Understanding RAW Photography

This new series of Expanded Guides focuses on photographic techniques not only to give you a comprehensive grounding in the subject but also takes you a step further to enable you to get much more from your photography. Expert advice, with useful hints and tips, is given by professional photographers, using practical examples of techniques for clarity, illustrated in full colour with the aid of clear diagrams and charts. The digital revolution in cameras has led those who may have been successful with film format into a whole new area of learning. The RAW file format is digital photography's equivalent of a negative in film photography: it contains untouched, 'raw' pixel information straight from the digital camera's sensor, which must be processed to produce the final result. Understanding RAW Photography is a comprehensive guide, written by a professional photographer, that explains the procedure from the start of a photo shoot through each stage of post-processing your image to ultimately displaying it in print or on screen. In depth, jargon-busting text offers hints and tips on interpreting RAW images and gives step-by-step information on processes such as demosaicing and white balance, interpreting and converting images, applying tone curves, adjusting colour saturation and contrast, sharpening an image, adjustment in camera and on a personal computer, and final generation of JPEG or TIFF format. AUTHOR: David Taylor is an award-winning landscape and travel photographer from Hexham in Northumberland. His work has taken him all over the world, from the sun-kissed beaches and azure seas of Zanzibar to the icy wastes of the Arctic Circle, but his first love remains the wild countryside and rugged coastline of his home county, which he has photographed extensively.