RAW vs JPEG

[Art Rodriguez]

I know there has been a lot of debate about RAW vs JPEG and from what I can gather, a majority like to shoot RAW. I'm one of those persons who shoots a great majority in RAW. The reason is that I'm a knob when it comes to settings and white balance. So I can make up for my mistakes in RAW conversion even though I'm still not good at it. This past weekend I decided to shoot in JPEG of family members at the beach. That was a big mistake. It was a cloudy day and about 98% of my pictures are worthless. At least to me. This is how one of my pictures came out. It is straight out of the camera. As you can see, it is underexposed and the white balance is off. I tried to fix it in CS2 but am having a hard time with it. All I did was crop and resize it. Thus, the reason why I like to shoot RAW.

Art

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l269/jriggy4439/Misc/IMG_0179.jpg

[Wilt]

Art,
I shoot RAW myself. JPEG permits much of the capability of RAW, but with less range of recovery of errors made! Is it better to edit RAW for color balance and exposure, yes! But as this example shows, you can change JPEG!

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i63/wiltonw/IMG_0179.jpg

[DrPablo]

I also shoot RAW, but to be fair white balance is one of the easiest things to change in JPEG. In fact very often the white balance setting from the RAW editor is insufficient except to get it close, and curves or levels or color balance are much more precise ways of getting there (especially in LAB color).

[In2Photos]

To add to this. With newer programs like CS3 and Lightroom it is also easier to get the WB corrected as they function with JPEGs similar to the edits you would make with RAW. But I also still shoot RAW.

[Art Rodriguez]

Art,
I shoot RAW myself. JPEG permits much of the capability of RAW, but with less range of recovery of errors made! Is it better to edit RAW for color balance and exposure, yes! But as this example shows, you can change JPEG!

Wilt, thanks. That is great. Would you care to share with me how you did that. I assume it was an easy fix.

I also shoot RAW, but to be fair white balance is one of the easiest things to change in JPEG. In fact very often the white balance setting from the RAW editor is insufficient except to get it close, and curves or levels or color balance are much more precise ways of getting there (especially in LAB color).

That is my problem. I not familar with curves and color balance. I have tried playing around with them but I just wind up getting frustrated:)

To add to this. With newer programs like CS3 and Lightroom it is also easier to get the WB corrected as they function with JPEGs similar to the edits you would make with RAW. But I also still shoot RAW.

I have heard a lot about Lightroom. I just might have to take a look at that.

My biggest problem is color correction. I can never seem to get it right:oops:

Art

[Wilt]

Wilt, thanks. That is great. Would you care to share with me how you did that. I assume it was an easy fix.



That is my problem. I not familar with curves and color balance. I have tried playing around with them but I just wind up getting frustrated:)



I have heard a lot about Lightroom. I just might have to take a look at that.

My biggest problem is color correction. I can never seem to get it right:oops:

Art

You can always junk the Photoshop and get Paint Shop Pro X! ;)

PSPX has an 'one button auto correction' and I simply chose that, since my point was to only quickly illustrate the possibility of correcting JPEG and not what a properly balanced photo should look like!

[In2Photos]

You can always junk the Photoshop and get Paint Shop Pro X! ;)

PSPX has an 'one button auto correction' and I simply chose that, since my point was to only quickly illustrate the possibility of correcting JPEG and not what a properly balanced photo should look like!
Google's Picasa has one of those too that woks fairly well. In PS you would have to do Auto Level and Auto Color I think. In Lightroom you could use AutoTone which works pretty well for some but not all images.

[TSEE]

I know there has been a lot of debate about RAW vs JPEG and from what I can gather, a majority like to shoot RAW. I'm one of those persons who shoots a great majority in RAW. The reason is that I'm a knob when it comes to settings and white balance. So I can make up for my mistakes in RAW conversion even though I'm still not good at it. This past weekend I decided to shoot in JPEG of family members at the beach. That was a big mistake. It was a cloudy day and about 98% of my pictures are worthless. At least to me. This is how one of my pictures came out. It is straight out of the camera. As you can see, it is underexposed and the white balance is off. I tried to fix it in CS2 but am having a hard time with it. All I did was crop and resize it. Thus, the reason why I like to shoot RAW.
Art


I've gotten lazy myself, snapshots I don't intend to fool with I shoot JPG and if I find something I like about it I make it work with just the JPG. Studio stuff and portraits in general I shoot RAW just becuz I know there will be editing after the fact.
My take on your beach shot would be something like this....
Color Cast, Auto levels (which actually did a fairly good job this time, usually its crap and I do it by hand), auto contrast, Saturation 10.

[René Damkot]

Color correcting jpgs (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=274382&highlight=90%25+tapp).
On the brightness adjustments: Make a curves adjustment layer (so you can go back and change it, even after you saved it (as a layered tiff or psd file)), and drag the curve up a bit on the left (shadows) side...
Experiment a bit.

[cfcRebel]

Color correcting jpgs (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=274382&highlight=90%25+tapp).
On the brightness adjustments: Make a curves adjustment layer (so you can go back and change it, even after you saved it (as a layered tiff or psd file)), and drag the curve up a bit on the left (shadows) side...
Experiment a bit.Ever since i used this method suggested by Rene, i love it. I love it even more than the white balance slider available during RAW conversion.

[Art Rodriguez]

Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate that.

Color correcting jpgs (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=274382&highlight=90%25+tapp).
On the brightness adjustments: Make a curves adjustment layer (so you can go back and change it, even after you saved it (as a layered tiff or psd file)), and drag the curve up a bit on the left (shadows) side...
Experiment a bit.

The link for Eddie Tapp doesn't seem to be working if that is what you wanted me to see.

Okay, here is my edited version.

Art

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l269/jriggy4439/Misc/IMG_0179-01.jpg

[Geo]

Hi Art, Thank you for sharing this tips and tutorials about it, I would like recommend the a book where I learned a lot and may be some of you found interesting technique and wonderful tips.
Third Edition "Restoration and Retouching" By: Katrin Eismann .

[René Damkot]

The link for Eddie Tapp doesn't seem to be working if that is what you wanted me to see.


Works for me: Here is a direct link to the QT movie (http://www.photoworkshop.com/adobe/softwarecinema/Eddie_Tapp/index2.html)

[Art Rodriguez]

Thanks Rene. I just tried the link and it worked. Now I'll just have to go and try it.

Art