Welcome to Photo Friday where you can link up your picture and tell your story!

Today’s tip: Shooting Camera RAW.

What is RAW?  It is a setting on your camera. It is a file format that captures all the image data. In other words it gets more details than when you shoot in JPEG. Your smart phone shoots in JPEG. Most SLR and some “point and shoot” cameras shoot in RAW naturally but have the ability to change over to JPEG in the camera.  Your smart-phone shoots in Jpeg.

The advantage to shooting with your smart phone is you can show your photos immediately online.  There are some apps that will allow you to edit the photo, but if you were to try to print it you would find it is not as sharp an image as you might want when you frame it.

The reason you want to shoot in RAW is to save more details. See, to have a JPEG, the camera must squish all the data into a small space, causing some of the details to run for their life, thus losing them.

RAW allows more space so more details can be gathered and saved. RAW does not compress your information as much; and, the image can be better quality. Here is a techy piece of information; JPEG holds 8 bits of information, while RAW can hold 12-14 bits of information.  That’s significant!  It can take some photographs from, “Oh, that’s nice” to “Wow!”

When you shoot in JPEG, not only are you getting fewer bits of information, but when you edit, you will lose even more.

You lose information each time you edit a photo whether you shoot in Jpeg or Raw. But in Raw you begin with more information.  Think of it this way, if you have 17,000 hairs on you head, but when you brush your hair you lose 1,000.  You don’t like losing hair but you still have 16,000 hairs left – that is what RAW is like. But, Jpeg is like losing 1,000 hairs when you only began with 4,000.  It makes a difference.

I can think of only two potential drawbacks to shooting in RAW.  First, RAW must be processed with software to print or post online. The second, because RAW has more information it takes up more space on your computer sometimes making an external hard drive helpful.

For me, having an external hard drive is not an issue because the process of a photograph is my art. But processing is not a joy to some.  They prefer to shoot and show.

But, if you want to improve your post photography skills, then changing your camera setting to RAW is the first step. Though it adds some processing steps, the results are worth it!

Do you have questions about photography?  Do you have a topic you would like me to talk about?  Let me know in the comments below – because I LOVE having a conversation with you!

Here is the fun part!  Link up your pictures and stories here!

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This is the way it works.

1. Link up and invite others to link up with you.
2. Select the permalink to your post (not to your blog link, but the one to the post you would like to share).
3. Using the blue linky tool at the bottom of the Photo Friday post enter your link.
4. It will walk you through selecting your photo.
5. Be sure you encourage who linked up before you.
6. And, please use the Photo Friday Button on your post telling others where to join.

If you are linking up with Photo Friday, there is no exception to rule number 5. You must visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their comments. This is fun and how we build community!

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Diane W. Bailey

Diane W. Bailey is the founder of The Consilium – an online community of wisdom and purpose for women over 45 years of age. She is a published author. Her books include String of Pearls – From Tears to Treasure, and 30 Days To A Better Stepfamily. She creates her own line of precious metals bracelets. Diane lives in the Deep South with her husband Doc. Together they have created a stepfamily, each having two stepchildren and two birth children, and share three grandchildren, one black lab named Charlie and one long haired tabby cat named Lil Girl. Diane’s passion is to encourage women to be all God has created them to be by pressing past fear and daring to live life as an adventure. Some of her life adventures include traveling to Israel, speaking, entrepreneurship and backyard farming with Doc. She loves Gumbo, fried shrimp and seeing all sunsets across water.

Latest posts by Diane W. Bailey (see all)

• What God Can Do with A Shattered Heart - September 5, 2022
• When It Is Time to Bring Your Ship Ashore - January 2, 2018
• Art Of Hospitality – How to Love Others As Ourselves - November 27, 2017

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