Manage raw files

The available RAW file extensions include. Generally speaking, JPEG files have some advantages, like smaller file sizes. But some photographers prefer to keep and deal with the camera RAW files because there are more benefits to taking photos as RAW files. By taking pictures in RAW format, you can get an excellent image visual experience with the minimum loss of information and data captured from the sensor.

The RAW file structure contains the following elements. There are many advantages of using RAW image format. The followings are some representative reasons for shooting in RAW. Camera RAW files record high levels of brightness. The brightness levels are related to the distribution of black and white.

The greater the brightness levels the image file contains, the smoother the image looks. That means you can adjust the brightness and white balance without losing quality. Brightness and white balance are the basis of a clear image.

A camera RAW adjustment will make it closer to the real world. So you can shoot landscapes with high levels of brightness in RAW format. Apart from brightness, RAW files will keep more information about the exposure of the photos. When we take pictures with digital cameras, the problems of excessive exposure and underexposure are common.

If you want to correct the image exposure with photo editors, you have to provide the information related to exposure. Camera RAW is easy to be correct, for it records more exposure information.

That will make the photo editor smarter when dealing with images. So even though you have taken a dark RAW image, the editing program could produce a clear photo with extensive exposure information. When you enlarge the images , you will discover that images have noises.

It is okay to enjoy these images on digital devices. When you print the photos, the noises will affect the quality of the output. So after shooting photos, photographers usually utilize a program to reduce noise and sharpen the images. The camera RAW and the details it records will become very useful; because the noise algorithms embedded in programs, like Photoshop, will read RAW files. JPEG does not have the information that such algorithms could read. The first chance is when you shoot the picture.

No limits, no compromises. Add Source to any SmugMug subscription. Get to know your new all-in-one photography platform with a day free trial. No credit card required. All the SmugMug tools you know and love, plus organization, management, and access to all your RAW files. You ready? Explore what you can do with your photos. Log in Try free. Every story starts here.

Manage your RAW photography assets with powerful AI-driven search tools, all on the same awesome platform you use to showcase and sell your photos. Lost your password? Privacy Policy. LOG IN. Search for:. Become A Member. Duration: Description Comments If you are a serious photographer, you are capturing your digital photos in the RAW file format because of its highest possible image quality yielding the best quality edit.

Active Oldest Votes. Resources This question that has many answers might help you, although it does cover paid as well as free options: What software is focused on reviewing and organizing images? Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Possible update given that Google has since killed Picasa? Barry Semple Barry Semple 2, 13 13 silver badges 12 12 bronze badges.

Unfortunately that is not true. There are a number of related questions on this forum and that is mostly because the in-camera conversion is not always doable exactly as is by RAW conversion software. Itai - If the correct software is used then it certainly IS possible to get good results. You said yourself, "is not always doable" and this is not the same as "is impossible".

Itai depends on the software doing the conversion; Photoshop saves its answers in the XMP, so could be reproduced simply and you would expect the manufacturers software to reproduce the same or very similar results Canon's DPP even let's you store your tweaks to settings, so that you could even reproduce your later versions — Rowland Shaw. At least with Olympus Software, the raw file keeps all the settings used in camera, so you can "develop" the jpg axactly as if it would have been produced entirely on-camera, so I like the option of keeping just the raw.

Actually my current workflow is entirely in raw, I filter the pictures in raw an then just use bulk develop. I suppose Nikon, Canon and others would work similarly. A number of you got confused by my answer : I did not say that one cannot get good results but that one cannot easily get the same results which is what throwing out the JPEGs cause one to lose.

Photoshop and the like do their own transformation, not the same one as the camera either. If one spends time working on it, you may even get better results.