By RAW development and edit, create a photo that conveys emotions
All photos in this website ‘Towns with slopes and hills – walk along’ are taken by myself.
It would be great if I could take ‘photos that covey emotions’ every time without efforts, however, that is not a reality. Even so if I take photos in RAW and develop, edit, then I can bring my photos closer to what I imagined.
In this article, taking examples from actual photos in ‘Towns with slopes and hills – walk along’, I introduce before and after the photos developed and edited by RAW editing software.
What is RAW?
RAW is one of the recording formats of digital camera. It is actually ‘RAW data’ from which JPEG is generated. The DSLR and the mirrorless camera have a setting to choose either RAW or JPEG or both in shooting mode.
To view images shot in RAW and to adjust colors and brightness, a RAW editing software is required. What I use is Lightroom Classic of Adobe Creative Cloud. As it is a multi-function application, there are many guiding articles and youtube videos on internet, and I searched them a lot. However, in fact, a reliable book can be a great help. This book explains each function in a facing pages, very convenient to use. ‘Textbook of color adjustment’ Author : Saiki Kiryu, Shuwa System
What to convey by RAW development and edit?
By RAW development and edit, the photos will be amazingly changed. That’s why it is important to set a goal of ‘what you want to convey in the photo’ before start. Here is what I aimed to achieve in the four photos that I will be introducing.
| 1. Fresh and delicious ‘Sunny color’ |
| 2. ’Bright and clear light’ coming into the kitchen |
| 3. ’New discovery’ by taking the familiar thing as a leading role |
| 4. Remove the extras and bring just ‘what I want to convey’ |
1. Fresh and delicious ‘Sunny color’
Here is a photo posted in the article ‘Making simple soda by squeezing summer oranges’. What I was looking for was fresh orange color of summer orange. Summer orange is actually a little dull in color, however here I aimed to create sunny color that symbolizes the taste of the soda.
This photo is not edited at all. The below photos is RAW- developed after color adjustment. Orange color is so bright!
2. ’Bright and clear light’ coming into the kitchen
In the article ‘Dokudami tea, three ways of drinking’, the scene of boiling tea was shot.
Actually, this photo was taken in the evening. It was a little dark.
Slightly adjust the exposure, the kitchen looks bright with lights coming in as below. The red color of the kettle is clearer.
3. ’New discovery’ by takinh the familiar thing as a leading role
This is the photo of dandelion posted in the profile page of ‘Towns with slopes and hills – walk along’.
This photo was originally shot in 4:3 angle of view. I cut it out in 3:1 and took dandelions as a leading role (as below). In addition, I adjusted the exposure to make the photo brighter. Then the familiar dandelions became soft and cute. It was a new discovery that the cut-out photo becomes a completely another photo.
4. Remove the extras and bring just ‘what I want to convey’
The photo of withered tulip that was introduced in photo gallery in May, can you tell the difference before and after?
If you look in the lower right corner of tulip vase, you can find a green hose. A green color in the one-tone photo, the eyes are already glued to it..
In the below photo, the hose was removed and I was able to express just what I wanted to convey.
Even if shooting in RAW, the focus and the composition are not possible to be edited afterwards. Overexposed photos are also difficult to be adjusted. It’d be always better to do everything we can do on site.
Nevertheless, if you shoot, develop and edit in RAW, no doubt that the expression of photos will be greatly expanded. Use everything possible, aim for ‘photo that conveys emotions’!
