Raw?

I always shoot RAW because you can never go from a JPG or TIFF to an original RAW, but you can always go the other way.


Amish Ed
Dual 2Ghz G5, 4GB, running 10.3.6 w/QT 6.5.2, Black Majic DeckLink, AE Pro 6.5 w/BCC and Invig. 3D, PS CS2, AI CS2, FCP HD

Here's a few advantages to RAW.

1) It functions like a negative, you make your adjustments in a RAW converter and it will open as a new file.
2) It is a lossless format, and the only changes to the data off the imaging chip are ones set in custom menus.
3) There is much more room for adjusting your image parameters in a good RAW converter, and then you only have to do minor tweaks in Photoshop.

These add up to much better images. While I always shoot in RAW; I suppose if I was only shooting for the web or was really hurting for card space I might not.

Amish Ed
Dual 2Ghz G5, 4GB, running 10.3.6 w/QT 6.5.2, Black Majic DeckLink, AE Pro 6.5 w/BCC and Invig. 3D, PS CS2, AI CS2, FCP HD

Top of this page has some tutorials and some forums.
http://www.rawworkflow.com/

Have fun, and post if you get stuck.


Amish Ed
Dual 2Ghz G5, 4GB, running 10.3.6 w/QT 6.5.2, Black Majic DeckLink, AE Pro 6.5 w/BCC and Invig. 3D, PS CS2, AI CS2, FCP HD

Run to your nearest bookseller and immediately purchase REAL WORLD CAMERA RAW, 2nd edition.

You must learn how to use your camera's proprietary raw conversion software, too, but Adobe's Camera Raw, together with CS2 Bridge, will forever change the way you handle digital photographs and, possibly, change forever how you use Photoshop.

However, the reasons to shoot raw are tied directly to the end uses of your images. Raw is a completely unjustifiable workflow in most cases. Raw is a waste of card space, disk space and your time if your end products do not truly need to be raw originals.
1. Raw images are huge so you get far fewer on your cards and downloading them to the computer takes longer.
2. They are proprietary so they require a raw convertor and tremendous processing to open.
3. You must open them to cull them.
4. Accessing raw's higher functions also takes time; adjusting the white balance or exposure takes time.
5. Converting them to a useful format that other applications can use, TIFF or JPEG, can take a long time.
6. Do you save both the original raw and the processed output files?

Raw is tempting.

We do everything in raw for justifiable business reasons. That's why we're investing in Apple's Aperture without even thinking about it. If I can save two or three person-hours after each shoot, just by eliminating all of the raw processing just to make our initial selects, Aperture will pay for itself in about four assignments.

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