Exposure, our advanced creative photo editor, will happily process either format. However, editing RAW files provides significantly more latitude to make dramatic changes to the photo, while retaining the highest quality.

When shooting JPEG images, the camera runs the photo through its image processor. What you see on the back of the camera is what you will see on the computer screen. Note the differences when comparing the unedited RAW and JPEG images. Photo @ Pooja Photography

JPEG

JPEG format is a good choice because of popularity. JPEGs are so widely-supported that you can create them with most cameras and edit them with most software. When you save an image as a JPEG, some data from the image will be lost and deleted forever to reduce the size of the file. This method is called “lossy compression.” In most cameras and software that create JPEGs, the compression amount can be selected. Stronger compression will make a smaller image size, but that may result in compression artifacts.

JPEG Advantages

This file type is straight-forward to use because the edits applied to the photo are baked in. This means you will see the same thing on the back of the camera, or inside whatever software you open it with. No editing is needed to look at the image, so it’s basically ready to use.

The compact file size benefits your workflow in read and write speed. Shooting JPEGs will enable your camera to capture more images at a much faster rate. JPEGs also speed up your workflow when copying them to the computer, uploading to social media, or saving them to archives.

JPEG format is compatible with tons of programs. What really sets it apart is built-in viewing. You can view JPEG images on devices other than a computer, such as digital picture frames or mobile phones. 

JPEG Disadvantages

The small file size of this format is possible because of sacrifices to image data. The lossy compression used in JPEG images can result in posterization and visible artifacts. The amount of compression applied to the image is adjustable.

Another disadvantage about JPEG images is the limit of 8-bit color. 8-bit images have a maximum of 256 tonal values per color channel. This can really show when making editing adjustments to the image. The low bit depth limits the detail recovery when making adjustments in highlight and shadows.

Edits made to JPEG images are destructive. This means when saved, the pixel data of the image is changed by processing adjustments. Exposure uses a non-destructive workflow to keep the original images untouched, which enables you to reset the image to its original state, revisit tweaks, or try a new look.

RAW

RAW images contain unprocessed image data from the camera’s sensor. Because they aren’t processed, RAW files are like exposed but undeveloped film. A RAW image needs to be processed before it can be printed or shared, just like raw food needs to be cooked before consuming. In addition to sensor data, RAW images include metadata information, such as exposure settings, camera and lens model, date, time, and more, which can all be used for organizing images.

With superior color information, RAW files can withstand considerable editing adjustments without showing a loss in image quality.

RAW Advantages

RAW files contain lots of color information. A 12-bit RAW file contains 4,096 tonal values per channel, and a 14-bit RAW image has even more. The massively wide dynamic range in these files enable far superior highlight and shadow recovery. With so much more color information, these images have a very fine level of adjustability. The additional color data in the file can be used for smarter, better, and far more complex sharpening algorithms. RAW processing provides control over gamma, white balance, brightness, contrast, and more.

One of the biggest perks to using RAW files is non-destructive editing. Adjustments made to RAW images are not applied to the image pixels, but instead are recorded in sidecar files. This means the image can always be reset to its original state or edited in a different way.

RAW Disadvantages

RAW is a proprietary format that is tied to each camera model. That can make it difficult to find software that supports the files, especially if the camera model is newly released. If you can’t find support for it, your only option is to convert it to another type of file. Fortunately RAW images can be seamlessly converted to DNG, but it is an additional processing step.

RAW image file sizes are massive. That much data is difficult to handle. RAW files slow down the camera when capturing images, quickly fill up memory cards, and can be hard for your computer to process.

Choose Your Format Wisely

There is a huge difference in the ability to recover details and colors in RAW images when compared to JPEGs. If you plan to process the images on a computer, RAW format is our recommendation. If you’re casually snapping shots off for Instagram, you can stick with JPEG. If you have the option, and you have lots of memory cards, set your camera to capture both file types.

The post Comparing JPEG and RAW appeared first on Exposure Software.

© Sean Carr

© Ian Horne

© Paul Marbrook

© Jayson Loafman

© Stephanie Rogers

© Jason Ball

© Andrew Murdock

© Abigail Steed

© Arlie Tyler Huffman

© Dustin Abbott

© Leigh Crassweller Eros

© Miyuki Mardon

© Bruce Cotton

© Lauren Bramlett

© Thomas Churchwell

© Hiroshi Yagi

The theme for next week is “Emotion”, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you all come up with for that one!

If you would like to see your work featured here or you just think you can do better, head over to the Facebook User Group pages and share your best Alien Skin-flavoured work. You can find the Snap Art group here and the Exposure group here.

*For the rules on the Photo of the Quarter competition, check out this post.

**The rules for the the Photo of the Month award are quite simple – the most amount of “likes” at the time of going to press wins.

Have a toptastic weekend everybody!

Cheers,

Joe

The post Friday Faves appeared first on Exposure Software.

I’ve looked back over the week’s photos and have made the following selections. There were a LOT of photos of pretty women to look through, which is always nice, but there are only so many I feel I can choose, which makes selecting my faves very tough. If you want to increase your chances of standing out and being featured, I would recommend maybe shooting something different or maybe trying to bring something unique with your composition or point of view. I see a lot of the same people submitting the same types of images over and over, which is great for consistency, but we may want to challenge ourselves to diversify a bit. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Please do join in the fun and you will automatically be entering our photo competition. It’s dead easy to do, simply head over to the Exposure and Snap Art users groups on Facebook. Then, share your best work. You could win up to $2,500 in camera gear!

Have a question about the contest rules? Check out the rules article.

Enjoy the first weekend of spring!

Cheers,

Joe

The post Friday Faves appeared first on Exposure Software.

Well, it’s been a fun and crazy week for us Aliens as we are just getting back from the fabulous WPPI conference in Las Vegas. It was great meeting up with all the fantastic people who stopped by our booth. It’s so cool to meet you all in person! Big thanks too to the brilliant photographers who presented and demoed on the stand: Parker J, Salvador Carmona, David Mecey, Susan Stripling, Michael Gilbert, Dark Roux, Callaway Gable, Hiram Trillo and Dylan & Sara. You guys rocked the house!

Looks like you all have been busy too – the work that has been shared over the last week is simply gorgeous. It’s been tough narrowing it down, but here are some of my personal faves from the week:

There were four more images that I wanted to post here, but the files Facebook let me download were too lo-res for some reason. I would recommend uploading at least a 800 x 1200 pixel file in the future. Here are those images:

Please do join in the fun and you will automatically be entering our photo competition. It’s dead easy to do, simply head over to the Exposure and Snap Art users groups on Facebook. Then, share your best work. You could win up to $2,500 in camera gear!

Have a question about the contest rules? Check out the rules article.

Have a great weekend all!

The post Friday Faves appeared first on Exposure Software.