shooting RAW

Over the past couple of months I've been experimenting with shooting and processing digital photos in RAW format.

Before: unprocessed RAW image

For those not familiar with the term, RAW is sometimes described as a 'digital negative', a bit like undeveloped film. Because the image is not processed in the camera (like a jpeg for example) it is simply 'raw' sensor data: white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation, hue and everything else need to be 'developed' in processing. In my case I've been using Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom 4 - but other software such as Photoshop CS, Aperture or camera manufacturer's own RAW conversion software are available. I like Lightroom because I like the way it handles my digital workflow but also, because I work in education, I was able to use Adobe's discount and get the software for £60 - around £40 cheaper than the normal price.

After: processed RAW image

So a RAW image can't be printed or uploaded to the web - it has to be processed first, then exported as a jpeg or TIFF or whatever format you prefer. For some, the hassle of processing every image just won't be worth it - this is definitely something that is a lot less grueling done in small batches. RAW file sizes are a lot larger too, so you're potentially going to fill your camera's SD or Compact Flash card a lot sooner. Of course, jpegs can be processed in Lightroom or Photoshop too, but the camera will already have processed and compressed the original RAW file before you start affecting it even more.

For the time being I've worked on small batches of photos. I'm not sure if I would shoot RAW if I took my camera abroad for example where I might come back with several hundred shots - the amount of processing would become tiresome I imagine (though batch processing is an option I guess). I'm happy to tinker at the moment.

I can recommend Jared Polin's excellent Fro Knows Photo site for anybody beginning to take photography and processing seriously - each week you can download a RAW file, work on it yourself and compare it to how he and other site users have done.

For a critical view of shooting RAW read this Ken Rockwell post.

For a defence of RAW see this Jared Polin post on Fro Knows Photo.

You can download a 30 day free trial of Photoshop Lightroom 4 from Adobe's site here.