JPG vs. RAW

What a difference a year makes! I’ve been taking a lot of band photos with many thanks to Anthony Valadez and Nick Rosen for their initial encouragement and support. I’ve also stopped shooting in JPG format about a year ago thanks to Micki Hassemer and PGM Don Baird. I have been shooting all RAW format with manual settings in my D90.

I’ve only just begun shooting with a flash last month. In photography school, my professor had said “flash is a whole other animal” but I never got the class for flash. So, in LA, I have attended George Simian’s seminar on flash photography. So, there is much more to learn and show!

What I want to show today is the difference between shooting JPG vs RAW, and the difference using “fill light” in post production with Lightroom.

Sir Anthony Valadez

Exported JPG at +.50 exposure in Lightroom | Orginal JPG at ISO 2000, 28mm, f3.5, 1/60

Exported JPG at +.25 exposure, +31 fill light in Lightroom | Orginal RAW at ISO 2000, 28mm, f3.5, 1/60


See? The 2nd photo took 5 minutes this morning in Lightroom. I had wanted to see what settings I had this camera in because I didn’t use a flash, and the lens was my 28-200mm. But when I saw how dark the JPG file was, I decided to revisit it.

I am also in the market for a portrait lens primarily for weddings and events. I am considering a new camera body as well. The D90 is a great starter DLSR but the DX lenses are actually killing me with the cropping. With film, I shoot 120 format, so I didn’t think the cropping in the 35mm would bother me. But it’s not just the cropping, it’s the math, where 50mm is really 70mm. And wide angle is too wide for portraits. The edges bend off and that is not good for faces or groups of people.

Any suggestions are welcome!
THANKS! :)

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