Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [102]
It is also possible to use the Grain sliders to add subtle amounts of noise which can be used to disguise ugly image artifacts that can't otherwise be eradicated from the image. Having said this, it is possible to end up needlessly fretting about what you can see on screen at a 1:1 or a 200% view, when the detail you are analyzing will be diffused by the print process. Therefore tiny artifacts you see at a 100% view or higher shouldn't really be worth getting all that concerned about. A low Amount setting will allow you to add a fine amount of noise to a photo and this might well look even more pleasing as you add extra micro detail to a photo. In all honesty though, adding some extra fine grain is still only ‘creating the illusion’ of an improved image. What you see close-up on the screen won't have much actual bearing on the detailedness of the final print. This is really something that should mainly be reserved for problem photos that can't be fixed with the new noise reduction sliders in the Detail panel (see pages 274–277 ). In other words, where you have an image that contains really noticeable artifacts, you can try using the Grain sliders to cover these up, but I wouldn't recommend over doing this too much. As you might have gathered, I'm not that enamoured about this new feature. One of the main reasons I prefer shooting with digital cameras is because of the lack of grain you get in the captures.
The micro detail effect
It has been suggested that some raw converter programs have already been adding small amounts of grain by default in order to add micro detail to the image processing, which as I say in the main text, is only creating the illusion of better image quality. Camera Raw doesn't do this by default, but allows you the option to experiment.
Camera Calibration panel
The Camera Calibration panel ( Figure 3.61 ) lets you do two things. It allows you to choose which Process Version to use when rendering a raw file and also lets you select an appropriate camera profile. As I explained earlier, if you click on the warning triangle that appears in the bottom right corner of the preview section you can update an image from using Process Version 2003 to using the latest Process Version 2010. You can therefore use the Camera Calibration panel to update the render version used or reverse this process and select the older Process Version 2003 should you need to.
Figure 3.61 The Camera Calibration panel controls can be used to set the desired Process Version and fine-tune the Camera Raw color interpretation. The Camera Profile setting at the top can offer a choice of camera profile settings. These include legacy settings such as ACR 4.3, etc. The recommended default setting to use now is ‘Adobe Standard’.
Everyone wants or expects their camera to be capable of capturing perfect colors whether they really need to or not. What is perfect color though? Some photographers may look at a JPEG version of an image and judge everything according to that, while others, who shoot raw, may prefer the default look they get from a particular raw processing program. Apart from anything else, is the display you are using capable of showing all the colors that your camera can capture?
Camera Raw is the product of much camera testing and raw file analysis, carried out by the Camera Raw team. By selecting the most appropriate camera profile in the Camera Calibration panel you can ensure you get the most accurate (or most suitable) color from your camera. Test cameras were used to build a two- part profile of each camera sensor's spectral response under standardized tungsten and daylight balanced lighting conditions. From this, Camera Raw is able to calculate a pretty good color interpretation under these lighting conditions, and beyond, across the full range of color temperatures. This method may not be as accurate as having a proper profile built for your camera, but to be honest, profiling