Photography photo formats and HDR photography

Today let’s discuss the difference between Jpeg and RAW imaging format; which one should you use? If the contrast of a scene is relatively high, then you’ll probably want to use RAW. RAW can produce approximately the same results as an HDR merged Jpeg with a range of -1 to +1 EV exposure compensations. RAW processing might seem difficult to some people, but it’s really not, unless of course you don’t have the right image processing software. These days, there are cameras that can do RAW processing in the camera. Raw files are larger than Jpeg, so if you’re trying to save internal memory space on your memory card, Jpeg isn’t a bad idea. In many situations, the difference between Jpeg and raw image quality might be difficult to notice, especially because newer, more modern cameras have better Jpeg processing techniques. In fact, some modern cameras can produce decent “HDRish” images, or images that look much like HDR, right out of camera, after processing of course, without the need to take multiple different exposures (at least when using RAW). If you know what you’re doing, then RAW is a great choice of format for photography. The only major problem that I can think of that even single RAW images have trouble figuring out, is highlight recovery; it’s much easier to recover shadow detail rather than highlight detail. That’s a major reason why I don’t overexpose much. Now, when you have a partly cloud day, and the clouds are frequently passing overhead, then we very likely have a problem, especially when doing HDR photography, as the required exposure changes accordingly to the cloud cover. Then there’s also the problem of moving subjects, such as when a breeze comes and rustles the leaves, which can really be a nuisance, especially if you have images to merge which were taken handheld. Sometimes it gets so dark outside that if you want to do HDR photos, you can’t help but use a tripod or some other steady support. RAW can’t take burst photos as quickly as Jpeg, and the buffer will likely not last as long.