RAW Files. RAW files retain the highest amount of image data from the original capture, so the files can be “fixed” to a much greater degree than JPEG files. However, if you are like most wedding photographers and need fast burst rates, RAW files will likely slow you down.RAW files will also fill up your storage cards much more quickly because of their larger file size. (Note: Because camera buffers and processing speeds have increased in size and performance, increasing numbers of professional wedding photographers are opting to shoot RAW files. If you know a situation is coming where you will need fast burst rates, you can always switch temporarily to the JPEG fine mode, and then back to RAW when the moment passes.)
Shooting in the RAW mode also requires the use of file-processing software to translate the file data into a useable format. This adds another step to your post production workflow, but provides valuable control over white balance, tint, exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, luminance smoothing, color noise reduction, chromatic aberration, vignetting, tone curve (contrast control), shadow tint, and red, green, and blue saturation.
JPEG. Your other option is to shoot in the JPEG Fine mode (sometimes called JPEG Highest Quality). This creates smaller files, so you can save more images per media card and work much more quickly. Because of this increased speed and flexibility, many pros shoot in the JPEG Fine mode. Because there is less data preserved in this format, however, your exposure and white balance must be flawless. In short, the JPEG format is efficient, but it will reveal any weakness in your technique. (Note: Because the JPEG format compresses file information, the files are subject to degradation by repeated saving. If you shoot in JPEG mode, save your working copy of the file in the TIFF format [see page 42].)
Other Useful Formats. The JPEG 2000 format (supported by an option plug-in in Photoshop) provides more options and greater flexibility than the standard JPEG format. It offers optional lossless compression as well as 16-bit color/grayscale files, 8-bit transparency, and both alpha and spot channels can be saved. A very interesting feature of the JPEG 2000 format is that it supports using a Region of Interest (ROI) to minimize file size and preserve quality in critical areas of an image. By using an alpha channel, you can specify the region (ROI) where the most detail should be preserved, minimizing the compression (and loss of detail) in that area.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a file format commonly used to display indexed-color graphics and images in hypertext markup language (HTML) documents over the Internet. GIF is an LZW-compressed format designed to minimize file size and electronic transfer time. The GIF format preserves transparency in indexed-color images; however, it does not support alpha channels.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files are lossless, meaning that they do not degrade in image quality when repeatedly opened and closed. This is a very flexible image format supported by virtually all painting, imageediting, and page-layout applications. Also, virtually all desktop scanners can produce TIFF files. Photoshop can save layers in a TIFF file; however, if you open the file in another application, only the flattened image is visible. Photoshop can also save annotations, transparency, and multi-resolution pyramid data in TIFF format.
Shooting in the RAW mode also requires the use of file-processing software to translate the file data into a useable format. This adds another step to your post production workflow, but provides valuable control over white balance, tint, exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, luminance smoothing, color noise reduction, chromatic aberration, vignetting, tone curve (contrast control), shadow tint, and red, green, and blue saturation.
JPEG. Your other option is to shoot in the JPEG Fine mode (sometimes called JPEG Highest Quality). This creates smaller files, so you can save more images per media card and work much more quickly. Because of this increased speed and flexibility, many pros shoot in the JPEG Fine mode. Because there is less data preserved in this format, however, your exposure and white balance must be flawless. In short, the JPEG format is efficient, but it will reveal any weakness in your technique. (Note: Because the JPEG format compresses file information, the files are subject to degradation by repeated saving. If you shoot in JPEG mode, save your working copy of the file in the TIFF format [see page 42].)
Other Useful Formats. The JPEG 2000 format (supported by an option plug-in in Photoshop) provides more options and greater flexibility than the standard JPEG format. It offers optional lossless compression as well as 16-bit color/grayscale files, 8-bit transparency, and both alpha and spot channels can be saved. A very interesting feature of the JPEG 2000 format is that it supports using a Region of Interest (ROI) to minimize file size and preserve quality in critical areas of an image. By using an alpha channel, you can specify the region (ROI) where the most detail should be preserved, minimizing the compression (and loss of detail) in that area.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a file format commonly used to display indexed-color graphics and images in hypertext markup language (HTML) documents over the Internet. GIF is an LZW-compressed format designed to minimize file size and electronic transfer time. The GIF format preserves transparency in indexed-color images; however, it does not support alpha channels.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files are lossless, meaning that they do not degrade in image quality when repeatedly opened and closed. This is a very flexible image format supported by virtually all painting, imageediting, and page-layout applications. Also, virtually all desktop scanners can produce TIFF files. Photoshop can save layers in a TIFF file; however, if you open the file in another application, only the flattened image is visible. Photoshop can also save annotations, transparency, and multi-resolution pyramid data in TIFF format.
PSD (Photoshop Document) is Photoshop’s native file format and the only format that supports most Photoshop features (other than the Large Document Format [PSB]). Due to the tight integration between Adobe products, other Adobe applications can directly import PSD files and preserve many Photoshop features. Saving a PSD file is worthwhile if complicated manipulations were performed in Photoshop; in the File Info section of a PSD file, all of the procedures will be documented in chronological order.
