Shooting RAW


Another shooting option is to shoot RAW. Unlike the .jpg fi le format, in which the camera makes the processing decisions based on the parameters you set, a RAW fi le is the equivalent of a digital negative, and you decide, via Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software (supplied with the camera with free updates available online) how you want the photo to look. You can correct the exposure over about a two stop range, up or down, adjusting for exposure errors, until you get a correct image. You can also change color temperature, make contrast and sharpness adjustments, even batch process a whole folder’s worth of images.
In a way, it’s like shooting color transparency fi lm, with its very tight tolerances, but having exposure latitude closer to color negative fi lm. The downside is that you can spend a signifi cant amount of time processing these fi les. One or two at a time, of course, is minimal. It’s when you shoot a major event, like a wedding with its requisite hundreds of shots, or a day’s worth of graduate portraits, that you’ll feel the time constraints of processing RAW fi les.
Personally, I have nothing against the RAW format. In fact, I think it’s a digital gift. The problem I do have with it, and with those folks who propose it as the only way to work, is that there are better ways to spend your time than sitting in front of your screen, opening, and tweaking fi les that should not need so much of your attention. In terms of workfl ow (and this is only my opinion and based on my own clients and workfl ow), I think RAW should be used judiciously. If you are a photographer who may only shoot a minimal number of frames per day, a landscape or architectural photographer perhaps, then RAW is a great option for you, as it will allow you the greatest amount of control over your work.
For those of you who have a more production-intensive schedule, here is a solution that could save hours of post-production off of every day of your professional lives.
Canon allows you several compression ratios for your images (explained elsewhere) and also allows you to shoot RAW and .jpg at the same time. Now, RAW fi les do take up a fair amount of space on the storage cards, and you may have to buy more cards or download more frequently to shoot both formats, but if you want the convenience of shooting jpegs and the fl exibility of RAW, shooting both RAW and high jpeg is the best bet.

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