RAW? Or Not??

I am in a group on another website. There are quite a few women who have their own photography business. I asked them which format they used and almost all of them told me that they did not shoot in RAW and they didn't feel it was necessary and just a waste of space.... I am now very confused.....

Congratulations to them for perfectly nailing every exposure in camera, and never needing to make any corrections after the fact.

Sarcasm aside, shooting in raw gives you much more flexibility in post-processing, whether it's to correct for uneven lighting, clean up a shot with very high dynamic range (very night highlights and very dark shadows), or just fix the exposure because you had the ISO set one stop too low, and your subject stepped from the sun into she shade before you changed settings. It also gives much more flexibility in noise reduction, sharpening, and color correction. If those other photographers don't feel the need to do any post-processing work, that's their choice. For anyone who does do post-processing work, having a raw file is a boon.

Having said all that, making top-notch photographs, and being technically proficient in all forms of shooting, lighting, and postprocessing... all that is good and well, but it's not necessarily the same as being able to run a successful photography business. Some folks can have a very successful business with very mediocre photography.

Of course, there are also plenty of people who run a very mediocre business with very mediocre photography. The weekend warriors, the Uncle Bobs, the GWCs, and the bored housewives. At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I'd wager that most folks who say raw files are a "waste of space" probably fall into that sort of category.

ErnaR wrote in post #12523524
I am in a group on another website. There are quite a few women who have their own photography business. I asked them which format they used and almost all of them told me that they did not shoot in RAW and they didn't feel it was necessary and just a waste of space.... I am now very confused.....

In 1999, raw was a waste of space...

Not so much in 2011...I mean really...an 8gig card can hold WAY to many jpegs.

raw can be very helpful, it allows you to completely change your WB settings without worrying about it in camera. If you shoot jpeg and forget to set your WB, your picture could be terrible.

Also, I have read that while shooting in raw it is easier to correct for exposure mistakes like overexposure. Don't quote me on this.

For me, I shoot raw because I am editing my photos anyway - why not?

Ultimately, you will get better results by shooting raw. You will have greater control over the final results. The professionals that do not shoot raw probably do so because of the number of shots they shoot and as you mentioned - space. Some activities a professional shooter may shoot may lend itself to shooting jpegs - sports and weddings come to mind. Would they get better results shooting raw? Definitely. But they have to weigh their time in producing results and when shooting events such as a wedding or sporting event, they may shoot thousands of photos. If they know what they are doing, they are likely going to be able to produce hundreds of quality photos to the client with very little post processing.

If you are trying to produce quality art, and have the time for post processing and space on your computer (external hard drives are relatively inexpensive), then I recommend you shoot raw.

Ultimately, it is a personal decision and there is no wrong decision, just what suits you.

Mark

I shoot both - depends on what I'm shooting and what I'm planning on doing with the shots afterwards. Ultimately, my client isn't going to know either way, and 8+gb cards are dirt cheap these days.

I shoot RAW when I'm shooting portraits, kids, families, pets or dance performances in dark halls. Anywhere I think I need to worry about editing and processing.

I shoot JPG when I'm shooting sporting events, marathons, mud races. Anywhere I think I need to worry more about shutter speed and writing as many files to my cards as possible, as quickly as possible.

Neither are wrong or right.

Thank you. I am so glad you answered so quickly. I had just started shooting in RAW and they were telling me that it wasn't necessary and a waste of time. It kind of bummed me out.

pcj wrote in post #12523841
Neither are wrong or right.

... though it IS wrong for those other photographers to make a blanket statement that "raw is wasteful and unnecessary."

nathancarter wrote in post #12524265
... though it IS wrong for those other photographers to make a blanket statement that "raw is wasteful and unnecessary."

Exactly. Neither is wrong and its an option on camera for a reason.

"To Raw" or not to raw... is the question....

Raw is the answer!

I have cut way back on how much I shoot in raw. It just adds time to the process of getting the pictures ready for presentation. There are tons of ways to adjust white balance in jpegs, you don't need raw to do that. For $29 I bought a very nice plugin, iCorrect, that very easily adjusts colors and does a great job.

I was surprised to find that just about all of the pro photographers in our local guild shoot jpegs.

ShotByTom wrote in post #12524427
I have cut way back on how much I shoot in raw. It just adds time to the process of getting the pictures ready for presentation. There are tons of ways to adjust white balance in jpegs, you don't need raw to do that. For $29 I bought a very nice plugin, iCorrect, that very easily adjusts colors and does a great job.

I was surprised to find that just about all of the pro photographers in our local guild shoot jpegs.

This is what confuses/surprises me as well.

What Raw conversion software do you have available?

What type of photography you do most frequently?

ErnaR wrote in post #12523524
I am in a group on another website. There are quite a few women who have their own photography business. I asked them which format they used and almost all of them told me that they did not shoot in RAW and they didn't feel it was necessary and just a waste of space.... I am now very confused.....

ErnaR wrote in post #12524493
This is what confuses/surprises me as well.

Processing 300 jpegs goes a lot faster than 300 raw files...for weddings you're looking at up to a couple thousand images.

The last wedding I shot was just over 1700 pictures. If I were to edit and convert all of those from raw to jpeg it would take way too much time. I don't do as much processing as I used to. After I'm finished with the entire shoot, I'll pick a few images and play with them in photoshop, but I find that jpegs are fine. RAW is nice if I make a mistake, but I usually know right away if I've messed up the image and just re-take it, I try not to rely on fixing images in photoshop.

I have never seen a jpg from any camera that I couldn't have improved if I had been in control of its creation. Yes, you can edit a jpg - if you don't mind editing data that has been clipped a stop below the camera's native Dynamic Range, distorted by gamma correction, reduced from 14 to 8 bits and compressed into a lossy format. But all this is the side benefit of shooting RAW. The main reason is that the image is mine, my creation, and unique. Everybody has their own standards and their own budget of how much time, thought and effort they are willing and able to spend, but rather than accepting off-the-peg Walmart jpgs I prefer custom tailoring.

I went to a Wes Crockett seminar once and he said the reason he shoots jpeg was the "kill it and bill it" mentality. Time is money etc. Get it right in the camera and spend less time processing and make more jack.

For me:

1) It is a hobby, and as such I enjoy spending time on ALL aspects of the hobby including post.

2) I'm not good enough yet (and may never be) that I can take a shot that I couldn't improve in ACR.

3) Why not give myself as much flexibility as possible. Even if you you are not intersted in going as far as HDR; it is still easier to expand your dynamic range with a raw capture than a jpeg.

You have to ask yourself, what do you want out of this? Is it an enjoyable hobby? Is it a time intensive business? Are you advanced enough to shoot jpeg and not leave anything on the table?