Understanding and shooting in RAW format

The most commonly known file types are without a doubt JPG and TIF. JPG is supported by all cameras and is the “go to” format for instant images out of the camera and for sharing with friends and family.

However the “problem” with JPG is that whatever settings the camera had at the time of capture, these settings are “baked” into the JPG file and cannot be changed. This means that if your camera is set to an incorrect white balance setting or if the AUTO white balance setting of your camera was incorrectly applied this will reflect in your final image and cannot be changed. Likewise an under exposed image would be difficult to rescue without substantial loss of image quality. At the same time JPG is a compressed format which essentially means that you are missing out important image data in your image potentially resulting in lower resolution, artefacts and loss of correct colour rendition.

Most modern camera systems support a RAW format. Usually you

set this in the menu of your camera and often you can actually choose to capture the images in both RAW and a JPG version. This would enable you to have instant images from your camera for viewing and sharing and a high quality image for later editing. Understanding the RAW format of your camera can be intimidating at first and it does require some insights in image processing. The advantages of shooting in the camera manufacturers proprietary RAW format however are many and highly beneficial for ALL your images. Working with RAW files require you to use a RAW converter software, either the manufacturers own software or something like Adobe Lightroom, Capture One or similar.

Unlike JPG and TIF you are able to adjust and control the output of your RAW files indefinitely. You can adjust white balance, contrast, shadows, highlights, individual colours and a whole range of other image parameters - and you do this without altering the raw data of the image file in any way. Essentially this means that you have much more control of your final image and you will be getting the best possible image quality out of your camera.

Therefore we highly recommend shooting in RAW. If you have any questions regarding this, please ask your guide and he/she will help you with a better insight in this.

photo Jean-Sebastién Poirier, Paris