Raw or high J-peg help

Until now ive been shooting all my images with high j-peg mode on my 10d. Im hearing alot here about raw mode. Lossless compression? What exactly is this? Ive taken one photo in raw mode and used a trial version of breezebrowser to download it into my computer. After converting it to j-peg to print out for my sister (it was of her and new truck) then looking at it on my computer, i cannot see a difference between the two. Im sure there is one, i just cant see it.

With that said, is there anything i need to do to my camera and or computer to switch over and start shooting in raw mode? Or is it as easy as just shooting in raw mode, converting to j-peg for web, and saving the original raw file? Or cant that be done? Help me here please, id like to get this all behind me.

Thanks a bunch,
The rookie,
robert.............

There are ohters here who could probably articulate this much better than me but since I brought this up to you in your post, I'll start.

The raw file has all the information that the sensor records without any processing. I use Adobe RAW plugin but any post processing software should do. The post processing software can change the white balance to anything you want. In addition you can vary the exposure more than a stop either way. Plus there are the usual contrast and saturation conversions.

In the case of your tree photo, you could have just change the exposure to +1 in the post processing software and your fog would be more like the color that you wanted.

All of your recent work I've seen is with the Canon 10d so it looks like you're committed to working digital. I think you owe it to yourself to work in RAW format.

Also, if you're not already a DDQ subscriber you should check it out.

- Dan.

I think you have the right idea. Shoot in RAW - the raw file has the .CRW file extension - save that on your computer to use as your master. Adjust stuff like white balance and exposure prior to RAW conversion in the RAW converter software, convert the raw file, make any adjustments you need to make, (this is a good point to save your file in PSD or TIF mode in case you want to use the image again in the future without doing the previous work again) size it to web posting size, sharpen it and save it for posting.

Thanks guys, i just did a little experiment to see what E.J was talking about as far as .crw files and what not. I see what you mean E.J. Did all this with the BBrowser and it wasnt to complicated :roll: Guess i need to get a couple more cf cards

Thanks guys,
robert......... ps- Dan, whats DDQ?

Also, if you're not already a DDQ subscriber you should check it out.

What is DDQ?

DDQ is digital darkroom questions. It's a shareware mailing from Tim Gray. Tim works for George Lepp.

Here's a link for you to check out.

http://www.timgrey.com/ddq/

- Dan.

Thanks Dan, looks very helpful for us rookies

robert.......

I second the thanks Don.

You're both welcome.

- Dan.

Robert,

The above are all great advice, but it seems noone addressed your question on differences between lossy (JPG) and lossless storage (RAW, TIFF, PSD, etc.).

You write that you don't see any difference, and in many cases that may be close to accurate. However, if you have an image with lots of fine details, like a meadow with grasses or a human's hair there is a noticeable difference. The JPG tends to give a more blurry appearance where lossless formats are crisp.

The second factor is that as you work on an image and store it, read it again, store it, and so on, you get a gradual degradation in image quality for each time you store it if you use JPG. There is no such degradation for lossless formats. As a consequence, never store an image in JPG that you intend to do further processing on (or better yet, only use JPG for web or email ready images).

If you chose a low compression level, the differences aren't huge, but why on earth save on this after having spent good money on lenses and a hi-res camera?


Hope this helps,


Anders

Anders comments:

The second factor is that as you work on an image and store it, read it again, store it, and so on, you get a gradual degradation in image quality for each time you store it if you use JPG.

Does the file get degradated if you do not make any changes to it and resave as a different file or does it get degredated everytime you open the file?

TSparger wrote:Anders comments:

The second factor is that as you work on an image and store it, read it again, store it, and so on, you get a gradual degradation in image quality for each time you store it if you use JPG.

Does the file get degradated if you do not make any changes to it and resave as a different file or does it get degredated everytime you open the file?

Everytime you open a jpeg and save it again as a jpeg, there is degradation. Opening the file is not the problem. Saving it in a format where information is lost for the sake of file compression is the problem.

If you download the jpeg and save it as a tiff or psd then there will be no more loss when working on the file.

- Dan.