Jpeg vs. RAW: what do YOU use?!

[Melissa Hill]

Well after much much reading on this subject in the last couple days I'm not going to get into the great debate on RAW vs jpeg but let's throw the question out there for discussion. For those that have the option of RAW or jpeg what do you choose to use and why? RAW or Jpeg or RAW + Jpeg. To be honest I'm currently confused on whether I should shoot primarily RAW or RAW + Jpeg.

Melissa

[dugarner]

I shoot RAW + JPEG simply so that I can preview all my shots in a simple program. I delete the photos I don't want, then I delete all the JPEGs once I know which ones I want to keep. I open the RAW files, make my enhancements/changes, and develop it as a JPEG. I keep the RAW file unedited in another folder in case I want to do something different with it down the road.

Those are my two cents!

Sarah

[katrinak]

I use RAW exclusively and important directly into Lightroom where I store, tag, and edit all in one spot. Straight out of camera JPEG will always appear to look better because your camera has done some of the processing for you, but RAW will give you the ability to do much much more fine tuning including removing the worry of white balance until you are in your edit software.

RAW is a HUGE space user so I'd be hesitant to add the JPEGs to my memory cards while taking photos and my EHD.

[LauraBean]

I shoot RAW and have no reason to shoot RAW + JPEG; similar to Katrina, I import into Aperture and make adjustments there as needed. I like the flexibility the RAW file gives me as compared with JPEGs.

[Starlite9711]

I shoot RAW just the same as Katrina, do adjustments in LR, then develop to Jpg. and save both.

[Amy L]

I shoot in RAW and process the photos in Bridge. However, I would love to feel that I could get it right enough in camera that I would feel confident shooting JPEGs during vacations when I am shooting tons of pics in a short time span.

[Sierra25]

Great discussion. I love to hear what others do. It is very helpful.

Thanks

[sarahorton]

I shoot in RAW, view and process in Lightroom then save the final edited photo as a 5x7 tiff file. I save the final as a tiff because it's not compressed, so it doesn't degrade if I want to change it later.

[katrinak]

I should add here that I only convert a few of my photos to jpeg...just the ones i'm printing...not even the ones I put on a scrapbook page...gasp!

[Denise Gormish]

I feel very alone here. I shoot in high quality JPEG. I upload and view my photos in iPhoto. If I need to edit my photos I do so in Adobe Photoshop. I often use Levels, sometimes Photo Filter, and find the quality all that I need.

My husband works in the field of Image Compression. Here is an article he wrote on the JPEG vs. RAW debate:

http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Phot...raphy/1186.php

[Jen D]

Originally Posted by Denise Gormish

I feel very alone here. I shoot in high quality JPEG. I upload and view my photos in iPhoto. If I need to edit my photos I do so in Adobe Photoshop. I often use Levels, sometimes Photo Filter, and find the quality all that I need.

My husband works in the field of Image Compression. Here is an article he wrote on the JPEG vs. RAW debate:

http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Phot...raphy/1186.php

Thanks for the linke to the article... that is a lot of helpful info = )

[bluelemur01]

I often shoot .jpg if the light is good. But if I'm shooting for a client, and especially if the lighting is mixed or bad, I always shoot RAW, because it's easier to fix colorization issues and white balance on a RAW file.

However, like I said first, I still usually shoot .jpg's around the house for my daughter. It's simpler, and if the light is good, I don't need the extra features of RAW. I think my photos of dd are very pretty even in .jpg! (of course I'm biased, though!)

Jennifer

[bluelemur01]

I'll add that whether I shoot RAW or JPG, I still edit every single photo that I give to a client or save in my "good" folders, and it takes about the same amount of time per photo.

The benefit of RAW is that I really CAN make sure the lighting & skin tones look their best -- it's just a really good insurance feature! Apart from the white balance & skin tone/colorization issues, though, I don't find that RAW necessarily and automatically makes my pictures "better."

For me, it's all about finding good lighting to take a picture. If the light is right, a .jpg FINE will do the trick just as well as a RAW! I've taken .jpg FINE for clients too (although I usually use RAW) and they turn out great!

I don't own Lightroom. I do my editing in Photoshop CS3. When I said that I edit EVERY picture, here is what I do:

• crop (about 80% of the time I will crop a photo)
• for jpg's, check to see if levels or curves make it look better/punchier. If the light is perfect, this is not needed, but sometimes if a photo is underexposed or the colors are a bit "off" this is necessary.
• in RAW, I adjust white balance & other controls as needed to get the right colorization.
• perform some sharpening
• brighter eyes if necessary
• smooth skin if necessary (or other cosmetic adjustments)
• add a convert to b/w layer so I can check if I want the photo in b/w too

Again, even if the photos look PERFECT, I usually always at least CHECK to see if a levels/curves will make it even more perfect, and do some sharpening for print or web view. I have written some actions to automate my favorite batch activites to make it simpler, but things like checking levels/curves have to be done individually, of course.

[audrey77]

I shoot RAW only- bring it in lightroom. Send it to PSE 5 as a jpg for scrapping, etc. I find that I fiddle with RAW images LESS than jpgs. Jpgs always need fixing it seems (at least to me!).

[katrinak]

Originally Posted by bluelemur01

However, like I said first, I still usually shoot .jpg's around the house for my daughter. It's simpler, and if the light is good, I don't need the extra features of RAW. I think my photos of dd are very pretty even in .jpg! (of course I'm biased, though!)

Jennifer

Your photos of your sweet daughter are always gorgeous! She is a cutie and your lighting ROCKS!!

I was doing the same until Cassie got ahold of me while in Florida! And if you think Cassie is influential online that is nothing in comparison to her real life self!! It's all RAW for me now

[Starlite9711]

I think it might have been Cassie's influence that got me shooting all RAW.....

[bluelemur01]

I keep thinking I should try photos in RAW on a regular basis, since I usually only use them with studio lights. Katrina, YOU are very influential too, as is Cassie! I love your photos very much (they also have great lighting and composition!) and get lots of inspiration from your LO's. But then do I need Lightroom? hmmmm.... maybe I'll give RAW another shot (pun...intended?) Poor RAW. I just dis it all the time.

[nirecreations]

I shoot all RAW.

[DebbieHodge]

JPG!!! In the early days of digi cameras (and in my pre-dslr days) i took raw so I could improve them . . . but . . . . for my purposes, the current jpgs I get work just fine. ----and, wow, Denise! so cool that your husband holds jpg patents . . . didn't even know there were such things!!!

[DesignerDigitals]

Thanks to Katrina and posts here I now shoot in RAW and use Lightroom and love it!

[Teri A]

Like Katrina, RAW, LightRoom, only a few get edited and converted to jpg and edited in PSE.

[Carol Elliott]

I still shoot JPG. I haven't gotten around to getting Lightroom, but when I do I'll revisit the possibility of shooting RAW.

[SAHMom]

I exclusively shoot RAW. I don't even remember the last time I shot in JPEG. I'm a control freak, so I don't want the camera adjusting my images and compressing them. I use Lightroom 2 to non-destructively edit my files, export into PS CS3 to make any other adjustments and save as JPEG to print (I used CS3 and ACR prior to getting Lightroom... Lightroom has definitely sped up my workflow and I love it!).

One of the big reasons for me is to be able to set my white balance after the fact. I simply take a shot of my gray card and make adjustments in Lightroom sampling off that later. No fiddling to set a custom white balance in each lighting condition, etc.

[Melissa Hill]

Thanks for all the replies...very helpful. Can always count on DD girls. Thanks to you gals I bought a mac, a crumpler bag, a 1.4 lens...and I'm sure the list will continue to grow! (don't worry it's all been over time!)

Melissa

[audrey77]

Originally Posted by SAHMom

One of the big reasons for me is to be able to set my white balance after the fact. I simply take a shot of my gray card and make adjustments in Lightroom sampling off that later. No fiddling to set a custom white balance in each lighting condition, etc.

YES... now if I can find out what my 2 years old did with my WhiBal card...

[Snapshotsbysabrina]

Hi there,
I am a photographer and I shoot in Raw only. Much more freedom in editing. But if I do shoot jpeg for some reason I can still open my jpegs in my camera raw editor (from Bridge using CS3). The only difference is that you don't have as many options to edit but it is still nice to be able to make a change to multiple photos all at the same time with synchronize.
Smiles

[Jana_NJ]

How do you guys organize that, do you save directly in a external hard drive, because my raw picture came more than 11MB?

[katrinak]

Originally Posted by mel_b

Thanks for all the replies...very helpful. Can always count on DD girls. Thanks to you gals I bought a mac, a crumpler bag, a 1.4 lens...and I'm sure the list will continue to grow! (don't worry it's all been over time!)

Melissa

Lightroom Melissa

[ShaylaSharp]

JPEG, high quality. Maybe when I upgrade my camera I'll shoot RAW + JPEG, but the quality of JPEG is perfectly fine and I don't really need to make many adjustments these days so why bother with the larger files.

[Sierra25]

How do you adjust white balance with a RAW photo in CS4? I can't seem to find it.