découverte: adventures in RAW (how to open raw files)

i've always shot in jpeg because i don't know, raw files were big and i didn't really see any big difference (when i looked up tutorials)

but after hearing people gush and gush about raw, i decided to see what it was all about. i accidentally shot in raw during my november 365. (this) i remember not knowing how to edit it because i didn't want to make it fake and it looked fine.

so how did you open it? my photoshop won't let me D: okay, if you have problems opening raw files, and photoshop says "Could not open because wrong file blah" (something like that) follow this quick guide and you will be on your way to happiness. the main thing is, you have to download an updated camera raw plug in because the one you have is outdated and doesn't support your camera. i'm using 4.6 i think...right now there is 5.6 but i didn't need that because my camera is the 40d and it was made in 2008, so why use more memory? ;) google CAMERA RAW PLUG-IN if you want to choose what version you download. once you're done playing around you can easily save it into a JPG file for uploading ;)

and seriously, i now never have to worry about white balance or exposure when i shoot - it's kind of a comfort actually. i'm still sticking to JPG for my 365, because the RAW files are so big. around 10-12MB. :/ but when i go out and take pictures i think will add to my port, i will definitely go with RAW. it's like editing a photo but keeping it natural at the same time. make edited have the same unedited feel ;)

here are some before and afters with JUST the camera raw plug-in editing thing. no actual photoshop color adjustments, like mah usual. it's only a few, seeing as i have to work to do. sigh.

i know it's not much of a good editing difference, but here (sorry if the quality it weird, i uploaded it with photobucket instead of flickr like usual. decided that using flickr like crazy = not good habit to have when pro account expires): original is first, then raw edited. i actually liked the original better for a lot of them - but i wanted to play around with the color potentials of the raw ;)