Any way, here is the story... on Sunday, I decided to finally dive into taking pictures in RAW format. If any of you don't know what that is, you can check out some really great sites that teach about it and how it works such as this one digital photography school - raw vs jpeg
How do I know this? Because I found out myself Sunday night after a very educational Google search. What happened is that I had read and heard many people talk about taking their pictures in RAW and I knew my camera was capable of taking them, but up until Sunday I had only used my JPEG setting. I was pretty happy over all about what I was learning while taking a larger amount of photos (the downfall with RAW is the large size of the files) and I hadn't really seen the point in trying it out yet while I was still learning how to use my camera. Then on Sunday my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to take the plunge and give it a try. Go team! So snap away I did in the hopes that my pictures would come out looking better than ever because they were larger files with more data that the camera was recording. (Yes, that really was my thought) The problem was since I was a newbie I didn't realize that when I had taken pictures on my camera before, it compressed it into a JPEG file in a way that edited the photo to what the cameras processor thought would be a great composition making them printable right away versus a RAW file needing editing in order to be printable.
HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!!
Um... I don't know. I must have some how missed this explanation somewhere. Believe me, my manual is now grounded while I sort out the details...
This of course meant that when I loaded my new 'RAW' files onto my computer, they looked worse to me than any of my past photos had. Deary me I thought I had broken my lens! I was really frustrated and was about to through in the towel with using RAW at all until I finally decided to give the google search a try and bata bing, information granted!
*sigh* So, long story short, the 'non-edited' photos I was so eager to post I have discovered are edited and not even by me... they... are edited by my camera. OH man, when I realized this I felt so betrayed! Embarrassed and betrayed by that lovely camera of mine and those who built her. I wondered if I might be having an aha moment of connecting with all those who love the old 35mm film and despise digital. In my frustration I thought that perhaps I should come in and delete this blog. It's whole purpose was now out the window!
But after some reflection I felt that it would be better to confess my original lack of understanding and perhaps reach one other person who may have been thinking the same thing I had and we can both feel a little silly together. Then we can move forward dedicated to learning more about what we love which is taking pictures!
So the purpose of the blog will change a bit, and that purpose may develop more over time, but I am still going to move forward. I'm going to post about the things that I am learning and perhaps learn some great tips to share with others along my journey. I will continue to post pictures that I have taken over the last year and if I think of some tips along the way from when I took the pictures, I will share those too. If you have tips for me as well please share away. I am in the beginning of my journey and I would love some feedback. Please keep it polite though, I really think that as individuals we can help each other to learn and succeed.
Thanks muches! Melinda
P.S. The tip I learned from taking these pictures was that I needed a larger camera bag. The one I had was super cute, but couldn't really hold my camera in a way that I could easily take it out and put it back in again. Find a bag that will suit your needs. Test out a couple by borrowing from friends if you can, then make a good purchase. The price isn't always what matters. Make sure your needs are met!
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