RAW v JPG – The ULTIMATE Showdown
February 5th, 2009I’ve tried to capture a few things here; workflow, processing and hopefully the value of shooting in RAW over JPG. For most people, JPG is fine. If you want to push your photos further, shoot in RAW.
Ok. It’s not the ultimate showdown. And the small video size might not reveal as much detail as I’d hoped. As soon as Vimeo is done taking a crap, I’ll replace this link with the full size video that you can view fullscreen and it will hopefully look good.
If you have questions, please keep them on-topic and relevant in the comments below. o
Tags: lightroom tutorial, photo tips, processing tips, RAW v JPG, screencast, screenflow, tutorial
Thanks for this. Was also a pretty decent tutorial on Lightroom’s Develop settings. I’ve been waffling on trying out RAW, I guess I should just try it and see how I like it. ; )
I just wanted to thank you for posting this video. I am a visual learner, and while I have heard and read about the pros of RAW, and how one might use Lightroom or Aperture for post-processing, nothing really clicked until I saw this. Yours and Heather’s photos have been an inspiration for me for a number of years (going back to even before “The Lovely Glow Effect”), and getting a behind the scenes look at how you attain the finished photos is a real treat.
If I may be so bold as to make a request: I’d love to see the full process for a photo, not just the post-processing. What sort of light you’re shooting in (or with), what types of in-camera settings you’re using, what you like and dislike about your equipment or a particular setting/lighting, etc. Maybe that’s too tall an order — maybe instead, if you know of any online resources that feature videos like yours above, I’d love to hear about them.
Thanks again!
Excellent post/video!
I used to switch between RAW and JPG, depending on whether I was shooting snap-shot type stuff, or actually shooting either personal ‘artsy’ stuff, or for a client. I say “used to,” because I learned one day the real value of RAW, when I went out to shoot (thankfully just a personal day trip) and forgot to switch back to RAW. Not only that, but I was shooting indoors under tungsten lighting prior, so my white balance was set for that. I took the first shot, a fleeting bird in flight shot, and noticed the funky blue hue all over the image. Rookie mistake, I know, and I’ve done the same while shooting in RAW … though the difference being, with the RAW image I just correct the white balance in Lightroom, or Photoshop… or even iPhoto. With the JPG, it wasn’t happening
Since then I always shoot in RAW, regardless. I can’t think of any legitimate reason not to. I import and process in Lightroom or Photoshop as needed, and when I’m satisfied with a photo or set, I export them as JPG and bring those into iPhoto for sharing, then backup the RAW masters to an external drive and DVDs when I have enough for one.
I’ve actually been working on my own blog post on why shooting RAW is better than shooting JPG. I’ve got a couple sample shots, going more for the extremes of under or over exposure. I’m just lazy and neglect my blog
I’ll have it up soon though, perhaps this weekend.
Wow!
This is great. I’ll have to watch it again when Vimeo is done with its business.
In one of the links you posted earlier, the author had concerns about raw software and being able to open your photos in the future – is this a real problem?
Thank you thank you thank you.
You had me at “Hello.” (Actually, you had me when you hit the “Previous” button and applied the RAW tweaking to the JPG. That’s dramatic.)
I’ve been shooting RAW since you suggested it last week, and have been singing your praises ever since. RAW really can withstand far more tinkering than JPG.
Question about sharpening: I once attended a Photoshop workshop, during which the instructor recommended sharpening only the green channel, as that channel contains the majority of the detail. I’ve found this to be beneficial, as it seems to reduce the introduction of artifacts. Just wondering if you’ve ever heard that. (Also wondering if sharpening a single channel is an option in Lightroom.)
Thanks for the demo.
There’s another neat shortcut in Lightroom that allows you to copy the develop settings from any selected photo and apply them anywhere–not just the photo you previously developed.
to copy the settings from a photo it’s command (control) + shift + C
then simply paste them to another by hitting command (control) + shift + V
Thanks Jon,
That really helped clarify what is going on with a lot of the color shift I see with correcting JPEG’s.
Great video tutorial Jon. You recent discussions about lightroom have convinced me to migrate over from iPhoto. I use photoshop as is, but as you know there is no workflow to speak of between those two apps.
The difference between RAW and Jpg is staggering. I had no idea just how un-editable jpeg’s were compared to RAW.
Again – thanks for putting this together.
Awesome! I just got my first DSLR (Canon Xti) this year after literally years of pining and am still learning all the ins and outs of photography, nevermind editing etc.
I wanted to thank you for posting an article ages ago (which I seem to find now) about RAW vs. JPG. I read it then even though I didn’t have a camera yet and started using shooting RAW as soon as I learned what all the buttons on the camera did. It has really been invaluable as it has helped me salvage many photos that suffered from my lack of experience.
I’ve been shooting RAW with a large JPEG thumb pretty much since I got my XTi and using Photoshop to process them. Sometimes I batch process them through DxO which is a pretty cool little application but I’ve been trying to convince my husband to let me get an Apple for SO LONG NOW and he’s not complied yet.
He does testing for nVidia, mostly with video lately, and never with Apple products so when we get the “lab leftovers” they are always PC. I’m going to have to start pushing more forcefully after seeing this and spending some time on a friends Macbook.
Anyway, awesome little tutorial. I’m going to forward it to my step-mom who is just getting into photography.
I sat through and watched most of this, and of course my camera doesn’t shoot in RAW. Yet another reason to go with a DSLR ey? Useful stuff to stow away though. Thanks.
This tutorial was so helpful! You’ve convinced me, totally.
You should make more of these. A human portrait one would be nice, as skin tones can be so difficult.
Jon,
I am a junkie for the vignetting too.
I do pretty much the exact same workflow using the RAW workspace in Adobe Bridge…just because it came as part of CS. Do you think there is a difference or reason to upgrade to either Lightroom or Aperture? If so, which do you prefer?
Jaycee, plenty of point-n-shoots have RAW capability. My wife’s $250 Canon PowerShot shoots RAW—but she never uses it…
Ok, I’m sold. LOL.
Nay, seriously, I’ve done both…but for speed I’ve pretty much done JPEG. And that’s only because…as I’ve just watched you demonstrate…Lightroom is apparently more RAW processing friendly than Photoshop!
My Canon Rebel does the compoud RAW/JPEG…which I like. I can do a quick JPEG edit for online…and then do RAW editing for a print.
So, as a graphics guy, what drove you to these other programs…the Lightroom/Aperture? Did you just know they had more options and less “need to know” technical applications? I mean I’ve worked in Photoshop for years and it still takes me forever at times to edit a photo that is real crap straight from the camera unless I have a good action to run on it or something.
Can you run actions in Lightroom? Hell, can you even run them on a RAW file…I never have tried. I don’t think you can in Photoshop…but I don’t really know.
This was AWESOME Jon…you’re a great teacher. I learned everything I know about photography and graphics (which ain’t much, lol, but enough) by mentoring totally, years of being around really good, experienced people. You should do more of these! Hell do an online class in photography!! I’ve known TONS of net people who’ve done that. I’d take the class in a heartbeat…though having you grade my work would be probably the most stressful thing in the world. LOL
If you’re as critical on this stuff as politics…well I’d be in a mess of trouble!
Thanks again. Now I’m going to go play in Photoshop with some RAW files.
Very interesting, thanks for the great presentation. Having seen what you can do to a RAW file that would “damage”, so to speak, a JPG, I think I might just try out RAW when I do some concert photography in a couple of months. I like the idea of being able to save more of a shot from accidental oblivion.
Didn’t watch the video yet cuz I’m doing a quick surf before running out and maybe you addressed this but – what about the fact that you can open JPEG files in Camera Raw and tweak white balance etc.? Is this the same thing or is it far inferior for reasons my technologically feeble mind cannot understand. Thanks – I’ll take my answer off the air.
Jon–thank you a bajillion for posting this tutorial! I learned quite a few things, that RAW really is amazing, I should try out Lightroom… and I have foolishly been pronouncing vignette wrong!
Compelled to delurk — thank you for the excellent tutorial! I am not very well-versed in editing, and haven’t explored my Aperture software nearly enough (don’t have Lightroom as of yet) — but you’ve sparked my desire to do so — and must locate the vignetting feature. Am fascinated to learn more about workflow — have yet to organize that process very well or move beyond iPhoto as a management tool. Anyhow, enjoyed your clarity!
Thanks again! great tutorial, always entertaining to see what other tweaks people are making. I’m always shooting Raw+Jpeg just for the ease of being able to give friends the jpgs quick of for posting in a hurry or just when lazy. I knew there’s a lot more room to play in Raw but truly had never seen it shown as dramatically as that. I need to get in there and do more, my images will thank you for it later.
thank you. I never shoot JPEG, ever ever ever ever EVER. Always always always shoot RAW. Now I can send people to this video when they give me that dumbfuck look and ask me why.
RAW RAW RAW.. I never shoot anything but RAW.
BUT I do like the fact that you can manipulate JPEGs in the same way you can RAW files in Lightroom… I have a ton of old JPEGs I shot before I was enlightened and it’s always interesting to go back and fiddle with them–though you can’t really push them nearly as far as a RAW photo (as you obviously demonstrated)
I would be interested in a tutorial that focused on skin tones. Like many, I find skin tone to be the most challenging, time-consuming aspect of digital post-processing. The tones that you and Heather achieve (without losing detail or distorting other tonal ranges, in a really jarring way) are fantastic. I never seem to get there- I’m wondering if the difference in camera/color profile is my main problem… In any case, I’m interested in your process.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Two things can help off the bat; 1) RAW; 2) a flash that’s not built-in to your camera.
Thanks. Yes, shooting RAW and using an external flash are certainly important– I am an advanced analog photographer/darkroom printer but seem to be coming up short in the digital darkroom. I’m currently shooting with a D700, and read something interesting today about the RAW translation in Aperture and Lightroom. Apparently neither program recognizes the in-camera color profiles in RAW format (or something)…So when you import, you are left with a really flat, improperly exposed image that requires a TON of post-processing work. I’m thinking that this is contributing to my problem!
Thanks again for your response and for your tutorials. They have been fun to watch!