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- RAW images can be processed again at a later date when new and improved
applications become available. Your original image isn’t permanently altered
by today’s generation of photo-editing applications even if they don’t support
non-destructive editing. - You can generate alternate versions of the same RAW image. For example,
many photographers will adjust highlight and shadow areas and save these
versions separately. Using a photo-editing program, they then combine the
two images as layers and by selectively erasing parts of the top image layer
let areas of the lower image layer show through so all areas have a perfect
exposure.
Admittedly, there are drawbacks to using RAW images. - RAW files are quite large. If you use this format a great deal you will need
more storage space in the camera, and computer processing times may be
slightly longer. - When shooting images, you may have to wait longer between shots because
the buffer gets filled more quickly and the camera is tied up longer processing
the last image you took, and moving it from the buffer to the memory card. - Since RAW images aren’t processed in the camera, you have to process
them on the computer and export them in a usable format when you want
to e-mail them, post them on a Web site, print them, or import them into
another program to create a slide show or publication. When you are done
shooting for the day, there is still work to do. - Since each camera company has defined its own proprietary RAW format,
many operating systems and even photo-editing programs are unable to rec-
ognize some or all of these files. For this reason camera manufacturers always
supply a program to process RAW images along with their cameras.
RAW images used to
be hard to work with
because they required
some extra processing
steps. The latest
photo-editing programs
such as Aperture and
Lightroom make them
as easy to work with as
any other format.
imAge FormAts