I have been using Adobe Photoshop ever since I started playing with digital photos. Since my interests include hosting a web site, I purchased Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium, which includes Dreamweaver and other applications. I have just (July 2011) upgraded to Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium.

One of the great features included with Adobe Photoshop is its ability to "develop" (i.e. process) images saved as RAW files by a digital camera. (A RAW file has NOT been processed by the camera.) Processing a RAW file on a PC enables more powerful and flexible image processing than what can be done with the limited processing power of a camera. The application is smart enough to read and process a number of manufacture-specific RAW file formats, including the formats used by my Olympus E-5, Olympus E-3 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1.

Here is a close-up of some of the basic controls available to "develop" RAW files. There are many more tools available on other tabs.

One of the interesting features available in Photoshop is the ability to merge multiple images, taken at different exposures, to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. Because of the limited dynamic range of the sensors used in a digital camera, very dark areas tend to be underexposed when the exposure is adjusted for the very bright areas, and vice versa.

The idea is to blend the data for the very dark areas from an overexposed image with the data for the very bright areas from an underexposed image. The process is pretty much automated, but one does have some control. Click here or the thumbnail to view an example HDR image along with the source images.