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 Does Photoshop CS2 make it easier to work with camera raw files? If so,
how?
It’s easier, for 2 reasons:
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Bridge, which replaces the old File Browser, is
a multi-threaded stand-alone application, so
you can work in it without tying up Photoshop
and vice versa.
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Camera Raw is now shared by Bridge and
Photoshop - you can actually launch 2 copies
simultaneously, one hosted by Bridge, one by
Photoshop. Camera Raw 3.0 also lets you
save converted files in the background,
hosted by either application, so you can
continue to work in the other. So the raw
workflow just got a lot more flexible.
From a photographer's point of view, what's the coolest new feature in
CS2?
If I have to pick just one, it's the Curve editor in Camera Raw 3. It
reduces greatly the amount of work I have to do post-conversion in
Photoshop.
Should Photoshop users rush to upgrade? Why or why not?
It depends on how you use Photoshop. For raw shooters, Bridge and Camera
Raw 3 are a must have.
Compositors and illustrators will like
Vanishing Point, Warp and the new layer-handling logic. Film and video pros will enjoy the support
for 32-bit floating point-per-channel HDR (High
Dynamic Range) imaging. The new Spot Healing
brush is a huge time-saver for almost anyone.
What is the most common image
editing problem that most
photographers face and how can
they solve it with Photoshop CS2?
I'd say the biggest problem photographers face
once they've migrated to digital is the sheer volume
of data that they have to deal with. Instead of looking
at chromes on a light table, they have to subject raw
images to some degree of processing before they
can even see them! The tight integration of Camera
Raw, Bridge and Photoshop CS2 makes the whole
process survivable. It handles everything from
entering a copyright notice once, to delivering
fine-tuned final files with keywords, captions and
rights management notices built right into the file.
What exactly is Adobe Bridge and
how can photographers use it to
speed up their workflow?
Bridge is the virtual digital light table. But it's also
command-central for adding metadata such as
captions, keywords, copyrights and rights management
notices - I like to tell photographers that an image
without metadata is just a bunch of pixels, while an
image with metadata is a digital asset that can earn
money for years. Bridge can also host Camera Raw
while Photoshop is busy running batch processes,
so it adds great flexibility to the entire workflow.
What's your typical image editing
workflow like?
I transfer images from the camera media to folders
on two different hard drives (I may be paranoid, but
I've never lost an image). I point Bridge at one folder,
leaving the other first as short-term backup, eventually
as a long-term archive. I do rough Camera Raw
edits on batches of images loaded into Camera Raw's film strip mode, using metadata templates
and the keywords palette to apply general keywords
and copyright notices. I usually use Slide Show in
Bridge to apply ratings and segregate the hero
shots from the rejects, then I batch-save all the
images as a background process from Camera
Raw (hosted by whichever application I want to tie
up while I use the other one). I save the files as
DNG, so that I don't have to deal with sidecar .xmp
files. Then I hand-edit the heroes in Camera Raw
and do final polishing in Photoshop.
When taking pictures,
what do you shoot most often?
I'm unfit to hold the lens caps of the photographers whose work I really
admire, but a few years ago I had the breakthrough realization that no
matter what was in front of my camera, what drove me to make a photograph
was the light. What's reflecting that light really depends on where I find
myself on any given day. Light on water is almost irresistible, though!
Bruce Fraser is the author of Real World Camera Raw with Adobe
Photoshop CS2 by Peachpit Press. ISBN: 0321334094.
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