What is a Preset?
A preset is a set of pre programed editing steps that are loaded into Adobe Camera Raw to help edit RAW image files. Adobe Camera Raw (aka ACR) is a built in program that comes with Photoshop CS2 and above. However you may need to download and install an update if it does not work on your current version of Photoshop. These can be downloaded from the official Adobe website for free. Presets can only be used on RAW files, not JPEG files. In order to produce RAW image file you need to change the settings in your DSLR.
What is RAW?
• not an image file per se (it will require special software to view, though this software is easy to get).
• uncompressed (for example a 8 megapixel camera will produce a 8 MB Raw file).
• the complete unedited data from the camera’s sensor. In other words the camera does not add any additional processing to the image such as contrast, saturation, sharpening etc etc.
• higher in dynamic range (ability to display highlights and shadows without loosing as much detail).
• lower in contrast (flatter, washed out looking).
• not as sharp.
• not suitable for printing directly from the camera or without post processing.
• read only (all changes are saved in an XMP “sidecar” file or to a JPEG or other image format).
In comparison a JPEG is..
• a standard format readable by any image program on the market or available open source.
• compressed (by looking for redundancy in the data like a ZIP file or stripping out what human can’t perceive like a MP3).
• fairly small in file size (an 8 megapixel camera will produce JPEG between 1 and 3 MB’s in size).
• lower in dynamic range.
• higher in contrast.
• sharper.
• immediately suitable for printing, sharing, or posting on the Web.
• not in need of correction most of the time (75% in my experience).
• able to be manipulated, though not without losing data each time an edit is made - even if it’s just to rotate the image.
• processed by your camera.
How to install a preset into ACR.
First you need to open a Raw file and in doing this ACR will open.
Next you need to click on the very very incredibly small button on the far right which will drop down a menu. In that menu there is an option to load setting.
Once you have browsed your computer and found where you saved the preset file (it will end in .xmt) open it and the image will have those settings saved in the preset applied.
now BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE stop and go back to that same drop down menu. This time select “Save Settings” a box will pop up with boxes checked that look like this
click save and save it in the folder that appears automatically (it should be blah blah blah…/application data/Adobe/Camera raw/Settings). Name it “clair’s colour pop” or whatever the preset name happens to be. Now that you have done this, the preset should automatically appear in the preset menu of ACR everytime you open it.
How to use a preset.
Now the good thing about presets, like Actions is that it saves you a lot of work. Instead of opening an image and having to go through the same set of 20 steps to get the look you want, you just click on the preset and it will automatically make those adjustments. The down side is that it will never work perfectly for every image. It doesn’t matter what preset it is it will ALWAYS need some kind of tweaking from you to make it perfect. Sometimes all that is involves a small exposure adjustment or a change to the temperature.
With my colour pop preset i find that it works the best on images that fit the following criteria:
- slightly under exposed or “cool” in appearance
- images taken outdoors with natural light.
- images with no obvious colour cast
- 3/4 or full length shots (not just mug shot/close up portraits)
- images without too much grain or digital noise.
- back-lit images and images with visible artistic sun flare.
If after running the preset your image appears over exposed then all you need to do is go to the Basic Tab in ACR and reduce the exposure. Like wise if it appears too dark still then increase the exposure. If your image appears too warm or yellow then go to the white balance temperature slider and make the image cooler. Hopefully if it is the right kind of image you won’t have to do much more to the image to make it look “right”.