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RAW or JPEG When Metering

Does Exposure Metering Affect Which You Choose?

RAW or JPEG When Metering - I won't go into the depths of RAW vs JPEG here but will keep it related to metering. If your camera has RAW capture ability, I cannot stress enough how much your photography will benefit from using it.

It is difficult to describe the extent of the differences between Raw or JPEG and metering, but if you imagine them in terms of elasticity for instance, it is easier to understand. There is only so much "pushing and pulling" you can do to a JPEG image before you start to lose the quality of the final image much like stretching a cheap jumper or jersey.

With RAW however, you can push, pull, tweak and poke that much more, to really get the most from an image before even saving and editing, and keep the detail and quality all the way.

Before you load the image into your editing program you can adjust, using your RAW processing software, the following;

• Exposure +/- (increase/decrease, over/underexpose)
• Temperature/White Balance (see Chapter 7)
• Shadows
• Brightness
• Contrast
• Saturation
• Sharpness
• Noise Reduction
• Chromatic Aberration

If you didn't get these settings right on the camera at the time of shooting, you have another chance to get it right on your computer later on...magic!

Most of these adjustments relate to, and can "enhance and adjust" the metering after you have taken the shot, and then you can get to work on the levels, curves and finer sharpening etc. It really does add a whole new dimension to digital photography.

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