*sticks up hand and hides behind a chair* yep, i shoot mainly jpeg.
However there was this one time i decided to play with RAW and im very glad that i did - the D70s' AWB wasnt accurate (common problem? i dunno.. happens a lot with the low light work i do, but it could be due to the Flash WB being automatically used since i had an SB800 to provide some fill)
Anyways, shot the whole event in RAW, corrected the WB issues and golly gosh was there a huge difference between the norm JPEGS and the final submitted ones..
My belief, like some of you, is that RAW is reserved for the most important stuff - where max quality is needed.. then again, everything is important i guess.
Chris, I read an article a few years ago about some press photogs being sent on assignments - they also take many shots of one subject, in the hope that one will be the best.
"shoot - shoot and shoot again the same shot (or subject). The idea being that at least one of the shots would be acceptable"
That is pretty much how i shoot and what runs thru my head when i shoot (JPEG). Yes, it decreases efficiency of workflow and pisses people off (those who have to deal with the images after, having 20 or however many images of the same subject to choose from). But it gets the shot i want (usually).
"A classic example would be the A1 GP, you can’t stop the race and ask everyone to go back so you can get the shot you missed."
Comes quite handy also when shooting gigs in crap light or when they move quite erratically.
Many criticise me on this technique/habit/method/whatever though..
Jason, I rarely ever process my images apart from resizing/watermarking or whatever. No adjustments are made. Reason - same as yours but due to the above way of shooting - it would simply take forever..
It's the joy of shooting motorsport and other sports.. you get many chances to get what u want.
"I shoot the images I CAN get and then if I have time, play about and try to get the harder stuff once I have enough keepers that will make my customers happy."
I'm also a believer of this one. There's no point chasing the money shots and coming back empty handed or with a handful of lousy failed attempts.
John, i was also suprised at how few images my new 4GB card could hold on my D300.. i was expecting around 500 (since JPEG Fine on D70s & 2GB card = 500-600 shots, so 12MP on 4GB i thought would yield similar capacity)
Im blaming the increased image quality/dynamic range preservation (not that it's a bad thing!)
Bugeyes, media might be cheap but fast & quality media @ a cheap price rarely lasts long
im waiting for some suppliers to restock on Extreme 4's.. 8GB cards next.
Bob, your views on PPing are like mine - if the image needs it, ill PP it. if it will pass, meh..
"The jpg acts as giving me a base, or default of the image's possibilities and everything I do to the raw is aimed at going one step (or more) better than that."
ditto..
"I try to ensure that all my editing steps are reverseable. I'd like to believe that maybe one day in the future I might have the time to do it again and better."
Which is why i use layer masking and painting out areas rather than eraser or similar non-reversible methods.
That's my thoughts for the day, how many of you are still awake after reading?
-j