CS6 Camera Raw - Interface Essentials

CS6 Camera Raw – Interface Essentials

In this tutorial for Photoshop CS6 users, we'll accept a bout of the Camera Raw interface and learn where all of the diverse tools, panels and other features are located, and then you tin can brainstorm processing your raw, JPEG or even TIFF images in Adobe Camera Raw with all of the simplicity, freedom and flexibility it offers. One time we're familiar with Camera Raw'due south interface, we tin then brainstorm looking in much more detail at how to process, correct and retouch our images as we'll do in the side by side tutorials.

Updating Photoshop CS6 To Photographic camera Raw 8

1 important annotation before we begin. Photoshop CS6 originally shipped with Camera Raw 7, simply Adobe has released a costless update for CS6 users to the new Photographic camera Raw eight (or more than specifically, 8.1 at the time I'1000 writing this). If y'all're using Photoshop CS6 and haven't yet updated to Camera Raw eight, you can do so past going up to the Help carte (in Photoshop) in the Carte du jour Bar along the top of the screen and choosing Updates from the list. This will open the Adobe Application Manager where you can view, select and download all the updates currently bachelor, including updates for Photographic camera Raw:

Choosing the Updates command from the Help menu in Photoshop CS6. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

To view all of the updates available in Photoshop, get to Aid > Updates.

However (and this is a big "however"), there's a catch. The version of Photographic camera Raw viii that Adobe has fabricated bachelor to Photoshop CS6 users is mainly to gear up various bugs from Photographic camera Raw seven and make Camera Raw compatible with both high resolution displays and the latest digital cameras and lenses. While that's groovy, the CS6 version of Camera Raw 8 is missing the new features bachelor exclusively to Photoshop CC (Artistic Deject) subscribers, similar the new Radial Filter, the improved Spot Healing castor, and the new Upright options for like shooting fish in a barrel perspective correction. Also, Photoshop CS6 itself is missing the new Camera Raw filter that's been added to Photoshop CC. So, that'southward only something to go on in mind. If you lot want the brand new features in Photographic camera Raw 8, y'all'll need to upgrade to Photoshop CC past subscribing to the Adobe Artistic Deject. I'll be roofing these new features in dissever tutorials simply for this tutorial, we're going to look specifically at the version of Photographic camera Raw 8 that's bachelor with Photoshop CS6.

Opening Camera Raw

To open up Camera Raw, nosotros beginning demand to select an epitome, either a raw file, JPEG or TIFF, and the best way to exercise that is with Adobe Bridge. I already have Photoshop CS6 open up on my screen, so to access Adobe Bridge, I'll go up to the File menu in Photoshop's Menu Bar and cull Browse in Bridge:

Choosing the Browse in Bridge command in Photoshop CS6. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Going to File > Browse in Bridge.

This will open up Adobe Bridge if it isn't open already. Click on the Folders tab in the upper left corner to open the Folders panel and navigate to wherever the folder is on your figurer that holds the image you lot want to open up. Here, I've navigated to a folder on my desktop containing a few photos captured as raw files. Click in one case (don't double-click, just single-click) on the image to select the one you want to open up in Camera Raw:

Selecting a photo to open in Camera Raw using Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking on the photo I want to open to select information technology.

With the photo selected, click the Open in Photographic camera Raw icon at the height of the screen:

Clicking the Open in Camera Raw icon in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the Open in Photographic camera Raw icon.

This opens the image in Camera Raw and presents usa with the Camera Raw dialog box, with the photo visible in the main preview area in the center:

The Camera Raw 8.1 dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Camera Raw dialog box.

Toggle Fullscreen Mode On And Off

The first thing you'll most likely desire to do when the Camera Raw dialog box appears is click the Fullscreen icon at the pinnacle (just to the left of the histogram in the top right corner). This will expand the Photographic camera Raw dialog box to fullscreen, giving you a much larger preview area and more than room to piece of work. If y'all want to switch back to the more than compact fashion, merely click the Fullscreen icon once again. You can also toggle Fullscreen way on and off by pressing the letter F on your keyboard:

The Camera Raw 8.1 dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the Fullscreen icon.

The Toolbar

Along the summit of the dialog box is the Toolbar where nosotros find Camera Raw'due south various editing tools, many of which are the same as, or at least like to, tools and commands we'd find in Photoshop itself, like the Zoom and Manus Tools for navigating around the paradigm, the Crop Tool, the Spot Removal Tool, and options at the far right of the Toolbar for rotating the prototype clockwise or counterclockwise. The name of a tool will appear if y'all hover your mouse cursor over its icon:

The Toolbar in the Camera Raw dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Toolbar is located along the summit higher up the preview surface area.

The Camera Raw Preferences

While most of the icons in the Toolbar represent actual editing tools, ane of them is different. It opens the Camera Raw Preferences. It's the tertiary icon from the correct:

Clicking the Preferences icon. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the Preferences icon.

Clicking on information technology opens the Camera Raw Preferences dialog box where we can set various options for how Photographic camera Raw works. For the most part, the default Preferences work fine so once you lot've looked them over, go ahead and click OK to close out of the dialog box. We'll cover the Preferences in more than detail in another tutorial:

The Camera Raw Preferences dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Camera Raw Preferences dialog box.

Navigating Around The Epitome In The Preview Area

The first tool on the far left of the Toolbar is the Zoom Tool, and just like Photoshop's Zoom Tool, it tin be used to zoom in and out of the image. Click on its icon to select it, then click on an surface area of the photo yous want to zoom in on, clicking repeatedly to zoom in further. To zoom dorsum out, hold down your Alt (Win) / Pick (Mac) key on your keyboard while clicking. To instantly zoom the epitome in to the 100% zoom level (known as the "Bodily Pixels" view), double-click on the Zoom Tool'south icon in the Toolbar (to instantly zoom dorsum out to fit the entire epitome into the preview surface area, double-click the Hand Tool directly to the right of the Zoom Tool):

Selecting and using the Zoom Tool in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the Zoom Tool to select it, then clicking on the photograph to zoom in.

We can also zoom in and out using the zoom options in the lower left corner of the dialog box (only below the preview area). Click the minor "+" and "-" icons to zoom in or out, or click directly on the box showing the current zoom level to popular open up a list of preset zoom levels to choose from:

The Zoom options, including zoom presets, in the lower left of the Camera Raw dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the current zoom level to open a carte du jour of zoom presets.

We can zoom in and out of the preview area from the keyboard every bit well. Press Ctrl+plus sign (+) (Win) / Command+plus sign (+) (Mac) to zoom in, or Ctrl+minus sign (-) (Win) / Command+minus sign (-) (Mac) to zoom out. Pressing Ctrl+0 (Win) / Control+0 (Mac) will instantly fit the prototype to the preview area, while Ctrl+Alt+0 (Win) / Command+Option+0 (Mac) will jump to the 100% zoom level.

To movement the image effectually inside the preview area when you're zoomed in, select the Hand Tool by clicking on its icon in the Toolbar (2d icon from the left), then click and drag the image. You tin also select the Hand Tool temporarily by pressing and belongings the spacebar on your keyboard, just like you lot tin can in Photoshop:

Selecting and using the Hand Tool in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Selecting the Manus Tool, then clicking on the image and dragging it in the preview area.

The Histogram

In the top right corner of the Photographic camera Raw dialog box is the Histogram, which lets us keep a constant eye on the overall tonal range of the paradigm as we're working. It represents the range of possible effulgence values beginning with pure black on the far left and gradually increasing in effulgence to pure white on the far correct. The higher the "mount", every bit many people telephone call it, appears over a certain brightness level, the more pixels we have in the image at that same level. The near important use for the Histogram is making sure we're not clipping any of our shadows to pure black, or our highlights to pure white, and we'll learn more most how that works in another tutorial:

The Camera Raw histogram. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Histogram shows where the current brightness range falls in the prototype.

The Panels

Directly below the Histogram on the right hand side of the Camera Raw dialog box is where we notice the diverse panels. Just as Photoshop itself uses panels to perform different tasks, Camera Raw as well uses panels. The deviation here, and ane of the nice advantages with Camera Raw, is that Photographic camera Raw doesn't have anywhere well-nigh every bit many panels equally Photoshop does. That's considering Camera Raw has been streamlined specifically for epitome editing, while Photoshop does paradigm editing plus a whole lot more. This means there'southward a lot less to learn with Camera Raw, and Camera Raw'due south panels are conveniently nested together in one spot, making information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to switch from ane panel to another but by clicking on the diverse tabs forth the tiptop:

The panels and panel tabs in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

Switch between panels by clicking on the tabs.

The Basic Panel

The panels are arranged in a logical gild based on a standard image editing workflow (another nice characteristic of Camera Raw), and the Basic panel is the i that opens past default since it's usually the first panel nosotros'll want to use. In fact, with this i panel solitary, y'all can accomplish most of your editing work. At the top are controls for setting the white rest and colour temperature, followed past a group of sliders for adjusting the overall exposure and contrast, highlights and shadows, and setting the principal white and black points. At the lesser of the Basic panel, nosotros tin increment or subtract contrast in the midtones with the Clarity slider (which can dramatically sharpen or soften an image), and finally, we tin can control color saturation with the Vibrance and Saturation sliders. If there's 1 console in Camera Raw you'll use more whatever others, information technology's this one:

The default Basics panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Basic console is essentially the primary console in Camera Raw.

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The Tone Curve Panel

If we click on the second tab from the left, nosotros open up the Tone Curve panel. In one case we've made the epitome look as good equally possible with the sliders in the initial Bones console, we can apply the Tone Curve panel to make more fine-tuned adjustments to the effulgence and contrast using curves. Information technology's like to the Curves adjustment in Photoshop, but Camera Raw's Tone Curve panel offers easier, more than intuitive controls (like its simple Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows sliders) that can be less intimidating for beginners. As with all the panels in Camera Raw, I'll be covering the Tone Curve console in more detail in some other tutorial:

The Tone Curve panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Tone Curve panel.

The Detail Panel

The third panel from the left is the Particular console. The top half is where we do all of our image sharpening, while the bottom one-half lets us reduce whatever luminance or color noise. These first three panels (Basic, Tone Curve and Detail) are the ones you'll employ with nearly all your images:

The Detail panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Item panel.

The HSL / Grayscale Panel

Side by side upwards as nosotros move through the panels from left to right is the HSL / Grayscale console. From here, we tin can make adjustments to the hue, saturation and/or luminance (brightness) of individual colors in the paradigm using the eight color sliders (click on the Hue, Saturation or Luminance tabs above the sliders to alter what information technology is the sliders are affecting). Also, if we select the Catechumen to Grayscale option at the top, we tin can use the same color sliders to create highly customized black and white versions of our color images, only like nosotros can using Photoshop's Black & White aligning. Dragging a colour slider to the left will darken any areas that originally contained that color, while dragging the slider to the correct will lighten those same areas. To switch back to the full color version of your image, simply uncheck the Convert to Grayscale pick. Nothing nosotros practice while in Camera Raw is permanent, then we can brand as many changes as we desire to our image with no loss of paradigm quality:

The HSL / Grayscale panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The HSL / Grayscale console.

The Split Toning Panel

Next, we have the Split Toning panel, an easy way to add together a custom split toning effect to any prototype, whether it'due south a color photo or black and white. In that location'southward separate Hue and Saturation controls for the highlights and shadows, too as a Balance slider to adjust the brightness level where the transition between the two colors occurs:

The Split Toning panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Separate Toning panel.

The Lens Correction Console

Camera Raw'southward Lens Correction panel is where we tin can fix lens baloney problems in the prototype (in other words, distortion caused by the camera lens itself) also as perspective distortion created by the angle at which we snapped the photo (looking up at a alpine building, for example, causes information technology to appear to be leaning backwards). The Profile tab lets Camera Raw automatically choose a lens correction profile specifically for the brand and model of your lens (information information technology gathers from the Exif data embedded in your image). The Colour tab is used to correct chromatic aberration and other color baloney problems, while the Manual tab is for correcting perspective distortion, every bit well as lens vignetting. Again, we'll cover more virtually this panel (and all the others) later:

The Lens Correction panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Lens Correction panel.

The Effects Panel

To the right of the Lens Correction console is the Furnishings panel. Now, if you're thinking "Yep! This is where nosotros create crawly photo effects!", well, sadly, no. While at that place's no limit to the amazing photo effects you can create with Photoshop itself, Camera Raw is a much more refined epitome editing surroundings, and there'southward actually only two types of furnishings we can add with the Furnishings panel - picture grain and vignetting. For me, I apply vignetting ofttimes to darken the edges effectually my photos, and Photographic camera Raw's Post Crop Vignetting options make adding a vignette quick and easy:

The Effects panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Effects panel.

The Camera Calibration Console

Near people will never have a utilise for the main purpose of the Camera Calibration panel, which is to requite the states a style to compensate for problems in the fashion our camera captures color. We have separate Hue and Saturation sliders for each of the 3 master colors of lite (reddish, green and blueish) too as a Tint slider for adjusting shadows. However, if you've been noticing a colour cast problem with your camera, y'all'd be much meliorate off running some tests and repairing or replacing the camera if needed, rather than trying to recoup for the issue here.

There's also a Process option at the top of the panel which allows us to switch from Camera Raw's most recent image processing engine (2012 in this case) to the older 2010 or 2003 engines. Other than for the sake of comparison, you probably won't observe much use for this option, either.

However, one selection that tin actually be useful is Camera Profile. Many digital cameras offering various Picture Styles to choose from that may give better results depending on your subject field (with common styles being Portrait, Landscape, Faithful, Neutral, and Standard). If you lot're capturing your images as raw files, though, these in-camera Motion-picture show Styles make no difference because they only apply to images captured equally JPEGs, simply we can select these aforementioned styles from the Camera Profile option to simulate the effect with our raw images:

The Camera Calibration panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Camera Calibration panel.

The Presets And Snapshots Panels

The final two panels in Camera Raw are the Presets and Snapshots panels. The Presets panel allows us to salvage the settings we've used with one prototype every bit a preset that we tin can instantly apply to other images simply by choosing the preset from the list. Information technology's a chip like creating deportment in Photoshop only much, much simpler. The Snapshots panel is similar to the snapshot feature in Photoshop's History panel. At any fourth dimension while we're working on an image in Camera Raw, nosotros can save a snapshot of our work, which volition salve all of our settings up to that betoken. We can then instantly revert back to that point at any time if we need to merely past choosing the snapshot. Both of these panels are empty past default (until we actually save a preset or snapshot) then I won't bother with screenshots, but you can easily switch to them yourself to bank check them out by clicking on their tabs (Presets is the second console from the correct, Snapshots is the very concluding panel on the right).

Switching Panels From The Keyboard

Every panel in Camera Raw, with the exception of the Snapshots panel on the far correct, can exist hands selected from the keyboard. Merely hold down your Ctrl+Alt (Win) / Command+Pick (Mac) keys and press a number fundamental. Press 1 for the Basic panel, 2 for Tone Curve, 3 for Detail, four for HSL / Grayscale, v for Split Toning, six for Lens Correction, 7 for FX, and eight for the Presets console.

The Preview Option

As you're working on an image, it often helps to come across a "before and after" comparison, and Camera Raw'due south Preview choice, found merely to the left of the Fullscreen icon at the superlative, allows us to toggle the preview on and off then we can switch betwixt what the image looked similar originally and how it looks after our changes. You tin can check and uncheck the pick past clicking inside its checkbox, but a faster and easier way to toggle the preview on and off is by simply pressing the letter of the alphabet P on your keyboard:

The Preview option in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Preview option.

Note, though, that the Preview pick is panel-specific, meaning it but affects the currently active panel. For example, if y'all make changes in the Basic panel, then switch to the Tone Curve panel and toggle the preview off, nix will happen because all of your changes were made in the Basic panel, non the Tone Curve panel. Yous would need to switch back to the Bones panel to see the "before and afterwards" comparison of those changes. To toggle the preview on and off for all the panels at once, showtime switch to either the Presets or Snapshots panels, then press the letter P on your keyboard.

The Workflow Options

In the lesser eye of the dialog box is what looks similar a link you lot'd see on a website. This link actually takes you to the Photographic camera Raw Workflow Options. The link itself displays your current workflow settings, including the color space, the bit depth, the pixel dimensions of the image, and the current print resolution:

The Workflow Options link at the bottom of the Camera Raw dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Workflow Options link.

Clicking the link opens the Workflow Options dialog box where we can make changes to the color infinite and bit depth, resize the image if needed, set some basic sharpening options, and choose whether or not the image should open as a Smart Object if / when nosotros open up it in Photoshop. Like everything else nosotros've looked at, these options need their own tutorial to encompass them properly, but for at present, at to the lowest degree we know where to discover them:

The Camera Raw Workflow options dialog box. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Workflow Options dialog box.

Saving The Epitome Directly From Camera Raw

Because Camera Raw is such a complete image editing environment, you'll oftentimes discover that you can exercise everything you need to do to an image directly in Camera Raw itself, without ever having to open up it in Photoshop. That's why Adobe gave Photographic camera Raw the ability to relieve out the final image as a JPEG or other file type. You'll find the Relieve Epitome button in the bottom left corner of the dialog box. Clicking this button volition open the Salvage Options dialog box where nosotros can choose the file format for the saved image, rename the image if needed, choose a location to save it to, and more:

The Save Image button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Salvage Image button.

Opening The Image In Photoshop

Of course, there will as well be times when, after you've washed everything you can in Camera Raw, the image will however need to exist opened in Photoshop for further editing. When you lot're ready to send the image to Photoshop, click the Open up Image push button in the lower right corner of the dialog box:

The Open Image button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Open up Image push.

Endmost Out Of Camera Raw

If you're washed working on your prototype, or just need a pause, and don't need to save out the image to some other file format or open it in Photoshop, you can save your work and close out of Camera Raw by clicking the Done push in the lower right corner. The adjacent time you open the image in Camera Raw, it will open up with all of your settings applied:

The Done button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Done button.

Cancel And Reset

If you want to close out of Camera Raw without saving your work, click the Cancel button:

The Cancel button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Abolish button closes Camera Raw without saving anything y'all've done.

To reset the panels back to the way they were when you opened Camera Raw, clearing abroad whatsoever piece of work you've washed to the prototype since then but leaving the paradigm and Photographic camera Raw open on your screen, press and agree the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key on your keyboard. This will change the Cancel button to Reset. Then, click the Reset button.

The Reset button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Photoshop Essentials.com

The Reset push button resets the panels but leaves Camera Raw open up.

And there we have it! That's our whirlwind tour of the Photographic camera Raw interface, and specifically the new Camera Raw 8 interface, in Photoshop CS6! Check out our Photo Retouching section for more Photoshop epitome editing tutorials!