Raw conversion vs other transformation dialogs
Posted: April 19th, 2015, 9:18 am
In a different recent thread, Kiril wrote:
Finally there is no loss of information if you decide not to make brightness adjustments in the raw dialog but instead make them using the brightness curve or one of the other brightness dialogs in a separate step.
This comment leads directly to a question that crossed my mind when reading the responses to a question posted in the "Retouching" section of a totally different photography forum. Namely, "What is a Raw converter?"
As I understand it, a raw converter takes the data in a raw file (data that does not constitute a viewable image) and transforms it into an image. And you can set different parameters that control how the data is rendered (i.e. the appearance of the resulting image). The benefit is that within the raw converter, all the data remains available to achieve a different rendering, or "look". But it is my understanding that once you have settled on a result and saved that image as, say a tif, all the raw data that is not employed in that particular rendering but which, within the raw converter, would permit a different rendering is left behind. Just like the raw data that is not used in the development of an in-camera Jpeg is left behind and not carried forward into the Jpeg.
Now I also know that there are software processes such as sharpening, noise reduction, etc. that can be applied to Jpegs or tifs. These "image files" clearly do not have the entire plethora of raw data still on stand-by to assist in these adjustments.
If the foregoing is essentially correct, my question is whether some of the adjustments within the raw converter (sharpening or noise reduction, for example) act differently (and more effectively because ALL raw data is still available) than do their counterparts in separate PW transformation dialogs. Kiril's comment above seems to suggest that a brightness curve adjustment (for example) is just as effective in the separate dialog as it is within the raw converter.
If there are some adjustments that are clearly more effective if undertaken within the raw converter and others that can be equally effective when applied to a tif in a separate dialog, it would be helpful to know which are which. In other words, are there some adjustment functions within a raw converter that are not strictly peculiar to the raw conversion process, but are simply duplicates of separate dialog processes that are tacked onto the raw converter for convenience?
Finally there is no loss of information if you decide not to make brightness adjustments in the raw dialog but instead make them using the brightness curve or one of the other brightness dialogs in a separate step.
This comment leads directly to a question that crossed my mind when reading the responses to a question posted in the "Retouching" section of a totally different photography forum. Namely, "What is a Raw converter?"
As I understand it, a raw converter takes the data in a raw file (data that does not constitute a viewable image) and transforms it into an image. And you can set different parameters that control how the data is rendered (i.e. the appearance of the resulting image). The benefit is that within the raw converter, all the data remains available to achieve a different rendering, or "look". But it is my understanding that once you have settled on a result and saved that image as, say a tif, all the raw data that is not employed in that particular rendering but which, within the raw converter, would permit a different rendering is left behind. Just like the raw data that is not used in the development of an in-camera Jpeg is left behind and not carried forward into the Jpeg.
Now I also know that there are software processes such as sharpening, noise reduction, etc. that can be applied to Jpegs or tifs. These "image files" clearly do not have the entire plethora of raw data still on stand-by to assist in these adjustments.
If the foregoing is essentially correct, my question is whether some of the adjustments within the raw converter (sharpening or noise reduction, for example) act differently (and more effectively because ALL raw data is still available) than do their counterparts in separate PW transformation dialogs. Kiril's comment above seems to suggest that a brightness curve adjustment (for example) is just as effective in the separate dialog as it is within the raw converter.
If there are some adjustments that are clearly more effective if undertaken within the raw converter and others that can be equally effective when applied to a tif in a separate dialog, it would be helpful to know which are which. In other words, are there some adjustment functions within a raw converter that are not strictly peculiar to the raw conversion process, but are simply duplicates of separate dialog processes that are tacked onto the raw converter for convenience?