The RAW file format
And why your photographer should use it

What is a RAW file?

For all you brides that don't know what a RAW file is, here's the scoop. Today's digital cameras can produce two basic types of image files - Jpeg and RAW. JPEG is the simplest and most universally accepted file format. RAW is not at all universally accepted, but it has many advantages. Most importantly, it captures ALL the data that your camera's digital chip can produce in one shot, and it allows you to manipulate that data AFTER you get it back home and download it into your computer.

If your photographer sets the camera to record Jpeg files, then the vast majority of this data is discarded by the camera as the software inside the camera analyzes the image to determine what is the most likely portion of the data that you will want to see, and then it throws away the rest. Once this data is discarded, you can't get it back. How much data is discarded? Roughly 15/16ths. That may sound like a lot, and it is, but to be honest, cameras are quite good at picking out the best 1/16th and giving it to you in a nice Jpeg image.

Speed vs Quality

Wedding photographers are faced with many conflicting needs. The need to be able to process one set of wedding images before the next weekend arrives is one factor. But that need for speed is counterbalanced by the need to provide high quality images.

Are those two desires incompatible? I don't think so.

Raw files can be handled quite fast with today's software. I personally shoot an average of 1500 images in a day. Then after I get home and put the images in my computer, I can edit out the bad shots, color correct the good ones, and set the computer working on outputting the finished files in roughly 3-4 hours. Is that too much? Perhaps that depends on how much the photographer is charging and whether or not this time is factored into the whole package.

Is it worth it? I can say, without the slightest doubt, Absolutely!

What is the advantage of shooting RAW?

The first advantage is in a RAW file's ability to be used and re-used without damage.

Once you get home and put the images into your computer, you can review each RAW file and start to make changes. But the beauty of working on RAW files is that you don't actually change the file data when you work on it. Each RAW file has a text file embedded into it that contains the instructions for how you want to VIEW that image. When you make changes to the appearance of that RAW file, the instructions in the text file are all you've really changed. If you come back later and want to change it again, all the original data is still there. You can make changes to RAW files indefinitely without altering the original data one bit. (no pun intended)

In contrast, if you are working on a Jpeg file and let's say you want to make it black & white. When you do this, you delete the color information permanently. The only way to keep the original data is to make new copies every time you want to make a change. If you ever change your original, that change is permanent.

The second advantage is in a RAW file's ability to allow very large changes.

Raw files contain so much data that you can make HUGE changes to the exposure brightness, color saturation, contrast, white balance and sharpness (among other things). In fact, the only things about your photo that you can't change after-the-fact, are fixed things like the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings that you used when you originally shot the image. So for example, if you shot the image too bright or if you used the wrong color balance setting - you can easily correct this in the RAW file without any degradation of the image whatsoever.

Being able to make so many changes after-the-fact, basically gives us photograhers a big insurance policy. Now we can take images that we screwed up on, and correct our mistakes after we get back home.

This is the point where some photographers will sneer, "if you'd shot it right in the first place, then you wouldn't need to fix it later." Well, of course that is true. A perfectly shot JPEG image would not need the help that RAW files afford.

However, to be honest.... nobody is that good of a photographer. I know I'm certainly not. And considering the fast paced action and the rapidly changing lighting conditions we're confronted with at a wedding, its no wonder we come back home with a lot of images that are crying out for help.

Shooting RAW gives you the ability to turn many images that were shot wrong - into beautiful finished files.

Doing the same thing with Jpeg files that were shot wrong is either impossible, or so much trouble that the Delete button starts looking like a good solution to the problem.

How does it all work?

With RAW files, you go over each image and make adjustments in the computer, then when you have all the files corrected like you want them, you create a new folder and set the computer software to render all the RAW images out to this new folder as a set of JPEG files.

You may ask, "why not just shoot JPEG in the first place?" Well JPEG is a perfectly good file type that can be used for just about anything. However, if the JPEG file was not created perfectly in the first place (which they rarely are) then you have to open that image in Photoshop and adjust it. These adjustments are very limited with JPEG files because the file type has a bare minimum of data to start with. RAW files on the other hand have tons of data in the file and you can make HUGE changes to brightness, color balance, sharpness, saturation, contrast and noise control.

Many photographers debate whether or not the extra time involved in RAW file production is actually worth it. However, they seem perfectly willing to color correct JPEG images in Photoshop.

Well here's some news for you photographers..... RAW file production is actually faster and easier than JPEG.

I use the program that comes free with all Canon Digital cameras - Canon Digital Photo Pro (DPP).

This program allows me to move rapidly through the file correction process and whithin a few hours I end up with a set of images that is light-years ahead of anything I ever created when I was shooting jpeg files only.

If I had to make those same corrections in Photoshop it would take me DAYS! To be honest, back when I was shooting jpeg, I would often choose to just delete a marginal image instead of pulling it into Photoshop and taking the time to correct it. Now I can make it look great in seconds.

Back when I was using Photoshop, I just didn't take the time to do anything but the simplest corrections to the files that were in the most desperate need. I would never have dreamed of changing every single image in the entire set. That simply wouldn't be possible.

But that's exactly what I do now.     And it shows!

The only time I open Photoshop these days is to do artistic image manipulation and to create album pages.

Here are some examples of the difference between what the camera produced in the original JPEG and what I produced after manipulating the RAW file for about 2 seconds each. And yes, I do like warm tones so I balance it that way on purpose.

These color corrections could have been accomplished in Photoshop, but with Canon's Digital Photo Pro software, all the color corrections were made with two or three mouse clicks that take only a few seconds per image.

If you are a bride or groom.....    make sure your photographer shoots in RAW format.

It really does make a difference.