If you're new to photography, you've likely heard other photographers talking about shooting in raw and how it's a crucial step in one's workflow. This helpful video will give you a quick rundown of what raw is and why you should be shooting in it to maximize your image quality.
Coming to you from David Flores at B&H, this video examines what raw files are and why they're a great thing for photographers to take advantage of. One thing to note: Flores mentions that raw files are much bigger than JPEGs, and while that's true (they're normally about triple the size), I generally believe that we're at a point where storage is cheap enough to justify overlooking the larger file sizes. The amount of post-processing flexibility one gains far outweighs the additional storage needed, and once you see the control you have over the final image, I doubt you'll ever go back to shooting JPEGs, except in cases when you specifically need to turn around files very quickly. And if you'd like a comprehensive beginner's course, check out "Photography 101: How to Use Your Digital Camera and Edit Photos in Photoshop," which you can get for half off during our holiday sale.
Lead image by David Bartus, used under Creative Commons.
In before NORTHRUP v. FRO... :D
Fro vs Ken Rockwell
LMAO.
Useful info for beginners from a reliable source. The wonderful journey into modern-day digital photography.
In the end of the day, the photographer must know when to shoot raw and when to shoot jpeg and how to manage those two type of files.
I wonder if a JPEG you get out of a D850 or a7Riii would be better than a RAW file taken from a 20 MP Canon Rebel.
define "better".............
I was thinking in terms of dynamic range and how it might look printed at a very large size. I figured at some point the D850/a7Riii JPEG would have to beat a RAW file (e.g., a 6 MP RAW file from a Canon 20D), but was wondering where that break-even point might be.
In my opinion - no.
Everyone knows .BMP is the best duh!
LOL!
A member of the local camera club gave a presentation of how he prepares for print competitions. One of the things he has set on his camera is to use the Adobe RGB color space. The sRGB is a subset of Adobe RGB, so information is being lost. Why intentionally throw information away?
I'm 100% behind shooting RAW. But if you take the time to get to know your gear and set the parameters right and get your exposure and white balance right, then there is no reason not to get great SOOC JPG images. That's how we did it back in the days of transparency film, which had far less margin for error than digital ever did.
If you can get to a level where you are producing great JPG's straight out of camera and then you switch to shooting RAW you'll have a level of flexibility that you would never have if you simply use RAW as a get-out clause for poor camera craft. And you will inevitably have a faster workflow as well as you spend less time correcting 'mistakes'.