It’s been over a month since my last FAQ post! Yep, sorry about that one. I have a few posts planned, and I didn’t want to wait until Friday for this one. I will try harder to do 2+ FAQ posts a month. If you have any questions: workflow, equipment, camera settings, client interaction, etc., just let me know!

I know I’ve mentioned RAW on my blog before. I’ve mentioned that I shoot almost everything in RAW. I’ve also had several questions about what RAW is … and why I use it. I thought I’d use this FAQ post to explain.

When I bought my first camera, the Nikon D90, I started using it on full auto (don’t judge me, please!). I quickly changed to aperture priority and eventually onto full manual mode. My first few sessions were shot with JPEG format. I was shooting the maximum size JPEG image, because that’s what I always did on my point and shoot (again, don’t judge). One day, I put my CF card into the computer to download the images, and there was nothing there. All I saw were a bunch of files ending in ‘.nef’. I put the card back into the camera and saw that some how my camera got set to RAW format. What was RAW? I checked my book and then Google and found out that RAW would quickly become my best friend when it came to my images.

All digital cameras shoot and store information … they don’t store a photo right away. When you click your shutter, all of the information (image, lighting, settings, etc.) are stored on your camera in a little file. If your camera is set on JPEG, the camera does the conversion for you and you can download these image straight to your computer, leaving you less room for correction if needed. On the other hand, you could shoot RAW, and download the information to your computer, leaving you the ability to do that conversion yourself, which results in the image exactly as you saw it in your mind when you were making the photo.

Some people are convinced that shooting RAW is a way for less than stellar photographers to present themselves in a better light. I think that’s the furthest from the truth. When I’m working with an amazing couple during their wedding day, the last thing I want to worry about is the white balance of the image … “Oh, this image is too blue. Please just stand there for a few seconds while I make the changes! Oh, but don’t move, because this would be the perfect shot!” … Those words won’t ever come out of my mouth. I am shooting for composition, lighting/exposure, and emotion. I would much rather download the RAW files once I’m home and adjust those tiny little white balance issues instead of missing the first kiss shot because I was adjusting my camera. I think RAW speeds up my workflow on so many levels. Even from shooting the session. I shoot full manual, unless you want to consider auto white balance, which are the recommended settings I would encourage others to try. Now that I shoot my Nikon D700, I only use JPEG format when I’m shooting for my personal photos. It actually does a pretty great job with color saturation and white balance while in RAW mode, that I don’t have too much to adjust on the computer. *Hopping off of my soap box now!*

Before you start shooting RAW, there are a few things you should know:

1. RAW files are HUGE. When I saw HUGE, I mean HUGE. Like 10 megs, huge. Plan on investing in good memory cards … If you’re a portrait photographer, I think you could get by with 20 gigs worth of memory cards. Wedding photographers should have 60+ gigs of cards. RAW files are so big, because they contain a lot of data. It’s also important to note that it’s worth investing in a few external drives to store your RAW files on. If you plan on keeping them on your main computer, it will fill up quickly. I think I’m going to do an entire post about transferring and backing up files. It’s sooo important, and I am sure other photographers would agree that a consistent workflow is a key part of being a successful photographer.
2. You will more than likely need to update your software before you can see the RAW files on your computer. Remember I said I could see the file information the first time I downloaded the raw images … but couldn’t see the actual images? This is because the RAW plugin for my version of Photoshop wasn’t updated. All it took was a simple click in Photoshop to update my software and that was it. Don’t freak out if you shoot RAW and then can’t get the images the first time you plug in your new camera.
3. Plan on shooting at least 1 session with both JPEG and RAW. This is a little bit like sticking your toe in the pool to test the water. Most DSLR cameras allow you to save JPEG and RAW at the same time. To save a little extra room on your card, you might choose RAW + JPEG Small. This ensures that if you absolutely hate RAW (which I don’t think you will), you’ll have the JPEG images.

So now that you know the basics, I can show you why shooting RAW works for me.

Remember Mike & Sarah’s beautiful wedding in St. Joe, Michigan? Here’s one of my favorite images of Mike from the day. First, this is exactly what I see when I open a RAW file for the first time. It opens in Camera RAW for Photoshop CS4.

The image above shows the file exactly how it was shot. The main things I’m concerned with (before I open the image in Photoshop) are the Temperature, the Tint and the Exposure of the image. The three controls are on the right side of the screen.

Once I opened this image, I realized that it’s a little too cool for my liking. I think skin tones should be as close to natural as possible. People aren’t blue (well, none that I’ve seen anyway), so this image needs warmed up a bit. I do that by bumping the temperature control up just a bit (towards the yellow). I adjust the exposure a bit as well.

Original:

After adjusting temperature:

As you can see … the changes aren’t huge. It’s still important to try to nail exposure in the camera as much as possible. I always run a couple actions after the basic edit to put my own touch on the photos (not shown here).

Here’s one more example of when RAW was amazing. I recently did a session with Ashley, Addy and David. The day was BRIGHT and so we took some shaded shelter under the big oak trees at the park. When you’re under foliage in the bright sun, the light can tend to get a bit green. The following photo was one of the first shots from the day. I was adjusting my settings, and I got this shot before I found the sweet spot on my exposure. When I came home, and downloaded the images, I almost deleted this one. I had other shots that worked, but I LOVED this shot of them.

As you can see, it’s WAY to dark … and too green. I was able to bump up the exposure without the image getting WAY saturated or bright. Also, I bumped the tint control to the right to add a little more magenta to the image. The image went from unusable to great in a matter of 10 seconds.

I hope this makes sense. If you have any questions related to this post, feel free to ask. I’d LOVE to answer more questions too, so ask away!!