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Has shooting RAW made me lazy? Why a JPEG detox could do my photography a world of good...

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I still believe shooting RAW is the way to go for most photographers – just don’t fall into the ‘I’ll fix it in post’ trap like me

Sci-fi-themed portrait with glowing pink and blue tube lights in the background
It never fails to amaze me how much editing a RAW file can enhance the look of an image. But if you're not careful, you can start to rely on it (Image credit: Future / Mike Harris)

I remember the first time I saw the infamous phrase: “I shoot RAW” brandished across photography YouTuber Jared Polin’s chest. I couldn’t miss it! And from then on, I did just that. And you know what? It changed my photography forever. My time spent in Adobe Photoshop increased tenfold, I spent all my expendable income on portable hard drives and memory cards, and my computer slowed down to a sluggish crawl as it tried to process all that extra data. I jest. Well, kind of…

We’re told again and again to shoot RAW, and it’s hard to argue with the evidence. I’ve had shoots in lurid lighting conditions saved because I could alter the white balance in post. The same goes for the odd blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where I’ve been forced to ‘spray and pray’ in less than ideal lighting conditions. And although it’s taken time and effort to rewrite the wrongs in Adobe Lightroom Classic, I’ve ended up with an image that would have been resigned to the bin had I captured it in JPEG. And more recently, advancements in AI noise-reduction software have breathed new life into ancient images I once deemed far too noisy to ever see the light of day. Would I go back to shooting JPEG? No way!

But then I read my colleague, Kalum Carter’s, article on why he’s starting to choose JPEG over RAW. Check it out, it’s a great read. But he’s a Fujifilm photographer, and I think Fujifilm’s excellent Film Simulations have made Fujifilm the JPEG photographer’s go-to. But if you shoot Canon, Sony, Panasonic, OM System, or Nikon (like me), you’ve probably been conditioned to shoot RAW exclusively.

You see, at some point, I realized I was getting a bit lazy. I wasn’t trying to get it right in-camera. Oh, that exposure will do, I’ll just lift the shadows in post. Oh, who needs to worry about white balance? I’ll just change it in post. And heck, why bother composing that scene properly? I’ll just crop it in post. And while that might work for a while, eventually you’ll realise that relying on the best photo editing software is hampering your photography.

So, if you’re a beginner photographer or an experienced photographer who’s finding my words all too familiar, maybe it’s time to switch to JPEG for a while. Not all the time – certainly not for professional work or something serious. But if you find yourself out and about on a stroll or wandering through town, why not switch to JPEG? Without the ability to lean on data-rich RAW files, you’ll hopefully find yourself waking up and getting it right in-camera. And if you’re a beginner, learning to get it right in-camera is a great grounding that’ll hopefully prevent you from slipping into bad habits, like me.

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Want more RAW food for thought? Here's how to take raw photos on iPhone (and why). And if you're not entirely sure what RAW means: RAW vs JPEG images: what's the difference? And for the video-minded, ProRes vs ProRes RAW: what's the difference?

Mike Harris
Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...

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