From the course: Photoshop 2024 Essential Training

Editing in Camera Raw and Lightroom versus Photoshop - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Photoshop 2024 Essential Training

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Editing in Camera Raw and Lightroom versus Photoshop

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- [Instructor] I'm often asked when and what type of edit should be made in Camera Raw, or Lightroom or Lightroom Classic, and when and what type of edit should be made in Photoshop? Well, when working with photographs, especially raw files captured on digital cameras or even mobile devices, it's best to make as many corrections and adjustments to those photographs using the technology found in Camera Raw before opening them into Photoshop. As far as what type of edit should be made, the Camera Raw technology excels at adjusting and enhancing color and tone. You can add contrast and image. You can make edits and apply them to the entire photograph or to just a selective area within the photograph. So let's take a look at a few examples. So in this first image, I use the crop tool to straighten the original photograph. I've also added some contrast, and I've done some dodging and burning or lightning and darkening selectively along the icebergs. In this second example, I've added contrast by brightening the highlights and darkening the shadows. I've also adjusted color and contrast to create separation between the foreground and background by making the foreground more blue and the background more yellow. And in this image, I've selectively changed the saturation of the sky, and I've also darkened it a bit. I've made some local corrections, so I've decreased the blue in the shadow areas, and I've also increased the cyan in the iceberg in the water. Now, fortunately, the Camera Raw technology is not only found in Camera Raw, it's also found in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. In fact, it's even in Lightroom Mobile and in Lightroom on the web. Now, the interface might look a bit different depending on the application, but the underlying technology is the same. So for example, when you're opening a raw file in Photoshop from bridge or the operating system, Photoshop first displays the raw processing technology in the Camera Raw plugin. When you're using Lightroom Classic, the raw processing technology is found in the develop module. And if you're using Lightroom, then you'll use the edit stack to process the raw files using that raw technology. So there are three primary reasons that you should make edits to your raw files using this Camera Raw technology. The first is speed. So the changes that you make are done using a parametric image editing model. And this means that the application quickly applies a set of instructions to alter how the image is displayed on screen. And this type of editing can be significantly faster when you compare it to a pixel editing application such as Photoshop, that has to go in and change the value of every single color and tone in the image. So the second reason would be ease of use. So the Camera Raw technology is streamlined for image editing. It provides powerful, but really easy to use tools for adjusting color and tone and contrast, both globally, which is to the entire image, or locally, just to a selective area. And most adjustments can be made by simply selecting a preset or a profile or just by moving some sliders. And all of the edits can be refined and re-edited as often as needed. And the third would be quality. So the Camera Raw technology never changes the original data in the file. This means that regardless of how many times you make edits in, refine them, you'll always be working with the highest quality file possible. It's really only when you move to Photoshop or you export the file that those enhancements that were applied to the originals are applied and a new document is created. But there are a lot of things that the Camera Raw technology cannot do, and that's when the power of Photoshop really shines. So let's take a look at a few examples. The first would be this example of the iceberg. So advanced retouching, yes, the Camera Raw technology can remove distracting elements. But here I've actually combined multiple images to remove the objects and the backgrounds. Also complex compositing like an image like this. So Photoshop is really good at making complex selections and creating intricate masks and compositing multiple images together. Also, filters and special effects. So here I've used a filter to add motion and a special effect to replace the sky. And finally here, design elements. So if you want to add text or shapes, if you want to make your image look more like a painting or you want to draw, or even if you want to mock up a screen design, this is when Photoshop is definitely going to be the tool of choice. So we're going to take some time to walk through the Camera Raw technology and workflow later in the course. But first, let's just jump in and get acquainted with Photoshop.

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