Should I Shoot RAW or JPEG Files?
That's a good question, and it's one without an easy answer. You can find very good photographers that have strong beliefs on either side of the issue. But we should begin by answering a more basic question--what the heck is a RAW file anyway? Somewhere in the menu system of your dSLR, you'll find an option to shoot RAW files instead of JPEG files (or to shoot both). Technically speaking, RAW files are not image files--they are simply files that contain the data recorded by your camera's sensor when you took your picture. Because of this, you can't just open the file in any application like you can a JPEG file (which is a true image file). The file must be interpreted by software to generate an image from the file. And RAW formats are specific for each camera model, so you have to have software that has been updated after your camera was released or you may not be able to edit your files. Without any work done to them, RAW files often look les...