rawformat

Working with multiple RAW files

Ben Long at Complete Digital Photogrpahy has figured a way for Mac Photoshop users to manage multiple versions of a RAW file in your workflow:

If you're a Mac-based Photoshop Camera Raw user, then this simple package of droplets and Automator actions will let you easily create and manage multiple versions of your raw images. One of the great advantages of raw files is that they can be processed in different ways to yield completely different images. While Photoshop CS2 doesn't provide any built-in facility for handling multiple versions of a raw file, with this free package of utilities, you can easily create and manage a set of raw versions.

Universal RAW from Iridient Digital

Iridient Digital just released version 1.5 of their RAW Developer tool for Mac, this version now in Universal format.

From what I've heard, it's a good and useful tool. A little blurb from the site says:

RAW Developer is a powerful RAW image conversion application designed and optimized specifically for Mac OS X. RAW Developer gives advanced photographers total control over every aspect of their digital camera's output, yet still provides easy drag and drop batch conversion and access to basic adjustments for the casual user. Thanks in large part to Dave Coffin's work on the open source RAW decoding program dcraw, RAW developer is able to support files from over 100 digital camera models. Note that although we do use portions of dcraw for decoding RAW image files, essentially the entire image processing pipeline is completely unique to RAW Developer this includes the demosaicing algorithms used for all cameras based on RGB color filters (which is nearly all of them), all color management operations, all other processing adjustments, sharpening, noise reduction and final file format conversion.

Aperture 1.1 Reviewed

ArsTechnica has posted their review of Aperture 1.1, which can be found online here:

According to Apple, the Aperture 1.1.1 update "addresses several issues related to performance, stability, color correction, and display compatibility." It also fixes a bug that managed to make it back into Aperture 1.1's white balance tool. Baby steps.

For the sake of brevity and since 1.1 was the major update affecting RAW quality and other major issues, I'm only going to refer to the new version as 1.1.

Digital DNA: Images can now reveal the specific camera that created them

Tracy Staedter at Discovery News reports that the June issue of IEEE Transactions on Information Security and Forensics contains a paper detailing how forensic scientists have mapped subtle pixel patterning so that an image can be matched to the digital camera that shot it. The paper was, written by Jessica Fridrich, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the State University of New York in Binghamton, along with her colleagues, Jan Lukas and Miroslav Goljan.

In laboratory experiments, Fridrich and her team were able to match several thousand different images to the correct camera without a single misclassification, even when images were compressed or resized.

"This is one of the first papers out there to have what I think is a realizable, robust and effect technique for doing it," said Hany Farid, associate professor of computer science at Dartmouth University and an expert in digital image forensics.

Aperture 1.1.1 Update

Apple has released a small update for Aperture:

This update addresses several issues related to performance, stability, color correction, and display compatibility and is recommended for all Aperture users

Apparently the update comes on the heels of some rumors that Apple was downsizing their Aperture team quiety. MacWorld claims otherwise.

Capture One Raw Workflow Techniques: Using Creative Profiles

C1 Raw Workflow Techniques: Using Creative Profiles:
Phase One's Creative Raw Workflow Techniques series features an article on how to use the new creative profiles in Capture One 3.7.4 by Walter Borchenko, Knowledge Integrated Inc.