RAW File Format
RAW vs JPEG

RAW file format, are you shooting your digital photography photos in it? When comparing RAW vs JPEG pictures which do you think will win? Here are some digital photography tips that will help you get great results with RAW format pictures.

Maybe you've heard of RAW image format, but it just sounds too complicated for you. Maybe you think it's only appropriate for professional photographers. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not and you should give it a try. You paid a lot for your camera and now you should do what you can to get the best pictures possible. Let's do a comparison, RAW vs JPEG and see who wins the competition.

What is RAW Format?

RAW file format refers to the image as it is picked up by the camera's sensors. These images are completely unchanged. When you take a picture in JPEG, the camera makes adjustment to the image. The camera looks at the settings you have put into it and adjusts the picture according to things like white balance, image quality, size and any other settings you might have on your camera. Then it saves the picture as a compressed JPEG file.

For a RAW file format the camera doesn't do any of these adjustments. It simply saves the data as is. Then you can make adjustments to the photo once you load it onto your computer.

If you want to think of it in terms of film cameras. You can think of the RAW file as you film and the JPEG as the print.

Processing Your RAW Image

RAW images can't be seen any just any computer. In order to see a RAW image you need to have a special RAW image conversion program installed on your computer. Don't' worry, they're not hard to come by. Most DSLR cameras come with a program for converting RAW files. Since all camera sensors are different and there is no true standard for RAW files, that's the best place to start. If your camera didn't come with one or you lost the disk, you can use the one in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Camera RAW.

Once you've put your image in the converter you can easily edit it to make it look the way you want. One of the good things about using a RAW image file is that you have total control over the final look of the picture. You aren't relying on the guess work of your camera's computer at all. With a RAW image you can easily adjust color, saturation, white balance and other aspects of the picture to get just the right look. Then when you save that adjusted image as a JPEG, you haven't touched your original image at all. You original RAW image is saved just like it was.

Why RAW?

RAW images don't degrade each time you open them like JPEG's do. They give you the best quality image that stays the same over time.

When shooting in RAW file format you don't loose any of the data your camera has collected. Every detail is still intact the way it was when you took the picture.

The settings you use to change the picture can always be changed. Because once you edit a picture the original RAW file is left untouched, it can be edited and re-edited in any number of ways. You can experiment with different settings to see what you like. If you're someone who loves to tweak the look of your pictures you should definitely shoot in RAW format.

Why Use JPEG?

JPEG's are still quite useful. For the average person who isn't very concerned about their image quality JPEG is fine. Point and shoot cameras aren't able to shoot in RAW file format anyway.

RAW files are quite large and take up a ton of storage space. If you shoot lots of pictures in a day you may want to use JPEG just for storage reasons.

JPEG's are much more easily accessible then RAW files. If you need access to your pictures right away and have no intention of editing them use JPEG.

For most people JPEG is a good choice, but if you are ready to take your photography to the next level don't let RAW image files intimidate you.

Check out some more digital photography techniques here.