Sorry for posting again so soon!
However, I have a canon powershot g12 and I don't really know what to do with RAW. I actually forgot about it until just now, haha.
I don't really process my pictures except for with iPhoto. Which is just coloring stuff. So is it useless to me? Or would it still be better/beneficial?
RAW is mostly for having more to work with in processing; the more data you have, the more you can do with it.
Your camera has around 10 Megapixels; it's been claimed that 'photo realistic' comes in around 7.2 Megapixels. That means your camera is good enough to produce photos that can be enlarged/printed in size quite larger than 'standard' 15x9cm glossies.
For your own ease; keep your JPEGs at high quality. You really only need RAW if you do a lot of processing. And people even differ on that opinion. ;-)
The RAW is not really useful at all if you don't like doing reasonably extensive processing with it. But if you do like to work with it, it opens up a lot more possibilities for adjusting colour and tone that you don't get once it's been processed to a JPEG.
Even when shooting in jpg mode, all images start as RAW from your camera’s sensor: pure data. From this, the processor in the camera then applies white balance, colour filters, contrast, saturation etc and then compresses the image into a jpg.
Going to jpg is a one way street – when the jpg is produced there is no way to go back and make changes to those settings. So it’s important to get something like white balance correct at the time of the exposure.
When shooting in RAW, the white balance, colour filter arrays etc… are only tagged on the image. So when opened in a RAW convertor on a computer, you are free to change them (ie: the jpg conversion done in camera above can be done at your leisure on a computer). For post processing this is really powerful. The two greatest things about RAW for me are being able to adjust white balance and exposure after the shot has been taken: both can dramatically change an image. Of course if you get those correct at the time of exposure you shouldn’t need to adjust later….
If you don’t have the time or interest to tweak images afterwards, then I wouldn’t worry about it too much though
It's probably worth pointing out that it's because the RAW file stores more data that you can make changes to exposure and white balance after the fact. Your camera can capture many more levels of brightness than a JPEG file can store, and it is this additional detail that makes large changes to white balance and exposure possible.
The actual algorithms to change exposure and white balance will, of course, work on any file. A neat trick that people who use Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw might not know is that you can use Camera Raw to process JPEG files as well! This is great if you want to tweak an image from a compact camera or even a mobile phone -- you can use all the same white balance, exposure, clarity, recovery, fill, noise reduction etc. sliders that you use for RAW files. Because there isn't as much data, you can't make such big changes, but it's still great for those times when your mobile phone decides to make everything pink!
One last thing to note: When shooting in RAW, it makes *absolutely no difference* if you set the white balance at the time of the shot or in post-processing -- you will end up with exactly the same shot. The same is not true regarding the exposure. While RAW files allow you to correct bad exposure, you will still introduce much more noise and image artifacts than if you get the exposure right in-camera -- so make sure you use your camera's histogram and 'blinkies' to get it as close as possible, and use post-processing corrections to the RAW as a last resort :)
If don't know what to do with raw, try at first shooting at dusk or dawn in raw. And then open it in Photoshop and push the colors to see what you can achieve. It's unbelievable. Several shots i did wouldn't be possible with jpg.
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If you can find the space keep the RAW files.
Your camera has around 10 Megapixels; it's been claimed that 'photo realistic' comes in around 7.2 Megapixels. That means your camera is good enough to produce photos that can be enlarged/printed in size quite larger than 'standard' 15x9cm glossies.
For your own ease; keep your JPEGs at high quality. You really only need RAW if you do a lot of processing. And people even differ on that opinion. ;-)
Even when shooting in jpg mode, all images start as RAW from your camera’s sensor: pure data. From this, the processor in the camera then applies white balance, colour filters, contrast, saturation etc and then compresses the image into a jpg.
Going to jpg is a one way street – when the jpg is produced there is no way to go back and make changes to those settings. So it’s important to get something like white balance correct at the time of the exposure.
When shooting in RAW, the white balance, colour filter arrays etc… are only tagged on the image. So when opened in a RAW convertor on a computer, you are free to change them (ie: the jpg conversion done in camera above can be done at your leisure on a computer). For post processing this is really powerful. The two greatest things about RAW for me are being able to adjust white balance and exposure after the shot has been taken: both can dramatically change an image. Of course if you get those correct at the time of exposure you shouldn’t need to adjust later….
If you don’t have the time or interest to tweak images afterwards, then I wouldn’t worry about it too much though
It's probably worth pointing out that it's because the RAW file stores more data that you can make changes to exposure and white balance after the fact. Your camera can capture many more levels of brightness than a JPEG file can store, and it is this additional detail that makes large changes to white balance and exposure possible.
The actual algorithms to change exposure and white balance will, of course, work on any file. A neat trick that people who use Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw might not know is that you can use Camera Raw to process JPEG files as well! This is great if you want to tweak an image from a compact camera or even a mobile phone -- you can use all the same white balance, exposure, clarity, recovery, fill, noise reduction etc. sliders that you use for RAW files. Because there isn't as much data, you can't make such big changes, but it's still great for those times when your mobile phone decides to make everything pink!
One last thing to note: When shooting in RAW, it makes *absolutely no difference* if you set the white balance at the time of the shot or in post-processing -- you will end up with exactly the same shot. The same is not true regarding the exposure. While RAW files allow you to correct bad exposure, you will still introduce much more noise and image artifacts than if you get the exposure right in-camera -- so make sure you use your camera's histogram and 'blinkies' to get it as close as possible, and use post-processing corrections to the RAW as a last resort :)
If don't know what to do with raw, try at first shooting at dusk or dawn in raw. And then open it in Photoshop and push the colors to see what you can achieve. It's unbelievable. Several shots i did wouldn't be possible with jpg.
Think like this: low light shots with superb colors: probably it was raw: http://365project.org/gabrielklee/365/2012-04-06 http://365project.org/gabrielklee/365/2012-04-09 http://365project.org/gabrielklee/365/2012-02-07 http://365project.org/gabrielklee/365/2012-01-06 http://365project.org/gabrielklee/365/2012-01-18