Raw

I bet Reagan could care less that his picture this morning was taken in Manual mode in RAW format. But he makes a good model while I figure this whole thing out since he so still. And the good news is, I'm doing it!

While I have all this information fresh in my mind, I'll go ahead and share the how's and why's that I have come to know about.

Why shoot in raw format instead of having the images already converted to jpegs in your camera?

• the white balance isn't set yet so you can really create a much better lit picture after it is taken.
• you can lighten shadows and darken overblown portions of the picture.
• it is a much higher quality image than jpeg to do initial edits like lighting and sharpness, before doing finer tuning in something like photoshop.

Why shoot in manual instead of using presets like "portrait" and "landscape" in your camera?

• the results are so much more unique, authentic, artistic, and special.
• you are in control, instead of the camera.
• you can determine the shutter speed, f-stop, film speed, iso, focal point(s) to your liking
• you will understand how your camera works and some of the subtle aspects of photography
• even if you don't shoot in manual once you learn how, you will at least know what your camera is doing and what is "wrong" with pictures you don't end up liking.
• it is fun!