5 Useful RapidRaw Tips And Tweaks For Fast And Accurate Editing

RapidRaw is becoming a powerful tool for photographers with every release, and it is welcome and fresh to see such a program being developed as a free and open source project. As a power-user of the software, and someone who now uses RapidRaw for both work and play, here I share 5 useful tips and tweaks for fast and accurate editing.

If you want to know what RapidRaw is, and how it compares to others, please take a look at this article I wrote here as it covers just about everything, and explains why you should use it over other free and open source editing software.

So, without further-ado, here are my first 5 useful RapidRaw tips and tweaks.

Slider Accuracy

If you have used RapidRaw even once, you know it relies on sliders. What many people do not know is that you can make the sliders even more accurate by holding down the SHIFT key on your keyboard while sliding the slider. Suddenly, the slider moves in much smaller increments, meaning you can target your adjustment with even more accuracy, to the same level as other editors offer.

Precision Accuracy – To The Number!

If the above technique is still not accurate enough for you, just left click on the number next to your slider, and you can input a number, including decimal points to get the exact change that you want. It is a level of accuracy that some people feel they need, and it is one that can be very useful!

Set Up the “Q” And The “W” Keys For Quick Hide/Reveal Of The Left And Right Panels

As the title suggests, I have set up the Q and the W keys so that you can press them and it quickly hides or reveals the left hand side panels (this is achieved: Home>General Settings>Controls). You can take this one step further of course and add a key for the Filmstrip mode if you wish. Having full customisation of key pressed is handy, but I’ve found that this combination is perfect for quickly getting all the space available that you can at a simple and convenient press of a button.

Save Presets Quickly And Easy For Starting Points

As you know, I have released a great set of RapidRaw presets here, which you can use as starting points (or just use them!). However, it is really simple, and just makes sense to add your own. If you edit in a consistent style (which is often necessary for bodies of work) you can save your initial edit settings by hitting the Presets panel icon on the right of your screen, and then hitting the “+” button to add your own style. It will give you various options to name your preset and ask what type of preset you want it to be. It is that simple!

Zoom To See How Tools Affect Your Image

This is a really simple and basic tip, but it works. If you are adding certain adjustments such as sharpening, clarity or structure for example, the effect can sometimes (depending on the image) be quite subtle at a distance, so when you apply the adjustment zoom in to 200% (or more if you wish) and tweak, then most importantly, look at your image full screen. At the end of the day, the look of your full screen image is far more important than how an image looks zoomed in, so do not get into the obsession of being zoomed in all the time, nobody will see those adjustments, and honestly, nobody will care.

Conclusion

Hopefully these first five tips will help you get more accurate results, and help you work even quicker in getting those results. RapidRaw is a powerful tool, and as simple as it is compared to many other free editing software packages, little things like these can pass-by those who do not spend much time with the software.

If you have any tips, let me know, and do not forget to watch my video series on my YouTube channel, with plenty of RapidRaw tutorials. And don’t forget to visit The Ultimate RapidRaw Resource Centre here!

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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
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