Digital SLR Photography

IMAGEQUALITY SETTINGSYOUPAYHANDSOMELYFOREVERYMEGAPIXELPACKEDINTOYOURCAMERA,SOBESURETO MAKETHEMOSTOFTHEMIMAGE QUALITY HAS always beenofparamount importance to photographers,and improving it is still oneof the mainfactors behind the developmentofphotographic equipment – the better it gets,the better we want it to be. Film shooterscould improve image quality by increasingthefi lmformat they used, on the basis thatbigger is better. The same applies today withDSLRs to an extent – bigger sensors andmore pixels mean higher image quality.However, there are other factors that apply indigital imaging too, allof which are intendedto help you get the very best from your DSLR.72 Digital SLR PhotographyNove mber2016Th e B e ginner’sGuideRAWFORMAT:If you want to achieveoptimum image quality, you shouldalways shoot in Rawformat, as thefi les are 12-14 bit uncompressed and containall the datarecorded by thered, blue andgreen sensitive pixels in the camera’s sensor.Thesefi les actually contain far more datathan you needfor thefi nal processed image,but that’s a good thing as it gives you morecontrol over the way you can edit the image.There’s greater exposure latitude, so you canrescue a badly-exposed image with little lossof image quality. Things like colourtemperature, colour saturation, contrast andsharpness are also left to you to determineduring post-production. When you processa Rawfi le you then save the image as a TIFFor JPEG, so the original Rawfi le remainsintact. That means you canreturn to it whenyou’re more experienced andre-processthe samefi le again, achieving betterresults.The main drawbackof shooting in Raw isthat you have to spend timeat yourcomputer processing eachfi le. In order toopen Rawfi les you also need specialistsoftware. The majorityof photographers useAdobe Camera Raw (ACR) in Photoshop andLightroom. The downsideof ACR is thatwhen new camera models are launched,there’s usually a delay before anACR``````upgrade isavailable that allows you to openthe Rawfi les. If this happens, you canconvert your Rawfi les to DNGfi les usingAdobe DNG Converter (free software), andthen open them using Photoshop,Lightroom and other editing software.Rawfi les are quite large, so you getfewershots to a memory card. Saying that,memory cards are cheap these days. SomeDSLRs also give you to optionof shootingsRaw or Small Rawfi les. They take up lesscard space than full size Rawfi les, but giveyou the benefitsof an uncompressedfi le.``````JPEGFORMAT:All digital camerasinitially produce Rawfi les, but if youset your DSLR toJPEGformat, thefi rmware in the camera (its internal software)‘processes’ the Rawfi le before saving it to thememory card. In doing so it‘compresses’ thefi le by deleting data it doesn’t think isnecessary, as well as adjusting colour andcontrast and sharpening the image.JPEGs are about1/5th the sizeof a Rawfi le. This means you can take many moreshots beforefi lling your memory card, andalso shoot longer burstsof images beforethe buffer is full – idealfor sport and wildlife!Shooting in JPEG is definitely quicker andmore convenient than Raw. In theory you``````Brand Maximumresolution``````Mediumresolution``````Lowestresolution``````Canon LMSNikon LMSOlympus(older) SHQ HQ SQOlympus (newer) L M SPanasonic LMSPentax (K-3 II) LMS/XSSony (older) LMSSony (newer) LMS``````Aswellastakingpicturesatmaximumresolution,youcanset yourcamera toshootatlowerresolutions,too.Themostcommonuseforthisiswhentakingimagesforwebuseorwhenmemorycardcapacityisatapremium.You’llneedtorefertoyourcamera’sinstructionstoseewhateachsettingrelates tointermsofresolution.``````Brand LeastCompression``````MediumCompression``````MostCompression``````Canon –Nikon Fine Normal BasicOlympus(older) SHQ HQ SQOlympus (newer) FN–Panasonic Large Medium SmallPentax (K-3 II)Sony (older) Fine Standard-Sony (newer) Extra fi ne Fine Standard``````JPEG compressionisdisplayeddifferently, dependingonyourbrandofca mera.Selectminimumcompressionforthebestqualityandmaximumcompressionwhenyouneedtomaximisespaceonyourcardatthe costofimagequality.We'dsuggestthatyousticktousingtheleastcompressionwheneverpossible.``````can print the images straight from yourcamera without a computer because theediting has been done in-camera. JPEGscan also be opened using most software.The downsideof shooting in JPEG is thatthefi les are 8-bit compressed, so imagequality isn’t as high, although detecting thiswith the naked eye is almost impossible. Thedata deleted in-camera is also irretrievable,which means you have much lessroomforadjustments when you edit a JPEG, and it’sa‘lossy’format which means that each timeyou make changes and save them, data islost. Although again, this is almostimpossible to detect unless you're saving thesamefi le tens or hundredsof times over.You’ll notice that your DSLRoffersdifferent JPEG quality settings, such as Large(or Fine), Medium and Small. This isself-explanatory – Large/Fine gives you thebest quality andresolution, with minimalcompression while subsequent settingsreduce size and compress further. The onlybenefit to using a smaller JPEG size is if youknow you only need low image quality andalso need to take a lotof photographs.JPEGCOMPRESSION IMAGE SIZEAbove:ThedifferencebetweenRawandFineJPEGisdifficulttosee,butJPEGNormalandBasicaremorecompressed.Right:Rawfi lesall owyougreaterscopeforeditingyourimagesformaximumimagequalityanddetail.``````RAW JPEG FINE JPEG NORMAL JPEGBASIC``````JAKUBS TEPAN/SHUT TERSTOCK