There are two primary formats that digital cameras capture today, RAW and JPEG. But what can be confusing is that there are a lot of different flavors of raw. It's sort of a generic term that people use to describe the unprocessed data that the camera captures. For example Nikon's raw format is .mef and Canon's raw format is .crw. These file formats are all very similar and that they contain much of the same information such as meta data about the camera settings and image information. But there's just no standard way of writing a RAW file, so each one has its own unique order to the data.
There s one RAW format that's not proprietary, and that's the DNG format. Many people convert their files into DNG because of the fact that it's an openly-documented file format in hopes that their files will be able to opened farther into the future and if they're kept in a proprietary format. Adobe's the creator of the DNG format and more information can be found on their website. It's important to know that if you compare the quality of a RAW format versus a JPEG, there's more information in a RAW file.
For example capturing in RAW creates images with greater dynamic range, larger color spaces and, therefore, allows more flexibility in post processing. Basically you can make larger adjustments to your RAW files without losing image quality. Capturing in the JPEG format while rendering a smaller file that's faster to download forces the camera software to process the file using lossy compression, which throws away thousands of colors and tonal values. The end result is that you can't make as dramatic changes without losing quality.
Basically, capturing RAW gives you a bigger box of crayons to work with, so let's take a look at this example. I'm going to select these two images that are of the same scene, but one is a DNG or a RAW file, and the other is a JPEG file. Now in order to open these both in the camera raw, instead of using file open or double-clicking on them, I'm going to click on the open in camera raw icon. Then in order to see this full screen, I'll click on the full screen preview We can see that I have my 2 files open. The jpg file and the dmg file.
And that I can move back and forth between them by just clicking on their icons. What I'm going to do is, we'll perform a simple autoadjustment on the dmg file. And you can see that it's recovered a lot of information in the highlight area. Because this image was overexposed to begin with. I'll go ahead and move the highlight slider to the left even more to recover a little bit more information. Then we'll do the same thing to the JPEG. I'll select it and click Auto. And then move my Highlight slider down.
Now, let's zoom in to this area here. I'll click once, one more time so that we're viewing at 100%, and I'll use the space bar in order to temporarily access the hand tool, or you can click on the hand tool. And then just scoot this over. I want to make sure that I'm viewing the upper left hand corner, so here's the result of the processing on the JPEG and if I move to the DNG file and we zoom in either by clicking with a zoom tool or by selecting 100% and using the hand tool in order to scroll to the top of the image and we can see that there's a lot more information...
Being held in those highlight areas with the DNG file. So again, here's the JPG file you can see that we don't have a lot of detail in those highlights. And here it is compared to the DNG. Now even though we're pulling back in the detail in the highlights, this isn't to say that you shouldn't do your best to make the correct exposure in camera It's just to point out that if you need to make changes to your Photograph, you'll have more information to work with if you capture in Raw. Of course, if you really over expose your image, then even capturing in raw might not save you. If there's no information in the highlights, nothing can bring back information that's not there.
Of course, there are times when capturing in jpg has it's advantages. 1st, all the files are going to be much smaller. And therefore faster to download. Therefore, some experienced photographers like maybe and event photographer that's photographing each participant with the same background and a controlled lighting condition. Or who's confident that their images will not need corrections might capture in JPEG. But for most of us, I would recommend that, if given the option, capture in RAW, so that you have the ability to make corrections in post without compromising any image quality. In order to back out of the Camera RAW dialogue box without making any changes to this image, I'm going to select Cancel And then I'll choose yes. So there we can see the advantage of Raw over Jpeg in the ability to pull out information after capture.
Author
Updated
10/6/2014Released
6/17/2013- Using Bridge to batch rename files and add keywords and metadata to photos
- Viewing, rating, filtering, and creating collections to isolate your best work
- Comparing raw and JPEG file formats
- Retouching and automating workflow with Camera Raw
- Navigating documents and the Photoshop interface
- Understanding file formats, resolution, canvas size, and print size
- Cropping, straightening, transforming, warping, scaling, and resizing images
- Selecting, stacking, aligning, and grouping layers
- Making precise selections using the Marquee, Lasso, and Brush tools
- Using Refine Edge, Quick Selection, and layer masks to isolate soft edge objects
- Improving tone, contrast, and color selectively
- Converting to black and white and tinting images
- Retouching blemishes, smoothing skin, whitening teeth, and brightening eyes
- Retouching with the Liquify, Content-Aware Fill, Healing Brush, and Patch tools
- Merging multiple exposures
- Making nondestructive changes with Smart Filters
- Adding texture, edge effects, and drop shadows with blend modes
- Working with type
- Creating, modifying, and combining shapes using the Shape tools
- Adding layer effects
- Saving and sharing images via contact sheets, web galleries, and Save For Web
- Editing video and audio clips
- Panning and zooming still photos
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: This course was updated on 01/16/2014. What changed?
A: When Creative Cloud applications are updated, we refresh our training to make sure it covers the latest features and interface changes from Adobe. This update covers changes to Camera Raw, including nondestructive cropping, workflow and output settings, and the ability to save multiple files automatically.
Q: This course was updated on 6/18/2014. What changed?
A: In June 2014 Adobe released new features for Photoshop CC and added enhancements to several existing features. We added movies to introduce the new Focus Mask and Blur Gallery features, and changed several movies to reflect updates to instant type preview, font search, Typekit, Liquify, Content-Aware Fill, Adobe Camera Raw, and Smart Guides.
Q: This course was updated on 10/06/2014. What changed?
A: We updated this course to reflect the October 2014 changes to Photoshop CC. There are 16 new movies, which are indicated by the "(CC 2014.1)" tag that appears next to their names.
Related Courses
-
The Art of Photoshop Compositing
with Julieanne Kost3h 3m Intermediate -
Photoshop: Rethinking the Essentials
with Bryan O'Neil Hughes3h 2m Intermediate -
Learning Photo Compositing
with Julieanne Kost1h 24m Beginner
-
Adobe Photoshop
-
What is Photoshop?1m 42s
-
-
Introduction
-
Welcome1m
-
Installing Adobe Bridge1m 23s
-
What's new1m 26s
-
-
1. It Begins in Bridge
-
What is Adobe Bridge?3m 3s
-
-
2. Whittling Down to Keepers
-
Saving images in collections3m 52s
-
Rating and labeling images4m 31s
-
Using smart collections3m 39s
-
3. Camera Raw Essentials
-
Choosing output settings3m 34s
-
4. Fixing Common Problems Quickly with Camera Raw
-
Fixing blown-out highlights5m 42s
-
Correcting lens distortion5m 17s
-
Sharpening details7m 23s
-
5. Retouching and Using Creative Techniques with Camera Raw
-
Adding a radial gradient6m 35s
-
6. Automating Camera Raw
-
7. Photoshop Interface Essentials
-
Managing panels5m 1s
-
8. Documents and Navigation
-
Arranging documents3m 37s
-
9. Digital Image Essentials
-
Understanding file formats8m 26s
-
-
10. Cropping and Transformations
-
Using crop options4m 20s
-
Warping images4m 48s
-
11. Working with Layers
-
Exploring layer basics13m 25s
-
-
12. Selections and Layer Masks
-
Combining selections6m 40s
-
Selecting with Focus Mask3m 10s
-
13. Tone and Color Correction with Adjustment Layers
-
Starting with a preset2m 36s
-
14. Additional Options for Tone and Color Correction
-
15. Retouching Essentials
-
Taming flyaway hair4m 53s
-
16. Combining Multiple Images
-
17. Essential Filters
-
Overview of filters3m 3s
-
-
18. Essential Blend Modes
-
19. Type Essentials
-
Exploring character (point) type11m 58s
-
Adding type on a path7m 3s
-
Warping type2m 36s
-
-
20. Basic Shape Layers
-
Using the shape tools13m 45s
-
Custom shape layers6m 15s
-
Adding a keyline to an image4m 13s
-
-
21. Essential Layer Effects and Styles
-
Adding a drop shadow effect8m 57s
-
22. Sharing Images
-
Creating contact sheets4m 29s
-
Creating PDF presentations3m 25s
-
Saving for the web3m 49s
-
-
23. Video
-
Working with video clips12m 14s
-
-
Conclusion
-
Next steps1m 4s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Comparing raw and JPEG files