A Christmas tree lot was just erected across the street from my church, and it’s not even Halloween!
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the leap from back-to-school to Christmas. After all, just yesterday I received a catalog from my favorite camera store that’s filled with “MUST-HAVE DSLRS.” Apparently, Santa can order from the company and have the picture-taking tools sent directly to your home in time for you to snap holiday keepers of your kids.
As I paged through my now saturated with drool catalog I noticed that a lot of attention was given to cameras that have a RAW option. For those of you looking to upgrade to a DSLR this holiday season, it would behoove you to learn about the RAW format.
If you are familiar with digital photography file formats, such as TIFF, JPEG, and GIF, then RAW won’t be too hard for you to grasp. It’s basically a photographic image file with minimal digital processing. In other words, when a photo is snapped in RAW format, the camera sensor reads what is in front of the camera and records and stores the image directly as is. Conversely, with JPEG, the image is balanced and compressed before being stored.
There are pros and cons of shooting RAW images. One of the benefits of documenting images in this particular format is that you have more flexibility in the editing process. Since there is no compression, you are able to manipulate a variety of the image’s elements, such as exposure, color, and depth of field.
On the other hand, when shooting RAW images you need to convert the file in order to edit or print them. In addition, RAW images take up a ton more space on your memory card. Finally, it takes a fair amount of practice and knowledge to get a decent print from an image shot in RAW format. If you are investing in a camera with this option, it’s a good idea to experiment with the settings and really analyze your shooting situation before pressing the shutter button.