Hello all,
Today I’m going to talk about Multiple RAW processing. I’ve done it before but I know most of you won’t go through the archives to find it 
As many of you know, photography has its limitations when it comes to exposure ranges. In the past, we would dodge and burn areas to make the image look great in the darkroom. Today, we have RAW digital processing to help with multiple ranges. You can also change your saturation and white balance, etc…
I uploaded my RAW files on Adobe Bridge (you can do this with Lightroom too). Double click on your image to work in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW).
This is what I did:
Before:
After:
I worked on the photograph’s light to dark areas. You can go from dark to light. I do suggest you start with one of these instead of jumping around. After the exposure process, I worked on the color of the images.
Example 1
Start by processing the best possible image you can.
Example 2
I started on processing the sky. When you’re done, open a copy of the work by pushing the Alt key and open. You’re in Photoshop now….move it off to the side and go back to Bridge, then work on lightening (or darkening) the next area of the image.
Example 3
I next worked on the river bridge.
Open a copy (alt open); you can now work on masking areas or keep processing. I kept processing.
Example 4
I next processed the trees. I added more contrast (color) to the trees. I opened a copy of this. I now have 3 files opened in Photoshop. If you don’t have time to work on this further save them for later. I kept going…
Example 5
I now wanted to merge my three files together. I used the move tool on top of the toolbar holding my shift key and dragged my second photo on top of the first photo. Don’t let off the shift key until you drop the photo; this will ensure that both photographs are lined up.
I next went to layer > layer mask > hide all. I used my gradient tool and dragged it over the top of my image so that the lighter image focused on the bridge would show.
I then worked on my third pic that was focused on the trees (green). I did the same thing – holding the shift key, I moved this photo on top of the first and went to layer > layer mask > hide all and used my brush tool on the layer mask to paint the trees and brush. No worries if you feel it’s too drastic because you can always change the opacity of the layer.
These are some other photographs that I worked on using the same steps. I also then added some curves and tweaked it a bit after I merged together via layers.
Before & After:
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So basically, in conclusion, Multi-RAW process one photograph to expand your exposure range and change-up colors and contrast to the image. It’s fun to be creative with your images; you’ll get hooked on this process, I promise!
If you have any questions feel free to email me or add a comment.
Janice
Photographers, Diamond Bar, CA
