The editing workflow and best practices

Nearly all digital camera images need some form of adjustment to make them appear as the scene did when the image was captured. What many might not immediately appreciate is that there will always be a visual difference between a RAW file and a JPEG file once they are downloaded to the computer.

This is because the former is neither compressed nor processed in-camera, while JPEG files are compressed and processed in-camera. However, they are also 8-bit files, which contain considerably less picture information than a 10-, 12-, or 14-bit RAW file.

These two images are a working example of how in-camera JPEG file processing can initially produce a significantly better-looking version of the same shot—compared to the 14-bit (Canon) RAW file on the left. That said, because this was shot inside a poorly lit church, there's some underexposure present, but worse than that, there's a lot of overexposure in the highlights...