Four ways to bring out raw beauty

The Camera Raw Filter provides a way to add raw-style processing to out-ofcamera JPEGs and edited images

There are some new features brought to Photoshop that might leave photographers wondering, “What’s the point of this?” The Camera Raw Filter is one such feature. If you shoot raw and process your images in Camera Raw or Lightroom, how could a filter offering the exact same controls as a filter be of any use? As it turns out, though, the Camera Raw Filter offers huge advantages, both to photographers who shoot JPEGs in-camera and to those who shoot and edit raw files.

For the former, the filter provides easyto-use controls that make a wide range of important adjustments available; and using the filter could lead to these photographers gaining the confidence to shoot and edit in raw. For the latter, once an image has been processed and possibly edited further in Photoshop, the Camera Raw Filter provides the chance to add specific effects without the need to go back to the original raw file and effectively start again. Here we’ll look at four different effects you can achieve…

1 Sophisticated warm-up

Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the Background Layer. Next, go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter; when the dialog box opens, click on the Graduated Filter. Drag the filter guide from just above the horizon to just below it, then set Range Mask to Luminance and set the left Luminance Range slider to 70. Click on the Color box and select orange before clicking OK. Click the main OK button to close the Filter. Finally, set Temperature to +10 and Highlights to -20.

2 Easy split-tone

For this technique we’re going to use the presets in the filter for a quick and easy mono conversion. Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to quickly duplicate the Background Layer, then open the Camera Raw Filter. Click on the Presets tab and expand the B&W options before clicking on B&W Punch. Next, click on the Split Toning tab. Set Shadows to a dark blue (Hue 230) with Saturation at 20, then set the Highlights to orange (Hue 35) at a Saturation of 15. Click OK to confirm.

3 Pseudo-HDR effect

This approach is all about maximising detail while creating an HDR-style effect with a single exposure. Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the Background Layer, then open the Camera Raw Filter. Set Highlights to -100 with Shadows at +80, then set Whites to +34 and Blacks to -15 to combat the washed-out look. To complete the look, we’re going to make the detail in the scene pop, so set Texture to +50 and Clarity to +20 to increase midtone contrast.

4 Soft and atmospheric

Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the Background Layer, then open the Camera Raw Filter. Go to the Curves tab and select the Points option. Place three points along the curve at the three corners of the squares before placing one between the bottom-left corner and the first point. Now drag the bottom-left corner point up so it’s level with the last one you placed. Click back on the Basic tab and set Exposure to -0.35, Texture to -40 and Clarity to -15 for a soft, moody matte effect.