Nikon D5000, RAW, CS4

March 3, 2010 by Rob Hurlbut

Close Quarters Pipe Repair

76mm, 1/80th, f/11, 200 ISO

The trusty D5000 produced the shot above. Now, I admit this image is not terribly interesting, but photographically, I think it shows some advantages you have as a photographer if you shoot in RAW with a DSLR. The two shots in this post were shot at the exact same camera settings, under full 8AM sunlight, but the one on the top was worked over in Camera Raw and CS4. The bottom photo has not been worked at all in post. (Except for resizing and crop, of course.) So much highlight detail is recovered in the walls. The exposure for the shadows, blacks and machinery itself is about right, but the walls are blown out. Had I been shooting jpegs, the shot below is what I would be stuck with, but RAW… RAW files just have so much more data and exposure latitude, that you should really shoot exclusively in RAW, if your camera is capable of it.

Shot in RAW, this image has hidden detail.