photograph gurus, please chime in.

[LordSnailz]

Quick question, if I had to pick between RAW, TIFF, or JPG, which one should I ask my wedding photographer to use?

I have access to PS CS from work, so coverting wouldn't be an issue. I just want the one that I can have the most flexibilty with afterwards.

TIA!

 

[Wallydraigle]

RAW would be most flexible, but converting hundred of shots can be a pain in the ass.

 

[daniel1113]

For a wedding, I'd use RAW. For the rest of your digital photo collection, JPG.

 

[LordSnailz]

Any issue with getting them as JPG or TIFF? Planning on printing them myself ...

 

[PHiuR]

the photographer should take the pictures in raw.
if your taking the images to print yourself you should ask the photographer to edit the images to TIFF and you should bring the TIFFs to print yourself.

I wouldnt use Jpeg because it's lossy. and if you mess with them at all they will lose quality. TIFF will not.

 

[LordSnailz]

okay, thanks.

I can easily convert the RAW format pictures through photoshop CS right? just double checking.

 

[tami]

my photographer for both my engagement party and for my wedding sent us jpgs. we got the low res stuff, since they're merely proofs. but still, they came out pretty well...

 

[LordSnailz]

Originally posted by: tami
my photographer for both my engagement party and for my wedding sent us jpgs. we got the low res stuff, since they're merely proofs. but still, they came out pretty well...

So there were no issues with doing some post processing on the JPGs?

 

[PHiuR]

if youre going to doing work on the images yourself after - you should ask for the raws.
if not ask for the tiffs.
if you do get the JPGS, save the images as a lossless file first and then work on it thatway.

 

[LordSnailz]

Originally posted by: PHiuR
if youre going to doing work on the images yourself after - you should ask for the raws.
if not ask for the tiffs.
if you do get the JPGS, save the images as a lossless file first and then work on it thatway.

How much work do you think I'll need to do? I'm just thinking if I wanted to crop or size the pictures. Can I just do that with TIFF files and not hassle with RAW?

 

[Anubis]

Raw, i shoot raw for EVERYTHING

 

[Nikamichi]

Originally posted by: LordSnailz

Originally posted by: PHiuR
if youre going to doing work on the images yourself after - you should ask for the raws.
if not ask for the tiffs.
if you do get the JPGS, save the images as a lossless file first and then work on it thatway.

How much work do you think I'll need to do? I'm just thinking if I wanted to crop or size the pictures. Can I just do that with TIFF files and not hassle with RAW?

LOTS of work. If you have no photoshop experience, ask yourself if now would be the best time to learn. These are your wedding photos after all - go with TIFF.

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: LordSnailz

Originally posted by: PHiuR
if youre going to doing work on the images yourself after - you should ask for the raws.
if not ask for the tiffs.
if you do get the JPGS, save the images as a lossless file first and then work on it thatway.

How much work do you think I'll need to do? I'm just thinking if I wanted to crop or size the pictures. Can I just do that with TIFF files and not hassle with RAW?

yup, im almost positive you won't want to mess with the images besides resizing them. and you can do that as a tiff.

as i said in the PM - Raw is like undeveloped film. so just ask the photographer for TIFFs.

 

[myusername]

The only use for RAW over TIFF is if there is bad highlight or shadow detail in the photos. If your wife-to-be is wearing a white dress on a sunny day, RAW may be a good idea for the outside shots, but if the photographer knows what he's doing, it's not necessary.

It will be difficult to convince the photographer to use RAW mode for the ceremony and reception, as it requires more time between shots. You may want to consider it if you are having a studio session, though again, if he knows how to light, it won't be an issue. If your photographer doesn't know enough to properly expose his image, it's pretty likely that he'll just make it look worse through any RAW editing he does anyway, IMO.

The difference between JPEG and TIFF is not anything you will ever see in a print, and you won't even see it in the file unless you apply extreme corrections that you would never apply if you wanted to make an image you could see anyway.

The caveat to the last statement is that it assumes the jpeg has been saved at the highest quality setting. If the photographer doesn't know what he's doing - either in camera or in converting RAW/TIFF to jpeg - there may be degradation.

Last I checked, the RAW plugin for CS was $100.

IMO, RAW files for your situation are not worth the time or money. If you can talk your photographer into shooting RAW, it won't hurt (but isn't necessary), but ask for TIF or JPEG's for your personal work. If you ask for JPEG, just specify that you want them saved at max quality.

 

[LordSnailz]

Thanks for the inputs guys, I think I'm pretty okay with photoshop, the only thing is of the 500 or so pictures he'll be taking, he'll only touch up like 150. Is a reason to get the other photos in RAW format? If the answer is still no, then I'll go with the TIFFs.

Thanks for the help again guys.

 

[LordSnailz]

oops, DP.

 

[myusername]

Doesn't really matter .. the DVD will just go on a shelf somewhere until it gets bitrot anyway. If he's willing to shoot in RAW and you're willing to do the conversion, there's no harm in it, but you will have to convert them before you get them printed anywhere or do any work on them anyway. If the hassle for all the pics is worth knowing that you eked out a little more detail in the wedding dress (or that picture that the flash didn't fire on) in the couple pictures you do print, then go for it.

Speaking strictly to personality stereotypes: if you are an accountant, you want JPG. If you are an engineer, you want RAW.

If your fiancee has heard anything about imaging, you want RAW, because it's an opportunity to make sure she knows you know this is the most important day of her life. The fact that you can't *see* a difference isn't the important part Weigh that against just not telling her anything about your thread here and saving yourself literally days worth of work.