(Great Blue Heron – Canon 1DMKIIN – Canon 600 F/4 IS Lens – Wimberley Mount – Gitzo Tripod – shot 12-2-05 at 1/3000th of a second, F/8, -0.5 EV, ISO 400)

Photo & Article by Scott Bourne

Every digital photographer has to decide between shooting in RAW v. JPEG. In this tip – I will explain the advantages and trade-offs of each. I will NOT tell you how to shoot. I’ll simply give you information that you can use to help make your decision.

Here are the basic differences. If you want the highest quality possible in your photographs, you want to shoot in RAW mode. This means that you can adjust the photo after the fact in ways that seemed like science fiction a few years ago. If you mess up the exposure or the color balance, you can fix it in software called a raw converter with no penalty. Do you always need the highest quality? No. If you are just making snapshot sized prints or posting to the web, RAW is overkill. But when you want to make large print or when you have a problem exposure, RAW can be a lifesaver.

Here are some of the advantages of shooting in RAW:
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