Editing Raw images

I am somewhat confused by the RAW editing workflow process. Using Elements 3 I open a raw image to edit in the Camera Raw processing window. Here I can change WB, exposure etc with no degradation to image. I then go OK and I end up in the Editing program. If I now edit this image in the Editor - changing levels or brightness or whatever - am I still not degrading the image? ie am I still working on the RAW image? I can't seem to get my head around when the editing of the RAW finishes.
The other reason I ask is that using the Camera Raw processing window I find the improvements are limited. The real improvement seems to come when using the "Editor". If using the Editor is changing the quality of the image I'm not sure where the advantage of Raw is.
Can someone enlighten me?

Thanks

Sue

Sue....

Working in the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) window provides finer control over your changes as you are working with more data (more than 8 bits per channel). The usual corrections made are WB, exposure, shadows, brightness and contrast. You also have the option to work as 8bits/channel or 16bits/channel when you leave the ACR. Note though that the changes you made in ACR are stored along with your RAW image. Not inside it but in a database controlled by Elements. This means that if you quit Elements after using the ACR without even saving your image, the changes are still retained when you re-open the image.

Once you've clicked 'OK' then at this point you have stopped working in RAW format because now the colour space has been set along with your corrections. This means that you are editing as normal in the Elements Editor.

Note though that some functions are not available if you work in 16 bit mode, but in 16 bit mode your Edits are less destructive to the data.

You ask about degrading the image or changing the quality. Really the image is only degraded or bad quality if the result doesn't look good to you. Remember any changes to the data either in RAW or in the normal Editor could be considered a degradation as it's changing what the camera captured...albeit it wasn't what you wanted.

RAW also provides the all important WB and Exposure corrections. These are hard to acheive outside of RAW and usually result in more loss if done so. If you've ever had burnt out skys you'll find that RAW can bring out some of the detail that the normal editor can't.

Applied correctly the changes made in the ACR window can be all you need. If you are still resorting to using levels after ACR then maybe you didn't adjust the Contrast correctly. This slider is better (in my opinion) than Levels because it does not cause clipping...i.e it keeps the black and white levels fixed. It's more like using Curves. If you also use the Brightness this can improve things but can result in some clipping.

Colin

Changes made to a RAW file are stored separately. This is a real benefit because you can revert to the original image if it becomes necessary. Once you have opened that file into the editor, you are no longer making any changes to the RAW file even though the filename indicates that you are. That is just telling you where the picture came from. You are not making changes to ANY file that is stored on your computer. You are making changes to the pixels in the picture that you have loaded into your computer memory. When you go to save the file, you are allowed to save in the appropriate file formats based on the state of your image. For instance, if you leave the image in the 16-bit mode, you will have very limited options as far as file types that you can save to.

But at any time when you are editing in Elements you are not making changes directly to a file that is on your computer. You are making changes to the pixels in memory. The only time the actual file is changed is when you save it. And since you cannot save an image as a RAW file, you will not be able to change it that way.

I am interested in purchasing software to use to edit raw images from my Minolta 7D digital camera.

Is the Elements editor a good one or should I purchase the more robust version that Photoshop CS2 offers?

Also, some of the images will eventually be used on my website and will need to be reduced so as to allow them to be viewed easily on the web. Will Elements allow me to accomplish that feature as well?

Adobe Camera Raw is more robust in the full version of Photoshop. There are more controls and adjustments, and the one I particularly like is the Curves adjustment. From what I have heard, several of the adjustments that I use on a regular basis are not available when using Photoshop Elements. But there are a lot of people who use it and are happy with it. As far as resizing your images for the Web is concerned, Photoshop Elements will do that, as will Photoshop.