In twenty three out of twenty four years of photography, I have shot RAW, as much out of habit as anything and after all the editing process was as much a part as the outing itself.
Beautiful photos, Andy. I especially love how much they have the grain and look of film. I shoot RAW, but, like Todd may switch to both RAW & JPEG to have the options of a less edited look.
Really beautiful work! -I like the idea of shooting digital in a film-esque way. I’ve recently been playing around with my son’s old Canon 6D and only shooting in jpeg, basically because I don’t have the software to edit RAW, and I’m also not very good at editing. Since I mostly shoot film, I’ve also been approaching digital as an extension of my film work by trying to keep settings as simple as possible and getting it right in camera.
Unless someone needs the image straight after the shoot, I always shoot solely in RAW. However, I usually batch edit and convert to JPEG. My reason for shooting RAW isn't typically for extensive editing; rather, it's so that if something goes wrong, I have the latitude to correct it. I essentially just do the processing on my computer that the camera would normally do internally.
I totally get where you’re coming from. These days, I mostly shoot JPEG and only switch to RAW if I’m somewhere I know I won’t be able to return to. For my daily walks, it’s all JPEG—I really enjoy experimenting with color, profiles, and film simulation recipes.
Great photos, Andy — I love the square format you use, and the tonal quality of your JPEGs is outstanding. I’ve been a RAW shooter for years; however, during a recent road trip, I decided to shoot JPEGs so I could easily include them in my Substack posts while on the road. The straight-out-of-camera quality of the images amazed me, and it saved so much time not having to edit RAW files. I also have my camera save a RAW file in addition to JPEG, so I still have the option of extracting more quality from any “special” images when I return.
Interesting post. I shoot raw exclusively. My reasoning is that with raw I have any and all options open to me concerning the editing. With JPEG the camera has made decisions and applied them to the image and baked them in. I’m not a fan of that scenario. Sure, I can further edit jpeg my the options are severely limited compared to raw. Also, the “get it right in the camera” philosophy isn’t really valid to me. “Getting it right”, to me, means having full control over the final image, not hanging off 50% of the decisions to the people who programmed the camera presets. That said, you do make some interesting points on jpeg only. And who can argue with your results? The attached images are absolutely beautiful. I think a key to your success is that you have a camera that provides you with jpeg images that suits you. That’s great. Some cameras give pretty lackluster results with JPEG, especially monochrome. So, I may give jpeg a try to see what happens but I’ll shoot raw along with the JPEG, just to cover my butt 👍. Thanks for an thought provoking post.
Stunning photos, Andy. It’s interesting, I have a Canon Powershot G12 from the same era and the black and white JPG profile looks nothing like these images. I find I need to shoot RAW whether I like it or not, and convert to monochrome in post (with satisfactory results, most of the time). Oddly however, the G12 fetches a much higher price… ah anyways… many factors to consider I know, besides black and white profiles. But yeah life, cameras, prices, and people are… let’s say… quirky :D
Your jpegs are always so dreamy! I’m a huge fan. I love the grainy film profile from the Olympus too, that’s quite lovely! Keep them coming!!!! I love seeing what you create and hearing your thoughts and process, it helps keep me inspired.
Olympus Jpeg's are as good as Fujifilm to me but the black and white is just awesome!
Thank you for your kind words Razlyn, I am inspired to write and create from such encouraging comments, I think the Substack platform is a great place to find fellow creatives and has a real sense of community.
Beautiful photos, Andy. I especially love how much they have the grain and look of film. I shoot RAW, but, like Todd may switch to both RAW & JPEG to have the options of a less edited look.
Thank you for your kind words Nicole 😊
Really beautiful work! -I like the idea of shooting digital in a film-esque way. I’ve recently been playing around with my son’s old Canon 6D and only shooting in jpeg, basically because I don’t have the software to edit RAW, and I’m also not very good at editing. Since I mostly shoot film, I’ve also been approaching digital as an extension of my film work by trying to keep settings as simple as possible and getting it right in camera.
Unless someone needs the image straight after the shoot, I always shoot solely in RAW. However, I usually batch edit and convert to JPEG. My reason for shooting RAW isn't typically for extensive editing; rather, it's so that if something goes wrong, I have the latitude to correct it. I essentially just do the processing on my computer that the camera would normally do internally.
I totally get where you’re coming from. These days, I mostly shoot JPEG and only switch to RAW if I’m somewhere I know I won’t be able to return to. For my daily walks, it’s all JPEG—I really enjoy experimenting with color, profiles, and film simulation recipes.
Wonderful photos, Andy. I’d never considered shooting JPEG as akin to film but now you say it, it makes total sense.
I refer to this as 'digital' film, something of an oxymoron perhaps but does describe my thinking Giles. 😀
No that is perfect 👌🏻
More time getting it right "in camera" is time well spent, Andy. 👌😉📷
Great photos, Andy — I love the square format you use, and the tonal quality of your JPEGs is outstanding. I’ve been a RAW shooter for years; however, during a recent road trip, I decided to shoot JPEGs so I could easily include them in my Substack posts while on the road. The straight-out-of-camera quality of the images amazed me, and it saved so much time not having to edit RAW files. I also have my camera save a RAW file in addition to JPEG, so I still have the option of extracting more quality from any “special” images when I return.
The square format addiction comes from using my trusty little Lumix LX7.
Great shots!! Thank you for sharing these and your thoughts, Andy.
I'm an Olympus shooter myself. The monochrome profiles and B&W filters have been a game changer for me!
Interesting post. I shoot raw exclusively. My reasoning is that with raw I have any and all options open to me concerning the editing. With JPEG the camera has made decisions and applied them to the image and baked them in. I’m not a fan of that scenario. Sure, I can further edit jpeg my the options are severely limited compared to raw. Also, the “get it right in the camera” philosophy isn’t really valid to me. “Getting it right”, to me, means having full control over the final image, not hanging off 50% of the decisions to the people who programmed the camera presets. That said, you do make some interesting points on jpeg only. And who can argue with your results? The attached images are absolutely beautiful. I think a key to your success is that you have a camera that provides you with jpeg images that suits you. That’s great. Some cameras give pretty lackluster results with JPEG, especially monochrome. So, I may give jpeg a try to see what happens but I’ll shoot raw along with the JPEG, just to cover my butt 👍. Thanks for an thought provoking post.
Stunning photos, Andy. It’s interesting, I have a Canon Powershot G12 from the same era and the black and white JPG profile looks nothing like these images. I find I need to shoot RAW whether I like it or not, and convert to monochrome in post (with satisfactory results, most of the time). Oddly however, the G12 fetches a much higher price… ah anyways… many factors to consider I know, besides black and white profiles. But yeah life, cameras, prices, and people are… let’s say… quirky :D
The g12 black and white profile is flat to say the least, with no option for contrast adjustment as with the colour profiles.
There is a hidden grainy profile in there somewhere but frankly it’s awful! 😊
Yes, exactly! And no idea why they removed contrast/highlight/shadow etc for the black and white profile.
Your jpegs are always so dreamy! I’m a huge fan. I love the grainy film profile from the Olympus too, that’s quite lovely! Keep them coming!!!! I love seeing what you create and hearing your thoughts and process, it helps keep me inspired.
Olympus Jpeg's are as good as Fujifilm to me but the black and white is just awesome!
Thank you for your kind words Razlyn, I am inspired to write and create from such encouraging comments, I think the Substack platform is a great place to find fellow creatives and has a real sense of community.