For all of you newbie photographers, you may be hearing the term RAW thrown around quite a bit. I remember when I first picked up a camera, I had no idea what RAW was, except that I was supposed to be using it. if you’re in the same boat that I once was in, you’re in luck! Today I’m going to be sharing all about what RAW is and why you should be using it.

There are two primary file types that you could write images in your camera: RAW and JPEG. RAW files preserve all of the detail in the highlights and shadows of the image. They capture an incredible amount of data and allow for so much more flexibility in the editing process. JPEGs are simply a common picture file.  The image on the back of your camera is a jpeg that your camera creates using the RAW file that you shot. This is why your RAW images on your computer at home will look flatter and duller than they did on the back of your camera.

The advantage of shooting in RAW is that you have SO MUCH more flexibility to edit in post because all of the detail is saved in the data of the image. JPEGS have less flexibility because the data is compressed and not able to be manipulated to the same degree.

If you are not already shooting in RAW there are a few things you should know:

• RAW files are much larger than JPEG files, which means you need to keep that in mind when you are calculating how many memory cards to bring. For reference, a 32 GB card will hold just over 1K RAW files.
• Not all photo editing softwares can open RAW files. I recommend using Lightroom to edit if you aren’t already using it. This was one of the first issues I ran into the first time I changed the file type to RAW in my camera – I didn’t have a way to edit the images!

Hopefully this gives you a little bit more clarity as to the importance of shooting in RAW! Let me know if you have any other questions, friend!