RAW vs JPEG

Explore Landscapes #33: A quick rundown on RAW and JPEG to help you decide which format you should be shooting in. Spoiler alert: my suggestion for landscape photographers is to always shoot in RAW.

The debate about which digital file format to use to shoot your photographs, RAW or JPEG, has been ongoing since digital cameras were released onto the market, possibly even before.

Understanding each file format's benefits (and drawbacks) is an important decision for a photographer. It will affect your workflow and, potentially, how/where you can use/sell your images.

What is RAW?

Most digital cameras (DSLRs and Mirrorless) can capture image information in RAW format. In short, RAW is a lossless file (i.e., you don’t have any data) created by your camera that captures the maximum amount of light information from the sensor.

What are the benefits of shooting in RAW?

RAW is the format typically used by landscape photographers. It captures the most light information and lets you tweak and edit the photo most broadly during post-processing. Some of the benefits of RAW include: