4.5. Using the Image Processor with RAW Files You may want to save processed RAW format images to different file formats for different purposes. In fact, it's usually a very good idea to do this because you can automatically process all open files, selected files, or files in a particular folder for different purposes, such as:  JPEG files destined for a web gallery to be used for client approval  TIF images at full or enhanced resolution for printed publication or for delivery to the client (you probably don't want to give away your trade secrets and send the client all the layers you use to adjust non-destructively).  PSD (Photoshop) images to be fine- tuned and enhanced in your own "digital darkroom" There are a couple of ways you can access the image processor (see Figure 4-30). Figure 4-30. The Image Processor dialog.  In Photoshop, choose File Scripts Image Processor. Nothing needs to be preopened in Photoshop. The dialog will let you work on either all currently opened files or on the files in any designated folder.  From Bridge, choose Tools Photoshop Image Processor. If you have several files selected, the dialog states the number of opened photos to be transferred. If no image is selected, you can either translate all the images in the current folder or check the box labeled "Open First Image to Apply Settings." If the box is unchecked, all the images in the folder will be processed according to whatever adjustments have already been made in either Camera Raw or Photoshop. If it is checked, only the image(s) you choose after browsing will be processed. After completing one of those steps, change the rest of the settings in the dialog according to the file format you want to translate to and how. But first, a close look at the dialog in Figure 4-30. These are the rest of the steps for using the Image Processor: 1. In Section 2, select the location where you want the translated file to be saved. Regardless of where you save the translated files, each file format will be saved to a subfolder named after that format. The default choice is to have the "Save in Same Location" radio button active. If you want to browse to a different folder, click the Select Folder radio button, and click the Select Folder button to bring up a Browser dialog. Use that dialog to navigate, and pick the folder in which you want to place the translated files. 2. Image Processor will translate to any or all of the three file types at once. In Section 3, check the boxes for the formats you want to use. If you choose "Resize to Fit" for any file type, the files will be resized to fit within your designated dimensions while maintaining their original proportions. For JPEGs, you can choose the quality level by entering a number between 1 and 10. The lower the number, the faster files will load on the Internet. If you are saving JPEGs to be printed as proofs, select a quality level between 8 and 10. Finally, JPEGs destined for the Internet should be saved to sRGB color profile so they look more consistent on a wide variety of monitors. If you ar e saving to PSD, you will want to check the Maximize Compatibility box if those files will be shared with others who have different operating systems or versions of Photoshop and other compatible image processors. If you are saving as TIF, I recommend usin g LZW compression, since it is lossless and saves file space. The only danger LZW poses is very rare incompatibility with some programs. 3. You will rarely use Section 4, but it can be pretty jazzy. It can run any Action you've recorded on all the files you're translating. Keep in mind that it will run that Action on all the different types of files, which may be reason to designate only one file type for translation in Section 3. You can also enter copyright text that will be saved in the image's metadata; type "Copyright Your Name Year" in the Copyright Info field. 4.6. Differences in Camera Raw in Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements 4 Perhaps the most important thing you need to know about processing your RAW files in Photoshop Elements 4 versus Photoshop CS2 is that nothing you do to a RAW file is permanent. So if you move up to the more plentiful and sophisticated features in Photoshop CS2, there's a chance that you'll be able to improve on what you could do with the same image in Elements 4. Figure 4-31 shows you the Photoshop Elements 4 Camera Raw interface. Figure 4-31. The Camera Raw workspace in Photoshop Elements 4. If you're fam iliar with Camera Raw in Photoshop CS2, it's easy to see what most of the differences are. From left to right, top to bottom:  There are no Color Sample, Crop, or Levels tools.  You can't open multiple files in the same workspace, so you can't winnow and app ly identical application settings to multiple files. Instead, if you open multiple RAW files at once, you have to do the settings for the first file, push any button other than Cancel, and wait until the Camera Raw workspace opens for the next file you selected. You can then apply the same settings as for the previous file.  No option for saving settings, except as a default.  There are only two settings tabsAdjust and Detailbut they are identical to the same tabs in Camera Raw for Photoshop CS2.  There are no Auto adjust boxes.  There is no Show Workflow Options space, so you can't choose to assign a color space, change the output image size, or change the resolution.  There is no 32-bit output option, only 8- and 16-bit. The bottom line: I wouldn't use Photoshop Elements 4 for "bulk" processing of high-volume shoots with numerous variations of the same image. There is an alternative, however, if you're not quite ready to invest in Photoshop CS2: Raw Shooter Essentials (free) or Premium (only $100 and even more capable than Camera Raw CS2). You'd also have the option of using Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. You'll find more on these alternatives near the end of this chapter. And Chapter 6 is all about Lightroom, which you will want to download as soon as a beta is available for your computer. 4.7. Opening and Adjusting Multiple RAW Files in Photoshop CS2 When you have multiple images that have the same exposure, brightness range, contrast, and color balance, you should open them all at once in Camera Raw. Then click the Select All and Synchronize buttons so the settings applied to any one of the images will apply to all of them. This situation especially applies to product, fashion, journalism, and event photography where many photographs are taken of the same subject to ensure capturing just the right "moment." You do not want to spend time adjusting each photo individually, since it could unnecessarily add hours to your processing time. You have to start in Bridge to get into Camera Raw. If you jumped ahead to this chapter out of a rabid curiosity about Camera Raw, jump back to the "Applying Camera Raw Settings in Adobe Bridge" section earlier in this chapter and familiarize yourself with the steps you ordinarily take in Bridge. Then, if you're following my workflow rules as religiously as I dogmatically demand, you have already eliminated all the really obvious losers. You've also used Bridge's lightbox feature (choose Window Workspace Lightbox) to physically place photos that should be adjusted in the same (or nearly the same) way next to one another. Once you've done that, processing efficiency demands that you open all the related files in Camera Raw at the same time. You select a series of contiguous files by selecting the first file, pressing Shift, and then selecting the last file in the series. Figure 4-32 shows you the Bridge Light Table workspace after putting contiguous files together. Figure 4-32. Using the lightbox workspace in Bridge, with similar images placed so that they are next to one another on the "light table." Select a series of files that you haven't "lightboxed" into contiguous groups by selecting the first image, Cmd/Ctrl- clicking on another and then on all the files you want in that series. To simultaneously transfer those files into Camera Raw, press Enter/Return. 4.7.1. Adjust Similar Files at One Time You c an synchronize the open files so that when an adjustment is made to one, it is applied all. If you've opened 15 files, that means that you've saved 15 times as much as if you'd done each file individually. Doing this is a matter of: 1. Clicking the Select All button. 2. Clicking the Synchronize button. The Synchronize dialog appears, as seen in Figure 4-33. Figure 4-33. The Synchronize dialog in the Camera Raw workspace. 3. Unchecking the boxes for the properties you don't want to synchronize. 4. Making the adjustments for the image currently in the Preview window. The images for all the thumbnails will be adjusted simultaneously for the selected properties. If you are doing this for the first time, you probably want to keep all the boxes in the Synchronize dialog checked. If you just want to change a setting or two for a group of files that you've already adjusted, uncheck all the settings except those you want to change. If you only want to change one property for all the synchronized files, choose that property from the Synchronize menu at the top of the dialog. Now when you adjust any of the settings in any of the tabs, the same adjustment will take effect for all the images that are currently open, selected, and synchronized. 4.7.2. Ranking and Deleting You should have already done all your initial ranking and winnowing (deleting) in Bridge. However, there's a big advantage to making your final choices after you open multiple files in Camera Raw: you can magnify all the images to whatever extent it is necessary to spo t fatal flaws. The most persistent of these include minor blurring due to focus, camera shake, or forgetting to stop down enough to increase depth of field to the degree necessary. No matter how good the shots are in other respects, these shots are never going to be good enough (and don't fool yourself into thinking that you can recover them by sharpening). Click the Select All button and then double-click the Zoom Tool icon. You'll still see the whole image in the thumbnail, but when you choose an image for previewing it will be enlarged to 100 percent in the Preview window. Grab the Hand tool and pan the image to the place where focus is most critical. As long as all the other images are still selected, they will be prepanned to the same location when you select them for previewing. Now you see approximately the same portion of the image when you preview each image using the arrow keys. When you see an image that's technically unacceptable, just press Delete/Backspace. A red X will appear in the upper-right corner of the thumbnail. If you change your mind before leaving Camera Raw, select that image and press Delete/Backspace again. The red X will be gone. Don't leave Camera Raw until you're sure you want to delete the images in the Trash, because that's exactly what will happen. Of course, you could still open the Trash and drag any images back to the folder they came from. You just have to be able to identify them by their filename since your system's file browser may not read RAW files. 4.7.3. Using the Save Button You do not want to click Save until you've done everything in Camera Raw to make the image look as much like the final image as possible. The result of your Camera Raw adjustments will become the Background Layer of your Photoshop file. This is because you want to avoid keeping track of multiple versions of a Photoshop file, which is because you can keep all the versions on layers inside the same file in .psd format. So when you have finished adjusting but need various versions for various purposes, automatically create a version for each of those purposes. You do that by turning off the layers you don't need for that version, exporting the result to all the sizes, color spaces, quality settings (if they are JPEGs), and sizes you need for the image's various intended purposes, and then number those versions. At the bottom right of the Camera Raw dialog is the only button that doesn't record any settings or changes made in the current Camera Raw session. That button is the Cancel button. Use it when and if you come to a point where you just know you have to take a deep breath and start over from a fresh point of view. . to do this because you can automatically process all open files, selected files, or files in a particular folder for different purposes, such as:  JPEG files destined for a web gallery to