How to process raw files. A program for working with RAW files from Canon digital cameras - Digital Photo Professional
Before I get down to business and talk about working with the Adobe Camera Raw converter, I would like to make a short introduction and explain exactly what my goal is in creating this article and who it is aimed at.
First of all, I want to note that I have no goal of telling absolutely everything I know about working with this converter (hereinafter referred to as ACR). This would require too much time and effort. Besides, although I know a lot, I obviously don’t know everything. And there are enough sources to get detailed and guaranteed correct information about working with this program, even without me. For example, a very good textbook “Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers” who wrote Martin Evening. My goal is to give the most necessary basics and reveal how to work with the most popular (from my point of view) ACR tools, so that any beginner who has not yet decided to shoot in RAW and work with it, after reading this article, understands that this is the case, in fact, quite simple, and most importantly - extremely convenient and useful.
RAW- (from English - “raw”) data format containing raw information and allowing to avoid its loss. Such files contain complete information about the stored signal. In digital photography, the RAW format refers to data obtained directly from the camera sensor without processing. ().
Almost any modern digital camera can shoot (or rather, record the received information) in JPG and RAW format. The main difference between these two formats is that JPG is the result of processing the received data by the camera itself and, as a result, a compressed image with a lot of lost information, while RAW is all the information that was received on the camera’s matrix during the shooting process. Usually, smart Modern cameras cope with information processing quite well and produce quite acceptable results in JPG form, but still, with rare exceptions, they cannot do it better than us, much smarter people. :) So, I’ll paraphrase Michurin’s famous phrase: “Let’s not wait for mercy from digital technology, our goal is to take it ourselves!”
So let's get started...
Workflow Options- First, you need to decide on Workflow Options (by clicking on the line marked in red under the photo). You must select in which color space ( Space) we will work (if the photo will be printed, then select Adobe RGB 1998, if you need the file exclusively for web applications, then sRGB is quite enough), and also select the depth ( Depth), size ( Size) and resolution ( Resolution) of our future file. I would like to note that converting in a wider space, with great depth, maximum sizes and resolution, of course, is best for the quality of the final result, but we should not forget that all this will ultimately give us a file of quite impressive size (50-70 MB in average), and the space on the hard drive is not rubber. So let's be reasonable and try to match our needs with necessity.
Conversion data management- On the right side of the control panel in the line next to the inscription Basic There is a rather inconspicuous button, and yet very convenient and necessary functions are hidden behind it. With their help, we can save the data of any conversion and then apply it to any other equalizer with one click. By default, all conversion data is saved in a small file format .xmp, which is automatically saved to the folder where the converted equalizer is located. If this does not happen (you could, for example, cancel this function), then the data can be saved by clicking on Save Settings... In the future, if you want to apply the saved data to any other equalizer, just download the corresponding .xmp file via function Load Setting...
ACR also makes it possible to convert and make changes simultaneously to a large number of ravs, but I will talk about this a little later.
White Balance Tool- Before we move on to the next part, I would like to draw your attention to one more point - the tool for changing the white balance. This is an eyedropper that works on the same principle as the gray eyedropper in Curves in Photoshop (more on this topic in "The simple wonders of color correction"). The tool is very useful in case of some controversial issues with white balance or, for example, when converting infrared images.
Though White Balance Tool and convenient, but still the main tool for changing the white balance, as well as many other extremely useful things, is located elsewhere. To do this, let's go again to the right, main part of the toolbars
White Balance- In this pop-up window you can select several standard automatic white balance settings, which are also available on any camera. It should be borne in mind that, despite the “standard”, they can vary quite significantly from camera to camera and from program to program and, most importantly, do not always correspond to the true state of things, that is, these settings are highly averaged and approximate.
You can always try clicking on the option Auto, it is not so rare that it produces quite acceptable results. Well, if none of the proposed options suits you, then you have at your disposal tools for manually setting white balance - Temperature And Tint. Well, again, don’t forget about the White Balance Tool dropper!
Exposure- One of the most important converter tools. With its help, you can make significant exposure correction to the existing frame. For example, my portrait of an owl is quite noticeably underexposed (dark), which is easily corrected by moving the plus lever. If the frame is overexposed (overexposed), this can be corrected by moving the lever to minus. Track changes in the photo preview - overexposed fragments will be filled in red, which is very convenient and visual.
Recovery- My owl has white plumage, and the white color fades very easily into overexposure. So, having adjusted the exposure to plus, I got obvious overexposure in some places on the feathers. To fix this, let's use a truly wonderful tool. Recovery. It allows you to expand the dynamic range of a photograph even in the process of elementary conversion, removing overexposure in the necessary places, (almost) without affecting the rest of the frame.
Fill light- A second tool that helps expand the dynamic range. With its help, if necessary, you can lighten excessively dark areas in the shadows, (almost) without affecting the rest of the photo. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that with the tools Fill light And Recovery You should handle them carefully and not lose a sense of proportion, since overdoing them can easily result in ugly, flat and noisy photographs. When used correctly and in moderation, these tools have no price!
Clarity- Another wonderful tool with which you can increase the tonal contrast of an image (increase micro-contrast and get more detail) or, conversely, reduce it, getting something like a “soft focus” effect. But be careful! Excessive use can have a detrimental effect on the image - noise and artifacts will appear, especially noticeable in out-of-focus areas, or details will easily disappear in the least contrasting areas of the image.
Vibrance- A very nice instrument, in my opinion, which has completely replaced the instrument for me personally Saturation. Its beauty lies in the fact that it increases color saturation only selectively and only in those areas that are already the most prominent and bright, (almost) without affecting the calmer (background) tones.
Now let's move on to the next one page - Tone Curve. Everything related to contrast (and indirectly color) can be refined here by working directly with the histogram graph and individual zones of light, shadows and midtones. The principle of operation is the same as in Curves of Photoshop itself, but also more simplified. If you work with the second bookmark Point, then we get the same graph in which we can work on any arbitrary points, as in Photoshop.
And here it is in the bookmark Paramtric the data is changed by changing the values at four points (lights in two values and shadows also in two values). Not good for people feeling Photoshop Curves, bookmark Parametric should be much more obvious and intuitive.
In earlier versions of the ACR function Point, unfortunately, it was quite buggy and it was almost impossible to use it (maybe it was just me, I don’t know). So, after getting a little angry and spitting, I got used to using the functions Parametric. In the latest version I have, the points finally work, but I’m already so used to working with the parameters that I automatically go to this tab first, make changes... and then turn to the second one and finalize the points on the graph. To be honest, I don’t know how much sense this makes, but I’m already used to working this way. :)
Let's move on to the next one page- . Here we will work on image sharpness and fight noise.
NB! As the text under the tools rightly states, before you start making any changes in this window, increase the preview size to 100% or higher, only this way you can reliably track the changes being made.
Tool Noise Reduction consists of two parts - Luminance And Color. In the first, you work with suppression of brightness noise, and in the second, color noise. If this is necessary, in the column Color The slider can be safely moved almost to the maximum value, there will be no harm from this. WITH Luminance You need to be careful - the higher the value, the more the overall sharpness of the image will drop. However, this can be somewhat corrected.
Sharpening- Using this tool you can significantly increase the sharpness of the image. It operates on approximately the same principle as the most popular tool of this series in Photoshop - Unsharp Mask.
Personally, I can say that I use this tool in the converter very sparingly and most often only in cases where I first had to work with noise reduction.
Now let's go to HSL/Grayscale- the most important part of color correction in the converter.
Here you can quite flexibly and quickly convert the image to black and white; to do this, just check the box next to the inscription Convert to Grayscale. We are now working with color, so we leave this area untouched and move on to the tabs of the HSL tool - an interesting and, in my opinion, quite successful mixture of Photoshop Hue/Saturation, Selective Color And Channel Mixer.
Hue- Working with different color channels, here you can select shades of any of the colors presented. For example, I didn’t want the red in the photo to look pink, and I wanted to make the yellow a little warmer - so I moved the corresponding levers.
Saturation- By the same principle as in the previous part, here you can work with the saturation of various colors without affecting any others.
Luminance- The same tool allows you to change the brightness of colors by channel from darker to lighter, or vice versa.
All these tools are very visual and intuitive. But, as with most other converter tools, the main thing here is not to lose a sense of proportion.
So, our image is almost ready, the final touches remain - correcting the shortcomings of the picks, which can be done in the section.
Chromatic Aberration, or chromatic aberration- unsightly colored contours, spots and stripes that appear as a result of the fact that the lens cannot always correctly bring all three components of light (red, green and blue) to one point on the plane that records the image. As a rule, chromatic aberrations appear in places with the greatest contrasts (for example, along the contour of a dark object against a light background). Chromatic Aberration It is these unpleasant phenomena that can be combated with the help of a tool
. Enlarge the image to 100% or higher and, moving the sliders back and forth, track changes in problem areas of the image until you arrive at the optimal result., or Lens Vignetting lens vignetting
, which means the image darkens around the edges of the frame. This tool allows you to fight these shadows or, on the contrary, create them. It should be noted that the problem of vignetting in working with modern optics is becoming less and less common, so this tool is often used not to reduce, but to increase the vignetting rate. This artistic technique allows you to darken empty or unimportant parts of the frame, draw more attention to the center, emphasize the main object and convey a certain atmosphere of the plot.
Well, that's it with making changes to the Rav's parameters...
This is what I got after I did all the above operations.
Much nicer than what the camera concocted in JPG, isn’t it? :)
So, everything is ready, all that remains is to click on the last button: Open Image
- if you want to open the file directly in Photoshop and modify it in some other way. So, everything is ready, all that remains is to click on the last button: Every time you open this already converted raw material, these parameters will automatically be applied to it. These parameters can also be applied to any other equalizer, as described above in the “Managing conversion data” section. When you press
all conversion parameters are also automatically saved to an .xmp file.
And in conclusion, I want to tell you that all of the above can be applied to both one file and the whole package. To do this, just select the required number of ravs - and all of them will open in ACR simultaneously in a separate window on the left. After clicking (or selecting several selective files from the list) and then clicking Synchronize
A new control window will open, in which you can mark which parameters you would like the conversion to apply synchronously to all selected files. Then through Open image(s) or You can still open the converted ravs in Photoshop or save the conversion parameters for each of them.
Shooting in RAW is one of the best ways to have complete control over your images in post-production.
A RAW file is an image visible through the eyes of the camera sensor. Think of it like raw photographic film. Instead of allowing the camera to convert the image for you into a JPEG image, shooting in RAW allows you to process the image to your liking.
Applying adjustments in RAW is a non-destructive method of photo editing, unlike JPEG editing.
Want the best of both worlds? Some digital cameras allow you to shoot in RAW+JPEG mode, capturing the raw photo at the same time as converting the image to JPEG for easy use.
What is needed for this?
- A digital still camera that can shoot RAW.
- Imaging software such as Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or the software that came with the camera.
If you don't have access to RAW editing software, there are also several web-based tools that can help you, such as WebRaw and Pics.io.
For the purposes of this article, we'll be using Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CC, but the principles should be very similar no matter which version of the program you're using.
Major adjustments.
When you open a RAW image in Photoshop, Adobe Camera Raw launches automatically. The window will look something like this:
From here, you can adjust values such as exposure and temperature. Move the exposure slider to simulate the effect of adjusting it in camera. The results will be automatically reflected in the image.
Note that when you adjust most of these options, the histogram also changes.
Restoration of parts.
One of the most important reasons to shoot in RAW is the ability to restore image detail if something goes wrong. Has the exposure gone so bad that parts of the image are blown out? You'll likely be able to get some of those details back thanks to the RAW file.In the example below, you can see from the histogram that there are blown areas in the sky. If you need help reading your histogram, a little goes a long way.
The recovery slider is key here; moving it to the left will bring back the details that were lost due to glare and flare. Additional image detail can also be restored using the exposure slider.
This same process can be used to bring back shadow detail in underexposed areas.
To restore details in the shadows, use the same technique as for restoring highlights. Just move the slider until you see the part again.
White balance.
Instead of setting the white balance in camera when you shoot RAW, you can set the white balance to any value you want and then adjust it in post-processing. From the Camera Raw interface, select the option from the drop-down menu that best suits your needs.There is another tool available in Camera Raw that provides white balance adjustments - the white balance eyedropper. At the top of the window, simply select the white balance tool and click on the part of the image that you want to be perfectly white. Then, Camera Raw will automatically adjust the color temperature to make that component true white. This happens in the same way as when manually reading the white balance in the camera.
Focusing on the image.
The situations above were mostly examples of image manipulation with fairly obvious errors. Sometimes, there may be nothing wrong with your entire image, but sometimes it looks a little dull. Here's how to add emphasis with a few simple adjustments in RAW.Below is an image taken with the camera's metered exposure. It looks ok, but could use a little effort to make it look a little better.
First, let's brighten up the details a bit by increasing the shutter speed. I also increased the contrast a bit.
The image still looks a little cool, so I'm going to change the white balance option to warm up the image a little. For outdoor situations, the hazy white balance preset adds more warmth to the scene. You can also achieve a similar effect by moving the temperature adjustment slider. I also took this opportunity to increase the white value and restore some of the blown out highlights on the wall by lowering the highlight slider.
Finally, to really emphasize the details, let's move the clarity slider a little to the right. The Clarity tool looks for edges and determines the contrast of midtones. Use it carefully for best results.
Here's a comparison of a before and after image to give you an idea of how you can bring out the details in a RAW image:
Once you've applied some basic adjustments, click Open Image, go into Photoshop, and continue editing as much as you like.
I am glad to welcome you again, dear reader. In touch with you, Timur Mustaev. As you know, the blog pages contain information about various graphic editors. We need them, first of all, to extract the maximum information from a photograph. But those editors are multi-format, most often they are used to correct JPG or PNG images.
Now we’ll talk about which program is the most popular for viewing photos in RAW format, as well as editing.
RAW – why him?
To answer the question briefly, all cameras shoot in this format, but not everyone can remember it. Most often, this depends on the processor: if you put a sufficiently powerful “stone” in the soap dish, it will be easier for it to save 3D images. If your camera is not new and does not have the ability to save the original data in its original form, then instead of a RAW image you will receive a JPEG file as an output.
This image will lag significantly behind RAW in terms of detail, amount of noise. Why? Because most of the “unnecessary” information from the matrix disappears to save processor resources and flash card memory.
People usually ask to convert the format from RAW to JPG for the same purposes. When processing JPEGs, you will most likely lack dynamic coverage in difficult areas of the photo, which can cause the photo to be trashed.
There is no such problem with RAW - this format preserves the maximum possible range of colors that the camera is capable of transmitting. Thanks to this, even the darkest, almost black picture can be saved if it is shot in RAW, which cannot be said about JPEG. Of course, some information can be “saved,” but compared to the first one, this is a drop in the ocean. How to open RAW and process it? Let's figure it out.
You can read more about this format in my article.
Software - to each his own
It’s worth immediately making a remark here that programs can be divided according to several criteria. The first one is basic software and third-party software. The first differs from the second in that it is very often distributed free of charge to camera buyers. The disadvantage of such solutions is their narrow specialization: very rarely, utilities distributed with the camera can contain extensive functionality. A rare exception may be large camera manufacturers that sell large quantities of them.
Such editors can already be called universal, although there will still be some limitations. Another thing is editors from third-party developers. They differ from the first ones in that they are suitable for all types of matrices and cameras from all brands. Most often, they are capable of processing not only RAW, but also TIFF and JPEG. In addition, the range of their capabilities is much wider than that of complete solutions from camera manufacturers.
Now I offer you a selection of the most popular and interesting editors in my opinion.
Adobe Lightroom
One of the few cross-platform programs available in Russian and designed for RAW processing. Of course, you need to buy a licensed version. Only the trial version will be available for free, which is valid for a limited time. In addition to RAW, by the way, the program also copes well with TIFF, PNG, JPEG, and PSD formats.
Lightroom works on the same principles as the Adobe Camera RAW plugin, which is used for Photoshop. What does this give us? The fact that we can just as easily correct color, remove noise and sharpen the picture. Also, the connection with Adobe made it possible to apply the principle of indestructible editing here: the entire process is saved in a separate service file, and the original image remains unchanged.
It is important that all correction is applied as a kind of filter, applied at the very last moment. Among other things, this algorithm allows you to finish your work on a desktop and continue on any other device that supports Lightroom. In addition, after processing, you can create a catalog of photos or publish them on any social network.
The second comprehensive program on our list. This is a tool similar to Lightroom that allows you to edit your photos in detail. Compared to the Adobe product, it has only one drawback: the lack of cross-platform functionality. But, this program saves all the data about the work done in one place, which greatly simplifies the process of finding the desired file.
The program design here is completely unique, often surpassing Adobe products in speed and efficiency. In addition, Apple's editor features better noise reduction and improved sharpness. An equally significant difference can be considered adaptation to the MacOS operating system, which applies only to MacBooks.
One of the most "experienced" image editors. Otherwise it is called Corel AfterShot B5 Pro, and its first version was released back in 2000. Compared to its competitors, even now it has a number of advantages.
- The first is the ability to work on all available operating systems, except mobile ones.
- The second is the ability to batch process photos. Imagine how convenient it is to simply turn on the program, select the desired frames and wait for the processing process to finish.
- The third advantage is the ability to process not only RAW, but also JPEG files.
The functions here are standard: editing colors, changing sharpness, getting rid of noise.
The main thing here is different: the utility was developed a long time ago and was aimed at weak PCs. With the power of current desktops, it works very quickly, faster than most competitors.
A very interesting photo processor from Nikon. Due to the fact that it was developed by a camera manufacturer, it only works ideally with the cameras of its creator. His “favorite” format is NEF, the same RAW, only on Nikon cameras. Why do owners of devices of other brands download it?
First of all, this is a step-by-step processing of the shooting results. At each stage, the change can be canceled, applied with greater force, etc., and the intermediate result can be saved. The program also contains functionality for deleting all types, which is undoubtedly very convenient. It is distributed free of charge, complete with Nikon cameras.
It can be downloaded separately from the official website Nikon.
I couldn’t ignore the program for working with RAW from Canon. Specially designed to work with the CR2 format, this is the same RAW format, only for Canon. The program is distributed free of charge and can be easily downloaded from the official website Canon.
Indicate the brand of your DSLR and go to the Software tab. There, among other programs, you can find Digital Photo Professional. Usually, it comes complete with a DSLR camera on a disk.
The program contains all the editing functionality. It completely handles CR2 files with ease. The program does its editing job well.
Viewer programs
Below I want to give programs with which you can only view RAW, as well as extract the necessary information from a photo.
I present to you, my favorite viewer. It is very easy to use and very light in volume. As you already know, raw photographs are very voluminous. This utility does not load the computer and does its job with ease.
I only use it to quickly view photos. For example, it is not very convenient to immediately enter all the photographs taken into Lightroom; you must first filter out the garbage. This utility helps me with this.
Another advantage of Free Photo Viewer is the ability to convert from RAW to JPEG, as well as GIF, PNG.
The program reads the following formats from all known digital SLR cameras: NEF, CR2, CRW, RAW, ARW, MRW, ORF, RAF, PEF, DCR, SRF, ERF, DNG.
You can download it from the official website. Distributed free of charge.
This is the next viewer in my arsenal. A very worthwhile utility. Supports, like the first, the formats of all known cameras. A plus is that it has a small image editor. With which you can adjust the brightness, adjust the color, crop, and so on in small ways. Of course, it cannot replace a full-fledged editor, but for a free version it’s not bad.
It is also possible to convert to JPG, PNG, BMP, TIF. You can download it from the manufacturer’s website absolutely free of charge.
In the end, I would like to note that you should not process RAW online. In most cases, your file will be compressed to JPEG format before processing begins.
If you really want to get the most out of RAW photos, then the video courses below will help you achieve this.
Open image(s) My first MIRROR– The course will teach you how to properly use your DSLR camera. Before you process photos, you need to learn how to take photographs correctly! The course contains all the relevant and most useful information about the SLR camera.
My first MIRROR— for users of CANON DSLR cameras.
Digital SLR for a beginner 2.0— for users of NIKON SLR cameras.
– The name speaks for itself. The course is dedicated to Lightroom, in my opinion, one of the best programs for composing, structuring and editing photographs. The video course is designed specifically for beginners. Everything in the course is shown clearly, using your own examples.
Lightroom is an indispensable tool for the modern photographer
Actually, that's all. These editors are most popular among digital camera owners. I hope you will make the right choice and find the most convenient RAW image editor for you.
If you liked the article, subscribe to my blog and tell your friends about it. There will only be more informative and interesting texts in the future.
All the best to you, Timur Mustaev.
Several applications that allow you to view and edit various RAW image formats, such as nef, raw, crw, rwz, etc. These image formats, supported by many digital equipment (digital camera, scanner, etc.), are not supported by many photo editors . These programs will help you enhance raw RAW images, apply effects, crop, resize and rotate them. Most of these programs allow you to set the output quality of the image converted to a JPG file.
Fotor
Fotor is one of the best among the listed photo editors, which supports RAW images and other widely used formats such as JPG, PNG, BMP, etc. The software allows you to batch convert images, rename and resize them. In addition, there are preset photo retouching effects using only the mouse. For any effect, you can adjust the intensity level.
Other functions are also available: you can add borders, text to photos, crop the image, rotate and scale it, compare the original and processed photos, view EXIF information of the image, etc.
Fotor will also help you create a collage using templates or in free mode. You can set a custom collage background color. After editing the image, it can be saved in JPG, BMP, TIFF and PNG format.
RawTherapee
RawTherapee- an advanced photo editor and more suitable for specialists. It has a simple interface with a bunch of tools. You can add several RAW images, images of a different format, and then process any of them. You can mirror a photo, rotate it, crop and resize it, make marks on photos, add colored stickers to images, etc.
In addition, you can set the exposure level, brightness, contrast, saturation, reduce the noise level in the image, and also view EXIF information. After editing, the image is saved as TIFF, PNG or JPEG.
Able RAWer
Able RAWer - Another convenient RAW image editor, it has a navigation panel to open images directly in the program interface. A unique feature of this program is that you can view the original and processed image side by side, comparing them, immediately processing the image according to such parameters: contrast, HSV, gamma correction, sharpness, etc.
You can automatically adjust image colors with one click. In addition, it is possible to set bluescale, redscale, and retouch the photo.
Supported output formats: JPG, PCX, TGA, BMP, PBM, GIF, etc.
XnConvert
XnConvert- an image editor and converter with rich features. Supports about 500 graphic formats, which is something no other program on this list does.
The interface has three main tabs, making it easy to use. The first tab is used to insert an image and view thumbnail images. The second tab allows you to add tasks to process input images. You can add tasks to change color depth, image canvas size, improve focus, edges, resize, rotate, apply watermarks and more.
In the third tab, you select the output format and convert the source images.
Scarab Darkroom
Scarab Darkroom(lite version) - good software for editing .NEF format and other RAW images supported by many digital cameras. This software is good for resizing RAW images and as a converter. It is possible to set custom height/width and save the image as a TIF or JPG file. You can drag an image or an entire folder with the mouse, and at the bottom you will see thumbnails of RAW images.
The slider will help you set contrast, hue, richness, temperature, tint, sharpness, etc.
Conclusion
If there is a need to retouch a RAW image, resize, rotate, set exposure, etc., these programs can come in handy. Perhaps Fotor is the most preferred because it is easy to work with and provides almost all the features you need to process RAW images.
Leave your comment!
“Raw” images taken directly from the digital camera sensor provide the photographer with maximum opportunities for processing and retouching photographic images. Such pictures in RAW format contain all the information without compression or loss. This means that you can get higher-quality artistic photographs from them - with optimal color rendition, well-developed details in highlights and shadows, and low digital noise. Therefore, today not only professionals, but also ordinary photography enthusiasts resort to tools for working with RAW.
In reality, each digital camera generates RAW files with its own file extension (CR2 or NEF, for example), and RAW is just a generic name for these raw images. For this reason, working with RAW requires special software that can recognize dozens of different formats from different camera models. Professional photographers who deal with large volumes of photographic images usually opt for commercial software products such as Adobe Lightroom or Capture One Pro, which have powerful functionality. However, it is hardly advisable for owners of simple amateur DSLRs to immediately buy a paid version of Lightroom, especially since such pleasure is not cheap. They can recommend several good free editors that will help them quickly correct “raw” RAW images.
A convenient and simple photo editor that supports all major mobile and desktop platforms (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac). It can work with RAW files, providing the user with almost all the functions necessary for processing “raw” images. First of all, this is basic editing with cropping photos, adjusting tone and color scheme, adjusting exposure for various scenes (night, day, with flash, etc.), changing brightness and contrast. Then there are the possibilities of applying a variety of effects (for example, lomo and vintage), as well as retouching portrait photographs, including eliminating wrinkles and minor defects, smoothing the skin, and whitening teeth. A separate topic in Fotor is creating interesting collages using prepared templates or in a free, creative mode. The editor recognizes almost all major RAW formats of digital cameras and has a simple and intuitive interface.
You can download the program for free from the Windows store (for Win) or from iTunes (for Mac).
However, for those who want to get a truly powerful and functional tool for processing RAW files, almost similar to the capabilities of Lightroom, you should turn your attention to the Raw Therapee program. It supports most RAW formats produced by various digital camera models. This is an editor with a very wide range of functions and filters, as well as a built-in photo manager that allows you to set a kind of image rating. A partial list of Raw Therapee's capabilities includes exposure correction, tone mapping, color channel adjustment, chromatic aberration compensation, and white balance adjustment. Batch processing of files is supported. Any changes to the settings are instantly displayed in the preview window, and it is always possible to roll back to the previous stage of image processing by saving the history of performed operations. The Raw Therapee editor will certainly appeal to those users who are creative in the process of processing photo images.
Nice and lightweight, UFRaw is based on the DCRaw plugin for the GIMP editor. Can run as a standalone application on Linux, Mac OS X or Windows. Supports a sufficient number of RAW formats from different camera models. When working with “raw” images, UFRaw allows you to adjust white balance, adjust exposure and color saturation, and eliminate lens defects (chromatic aberration and vignetting). Processed photos from RAW format can be easily converted to the more common TIFF, PPS or JPEG.
Among free utilities, Darktable can easily compete with the aforementioned Raw Therapee in its range of functionality and settings. The only drawback of the program is that it is “tailored” for Linux and MacOS; there are currently no versions for use in the familiar Windows operating system. But this editor really has a lot of possibilities, because the program has a modular architecture. That is, by connecting additional modules you can constantly expand the functionality of the application. Darktable offers the user full color control, white balance adjustment, editing and transforming photo images, eliminating digital noise and optical defects, applying various artistic effects, as well as storing and cataloging a home collection of photos (you can rate and add tags to photos). As with Raw Therapee, when processing RAW files, all changes are saved, which means you can return to the original image at any time.
Scarab Darkroom Converter with editing capabilities works with RAW formats supported by popular cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung and Sony. Using a simple and intuitive interface, you can adjust the brightness and contrast of the photo, change the color temperature, and crop the photo at your discretion. Scarab Darkroom includes RGB histogram support, which opens up possibilities for professional color correction. The program converts the resulting photo images into two common formats - JPEG and TIFF. A good, free program for a beginning photographer.
