The RAW Deal

Today, I have for you a little bit of an information session. This was just recently really explained to me so I felt that it might be helpful for me to (try to) explain it to you.
The difference between RAW and JPEG.
JPEG is the format that nearly every camera uses for their photos. When you make a photo, the computer inside the camera processes the image and gives it certain pre-determined qualities that are either programmed by you or automatic. Qualities like White Balance, Saturation, Contrast, Colour Space and things like that. All those are given to your photo and all of the 'information' related to other white balances, etc. are discarded. That's why if you have a 10 megapixel camera your photos end up at 3 or 4 megapixels.
RAW is exactly what it sounds like. Completely raw. All of those qualities and adjustments are not made to the photo inside the camera. It leaves all of those options open for changing later. The files end up being just the size they were advertised at. Which makes RAW photos much larger than JPEG. It also does mean that they can't be previewed or used for things until they are processed in photoshop. It takes a lot longer but the difference is often quite astounding.
Above are two photos, the first a JPEG and the second a JPEG made from a RAW. The difference at first might not look like much but when examined closely it really is quite the improvement. So next time you're out and about, give RAW a try. It just may surprise you.
Archipelago Photography; islands of thought and image, connected with a name.