Don’t Shoot Raw Photos Before Fixing a Jpeg Setting (VIDEO)
Experienced photographers understand the many benefits of shooting in Raw, but you may be in for a surprise—especially if the images you capture don’t always look quite as good as expected. That’s because, according to conventional wisdom, Jpeg settings aren’t relevant when using the Raw file format.
But what if you learned that there’s one Jpeg setting that’s silently sabotaging your Raw files, misleading the histogram, tricking your exposure, and making post-processing much harder than necessary? Worse yet, this potentially image-killing setting is enabled by default in just about every camera.
Instructor Mark Denney is an adept educator and successful landscape photographer whose popular YouTube channel has over 300K subscribers, hundreds of how-to videos, and more than 29 million views.
Denney introduces today’s eye-opening episode like this: “Most photographers assume that Jpeg settings don’t matter when capturing Raw files, but there’s one can quietly ruin your images before you even get to edit them. I’ll show you exactly how this setting—called Picture Profile, Picture Control, or Creative Style—affects everything from exposure decisions to the way your Raw files preview on the back of your camera.”
As the 10-minute episode proceeds, Denney shares his recommended picture profiles for shooting various types of photographs in the field. As he says, “This one small change can make a massive difference in your highlights, color accuracy, and editing flexibility.”
The takeaway is this: Whether you’re a longtime Raw shooter or new to the format, Denney’s straightforward advice will guarantee that every outdoor image you shoot will come out of the camera looking as good as can be. So stop ignoring this pivotable Jpeg setting and fix it now.
Then head over to Denney’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn. We also recommend watching the earlier tutorial we featured with another outdoor photography expert who demonstrates four post-processing secrets for creating nature and landscape photographs with eye-popping color and perfect tonal balance.
