182 Better Available Light Digital Photography
images on the fl y, to name a few. To put these tasty morsels into
play, we’ve had to expand our horizons and elevate our learning
curves. Are you ready for more? Hang on to your hats, because
here we go again. JPEG or RAW?
This time we’ll be dealing with the actual quality of the image
as it’s captured by the camera’s image sensor at the moment of
shutter release. Equally important is the array of postproduction
options that RAW capture offers to us. There is a difference
between these options of quality and of course the trade-offs that
accompany our choices. Who said this digital photographic life
would be easy? What we’ll say is that understanding RAW
capture will impact, enhance, and streamline your postproduc-
tion workfl ow and provide you with the best insurance policy
available for your image making. Yup, I doubt that Lloyd’s of
London could do you any better.
The “professional” line of SLR digital cameras, their “prosumer”
cousins, and more and more of the digital point-and-shoot
cameras allow the photographer to choose the image quality.As we’ve discussed, that Golden Hour doesn’t really last 60 minutes. Sunsets quickly turn to twilight, and
the light changes accordingly. This scene was shot in JPEG mode only because there were precious few seconds
of sunlight left. It was a race against the clock as Barry and his subject were driving back to the large boxed
trees. The road was rough, the four-wheel-drive vehicle bounced to a halt, and the two of them ran to the
trees. Only three or four frames were taken before the last ray of direct light left the scene. There wasn’t any
time to select RAW mode in-camera. Sound familiar? Ansel Adams’s famous photograph “Moonrise, Her-
nandez” was made under similar conditions. Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom software was used to alter the
photograph’s color temperature and saturation before opening the fi le in Photoshop for additional work. ©
2005 Barry Staver.