographers. Many of these programs are paid, but most often they are worth the money they ask for, given the result that they allow you to get.