RAW or JPEG? A Comparison of the Two Photography Formats

Few debates spark up as much controversy in the photography world as the JPEG vs RAW debate. It doesn't matter what brand of camera you shoot, the type of photography you are into, or the amount of experience; each person, whether shooting landscape, smoke, or water drop photographs, has an opinion on the matter. There are benefits to shooting in each format, as well as drawbacks.

JPEG is the photograph format of choice for many. It allows for many more photographs on a lot less room. They take far less editing than their RAW counterparts, and are the standard format for any printing. They can be sent to anyone, and require no special program to edit them.

Editing is more restrictive than in a RAW format. Information can also be lost each time the photograph is saved, with some information lost. Although this is not a problem right away, after a few saves, the quality of the image can be compromised. There are less colors in the file. Any saved changes are permanent.

Shooting in RAW, there is much more information that is stored in the file. It has more color options available. Using a program that allows you to edit the RAW photos, you can change the levels of the photograph while maintaining the original data, even when it is saved. This has to be done through a RAW editing software, such as Photoshop's Camera Raw. You can also crop, resize, and realign the photograph without changing any of the information contained in the file. You can also have a bit more wiggle room with edits without creating a lot of artifacts or noise in the finished photograph.

You do have to process every single photo that is taken with this mode. It doesn't matter if the picture is perfect, it has to be open and saved as a JPEG image so that others may view it. You will also have to download the specific driver from you camera manufacturer to be able to view the photograph in a thumbnail. The space that is taken is also quite large, and will reduce the amount of pictures you can take by at least half. You will never be able to just post the RAW photograph to Facebook without processing it first.