RAW files causes color change?

[andmart1]

I would like to apologize in advance if this type of thread is already existent here or if I was not supposed to create a new thread. I'm newbee in photography and I just found this forum today.
I've been reading "the beginners posts" for about 2 hours and I didn't find a answer to my question so...

I am not a professional photographer but I've been taking many many pictures for friends, families, landscape and so on, all for free but I always try my best to make the best picture that I can.
One thing that is bordering me a LOT is the fact that I shoot just RAW format now (before I was shooting RAW+Fine but I was not using them both, so I changed it to just RAW).

First thing I noticed was that the image I was seeing on my camera was different from what I ended up on my computer.

Second thing that is bothering me too much is that even if I am shooting RAW, when I upload it to my "iPhotos" it apears to be RAW but onde I open it on my computer files or on Photoshop it is a JPG format???? How come??????????????? I must be doing something completely wrong and I really want to know what?!?!!??! Pleasae someone help me!

The last thing I noticed and in many many times is even making me loose many good photos is because the image, once on my computer, it becomes really darker on my MAC. At first I thought I was taking pictures somehow wrong ( wrong aperture, shutter speed,Low ISO) I even stopped taken pics on manual and I took some on Aperture priority where I could adjust the "exposure compensation" just to make sure that my pictures were "well exposed"... but once again, on my pc my pictures became darker. It is really bad! Specially in low light photos, i ended up with really dark photos. Sometimes I can't fix it, I lost a lot of details on my images because of that. When I try to correct many of these images, (even if I used ISO 100- the lowest in my camera) I have a lot of noise on my images which makes me feel really sad.

I don't have high end equipment. I just have a Nikon D3200 and 4 types of lenses. But even shooting with prime lenses, the same problem is happening!

right now I just switched to RAW+ Fine again to test it. Once I transfered the images to my pc both became jpg and JPG . One darker than it was supposed to be with noise. =/

Can someone please help me with this issue?

Thanks.

 

[jaomul]

Firstly you need dedicated raw software to properly use raw files. The idea is to process these and convert them to a file type you can readily use such as jpeg.

Some other viewers will open them but they will be muted and dull. This is because the camera has not done in camera processing.

I advise until you get more accostomed to the way it works to shoot raw and medium fine jpeg. This will give you a usable jpeg and raw for editing if required.

I can only assume as I don't have a Mac that the software you are using to open converts the raw very basically to jpeg for viewing.

Lightroom or dxo optics or free Raw therapee are proper raw converters, Nikon also do a free but basic converter

 

[TCampbell]

Three things...

First:

A RAW image is basically the data the sensor captured -- no changes which would cause a loss of original data are performed. When you shoot JPEG, a number of changes are performed and many of these cause a loss of original data. Many of the changes performed are desirable... but the problem is that when the camera does them instead of you doing them then you can lose original data that you would rather have kept. When YOU make the change, you get to control how it's performed and don't lose your original data. So... some adjustments are always needed when you shoot RAW, but RAW offers much greater adjustment latitude.

Your JPEG images would have had some white balance, sharpening, de-noising (at high ISO), and possibly other adjustments all performed in-camera. RAW will have none of those. You may notice the colors are different if the JPEG images were applying "white balance". RAW won't apply white balance.

Second:

iPhoto is JPEG program. If you shoot RAW, iPhoto will IMMEDIATELY convert the RAW to a JPEG and then everything happens in JPEG format. Apple's RAW workflow application for pro use was a program named Aperture -- but don't get it because Apple has already announced that they've dropped any plans to do any further development on it.

For RAW workflow on your Mac, you'd use the Adobe Lightroom -- which is actually designed with RAW processing in mind.

Third:

Your monitor may not be faithfully representing what the camera captured. Every device that displays an image can render that imaging looking different than the last device. The image on the LCD screen on your camera isn't reliable (colors aren't accurate and you can be fooled by the LCD "brightness" setting into thinking images are either over-exposed or under-exposed.) The histogram display is the best in-camera way to know if your images are correctly exposed.

As for the monitor on your Mac (or any computer), you'd want to get a tool to perform display calibration. I use a Colormunki Photo (by X-Rite). There's also the Datacolor Spyder. These devices help you calibrate your monitor for accurate color rendering. They include both software and hardware. The hardware is a sensor that is placed directly on the monitor glass. The software calibrates by having the monitor display each primary color and at numerous different brightness levels -- while the hardware device analyzes how accurately your monitor does this. It then creates a color "profile" for your monitor.

If you go into your Mac "System Preferences" -> "Displays" -> "Color" you'll see a list of "Display Profiles" ... the calibration tool will create new profile just for your monitor. When using that profile you can be confident that the color displayed on your screen is accurate.

I went through this issue personally and had been under the impression that the colors on my monitor were correct. Once I adjusted my images, others felt they were entirely too "orange". Frankly.... they were being polite. It wasn't until I saw one of my images on someone else's display that I realized my images weren't just a bit orange... they were positively tangerine. I bought the Colormunki, calibrated my monitor, and my days of having color accuracy problems are now behind me.

 

[andmart1]

Thank you so much Jaomul and TCampbel for your fast reply. I really appreciate.

Jaomul this is the exactly way I see my pics : dull. I didn't know I was supposed to use an specific program to open RAW files. I have Lightroom but since I got it couple of months ago I didn't use it a lot and I thought I was supposed to upload the pics first to my pc them to LR. hahahah Tomorrow (today is too late) I will search for some tutorials on how to use properly LR. this way I can try to open my RAW files and work better with them.

TCampbell I had no idea that I could calibrate my monitor. Wow. It is a huge discovery to me. I'm gonna do that for sure, although I like tangerine color, it is better to see the real colors right . =)

I am attaching an unedited file to show you guys one of my problems. Of course it is on Jpg format since I explained already my situation. I believe TCampbell explained to me very well the reason.
Weel, I took this picture today using a very basic lens and my very basic camera of course. It was the first time I tried this type of photo and I was really excited about it. When I was shooting, I checked my camera's monitor and it looked great, with a little bit background showing up and a different color on the sparks. When I saw the picture on my pc I was shocked! It was super yellow (which of course I can correct on Photoshop) and completely dark dark dark (which I will probably not be able to correct to get what I was hoping for) . At least it is not full of noise as always but I am disappointed. It made me think that maybe I was supposed to use a larger aperture instead of what I used but once again, I was happy with what I was seeing so I thought it was fine.
Tomorrow (maybe) I will try again with a larger aperture to see if I get some background as well. Maybe not , because I injured my finger today . =[

If someone want to edit this file and show me how to do it I would love. I checked "no edit my pics" when I subscribed on this forum but I would like to change it but I don't know how yet, so feel free! =)

Thanks a lot. I am hooked to this forum.

 

[Joves]

Also any software that came with your camera will open the RAW files correctly. I always shoot in Raw+Fine, the reason being that I like to play with the images by adjusting my picture controls in the camera. This way if I like what the Jpeg looks like then I can hit as shot, and apply those settings to the RAW file, and then do any minor tweaks to finish if need be. That and you can then change it to another format than Jpeg if you wish to. This is the great thing about digital is that it is very flexible in what you can do to obtain the images you want. It just depends on how much you want to do that limits that.

Also as Tim said monitor calibration is very important. If you plan on really getting into this as a serious hobby then get a calibration tool.

 

[andmart1]

I am so happy today! I was able to open a RAW file on my MAC for the first time. I was kind of starting to hate RAW files because I didn't get exactly what it was about, so I started to think it was a "bad choice" just because I didn't know how to open it correctly and work with it.
I followed the instructions to take RAW+Fine again to have both choices to work with while I am learning how to work with RAW format.
Today I tried again to take pics of the sparks. I didn't only get what I was looking for, but once I opened it in RAW I saw a huuuuuge difference for good. Since I don't know yet how to work properly with Lightroom ,not even on
Photoshop with RAW , I just made few adjustments on my jpeg pic and I was happy with it until I tried to edit my RAW file (just the exposure adjustment) and OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never ever could do such huge exposure adjustment with my jpeg! It was just incredible! I can see all trees and everything so clear on the picture. I tried to attach my RAW file just to show you guys that I made it but I couldn't. Maybe this type of file is not allowed to upload online? I don't know . So I am attaching the jpeg with a little adjustment (since I can't edit a lot because of its format) .I believed it was good enough but now I can't wait to learn as fast as I can to edit RAW files and get way better results.
I am delighted with this. Just like a kid with a sweet. =)
Thank you all so much . =)

 

[Tailgunner]

Third:

Your monitor may not be faithfully representing what the camera captured. Every device that displays an image can render that imaging looking different than the last device. The image on the LCD screen on your camera isn't reliable (colors aren't accurate and you can be fooled by the LCD "brightness" setting into thinking images are either over-exposed or under-exposed.) The histogram display is the best in-camera way to know if your images are correctly exposed.

As for the monitor on your Mac (or any computer), you'd want to get a tool to perform display calibration. I use a Colormunki Photo (by X-Rite). There's also the Datacolor Spyder. These devices help you calibrate your monitor for accurate color rendering. They include both software and hardware. The hardware is a sensor that is placed directly on the monitor glass. The software calibrates by having the monitor display each primary color and at numerous different brightness levels -- while the hardware device analyzes how accurately your monitor does this. It then creates a color "profile" for your monitor.

If you go into your Mac "System Preferences" -> "Displays" -> "Color" you'll see a list of "Display Profiles" ... the calibration tool will create new profile just for your monitor. When using that profile you can be confident that the color displayed on your screen is accurate.

I went through this issue personally and had been under the impression that the colors on my monitor were correct. Once I adjusted my images, others felt they were entirely too "orange". Frankly.... they were being polite. It wasn't until I saw one of my images on someone else's display that I realized my images weren't just a bit orange... they were positively tangerine. I bought the Colormunki, calibrated my monitor, and my days of having color accuracy problems are now behind me.

This would be my guess being that I also run a iMac and Macbook pro.

I don't notice this as much on my Macbook but it's horrible on my iMac. I have tried everything to correct it with zero luck...even bought Colurmonki and couldn't get it to run on my iMac.

 

[andmart1]

Can I ask another thing? I have tons of RAW images on Iphoto (which transferring to my pc becomes jpg). Many of them I would love to get the chance to edit in really RAW format (I erased them from my memory card) . There are any way to transfer those pictures back to some place in RAW ?

 

[andmart1]

Third:

Your monitor may not be faithfully representing what the camera captured. Every device that displays an image can render that imaging looking different than the last device. The image on the LCD screen on your camera isn't reliable (colors aren't accurate and you can be fooled by the LCD "brightness" setting into thinking images are either over-exposed or under-exposed.) The histogram display is the best in-camera way to know if your images are correctly exposed.

As for the monitor on your Mac (or any computer), you'd want to get a tool to perform display calibration. I use a Colormunki Photo (by X-Rite). There's also the Datacolor Spyder. These devices help you calibrate your monitor for accurate color rendering. They include both software and hardware. The hardware is a sensor that is placed directly on the monitor glass. The software calibrates by having the monitor display each primary color and at numerous different brightness levels -- while the hardware device analyzes how accurately your monitor does this. It then creates a color "profile" for your monitor.

If you go into your Mac "System Preferences" -> "Displays" -> "Color" you'll see a list of "Display Profiles" ... the calibration tool will create new profile just for your monitor. When using that profile you can be confident that the color displayed on your screen is accurate.

I went through this issue personally and had been under the impression that the colors on my monitor were correct. Once I adjusted my images, others felt they were entirely too "orange". Frankly.... they were being polite. It wasn't until I saw one of my images on someone else's display that I realized my images weren't just a bit orange... they were positively tangerine. I bought the Colormunki, calibrated my monitor, and my days of having color accuracy problems are now behind me.

This would be my guess being that I also run a iMac and Macbook pro.

I don't notice this as much on my Macbook but it's horrible on my iMac. I have tried everything to correct it with zero luck...even bought Colurmonki and couldn't get it to run on my iMac.

Thank you for your reply. So, do you think it would be a waste of time to get a Colurmonki ?

 

[Tailgunner]

Third:

Your monitor may not be faithfully representing what the camera captured. Every device that displays an image can render that imaging looking different than the last device. The image on the LCD screen on your camera isn't reliable (colors aren't accurate and you can be fooled by the LCD "brightness" setting into thinking images are either over-exposed or under-exposed.) The histogram display is the best in-camera way to know if your images are correctly exposed.

As for the monitor on your Mac (or any computer), you'd want to get a tool to perform display calibration. I use a Colormunki Photo (by X-Rite). There's also the Datacolor Spyder. These devices help you calibrate your monitor for accurate color rendering. They include both software and hardware. The hardware is a sensor that is placed directly on the monitor glass. The software calibrates by having the monitor display each primary color and at numerous different brightness levels -- while the hardware device analyzes how accurately your monitor does this. It then creates a color "profile" for your monitor.

If you go into your Mac "System Preferences" -> "Displays" -> "Color" you'll see a list of "Display Profiles" ... the calibration tool will create new profile just for your monitor. When using that profile you can be confident that the color displayed on your screen is accurate.

I went through this issue personally and had been under the impression that the colors on my monitor were correct. Once I adjusted my images, others felt they were entirely too "orange". Frankly.... they were being polite. It wasn't until I saw one of my images on someone else's display that I realized my images weren't just a bit orange... they were positively tangerine. I bought the Colormunki, calibrated my monitor, and my days of having color accuracy problems are now behind me.

This would be my guess being that I also run a iMac and Macbook pro.

I don't notice this as much on my Macbook but it's horrible on my iMac. I have tried everything to correct it with zero luck...even bought Colurmonki and couldn't get it to run on my iMac.

Thank you for your reply. So, do you think it would be a waste of time to get a Colurmonki ?

I picked up Colurmonki Design and can't get it to work on my iMac. After reading up on it, I found that Apple doesn't always support Colurmonki. The average Apple computer or consumer video card isn't designed for something like Photoshop.

It's a cross roads for me, I don't shoot weddings or High school señor photos. I shoot a lot of landscapes that deal with gradients. So I'm either going upgrade to a Mac Pro Workstation or switch bad to PC.

 

[TCampbell]

Thank you for your reply. So, do you think it would be a waste of time to get a Colurmonki ?

I picked up Colurmonki Design and can't get it to work on my iMac. After reading up on it, I found that Apple doesn't always support Colurmonki. The average Apple computer or consumer video card isn't designed for something like Photoshop.

It's a cross roads for me, I don't shoot weddings or High school señor photos. I shoot a lot of landscapes that deal with gradients. So I'm either going upgrade to a Mac Pro Workstation or switch bad to PC.

Did you actually get a Colormunki, or is this based on things you're read on the internet? Having a Colormunki Photo -- I know that it does support the Mac... and has for many past versions of the operating system.

Macs tend to be more popular than Windows for "creative" applications (there are a LOT of Mac users who use Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.). But if you are reading a review created by a Windows user who has no first hand experience with a Mac, I can easily imagine you might be getting bad advice.

 

[wfooshee]

Can I ask another thing? I have tons of RAW images on Iphoto (which transferring to my pc becomes jpg). Many of them I would love to get the chance to edit in really RAW format (I erased them from my memory card) . There are any way to transfer those pictures back to some place in RAW ?

There is no going back. If you don't have the original RAW files (NEF files for Nikon) then they are gone forever.

 

[unpopular]

Can I ask another thing? I have tons of RAW images on Iphoto (which transferring to my pc becomes jpg). Many of them I would love to get the chance to edit in really RAW format (I erased them from my memory card) . There are any way to transfer those pictures back to some place in RAW ?

There is no going back. If you don't have the original RAW files (NEF files for Nikon) then they are gone forever.

AFAIK the raw files should be there somewhere. iPhoto does not delete the original in exchange for a jpeg ... it's been a while though, so I don't really remember where they are located. Start in your Photos folder. Inside there is an iPhoto library.

 

[fjrabon]

One other issue, if you're shooting in Raw and not using Nikon's own software to make the raw conversion, make sure you're turning off active D lighting on your camera. Active D Lighting won't work if you shoot Raw and don't convert with Nikon software, it will just make your pictures look darker and flat.

If you want I can go into a technical explanation of why, but the only thing you actually need to know is to not use active D lighting in your camera's settings unless you either shoot JPEG or use Nikon software to make the original conversion from Raw. Non-Nikon software can't read the D Lighting conversion correctly, and just causes you to get a shot that is a stop or two underexposed in scenes with wide dynamic range.

 

[KmH]

First thing I noticed was that the image I was seeing on my camera was different from what I ended up on my computer.

The rear LCD on your camera cannot show you the Raw.
It shows a JPEG Basic thumbnail that is embedded in the Raw file show the camera has an image it can show.

The same goes for the histogram the camera displays on the rear LCD- the histogram shown is for the JPEG Basic thumbnail embedded in the Raw file.