Exercise : RAW

Outline: Take three images, each in a different lighting situation. One in daylight, one in artificial light and one high dynamic range. Open and process each pair of images, jpeg and raw, in your usual software and compare the final two versions, noting any differences.

Daylight:

I took this image in the afternoon light in the shade and set my white balance to daylight. My camera was set to 1/25 F4 with ISO 100 and I had to reduce the exposure by -0.3.
Raw image:

This is the final image after processing the raw image. I did quite a bit of work to this in the raw converter. The exposure was decreased ( the same as when i shot the image) and I had to increase the recovery slider. I increased the fill light and also increased the blacks setting too. I needed to increase the brightness and also the contrast to make a pretty drastic change to what started as a pretty flat image. I also slightly increased the saturation and vibrance. Overall, the image looks much better. The glass is now enhanced to stand out and the liquid appears fuller and more vibrant.

Jpeg:

The jpeg version also needed some tweaking or post processing. The shadows were lightened and the highlights were darkened slightly. The midtone contrast was decreased as well as the brightness and the overall contrast was increased. This is the final outcome. The glass is still prominent in this image however the whole image is a lot brighter than the raw version. I find this version is still a little flat in comparison to the raw version, the glass and liquid look more realistic and '3d'. The dynamic range of the jpeg version is 18 - 233 and the raw version 27 - 251.
I think of the two, I prefer the raw version. The glass looks more life like and more appealing and a higher contrast than the jpeg.

Artificial light:

This image was taken indoors at dusk under a tungsten ceiling light. White balance was set to tungsten and the ISO 400. Settings were F4 1/5 with a +0.3 exposure.
Raw:

I dont feel like I did a lot of processing to this image. I needed to increase white fill light, brightness and contrast. Then I decreased the saturation but increased the clarity and vibrance slightly. I feel that the colours are not as vibrant as they could be here but there is no colour cast over this image that we sometimes see from tungsten lighting. The dynamic range in this image 38 - 230.

Jpeg:

Now this image does have a slight colour cast, a slight orange glow almost highlighting the fact to the viewer that artificial lighting was used. I actually didn't post process this image except for a little increase in brightness and contrast. The dynamic range of this image is 18 -237.

Comparing these versions, I prefer the jpeg image. I like the slight colour cast and the fact that you can tell it was taken under artificial lighting. The colors appear more vibrant than the raw version and the whole image has more contrast than the raw.

High dynamic range:

This image was taken in the same conditions as the 'daylight' images. The settings were F6.3 1/40 ISO 200 and white balance was set to daylight.
Raw:

Not much processing was required to this image either. I decreased the exposure by 0.6, which had not been required while shooting, I increased the recovery slider and also increased the blacks and the contrast. The dynamic range is 8 - 219.

Jpeg:

This image had slight post processing but not much. The mid tone contrast was increased then I decreased the The brightness and increased the overall contrast. The dynamic range is now 18 - 230.






I actually think there is not much difference between these two versions. The only thing worth noting is that the black in the jpeg maybe slightly darker than the raw version but that just be my eye.



Conclusion: This exercise proves that shooting in RAW can be beneficial. It gives you a 'second chance', if you like, to get the image you want. RAW lets you manipulate the image during processing, eliminating the need to get the settings exactly right at the time of shooting. I have been shooting RAW for a while now but can honestly say I've never taken advantage of manipulating the RAW image before. As this exercise shows, sometimes it's not always the better version but it IS another option. I will honestly explore this feature more in the future.