What Is a Camera RAW Photo and When Should You Use It?

More experienced photographers love to impart their wisdom to those less experienced. You may have heard them praising their RAW photos and how they are so much better. But what does RAW mean in photography and are RAW photos better in quality? Let's find out.

RAW photography is a digital image format that captures more information than traditional JPEGs. While RAW photography used to be exclusively on professional cameras, now you can even capture RAW photos on iPhone and Android smartphones. Most modern mirrorless and DSLR cameras, as well as high-quality compact digital cameras record in RAW. RAW files contain additional data, which allows for greater flexibility in post-processing, resulting in higher image quality and more creative control. More on this below!

So, now we know that switching your camera to record in RAW allows us to record more data from the camera's sensor. What are the clear advantages of this?

• Flexibility in post-processing: RAW photography provides greater latitude in post-production, allowing for more creative adjustments to settings like exposure, colour, white balance and contrast without sacrificing image quality.
• Improved image quality: Shooting in RAW format captures more lost image data when an image is saved in a compressed format - this leads to better-quality images.
• Better low-light photography results: Shooting in RAW format can significantly enhance your low-light photography by capturing a wider range of light information, resulting in improved dynamic range and less image noise. Shooting in RAW is another thing to add to your arsenal when exploring manual photography settings combined with the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO - these are the keys to capturing stunning low-light shots.

There are no down sides to shooting in RAW but there a few things you need to consider before you go all in.

RAW photos need to be edited: You can't post RAW photos directly to Instagram, but after editing your photos and converting them to a more social media friendly format, such as JPEG, you can share your results online. While you are ultimately sharing your images in a compressed format, starting in RAW has allowed you to control your image throughout your photography workflow, and make critical decisions along the way.

If you wish to share your images quickly but would like a RAW photo for editing later on, most modern cameras come with the option of storing both a RAW and a JPEG version of your image. 

RAW photos take up much more space: All of the extra information that RAW photos contain does come at a cost. When comparing RAW photos vs JPEG, RAW photos are considerably larger. This is not a bad thing, but there are some things to consider when putting together your photography kit, such as:

• Using high-capacity memory cards
• Investing in a camera with dual memory card slots
• Considering additional measures when storing and backing up your photos

As we have established, if you want to share your RAW photos on Instagram, or print them out to present on your photo wall, they need to be edited and converted to a more universal format, such as JPEG. Advanced photo editing software is the best for editing RAW images, but how do you edit RAW photos without Lightroom or Photoshop? Thankfully, there are free RAW editing programs and applications available online, which you can investigate and experiment with.