Shooting in RAW mode

[Brock]

I have just been reading the link below and I was wondering how many people actually use RAW mode when taking photographs?

Are there any times when it is beneficial to save as RAW images over JPEG?

As a beginner should I even worry about using them?

http://www.tutorial9.net/photography...w-photography/

[karlos130]

RAW in my opinion is the only way to shoot pictures.

They are much bigger files and therefore dont get many to the pound on your card but its the results and the scope to adjust them is immense.

I always open my RAW images in Adobe bridge first and make any adjustments to them there..i.e. correct exposure adjust levels etc etc.

I then always save the completed file as a JPEG and keep the RAW file for anything else I wanna do to it at a later date.

Take some test shots in RAW and JPEG and then try and adjust the JPEG one, you are really limited to what you can do to them but in RAW its vast.

I think most peeps on here will agree with me and some may even explain better the advantages.

[Eddie101]

As a beginner i would say shoot both ,and play with both on photoshop ,never shoot in black and white (desaturate and level adjust in photoshop) although some people say there is a difference ,and never ditch pictures on the camera .Raw will enevitably be softer and require sharpening ,but as posted it is definately a better format for post processing .

[prezzy]

I always shoot in RAW and am DEFO a beginner

Have a few 2gig memory cards to use so the filesize isn't really an issue

Oh and as above I find I can do more with images in RAW as opposed to jpeg

[dpSparhawk]

Yup, I always shoot in Raw.

Reasons are already provided above.

[Geezah]

Depends on what camera I have with me, but if I have the option of RAW, I will always choose that.
As said already, you can adjust and manipuate a RAW photo without losing quality so much more than a jpeg.

[B B Leo]

on the 450d i cant view raw images on the camera.. or am i doing something wrong. also does the mean i have to learn more photoshop ????? b@stard

[BertRoot]

Used to shoot raw and jpeg but now just raw, takes up less space than both.

[prezzy]

on the 450d i can view raw.. or am i doing something wrong. also does the mean i have to learn more photoshop ????? b@stard

Not sure what your problem is / maybe try and explain a little better?

[greaseweasel]

Have a go at both and see what you prefer. There's no right and wrong, just peoples preference.

I only shoot jpg as my 'thing' is to try and get the shot right in camera and then only do minor level adjustments in Elements.
I had a go at RAW a few times but found it too time consuming for the amount of shots I take and found little improvement in final image quality to justify it (just my experience). Also as a hobbyist I don't get much of a kick out of the PC side and would rather spend longer with the camera making sure I get the shot I want. I have a number of custom functions on my camera that I use for various situations - different sharpness, saturation etc and prefer to tinker that side of the shot than the other.

As with the guys above, have a go at shooting in both and see if your RAW shots are proving better than the same jpg file with usual post processing and if you enjoy that side of the photography.

[willp2003]

i just shoot in jpeg at the mo, but i when i got the camera i said "i'll just get used to it, then shoot raw". Maybe 2009 should be the start of raw?
i think on my 450d you can shoot raw and jpeg at the same time, so you (leo) could play around with both and see if it's worth it. i'll have a play as well.
a lot of my trouble is that i'm colour blind so i don't know if it looks ok or not!

[B B Leo]

post edited prezzy this keyboard cant spell for shite

[Brock]

Thanks for the input everybody. I can shoot in RAW or JPEG and both together. I have only used JPEG up to now so I will give RAW ago and see what I think.

I thought not many people would bother with it, but I was wrong.

[[wingnut]]

I always shoot in RAW, then use lightroom and PS to edit them, then output in Tiff for archiving and then jpg once resized for web stuff etc.
Can't really add much to what everyone else has said but remember to always use the same colour space profile when going from RAW to JPG then editing and saving in PS. I use Adobe sRGB colour space and a couple of dedicated ICC colour profile for outputting to commercial printers. I honestly can't tell you why but I know that my results are 99.5% spot on from screen to print.

[Brock]

Any particular reason for outputting in Tiff? I have never used that before. I hope it is not a silly question.

Some great photos on your site by the way.

[dpSparhawk]

TIFF has no compression so the image is lossless. This means it can be changed and edited without losing any quality in the image. When you save to JPEG, there's a lot of compression and ultimately, loss of detail.

The minor downside to keeping TIFF files is that they're huge in file size. Mine seem to hang around 25 - 30Mb per image. However, disk space is cheap enough these days (at the moment, can't say what will happen with regards to global financial issues).

I'm sure Matt (Wingnut) will offer much more detailed explanations but a commercial/professional photographer has to keep all of their images in the highest quality format possible so that when coming to printing, there are no JPEG artifacts and the images are the highest quality possible.

Although I'm not a commercial photographer, I keep mine in TIFF for reasons of having a lossless copy of the image. Never know, I could sell a copy in 2 years time

I create JPEGs from the TIFFs to upload to online galleries and then delete the JPEGs once uploaded.

Note* If you shoot in RAW, your resulting image will be flat and lifeless in comparison to a JPEG version. This is to allow for total control in post processing. Curves, sharpening and some saturation adjustments are necessary.

[Brock]

Thanks for that. You guys have some really good knowledge and this site really makes learning a great deal easier.