The Digital Negative

Jeff Schewe is an award winning professional advertising photographer and digital imaging pioneer. Based in Chicago, he teaches and leads workshops and is a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame at Photoshop World. Jeff coauthored Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom.

The Digital Negative
Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop
Jeff Schewe

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
What Is a Digital Negative?
    Dissecting a Digital Negative
    Raw versus JPEG
    Camera Sensor Types
Attributes of a Digital Negative
    Linear capture
    Digital exposure
    ETTR
    Sensor noise and ISO speed
    Colorimetric interpretation
    Metadata
    Bit Depth
    Raw vs. JPEG
Photographic Aspects of a Digital Negative
    Shutter speed
    Lens aperture
    Lens aberrations
    Sensor resolution

Chapter 2
Adobe Raw Image Processing: An Overview    
The Genesis of Camera Raw    
The Genesis of Lightroom    
The Bridge, Camera Raw, and Photoshop System    
    Bridge    
    Camera Raw Plug-in
    Photoshop
The Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop
The Camera Raw Smart Object in Photoshop
The Lightroom Way    
The Relationship of Camera Raw and Lightroom Versions
    Subscription License
    Perpetual License
Color Management between Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop
DNG File Format and DNG Converter    
To DNG or not to DNG?
Adobe DNG Converter


Chapter 3
Fundamentals of Lightroom and Camera Raw
Lightroom and Camera Raw Defaults
Lightroom and Camera Raw Functionality
The Histogram
Lightroom and Camera Raw Adjustment Panels
    Basic panel
    Tone Curve panel
    HSL/Color/B&W panel
    Split Toning panel
    Detail panel
    Lens Corrections panel
    Effect panel
Camera Calibration panel
Lightroom and Camera Raw Tools
Lightroom and Camera Raw Crop tools
Lightroom and Camera Raw Spot Removal Tools
Local Adjustments in Lightroom and Camera Raw
    Adjustment Brush
    Graduated Filter
    Radial Filter
    Filter Brush
    Soft Proofing in Camera Raw and Lightroom
    Presets in Camera Raw and Lightroom
    Snapshots in Camera Raw and Lightroom
    Virtual Copies in Lightroom

Chapter 4
Advanced Raw Processing using Lightroom or Camera Raw
Tone Mapping
    Flat lighting
    High-contrast lighting
    Blown skies
    Inclement weather
    Under exposure
    Backlit subjects
Color Correction
    While balance (global)
    White balance (local)
    Color Curves
    Color Split toning
    Color gradients
    HSL color corrections
    Lens colorcast corrections
Color to Black-and-White Conversions
    Adjusting the panchromatic response
    Warm toning
    Split toning
    Color toning and spot of color
    Optimized B&W tone mapping
    Color toning using color curves
Maximizing Image Detail
    High-frequency edge sharpening
    Low-frequency edge sharpening
    Mixed-frequency edge sharpening
Balancing sharpening and noise reduction

Chapter 5
Deploying Photoshop to Perfect your Digital Negatives
Getting Images into Photoshop
A Typical Edit in Photoshop
Color Range selection tool
Creative progressive sharpening
Midtone contrast
Sculpting
Saturation and Color layer modifications
Blue edge fix
Retouching    
Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools
Copy-and-paste patching
Retouching using painting
Using paths to make selections
Compositing Multiple Images
Creating the composite mask
Compositing the sky
Luminance-based masks
    Using the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop
Convert to Smart Filter
The Camera Raw Filter
Color to Black and White in Photoshop
Photomerge for Panoramic Stitching
Merge to HDR Pro
Processing HDR for Lightroom and Camera Raw tone mapping
Focus Stacking

Chapter 6
Creating an Efficient Workflow
    Workflow Principles
    Do things once
    Do things automatically
    Be methodical
    The Five Workflow Stages
    Stage 1: Image ingestion
    Stage 2: Image verification
    Stage 3: Preproduction
    Stage 4: Production
    Stage 5: Postproduction
    My personal workflow
    Field workflow
    Studio workflow
    How I Organize My Images
    My Digital Imaging Area
    Performance Tuning Your System
    Photoshop performance
    Lightroom performance