May 2008 Newsletter
Hello Raw Shooters
We had a busy month of April moving our web site to a new host which is much faster. According to the tests from different parts of the world (using a high speed internet connection), the average upload speed to our web site is over 120 KB/s, and average download speed from our web site is 300-400 KB/s! It may start slower in some parts of the world, but gets faster as it goes. For those of you who use our services a lot or plan to use them more often, we can set up an ftp account on your computer. Then you don’t have to upload or download the files! Simply drag and drop your files to the ftp account on your computer, send us an email, and we will connect to your computer and do the rest for you! You won’t have to spend time uploading or downloading any more! We found that this can save you 2-3 days! If you are interested in this faster service please contact us at:
info@rawdigitalimageediting.comfor more information and a step by step set up guide.
We were also busy in April with Tax Season! But it’s over now and we are back to normal.
Please feel free to send us your questions or tips to:
info@rawdigitalimageediting.com
For Archives of all our newsletters, visit our website at www.rawdigitalimageediting.com
If you are not already shooting exclusively RAW, this month’s perspective from a fellow photographer will be of interest to you. Next month I’ll be back with some specific tips about RAW format and why it is called Digital Negative.
A Photographer’s experience with RAW
I’ve been a film photographer since 1980 and the change to digital has been a huge
learning curve, a mixed blend of pleasure at seeing immediate results and frustration
with issues like white balance and tight exposure latitudes.
Many times I was just moderately satisfied with the results of digital capture. I really
missed the quality of film and slide – digital just didn’t seem to come close. My clients didn’t notice the differences…but I certainly did.
Last spring I enrolled in an afternoon course about RAW vs JPEG. In a few hours it became clear that if I wanted to get the most out of my DSLR, then shooting in RAW format was the best (the only!) way to do that.
So I changed the settings on my camera and immediately saw how superior the results were with RAW files.
Tricky or challenging lighting became possible to capture in RAW, when JPEG
would have been hard-pressed to handle the complexities.
A good example is this photograph taken in a chiropractor’s office, with lovely green walls and fluorescent lighting. It’s easy to spot the much greater latitude for balancing and correcting possible with the RAW file.
I’ve been sold on the superior results to be gained from RAW files for a year now.
In the beginning I still shot personal pics on JPEG, reserving the RAW files for my clients…but have since stopped doing even that. My DSLR is permanently set on RAW, with no exceptions!
The power of post processing
Gone are the days of being able to drop off film at the lab, with total confidence that my photographs would be developed to look their best. Instead I have spent countless hours on my computer, struggling to understand and master the mammoth Photoshop program.
The single greatest benefit to processing digital files came when I switched from shooting JPEG to RAW format. Attempting to process a JPEG file meant I was continually reducing information (and file size) which had already been reduced by the camera. But editing RAW files is a much easier task…even for a Photoshop novice like me! Virtually everything can be adjusted, like that nasty blue cast on a lovely white wedding gown…
My final word on the benefits of shooting RAW and the enormous difference this makes
to post processing comes down to the finished images themselves: beautiful photographs
with lots of detail in highlights through shadows…finally digital capture can equal the quality of film!
submitted by: Cheryl Wiens, Reflections of Life Photography
We want to thank Cheryl Wiens for sharing her experience with us and to say we look forward to hearing from you as well. Your comments, questions and feedback are always
welcome.
Stay tuned for next month’s Newsletter and exciting tips on how to get the best results by shooting in RAW format
Do you have suggestions for future tutorials? Please send your suggestions and comments to: info@rawdigitalimageediting.com
Have a good month ~ we’ll be back again in June.
Ted and the Omnilargess Team
www.rawdigitalimageediting.com
support@rawdigitalimageediting.com
info@rawdigitalimageediting.com
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