Raw Shooting

I'm no professional photographer, but I do love taking pictures. I started to shoot in raw when I was taking our family fall pictures. I wanted to enlarge some images and I could only get the clarity in the size I wanted if I shot in raw. That experience changed the way I shoot pictures and I don't think I will ever go back.

For me, to get a great shot, you need a focused picture and great natural lighting. I shot this image for my donut hole posting. Since, it was early in the morning, I had to use kitchen light to make up for the lack of natural light. The image still came out a little dark.

Since I shot the image in raw, I was able to manipulate the exposure using a raw editing program. I use Lightroom and I love it. You can manipulate the lighting, exposure, and color before you develop the image into a jpeg to print.

I use lightroom to change the lighting and if I need to photoshop flyaway hair or other blemishes, I am old school, and go back to fireworks for that. For this image, I decided to lighten it up by changing the exposure of the shot. You can see the before and after here.

It looks like it was brighter than what it was outside.

With lightroom, I'm able to also change the lighting to make the picture look antique or aged as well.

The lighting possibilities are endless. I love it and I don't think I can shoot any other way. If you love taking pictures and have never shot in raw, I suggest you give it a try. You'll be amazed at what your images can look like.