RAW Resources

In response to Carl's post below called "Rain, and Noise," Ernest Theisen wrote: "I am just starting to learn CS2 Camera Raw. Can anyone recommend a good book for a novice?"

Carl responds: Adobe has several excellent "white papers" on camera RAW covering both tone and color control and workflow management. Authors are Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe. Very good stuff, though pretty dense so you need to go over it several times to pick up all the packed-in hints. Best of all, they're free downloads. Just go search the Adobe site for them.

Mike responds: For those who might want an actual printed book, I'd recommend Bruce Fraser's Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2 or Photoshop CS2 RAW by Mikkel Aaland, which I think can be assumed to be a safe bet because my friend Michael Reichmann wrote an introduction for Mikkel. (I also think it's safe to assume you don't need both.)

All things considered, Bruce's Real World Camera Raw is the single best book I've ever bought about digital photography. It has a higher proportion of necessary information than any other book, and it had more of an effect on how I work than any other book. It's lost its pull for me now that I've already read it, but I remember just vacuuming up everything in it the first time I encountered it. That one gets a "strong buy" recommendation from me.

Posted by: CARL WEESE and MIKE JOHNSTON