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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Features

On Editing a RAW File to Look Like the JPEG

Chris Gampat
No Comments
08/22/2015
2 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss 25mm f2 Batis review sample photos (27 of 29)ISO 4001-200 sec at f - 2.5

“Shoot in RAW! It’s what the pros do. It’s what you have to do to create better photos.”

Yes, in some ways this is true, and in some ways it’s not very smart to limit your own capabilities when it comes to creating images. But if you’re a photographer that shoots in RAW and only tries to edit the images to look like the JPEGs, then you’re pretty much just wasting your time.

RAW files are capable of doing so much more, and in some ways this situation is like purchasing a Canon 1D X when what you need is a Rebel.

Bring your images into Adobe Lightroom and then consider the types of editing and work that you do to your images. The majority of people don’t go beyond the basic adjustments panel unless they’re doing lens corrections. Chances are that many photographers (especially those with less experience) are just doing some of the most basic edits. This includes raising the exposure, bumping up the saturation, or adding a bit of contrast. When these images are exported, they typically look a lot like the JPEGs that they’re creating.

Let’s make this a bit more specific: Fujifilm cameras have a Velvia color profile that is designed to mimic the look of that film. Many people shoot with it because they like the colors and when they edit the RAWs, they bring them into Lightroom and try to make them look exactly like what they see on the back of the screen. If you really wanted to do this, you could simply head to the bottom of the editing panel and apply the camera profile.

But if that’s all you’re doing, then what’s the point of shooting in RAW?

RAW photos allow you much more versatility and today, creating a better photo is significantly cheaper and easier to do than it was in the darkroom. In darkrooms, you need chemicals–and those run out after a while. But in digital, you’ve got more options. And if you’re shooting in RAW, you really should be putting more time and effort into each image that you’ve culled out of the import that you’ve shot. These images are obviously important to you and there is much more that someone can do to the files than a bit of the basic adjustments. For example, there are all the color channels that can be manipulated.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss 25mm f2 Batis review sample photos (28 of 29)ISO 4001-200 sec at f - 5.0

To be more specific, if you’re photographing images of food, then you can tweak the color channels to make the colors in the food and overall scene look so much more appetizing and appealing to people.

This isn’t a rant more so than it is a strong recommendation–but if you really think about it then shooting a RAW and making it look just like the JPEG is a waste of time when you can just shoot a JPEG. If you’re shooting a RAW, then you give yourself so much more potential.

It just makes sense.

adobe camera profile Color Profile fujifilm jpeg lightroom photographer Photography raw
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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