raw

this is the screen that pops up when you open a RAW file in photoshop.

I am sure that we all know the basic plus of shooting in RAW and the JPEG files respectively, but is that all there is to it?

Just incase you aren’t familiar with the terms: RAW and JPEG are two different file types and therefore most DSLR cameras come with the option of either shooting and saving your images in RAW or JPEG.

The basic idea is that a JPEG file is more compressed than a RAW file. A RAW file does not compress at all and is therefore two things: much bigger than a JPEG file and better to use for after-editing.

The down side to shooting in RAW? Your memory card is going to fill up really, really quickly. On my camera, and it might be different on yours, my RAW files are over double the size of my largest JPEG files. A lot of professional photographers shoot in both RAW and JPEG mode which of course takes up even more space!

So what are the other benefits of shooting in RAW mode?

A RAW file is effectively a Digital Negative. The only thing that matters, really, when shooting RAW images is your ISO setting. (and staying in focus!) because your white balance and colour space can all be adjusted and changed at a later stage. This can be viewed as a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion. A good thing because if you make a mistake on the picture of a life time (or a wedding!) you can easily mend it. A bad thing because you might become accustomed to not paying attention to how you are shooting and pick up some really bad habits, knowing that you can fix them up at a later stage and if photography is how you make your living, then all you are really doing is adding time (money) onto your processing when it could have easily been avoided had you just used the right settings to begin with.

Shooting in JPEG mode also has its ups and downs.
The most obvious down is that you are restricted. After editing is limited compared to a RAW file and you really do need to make sure that all of your settings are spot on.
Another down side is that the onboard computer on your camera will make its own decisions about colour balance / tone / lighting, obviously in line with your settings, but still not an entirely free process.

Of course you are still able to do after editing on a JPEG file, but the freedom is greater on a RAW file.

Something that does sway a few photographers to their preferred shooting mode is that the length of the burst rate is greater when you are shooting with JPEG instead of RAW and for a sports photographer, for example, speed really is everything.