More about storyboards: intersecting shapes

They say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so David, here's your new tutorial :)

David would like to know about creating storyboard designs using intersecting shapes.  Here's the layout I'll demonstrate for this article:

It's very easy.  It just requires a bit of planning (as usual) and careful utilisation of these important little buttons:

(Note: If you're new to storyboards design, this article is not the right place to start.  First, you must read this tutorial, then this one.)

The Camera Calibration tab in ACR

If you own an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, or a similar tool, you can create your own custom colour profile for your camera's Raw files.  I'm not a photographer, so I've never done this (nor would I even if I was, probably), so I can't discuss that.

But what I can discuss is the range of canned profiles that come with Adobe Camera Raw.  You find them in the "Camera Calibration" tab.

In Elements, it looks like this:

What is XMP data all about?

XMP data is the data that Adobe software (ACR and LR) creates to store the editing that you do to a Raw file.  The truth is, we really don't need to think about XMP data at all - it just does its thing in the background, and we get on with our lives.  But it confuses some people, especially when they see those little XMP files in their folders, so let me explain a bit more.

It's very important to understand that Raw files themselves are absolutely, impenetrably, rock-solidly, unchangeable.  You can't modify a raw file, no matter what you try.  The ones and zeros of Raw data that come out of your camera will never be altered.

So, when you're editing a Raw file, you're not actually changing the file itself.  Rather, you're making cosmetic changes to its appearance - much the same as dressing yourself.  You might be dressing in work clothes, or casual clothes, or gardening clothes; but underneath, your body is the same.  Your external appearance is being modified by your garments, that's all.

So it is with Raw files.  You might "dress" a Raw file with a warmer white balance, or reduced exposure, or whatever.  But underneath, it's still exactly the same Raw data, and therefore it's as easy as pie to "undress" it again later if you wish to start your editing all over (more about this later).

To DNG, or not to DNG

People sometimes ask me "Should I convert my Raw files to the DNG format?"  I honestly don't know.

Well, let's clarify - some people have no choice.  If their Adobe software is older than their camera, then the only way they can open their Raw files is to convert them.  No ambiguity there.  (More info)

But lots of other people have Photoshop or Lightroom as new or newer than their camera, so they can open their NEFs, or CR2s, or ORFs, etc, just fine.  For those people, conversion to DNG becomes a matter of choice.

Plenty of people much smarter than me recommend DNG conversion.  It's the generic raw format, and it's meant to be "future-proof", so that you'll be able to open and edit your files forever, regardless of software evolutions over the coming years.  Please don't ask me for an opinion about that, because I don't have one, nor enough knowledge to form one.

Other people convert to DNG because the files are slightly smaller, and the disk space saving is worth it.  That sounds sensible.

But despite all of that, I don't convert to DNG format.  Why?  Because I love XMP files!

View your filename extensions, Windows peeps!

Occasionally - well, surprisingly frequently, actually - somebody will come to me with laments like this:

"I saved my photo, and now I can't re-open it!"

"My image files have no thumbnails!"

etc.

If the person is a Windows user, the reason for the problems is often that the file has been saved without the filename extension - ".jpg" or ".psd" or whatever.

Windows need filename extensions.  If it doesn't see the "dot-something" after the name, it has no idea what program to associate it with; and therefore can't preview it, or open it.  I'm not sure what causes files to be saved without their extensions.  It just seems to happen sometimes.  Very annoying.

What's more annoying is that Windows, by default, hides all filename extensions.  I wish I knew which genius at Microsoft decided this was a good idea, because I'd like to punch him in the nose.  When all extensions are hidden, you can't see at a glance if any filenames don't have an extension at all.

So, I urge you to follow these steps and make your filename extensions visible.