In ACDSee Pro, RAW files are preprocessed so you can see them in the Browser and Viewer. During preprocessing, levels and curves are adjusted to achieve the best possible exposure for browsing and viewing. You can use the RAW Processing tool to improve exposure, and to adjust color and image sharpness.
The Preprocess Exposure option plays an important role in the RAW Processing tool. It controls whether or not you use the exposure options that were applied during preprocessing. Refer to the exposure options below for a detailed explanation.
To process a RAW image:
1 Do one of the following:
• In the Browser, select one or more images, and then click Tools | RAW Processing.
• In the Viewer, click Modify | RAW Processing.
2 If you selected more than one image in the Browser, select the image that you want to process from the Thumbnails section.
3 In the RAW Processing tool, select exposure, color, and image sharpness settings.
4 As you are selecting exposure, color, and image sharpness settings, click Exposure Warning to highlight over- and under-exposed areas of the image. Click Reset to discard the settings that you have selected and revert to the default settings.
5 Do one of the following:
• Click Save As to produce a photo from the RAW file and save it (as a different file, in a different file format).
• Click Done to save the RAW processing settings to the database (without producing a photo). These will be re-applied if you open the same image later.
• Click Cancel to discard the RAW processing settings and return to the Browser or Viewer.
Exposure options
Preprocess Exposure
Select this option if you want to use the levels and curves that were applied during preprocessing, and make further changes to those levels and curves.
Clear this option if you do not want to use the levels and curves that were applied during preprocessing and would prefer, instead, to select completely new levels and curves. Selecting exposure options can be very
time-consuming, however, so the Preprocess Exposure option is selected by default and it is recommended that you use the levels and curves that were applied during preprocessing as a starting point for further adjustments.
Channel Specifies the brightness or color channel you want to adjust.
Shadows Specifies the blackpoint of an image.
Move the slider or type a number from 0 to 255 into the spin box, to define the blackest area of an image. As the value increases, the dark colored areas of the image become darker.
Midtones Specifies the gamma correction in an image.
Move the slider, or type a number from 0.00 to 2.00 into the spin box, to set the amount of gamma correction. Higher values make the image appear brighter, while lower values make the image appear darker.
Highlights Specifies the whitepoint of an image.
Move the slider, or type a number from 0 to 255 into the spin box, to define the whitest area of an image. As the value increases, the light colored areas of the image become lighter.
Clipped % Indicates how much of the image detail is lost due to blackpoint and whitepoint correction.
Shadows picker
Click the Shadows picker, and then click the image area you want to set as the blackpoint.
Midtones picker
Click the Midtones picker, and then click the image area you want to set as the gamma correction value.
Highlights picker
Click the Highlights picker, and then click the image area you want to set as the whitepoint.
Exposure Compensation
Specifies the brightness or darkness of the image.
Move the slider to the right to brighten the image to a maximum of +4. Move the slider to the left to darken the image to a minimum of -4. The value increments are approximately equivalent to f-stops.
Color options
Auto Select one of the following options:
• Adjust Contrast: Automatically analyzes and adjusts image contrast.
• Adjust Color and Contrast: Automatically analyzes and adjusts each color channel independently, and then adjusts the contrast.
• Adjust Color and Brightness: Automatically analyzes and adjusts image color and brightness.
• Tolerance: Opens the Tolerance settings dialog box. Specify the maximum clipping percentage for Shadows and Highlights, and click OK. ACDSee adjusts the image levels automatically.
White Balance When you take RAW images your digital camera's sensor ignores any white balance settings you have selected. Instead, the digital camera's sensor collects as much information as it can. Therefore it is necessary to select the
appropriate white balance during processing. Select one of the following white balance correction options:
• RAW Adjust: Selected automatically. Adjusts the color temperature to 3000K.
• Sunny: Adjusts the color temperature to 5500K, approximately that of the midday sun.
• Cloudy: Adjusts the color temperature to 6500K, approximately that of a lightly overcast sky.
• Shade: Adjusts the color temperature to 7500K, approximately that of a heavily overcast sky.
• Tungsten: Adjusts the color temperature to 2850K, approximately that of a household light bulb.
• Fluorescent: Adjusts the color temperature to 3800K, approximately that of a fluorescent light bulb.
• Flash: Adjusts the color temperature to 5500K, approximately that of a camera flash.
Auto Select one of the following options:
• Adjust Contrast: Automatically analyzes and adjusts image contrast.
• Adjust Color and Contrast: Automatically analyzes and adjusts each color channel independently, and then adjusts the contrast.
• Adjust Color and Brightness: Automatically analyzes and adjusts image color and brightness.
• Tolerance: Opens the Tolerance settings dialog box. Specify the maximum clipping percentage for Shadows and Highlights, and click OK. ACDSee adjusts the image levels automatically.
Detail options
As Shot Click to use the white balance settings that you selected when you took the photo. The As Shot button displays the settings you selected. For example: As Shot (Auto) indicates that you selected Auto white balance settings when you took the photo, while As Shot (Sunny) indicates that you selected Sunny white balance settings when you took the photo.
Temperature Drag the Temperature slider to the left or right to select a specific color temperature.
Tint Drag the Tint slider to the left (more magenta) or right (more green) to match the white balance settings that you selected when you took the photo.
As Shot Click to use the saturation settings that you selected when you took the photo.
The As Shot button displays the settings you selected. For example: As Shot (Low) indicates that you selected Low saturation settings when you took the photo.
Saturation Drag the Saturation slider to the left or right to change the intensity of hues in the photo.
Use a working color space
Select this option, then select a color space from the drop-down list to use a specific working color space during RAW image processing.
Sharpness As Shot Click to use the sharpness settings that you selected when you took the photo. The As Shot button displays the settings you selected. For example: As Shot (Normal) indicates that you selected Normal sharpness settings when you took the photo.
Amount Specifies the amount of light added to, or removed from, each edge. Higher values produce darker edges.
Radius Specifies the number of pixels to adjust around each edge.
Higher values increases the number of sharpened pixels.
Threshold Specifies how different the lightness values of two adjacent pixels must be before they are sharpened. Higher values increase the required difference. It is recommended that you set the threshold so that it enhances edges while keeping background noise to a minimum.