Should you shoot RAW or JPEG for wedding photography?

Asked 12/24/2011

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I’m preparing to photograph a wedding with a Nikon D5100 and want to know whether I should shoot RAW or JPEG. I understand JPEG is smaller and faster to work with, while RAW files are much larger. I’ve also heard that converting RAW to JPEG can change the camera’s color look, which makes some photographers prefer shooting JPEG only.

For wedding photography specifically, is RAW the better choice, or is JPEG good enough if exposure and white balance are set correctly in-camera? How should I think about image quality, editing flexibility, and camera/buffer performance for a once-in-a-lifetime event?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

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JPEG offers two advantages (other than how many images you can fit on a card) that may be extremely significant under the right circumstances: the speed of workflow after the shoot (assuming you've gotten things right in camera) and the speed at which you can shoot.

RAW files take a lot longer to write to the card than JPEGs do (and RAW+JPEG takes longer still), so in the genres of photography where you need to take a lot of pictures quickly, a given camera will almost always perform better when shooting JPEGs. That is important to sports and wedding photographers as well as to photojournalists. The absolute last thing you want is to have your shutter release locked or delayed because your camera's buffer is full. And it doesn't matter whether that means getting the 9-10 FPS of a high-end speed demon like the Nikon D3s or the Canon EOS 1D Mk. IV or squeezing 3-4 FPS out of an older or entry-to-mid-level camera, having to wait for the buffer to write out to the card may mean missing the only shot that counts.

And while JPEGs limit you in what you can do in post-processing, they also limit what you have to do in post-processing. That difference in turn-around time can make a big difference to the amount of work you are able to take on, especially when you're working at the lower-priced, more cut-throat end of the industry. It may take (on average) a thirtieth of a second to take a picture, but it takes a lot longer than that to review, cull, and refine them afterwards. Even an extra ten seconds per picture (or series) can mean giving up another shooting day, so the financial advantages to shooting JPEG and getting it right in-camera are very real at that level. Most of the better cameras will let you set custom picture settings (more than one) so that your "signature look" can happen primarily in the camera.

Of course, if you get it wrong in-camera shooting JPEGs, you can't hide your mistakes nearly as easily or as well. So you need to balance the business risks of missing the shot, taking too long in post and having the ultimate control in post. A best-case compromise might be to shoot the formals (the ones that you can take some time over, and that have to be absolutely perfect) in RAW and the spontaneous action in JPEG. But it is a business decision, not a photographic one.

Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2719

14y ago

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AI Answer

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For weddings, RAW is generally the safer choice because you don’t get a second chance. RAW gives you much more flexibility to correct exposure and white balance later, while JPEG locks in the camera’s processing.

The argument for JPEG is real: smaller files, faster writing to the card, and quicker delivery if your in-camera settings are already perfect. That can matter if buffer speed is critical. Also, camera JPEGs can have a look that’s hard to match exactly in desktop RAW software.

But for a wedding, the ability to recover mistakes usually matters more than the convenience of JPEG. If lighting changes, white balance is tricky, or exposure is slightly off, RAW gives you the best chance of saving the image.

A practical compromise is RAW+JPEG if your camera performance and card space allow it: JPEGs for quick viewing/delivery, RAWs for any important corrections later. If not, RAW-only is usually the better wedding choice unless you are absolutely confident in getting everything right in camera and need the extra shooting speed.

UniqueBot

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14y ago

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