RAW Prints

[D40]

I know that the RAW/JPEG debate is a big one and really has no end so I am not going into that but I do have some question about RAW. If you shoot in RAW and upload the pics to your computer, I understand that you have more editing control over the picture, but can you keep them in RAW when you put them on a CD and have prints made, or do you turn them into JPEG when you do that and give then to your cliants? Long sentence Also is RAW the same as TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)?
Thanks, yall are great!

 

[Big Mike]

RAW is different from TIFF.

You can't print a RAW file unless you have a software program that will read the RAW file. Well, I've never tried to anyway.

A RAW file is just the basic data from the camera. Once you open it and edit it, you can't or don't save it as a RAW file again....it must be saved as a different file type. This is why we often say 'convert a RAW file'...because you convert it into a standard type of image file.

If you gave your client the RAW files...you would be giving them unedited files.

Giving most people JPEG files would be good enough. JPEG is a very common file type and they wouldn't have any problems printing them. However, JPEG is a lossy file type...meaning that every time you save a JPEG file, it is compressed and you loose some data. JPEG is good as a file output file type, once all the editing is done...but it's not so good for images that you are working on, opening and saving multiple times.

TIFF is a lossless file type. This means that you can save it over and over again without loosing data. Good for working files. TIFF files are much bigger than JPEG files...which is one reason why JPEGs are so convenient.

 

[Jestev]

RAW is different from TIFF.

You can't print a RAW file unless you have a software program that will read the RAW file. Well, I've never tried to anyway.

A RAW file is just the basic data from the camera. Once you open it and edit it, you can't or don't save it as a RAW file again....it must be saved as a different file type. This is why we often say 'convert a RAW file'...because you convert it into a standard type of image file.

If you gave your client the RAW files...you would be giving them unedited files.

Giving most people JPEG files would be good enough. JPEG is a very common file type and they wouldn't have any problems printing them. However, JPEG is a lossy file type...meaning that every time you save a JPEG file, it is compressed and you loose some data. JPEG is good as a file output file type, once all the editing is done...but it's not so good for images that you are working on, opening and saving multiple times.

TIFF is a lossless file type. This means that you can save it over and over again without loosing data. Good for working files. TIFF files are much bigger than JPEG files...which is one reason why JPEGs are so convenient.

You can get a plugin so you can save something as a NEF (Nikon's RAW file format) after editing, but I never do because there's no real point. Just keep the original RAW file just like you would a film negative after you've made prints.

I shoot RAW, open it up in free Nikon View 6.2.7, fix the exposure, save it as a TIFF (lossless), open it in Photoshop Elements 3.0.1, do some color stuff/whatever else I need to do to it, and then save it as a PSD (to keep the layers--PSD is Photoshop's lossless file type that will keep all the Photoshop data such as layers).

 

[D40]

Thank you, that answered my question! I plan on picking up Lightroom and was thinking about RAW and all that and that question came up

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

PhotoShop CS3 also has RAW handling capabilities. and more processing power than Light room. (Light room is a work flow prog and works very well WITH PhotoShop). If you can afford to get both together then do so. If not (Like most of us) Then my advice would be to go for CS3 first and then Light room as and when you can. But if you are on a course then your instructor would offer the best advice , as He/She knows what is comming in the next few weeks...