shooting raw

[GEORDIE]

I have gone from shooting only jpeg to shooting jpeg and raw as I have learned from this forum that raw is superior for pp. My question is can I upload raw which is a larger file to this forum or do I have to re-size.
Need your advice.

Cheers Colin.

[Snarkbyte]

RAW is not a standard file format, so you can't upload and display RAW files on this forum. Each manufacturer has it's own set of RAW files (the RAW format varies a bit with camera model, as well as manufacturer). Since you're shooting RAW+JPG, you can upload the full-size jpg to a hosting site like SmugMug, and link to the file on the host site. Then viewers can see the image in full-size by using the Lightbox feature.

[GEORDIE]

Thank's Al for the info.

Colin.

[dje]

RAW is not a standard file format, so you can't upload and display RAW files on this forum. Each manufacturer has it's own set of RAW files (the RAW format varies a bit with camera model, as well as manufacturer). Since you're shooting RAW+JPG, you can upload the full-size jpg to a hosting site like SmugMug, and link to the file on the host site. Then viewers can see the image in full-size by using the Lightbox feature.

Sorry to disagree here but I can't see any point in shooting RAW + JPEG if you are just going to post the JPEG from the camera to the web. The whole point in shooting RAW is to exploit it's potential for enhanced processing over the in-camera processing which produces the JPEG.

Colin RAW files need to be opened in RAW capture software such as Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) , DPP (Canon software), Adobe Lightroom or one of the many other applications that can do RAW processing. Once the RAW file has been processed in the RAW capture software, it can be further processed if necessary in software such as Photoshop and then converted to a jpeg for posting to the web. I would suggest you resize the image to a size suitable for web viewing before posting.

Dave

[Glenn NK]

RAW is not an image file - it's simply the raw data from the camera's sensor (and whatever processing goes on in camera).

A RAW file must be converted into a viewable image file such as DNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc. by sofware such as Lightroom, Photoshop (elements and pro), DxO, Aperture (for Apples), DPP (Canon's proprietary software), NIK (Nikon's proprietary software), Bibble, Gimp, to name a few.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_file_formats

There are more image file formats than I realized. !!

Glenn

[Donald]

A RAW file must be converted into a viewable image file such as DNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc. by sofware such as .........

Just one small point - The GIMP cannot, itself, convert RAW files. It needs a front end package (Raw Therapee and UF Raw are two Open Source/Free packages RAW processors/converters, in the same vein as the GIMP itself). Although any commercial package, such as DxO, can be used as the Raw processor. The GIMP can then take a converted and saved TIFF file, turn it into its native .xcf format and that can be further processed and the final JPEG made.

[Geoff F]

At one time, I always shot Raw + small jpeg. Simply because I used an image viewer (ACDSee) to check my downloaded images and quickly delete those which weren't up to standard. And that software wouldn't recognise my Raw files.

Since getting different software (Bridge) I only shoot Raw and save a little bit of space by not including a jpeg.

As Dave said, there isn't any point in shooting Raw then using the attached Jpeg instead. But which format to use after conversion is open to debate. I don't see any point in converting the 'master image' to a format which may include image quality loss; such as Jpeg.

If Jpeg's are required, for internet use etc, they can be copied from the 'master file' as required.

Which mostly leaves a choice of converting to the software 'native format' (such as psd) or Tiff which is a good universal format; but at reasonably high file sizes. There are several other universal options (eg PNG), but some of them aren't recognised by all applications.

This can however also apply to 'native formats' if you switch to another brand of software. Although the Adobe Psd format is accepted by many other editing programmes.

[dje]

At one time, I always shot Raw + small jpeg. Simply because I used an image viewer (ACDSee) to check my downloaded images and quickly delete those which weren't up to standard. And that software wouldn't recognise my Raw files.

Since getting different software (Bridge) I only shoot Raw and save a little bit of space by not including a jpeg.

As Dave said, there isn't any point in shooting Raw then using the attached Jpeg instead. But which format to use after conversion is open to debate. I don't see any point in converting the 'master image' to a format which may include image quality loss; such as Jpeg.

If Jpeg's are required, for internet use etc, they can be copied from the 'master file' as required.

Which mostly leaves a choice of converting to the software 'native format' (such as psd) or Tiff which is a good universal format; but at reasonably high file sizes. There are several other universal options (eg PNG), but some of them aren't recognised by all applications.

This can however also apply to 'native formats' if you switch to another brand of software. Although the Adobe Psd format is accepted by many other editing programmes.

Geoff I totally agree. I don't bother with RAW + JPEG anymore, I just shoot RAW. I use Bridge for browsing etc and I save my work in PS as a PSD (Master file if you like). You can then produce any sort of compressed file at a later stage.

It's just that I didn't know what software Colin used so I didn't want to get too specific.

Dave

[Manfred M]

I usually shoot RAW and jpg. I've found that I get better jpg images out of the camera than when I try to accomplish the same in Photoshop. Somehow the in-camera processor delivers images that have fewer artifacts than what I get when I post-process raw images, especially if I push things like contrast and saturation settings..

So, for run-of-the-mill images that have little or no postprocessing (i.e. images that are posted on non-photo sites) and I do little more than resizing them, I will use jpgs produced out of the camera. For those special images that need TLC, it's RAW and Photoshop all the way.

[GEORDIE]

Thank's to everyone who took the time to help me.
I found all of your replies helpful.
I have pse7 and canon dpp, also Faststone which I use for filing my photo's. Being new to photography I am finding lots to learn about pp so again thank you

Colin

[xpatUSA]

Another point is that "RAW+jpeg" can mean a lower quality jpeg image. Like a Nikon D50 with it's 3 jpeg qualities (fine, normal, basic) only provides a "basic" jpeg image in "RAW+jpeg" mode and it is . . . pretty basic ;-)

Ted

[enaiman]

Sometime I find the jpg SOOC to be good enough to be a keeper so I don't bother processing the raw file at all.
Card space is not an issue today so why give up that?

I am processing the raw file when I feel that I can get a better result.

[FrankMi]

I always shoot RAW with my Nikon because I find it rare to capture an image that can't benefit from some aspect of post processing even if it is just capture sharpening, checking white balance, recovery, fill light, cropping, size reduction for posting, and output sharpening.

Because I often shoot contrasty scenes and natural light (even indoors) and often with exposure and/or focus bracketing, there are often a number of other post processing adjustments I frequently do as well.

The main reasons I don't shoot RAW + JPG is that (1) If it is a RAW image, I'm going to have to post process every image anyway, (2) I don't want the added overhead/workload of moving, cataloging, and storing the JPG images that I won't use, and (3) I don't want to slow the camera's processing down with storing both formats and potentially miss a shot.

When I use my Canon SX40, I am limited to JPG images but I still check and tweak as necessary the JPG images in post processing. Although the camera does capture sharpening, it isn't always appropriate for the scene and I still want to check and tweak the white balance, recovery, fill light, cropping, size reduction for posting, and output sharpening.