Non Layer-Based Processing in Adobe Camera Raw

Harvey Hirsch at China Gourmet, West Orange NJ

A pleasant dim sum brunch gives way to some new opportunities...

I’d been on the prowl for a good local dim sum restaurant, so when my good friend and colleague Harvey Hirsch suggested China Gourmet in West Orange, I couldn’t resist. Harvey is the author of the well-known culinary blog, “Chew on This”, so documenting this event through video and still photography was a foregone conclusion. Armed with my trusty iPhone 4S, I was able to capture the moment for myself.

Original, unprocessed version.

As usual, the iPhone 4S’s HDR option did an excellent job of preserving highlight detail, as can be seen in the window. So, half my post-processing work is already done in-camera. For the rest, I use non-layer based processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

What is non-layer based processing? It’s using Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom to apply both overall and selective enhancements instead of Photoshop with its complex adjustment layers. Once the overall contrast and vibrance is established, the Adjustment Brush tool is used to make selective adjustments. In this example, I enhanced the skintones by adding shape and vibrance to the face, reduced saturation in the hand on the right, and balancing the one on the left to it.

There are no layers in Adobe Camera Raw, but rather “pins“ that you place near the area to be adjusted. You then brush in a mask much the same as you do in Photoshop, and make adjustments with simple sliders rather than complex adjustment layers. You can save as many “snapshots“ as you want, thus many versions within each image. You can even save the overall adjustments as presets that you can apply to similar images in a fraction of the time you’d spend in Photoshop. All the changes are stored as metadata, so the original pixels are never touched. You can then save out final copies in any format you want. preserving the original, small JPEG or RAW file as a master for future iterations.

But the real excitement for today was discovering new dining opportunities at China Gourmet. for more information on how you can enhance your dining experience, visit FreeRangeChowHound.com.