Edit digital photos using Raw files

Raw - what is it good for?
There’s a problem with JPEG files, though - the compression process discards quite a lot of the image data that was originally stored in the photo file. A JPEG file will try to preserve as much detail as possible, but the compression process can still noticeably affect image quality.

For example, the more subtle tones of colour within a photo - such as skintones on a person’s face, which can vary quite a lot across the contours and blemishes - may not be quite so subtle after being saved as a JPEG.

This can give a rather flat, uniform appearance to the skintones in a photo (it’s also one reason computer-generated images of people’s faces tend to look unrealistic - they just can’t capture the subtle textures and tones of real skin).

As well as compressing the image data in the JPEG file, your digital camera processes that data in other ways too. Settings such as exposure, contrast and colour balance are all adjusted automatically by the camera before the image is transferred onto your computer’s hard disk.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. In fact, it’s great if you’re a beginner and you just want an easy-to-use camera that will allow you to quickly take good photos without having to worry too much about the technical details.

However, more serious photographers may prefer a camera that gives them a fine level of control over these settings so they can adjust the image to get the effect they’re looking for. This is where Raw comes in.

Unlike JPEG, Raw doesn’t throw away any data; it simply stores the image exactly as the camera captured it. For this reason, the Raw file format is often described as a kind of ‘digital negative’, comparable to the undeveloped negative that is stored on film inside a good old-fashioned film camera.

And just as some photographers prefer to develop their own negatives in a darkroom, so you can process a Raw image file yourself using software such as Adobe’s Photoshop, or the less expensive Photoshop Elements.