RAW rocks!!

neilmac

neilmac

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Neil McLeland
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Yes
:woot:As does Bridge CS3, Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 for that matter.

I posted the 2nd photo here in another thread but I'm putting it in this thread too as an example of how shooting in RAW gives an important 2nd chance with a duff image.

I took this image completely forgetting to set the camera up for it :bang: (a throw back from old point and shoot days I guess :cuckoo:) so the existing sttings were for shooting the moon the previous night!

As taken
boat_overexposed-1.jpg


Then exposure corrected, horizon levelled, various adjustments made, cropped and saved for web.
boat1.jpg


As a new convert to shooting in RAW I'm well pleased, don't know whether I'd have had the same chance with a JPEG?

Cheers,

Neil
 
Not a chance, all that detail in the blown highlights would have been history.
 
It's great isn't it Neil. I've been using RAW since I put a hacked firmware on my Z2 about 8 months ago. I've salvaged a lot of messed up images since then :D.
 
Mark.A said:
Not a chance, all that detail in the blown highlights would have been history.
Click to expand...

jgs001 said:
It's great isn't it Neil. I've been using RAW since I put a hacked firmware on my Z2 about 8 months ago. I've salvaged a lot of messed up images since then :D.
Click to expand...

Yes John it is! Only downside is that I probably binned a lot of potential when I started with my 400D 3 - 4 months ago :bang:.

Knowledge is a wonderful thing - when you get some! ;)

Neil
 
Its not the only good thing RAW does. I was shooting something in Lincoln cathedral this week which was dark. I knew i could under expose to get the shutter higher and then get it back after in PP. worked well.
 
Hi Neil
I always shoot in RAW, adjust for white balance and then process in photoshop. The resulting image is then saved as a TIFF file, but I never save the changes to the RAW file so that I always have the original image to go back to if required.
 
barrypriddis said:
Hi Neil
I always shoot in RAW, adjust for white balance and then process in photoshop. The resulting image is then saved as a TIFF file, but I never save the changes to the RAW file so that I always have the original image to go back to if required.
Click to expand...
Thats the way i work too. It's a good job i have a good internal drive 250G and an even bigger external drive 500G as well as all my very favourites saved on DVDs & CDs.
 
barrypriddis said:
Hi Neil
I always shoot in RAW, adjust for white balance and then process in photoshop. The resulting image is then saved as a TIFF file, but I never save the changes to the RAW file so that I always have the original image to go back to if required.
Click to expand...

Lot less hassle to use Lightroom - all image editing is no destructive to the original RAW file.
 
I have shot in RAW since I got my 450d. In updating my husbands compact I insisted on a G9 as you can shoot RAW with that too.

I enjoy the processing afterwards and love what you can do with the pictures when needed.

Glad you've discovered it and you're enjoying it Neil.
 
samcox89 said:
Its not the only good thing RAW does. I was shooting something in Lincoln cathedral this week which was dark. I knew i could under expose to get the shutter higher and then get it back after in PP. worked well.
Click to expand...

Even more benefits then! You can even plan to get it wrong ;)

Toothie said:
great example of why raw rocks :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thank you ;)

barrypriddis said:
Hi Neil
I always shoot in RAW, adjust for white balance and then process in photoshop. The resulting image is then saved as a TIFF file, but I never save the changes to the RAW file so that I always have the original image to go back to if required.
Click to expand...

I think I need to follow this process as well :thumbs:

POSTIE22 said:
Thats the way i work too. It's a good job i have a good internal drive 250G and an even bigger external drive 500G as well as all my very favourites saved on DVDs & CDs.
Click to expand...

I can see a large external hard drive appearing on my shopping list fairly soon! :D

jolsterj said:
Slightly off course, but what is the best free download for raw.?
Click to expand...

I don't know of anything free other than what comes with your camera depending on what that is, maybe someone on here will know though - have you tried searching the forum?

erding said:
Lot less hassle to use Lightroom - all image editing is no destructive to the original RAW file.
Click to expand...

Yes, Lightroom is a superb piece of kit - a lot to learn to get it right but seems very logical to use :thumbs:

swag72 said:
I have shot in RAW since I got my 450d. In updating my husbands compact I insisted on a G9 as you can shoot RAW with that too.

I enjoy the processing afterwards and love what you can do with the pictures when needed.

Glad you've discovered it and you're enjoying it Neil.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sarah, yes I'm enjoying the whole process. PP gives a whole additional dimension to photography :D.

Neil
 
raw is the way to go in fact Raw and Manual mode, the way i used to do it, but all this technology in the camera has me stumped somtimes, i wish it was like the old film days with the settings on the len's.

Regards Mark
 
Amazing, isn't it? I get a sneaking suspicion you chose a pic with lovely blue skies/sea just to annoy us all though :thinking: :naughty: :lol:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Amazing, isn't it? I get a sneaking suspicion you chose a pic with lovely blue skies/sea just to annoy us all though :thinking: :naughty: :lol:
Click to expand...

You old cynic, as if I would do such a thing :nono:

Trouble is that's how it looks out here the vast majority of the time :D

:coat:
 
jolsterj said:
Slightly off course, but what is the best free download for raw.?
Click to expand...

I use Lightroom (not free) and DPP (free with Canon DSLRs but ony useful for Canon raw files).

There is Picasa, from Google, which is free but a bit limited, and there is RawTherapee, which is donationware (free if you choose not to donate), which I've never used but several people like. There's also Gimp, which is free as well, but I've never had the inclination to try it for more than 30 seconds.
 
RAW is ideal except when you have 1500 to 2000 exposures to do, then the PP gets a bit long winded, then a correctly set up camera shooting
JPEG is more preferable and will save hours of your life. I always try to leave my cameras on P mode. Some call it plonker mode, others realise
it's auto mode which dumps a RAW file (instead of JPEG) with the resulting latitude with exposure etc.

Get used to the histogram feature on your dSLR and it will negate most adjustments required in PP (if you remember)
 
tdodd said:
I use Lightroom (not free) and DPP (free with Canon DSLRs but ony useful for Canon raw files).

There is Picasa, from Google, which is free but a bit limited, and there is RawTherapee, which is donationware (free if you choose not to donate), which I've never used but several people like. There's also Gimp, which is free as well, but I've never had the inclination to try it for more than 30 seconds.
Click to expand...

mmmmm lightroom a dream for me.

i have picassa very limited and I cant seem to download rawtherapee.

gimp might give that one a go

thanks
 
I need to start using RAW, it is now an option as I will be able to effectively process it on my laptop - I did have 512MB RAM, which tbh is fine for most things, but not for RAW images :lol:
 
Try Faststone Image Viewer
 
I shoot in RAW, because I, too, enjoy the PP afterward. Of course, I'm not a professional with a paycheck waiting at the end. Setting my camera to record both a RAW image and a JPEG has shown that I really am not gaining that much in RAW, so long as I've set everything up correctly. Of course, if you are looking the heavily manipulate your images to present a non-natural view of something, then RAW is the only way to go, IMHO.
 
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