Should you shoot photos in JPEG or RAW?

If you are new to taking photos on a DSLR or mirrorless camera, you may be wondering… JPEG or RAW?

Benefits of RAW

• Greater latitude for editing in post: RAW images capture more data from the camera sensor, providing more room for post-processing adjustments. Shooting in RAW gives you a lot more freedom to change your photo after the shutter clicks.
• Artistic freedom: you, not the camera, decide how the photo looks

Recovering details

If you took, for example, portraits of people outside on a sunny day, you may have ended up with their faces being very dark due to shadows. RAW photos will preserve much of the detail in those shadows, allowing you to use software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to bring them back up and brighten their faces.

Changing white balance

Lighting has a huge impact on the mood and emotions in a photo. If you’ve ever noticed that a photo is too warm or cool, this means that your camera made a decision about how the photo should look that you disagree with. If you shoot RAW, you can easily change the temperature of a photo in post using Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or any number of other RAW editors, without impacting the quality of your photo or losing any information in it.

Benefits of JPEG

Instant sharing

As soon as you take a photo, you can copy it to any computer and instantly send it off to Instagram, Flickr, and all of your friends and family. There is no requirement or editing that you have to do, because unlike a RAW file, a JPEG is a fully-baked photo file that is ready to be consumed by virtually any photo sharing service.

Smaller files

JPEG files are almost always much smaller than RAW files. Because they use lossy compression, they store less information from the camera’s sensor, but you can shoot more photos with the same amount of storage.

Faster shooting

Most cameras will shoot faster if they are recording JPEGs. This is because JPEGs are smaller, and cameras have a limited amount of space in their buffers—which every photo you take goes through before it gets written to the camera’s storage. If you are relying on your camera to take quick bursts of photos of wildlife or a sporting event, shooting JPEGs could enable you to get the perfect shot.

Drawbacks to consider

• RAW: requires more storage and can be time-consuming to post-process.
• JPEG: loses some image quality due to lossy compression.

What do I use?

I predominantly shoot RAW. This lets me fix things that would otherwise cause me to throw out the photo, such as blown highlights or a lack of detail in shadows.

However, if I’m shooting something like ice hockey where I am expected to provide photos as soon as possible after the event, and sometimes even during the event, then I shoot RAW and JPEG. This gives me two copies of each photo: one RAW that I’ll edit and archive later, and one JPEG, processed in-camera, that I’ll send off as soon as possible but won’t archive.

For me, sharing a RAW file is like revealing an unfinished artwork. RAWs never leave my computer. As far as I’m concerned, a photo isn’t done until I’ve edited it to my satisfaction.

Which should you use?

As a general rule of thumb: RAW. You’ll never regret shooting something in RAW because you can always create JPEGs later. In contrast, shooting in JPEG permanently discards data. Only use JPEG if you are sure that’s what you want.

Choosing between RAW and JPEG depends on your specific needs and the purpose of your shoot. Whether you’re seeking complete editing flexibility or swift sharing convenience, understanding the benefits of each format is key.