James Stephens

This post documents the workflow I use when processing RAW images from a Canon EOS 5D digital camera. It is a work in progress. A number of people have made useful suggestions via online digital camera forums. I welcome comments inline on this site too.

A number of the steps in this workflow depend on the image being considered, the camera, or personal preference. A portrait at 85mm doesn’t require correction for lens distortion but an architectural shot at 17 mm probably does. This post won’t dwell on how to make such decisions and will instead concentrate on listing all the potential steps and getting them in the correct order.

The workflow involves use of the following software applications: Adobe Photoshop CS2, PhotoKit Sharpener, PTLens, ImageAlign Pro and Neat Image.

There are a number of components to the Adobe Photoshop CS2 package: Adobe Bridge (technically part of the Adobe Creative suite but also bundled with Photoshop CS2) acts as the navigational control center. In addition to cataloging and organizing images, all other applications are called (directly or indirectly) from within Bridge. The Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) plugin is where most image manipulation is done. Image Processor is used to convert files from RAW to other formats (Jpeg, Tiff, or Psd). The Photoshop application itself is also used where required.

The workflow is divided it into three parts; the first is image acquisition and the last two concern editing, because I find myself that images fall into two categories; those that can be dealt with entirely in Adobe Bridge, and those that require processing in Photoshop.

Image acquisition

1. Download RAW files to the computer via a card reader and Canon Zoombrowser EX software. Zoombrowser puts the RAW files in folders organized by date.
2. Navigate to RAW files in Adobe Bridge. Verify (at a minimum) that high quality thumbnails are generated from each image before deleting images from memory card. Backing up images before deletion is even better.
3. Choose the images you want to keep (Ctrl+1 appends one star to an image, Ctrl+2 appends two stars etc.).
4. Add Keywords. Add Copyright to metadata fields.

For every image

1. Open RAW file (or files) in Adobe Bridge.
2. Adjust Exposure, White Balance, Shadow, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation during input. Perform minor adjustments in Curves if necessary. Synchronize desired (e.g. white balance or other) settings between images if desired.
3. Crop the image if desired and also straighten if necessary.
4. Click Done to save settings.
5. Use Image Processor to convert RAW file to Tiff, Jpeg, Psd as desired.

Useful related posts:
Useful controls in ACR v3.3.
Working an image in ACR.
Using Image Processor.

Some images may require additional work in Photoshop

1. Choose Open within the Camera RAW view to open in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Apply sharpening using Photokit Capture Sharpener. After application, apply Layer –> Flatten Image.
3. Apply noise filtering using the Neatimage plugin via Filter -> Neat Image if desired, certainly above ISO 800. In practice I don’t find myself doing this very often simply because the Canon EOS 5D has such low noise (even at ISO 800 it is very low).
4. Correct for pincushion/barrel distortion using the PTLens plugin.
5. Perform Image Alignment step via Filter –> Grasshopper if desired.
6. Crop to obtain straight edges after application of PTlens and/or Image Align Pro.
7. Perform additional operations. e.g. converting to black/white, selective creative sharpening, anything involving layer masks such as selective local contrast enhancement, color adjustment etc. etc.
8. Save as .psd. (The Psd vs Tiff debate).

Recommended Reading

This book completely changed my digital RAW workflow. Before reading it I used Adobe RAW simply as a file conversion tool to import RAW images into Adobe Photoshop CS2 where the real work could be done. Since reading it I make so much use of Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) that I often don’t have to use Photoshop at all.