I'm Confused about RAW vs JPEG Editing

[VegasGeorge]

I understand about taking photos in RAW to capture more data, but should I edit (light, contrast, saturation, shadow, etc.) in a RAW editor, then do it again after conversion to JPEG? What if I want to use a predetermined action in a JPEG editor, like Velvia Vision. Should I forgo any editing in RAW if I'm going to edit after conversion? It seems like the editing adjustments are a lot grosser in the JPEG editors. Would not that mean that any finer adjustments already made in RAW would be "lost.?"

[PhotosGuy]

I do most of the editing in RawShooter before I convert to tiff to get the most out of the raw file. (It's sort of like editing a 12-bit tiff in ps - less info lost). Then I tweak that in PS & convert to jpg for web & printing. If RawShooter had layer masks, aplha channels, filters, etc., I'd use them in there, too.

[MAD DOG]

The advantage I can see of editing in RAW is that you can retrieve detail that would otherwise be lost by the algorithms your camera applies to your shots before saving them to the storage media (eg compact flash) in JPEG format.

This should mean that when you then further process the image in PS or similar, you will still get a more detailed final result than if you had worked just from a JPEG file.

[KennyG]

You do not edit in RAW. You set the parameters for conversion, nothing more. You should convert to TIF not JPG and work on the TIF file in PS if you need any further adjustments. If you want a JPG, produce it from the TIF.

[VegasGeorge]

KennyG - What you said, or how you put it, makes sense to me. "Setting parameters for conversion," sounds right. Does it make sense to set all the parameters (eg., color saturation, contrast, etc.) before conversion, or just the basic exposure? Another way to put it, would you white balance the RAW, or wait to do it to the Tiff?

[KennyG]

Adjudt everything you can adjust at the RAW level. I say 'can', because not all RAW converters are created equal. Setting WB and exposure at conversion time is way better than tinkering with it on PS for example. All I do in PS these days is re-size for the web, blemish removal and the odd fine tuning pre-press.

[PhotosGuy]

You do not edit in RAW. You set the parameters for conversion, nothing more. Thank's Kenny. (Damn, wish I'd said that!) :D;)