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 first 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 onto a computer.

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

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