Ray’s Corner Soapbox – RAW or Cooked?

Most newer digital cameras include the operators selection of a picture quality.   The lower the quality, the more pictures you can put on a memory card.  Memory cards are actually cheap (compared to a few years ago) and the avid photographer usually has more than one.  I have not worked many RAW picture files previously so now I think I will try a few.  The RAW is described as a “lossless” file in that it performs no file compression when saved.  For those with Canon SLRs and newer PowerShots there is a recent update to the Digital Photo Pro that comes with the camera to handle the RAW format pictures.  RAW pictures are easier to manipulate and enlarge as they do not lose any data.
 
I started with this RAW picture, cropped, sharpened and modifying the exposure.  Then I converted the RAW format to TIFF for my backup work and to JPEG for uploading to the blog. The subject is in the center of the picture….see him??

(These examples required a little more work than described because Live Writer only likes JPEG files.)  All my work was done in RAW and TIFF formats and finally “shrunk” from very large files to something that would fit on the screen.
One advantage is bringing your target close up allowing larger prints with good picture definition.  Over-enlarging smaller picture files will cause “digital noise” and loss of detail in the picture.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.  Really.

P.S.  Al, I did reinstall the Live Writer and it appears to have resolved the problems.