Beyond the obvious

Intimate portrait of an orchid (jpeg cropped). Exif data . For years the jpeg v raw debate has raged. Advocates of both formats defended their positions and ‘wars’ were waged in internet forums. A Google search will bring up thousands of hits on the topic and you’re welcome to wade through all of it but if you’re short on time, here’s a quick summary. Proponents of shooting jpegs say: The files are smaller and don’t clog up your hard disk. The quality is just as good as RAW or so close it doesn't make a difference in the real world. Saves time as there is no RAW post processing to be done. Proponents of RAW say: RAW gives you all the options to tweak your images to your heart’s content, while jpegs lock you into the processing decisions programmed in by your camera manufacturer. You can easily correct white balance mistakes. You can retrieve more detail, particularly out of highlights. The quality of the final image is superior to a straight jpeg. ...

This image of a seagull was processed out of RAW using UFRaw and Gimp, running under Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Linux). I've been using Linux OS and free Open Source software to process my pictures on and off for a week now. There's a lot to learn and I've only scratched the surface. My early impressions are that it takes a lot more effort and fiddling about to get the results that I want. Using Lightroom and Photoshop is like driving a Bentley to get from one place to another. Everything is comfortable, fast, smooth and easy. The Linux image editing tools I've used so far are more like driving a very basic small car (not naming brands here). It will get you to your destination too but you are going to feel the potholes more, you're going to have to top up the oil, the windscreen wipers aren't great...well I am sure you get my drift. Sadly from a professional photography workflow point of view Linux is too cumbersome. It is possible to use and to generate high quality ...