RAW Benefits For Colorblind Folk?

[Mac In School]

EVERYONE tells me I should switch from JPG to RAW and iPhoto to Aperture.

But I'm colorblind.... Big time. Red/Green and Blue/Green colorblind.

What are the benefits of switching to RAW if color correction is completely lost on me?

Thanks.

 

[OreoCookie]

RAW only gives you an advantage when you have a less-than-ideally exposed image or you need to do lots of color corrections (difficult lighting, for instance). It gives you more leeway. But if you don't need that and you're happy the way pictures turned out for you, I don't see much of a reason to switch to RAW.

If I were you, I'd try shooting RAW in difficult conditions and see whether it makes a difference for you. If it doesn't, then you have your answer.

 

[Mac In School]

But if you don't need that and you're happy the way pictures turned out for you...

That's the thing... I don't know if I'm should be happy with the way the pictures turned out for me.

 

[M@lew]

It's not only the colours that affect jpegs/RAW images, it's also quality. If you shoot jpeg and made lots of adjustments and lots of copies, the image degrades over time. RAW does not.

 

[OreoCookie]

It's not only the colours that affect jpegs/RAW images, it's also quality. If you shoot jpeg and made lots of adjustments and lots of copies, the image degrades over time. RAW does not.

If you use Aperture or Lightroom, this isn't true as they're non-destructive.

 

[filmamigo]

The benefits of RAW aren't limited to making colour changes.

You can be colourblind and still adjust your exposure, white levels, black levels, etc. Even when doing monochrome conversions to black & white, you can take advantage of the extra information contained in the RAW file.

Do a simple test ... shoot something with bright highlights or deep shadows. Shoot the same subject in RAW and JPEG.

Open them both in your favourite RAW-friendly editor.

Adjust the exposure up and down. See how the JPEG starts to block up and get grainy right away when you adjust the exposure? That's because the file doesn't have any more information than you can already see in the initial file.

Now adjust the RAW file. You can push the shadows and highlights further before they break down and get grainy. I usually see one to two f/stops in additional range VS a plain JPEG. That means I can reveal a little detail in my shadows, or salvage a picture which looked completely blown-out.

None of those adjustments directly messes with the colour palette.

As a red-green colourblind person, I will have someone sit with me as a "colour co-pilot" when I want to go crazy on the white balance or tints!

 

[ChrisA]

EVERYONE tells me I should switch from JPG to RAW and iPhoto to Aperture.

But I'm colorblind.... Big time. Red/Green and Blue/Green colorblind.

What are the benefits of switching to RAW if color correction is completely lost on me?

Thanks.

So I assume you are doing most all of your work in black and white?

I think the reasons you'd shoot raw (or not) are the same as for anyone else. The raw file contains a wider dynamic range and slightly better detail. If you understand the issue of round off error in integer math we can stop right there.

Should you shoot in raw? It depends. If the jpg files coming out of the camera are very close to what you want then you gain little. But if you are planning to do a bit of post processing or if you are in a situation where you don't know if the exposure setting is right raw can help

Do you need to move to Aperture? I don't know. iPhoto handles RAW images almost as well as Aperture The raw conversion software is inside Mac OS X not iPhoto or Aperture. Aperture has better organization and sorting features. Is it worth $200? Depends on how much you shoot. There are other choises too for editors

 

[SilentPanda]

I'm colorblind. I shoot in RAW. I figure I have the hard drive space and the space on the camera so why not. To me the difference is what other people see. I figure even if I can't see it somebody else may want the RAW later on.

 

[Mac In School]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Good stuff. I'll dabble in both a little.

So I assume you are doing most all of your work in black and white?

I typically just shoot in regular ol' P&S mode. That's another advancement I need to make.

 

[M@lew]

If you use Aperture or Lightroom, this isn't true as they're non-destructive.

You don't always use Aperture/Lightroom though. There are times when you take an image to Photoshop or another program.

 

[OreoCookie]

You don't always use Aperture/Lightroom though. There are times when you take an image to Photoshop or another program.

Since Aperture manages my pictures, I never touch the original. iPhoto (which the OP uses) always keeps the original, too. You're right, though, that if you photoshop, retouch, photoshop, retouch, photoshop again, then you may see some degradation.

 

[Mac In School]

In my Windows days, I'd open the JPGs, then save them all as PSDs. Then I could re-touch all I wanted without re-compressing every time.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I shoot RAW and create PSD files for my saves. I never save as a jpg unless it's finished and I want to put the image online. I print out with PSD files and never save to TIF. Do people really resave a jpg over and over while editing a photo?

 

[pprior]

EVERYONE tells me I should switch from JPG to RAW and iPhoto to Aperture.

But I'm colorblind.... Big time. Red/Green and Blue/Green colorblind.

What are the benefits of switching to RAW if color correction is completely lost on me?

Thanks.

RAW gives you tremendously more ability to pull blown highlights or shadows back into exposure. I can't tell you how many pics I've saved with this and it's the main reason I shoot raw (the new version of Aperture has some great ways of doing this as well!)

RAW gives you MUCH better abilty to set whitepoint / correct color balance than JPG. This is the second reason I do so.

RAW gives you an original backup to which you can always revert.

As to Iphoto and Aperture - Aperture is a much much better program. It's actually the reason I switched to Mac after 20 years of PC use.