There s Nothing to Fear but Bad Images

There's Nothing to Fear but Bad Images

A lot of people still think of raw photography as the "advanced" or "professional" type of digital photography. Consequently, they're terrified of it, or think it's irrelevant to their needs and beyond their capabilities. For the most part, when you're shooting raw, you're not making any decisions that you don't have to make when you're shooting JPEG but when you're done shooting, you'll have an image file that's open to more sophisticated manipulation than a regular JPEG file. As for those more sophisticated manipulations, they're really not drastically different than the types of edits that you normally make with any modern image editing package.

Be aware that choosing to shoot raw is not some kind of major commitment. You can freely switch between raw and JPEG modes, and you will probably find yourself switching back and forth fairly regularly, depending on the nature of your shooting. If you're simply shooting snapshots that you want to quickly turn into prints, web-based images, or e-mail attachments, then JPEG is the way to go. Similarly, if you're shooting under conditions that you know your camera can handle well and you're not concerned about making major edits or enlargements, then shoot in JPEG mode for much easier workflow. Finally, raw files are big, so if storage is a concern, then you may have no choice but to shoot JPEG.

Whatever your shooting needs, an understanding of raw will add a valuable tool to your shooting arsenal. As for raw's being "difficult" or "advanced" or "professional," don't worry about any of that stuff. Raw's easy enough once you get a little background.