When I began this article, I set out to prove that RAW was king and JPEG was for the naive. While I still think shooting in RAW mode is the best strategy for overall image quality and creative control, I did learn a new way to improve JPEG images using Adobe RAW processing techniques and exposure compensation. In this article, I compare RAW and JPEG by running them through the same processing techniques. The results are startling.

For this post I’m making the grand assumption that you are using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Raw. If you don’t have those two programs and have splurged on a Digital SLR and corresponding kit, you should seriously re-evaluate where you are spending your photography dollar. Like it or not, Photoshop will give you far more control over your final image than any other piece of hardware you can buy. If you don’t believe me, download a trial version here and see for yourself.

Exposure Compensation: RAW vs JPEG

I started off with an underexposed image that I shot last month on the Oregon coast. The image was composed on a Canon 5d with a 17-40L lens and was shot from the balcony of our hotel. Now that it’s 110 degrees here in Phoenix, I sure wish I was back on that balcony. The original photograph was underexposed to ensure I captured the highlight detail of the sky. The trouble is, I lost the beach detail.

Here is the original image and a 100% crop of the cloud detail with auto levels applied. I’m not suggesting you auto level your photos, but I can use this option to apply the same process over all images in my test group and get consistent results. Our goal here is not to make a perfect image, but rather illustrate how changing the exposure setting affects the overall image quality.

Since the shot is underexposed and I shot it in RAW, I have the luxury of correcting the exposure in Adobe RAW processing. I added 1.25 stops in the exposure setting and made no other changes. The following image is the RAW file after the 1.25+ stop adjustment and the corresponding crop with auto levels applied. As you can see in the crop, the clouds are starting to block up a bit, but there is still a lot of information to work with.

Often times I shoot RAW plus a large or medium JPEG for quick previewing. I opened the JPEG file in Photoshop and then selected the Exposure adjustment setting to apply the +1.25 stops. Notice how much detail was lost compared to the RAW image. Also notice the crop with auto levels applied lacks the information necessary to restore any real cloud detail. From this test alone I would not use the Exposure setting on JPEG files unless you have exhausted all other means or are making very small tweaks.

However, while testing different processing methods for this article, I discovered an alternative option for adjusting exposure in JPEG files. Like I said, I was planning to illustrate how much better RAW is, but I was shocked to see how much better Adobe RAW is at altering the exposure of a JPEG. Below I opened the same JPEG as before, the only difference being that the exposure was increased 1.25+ stops in Adobe RAW instead of from within Photoshop. You should notice a significant difference between the two JPEGs when comparing the crop detail. The depth is still nowhere near the quality of the RAW images, but is much better that the JPEG with Exposure compensation performed from within PhotoShop.

Sometimes it pays off to do some experimenting. I’m still going to show you how much better RAW is than JPEG, but I couldn’t help sharing this simple change in workflow that can make a big difference in your JPEG images. Stay tuned for more detail on RAW images.

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