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JPEG versus RAW

Want to know how the image is captured and saved to your camera? Want to know what JPEG stands for? Then read on.

“...if you are satisfied with cellphone and point-and-shoot photo quality, saving images in the .jpg format, stick with it. If you are interested in pursuing a higher-level of photography, then you will want to capture and save your images in the raw format.”

When it comes to taking photos in the JPEG format, versus taking photos in the RAW format, there are huge differences. Below, I’ll just discuss how an image is captured and then the difference in the file formats. In a future article, I’ll graphically show you the differences in the image quality of these two image formats.

After getting a better understanding of JPEG versus RAW, you may want to upgrade to a camera that saves it’s images in the RAW format…or not.

JPEG vs RAW

You have surely heard of images saved in the JPEG format, but have you heard about camera images saved in the RAW format? About 99.9% of you have cameras that save images in the JPEG format – if you have a cell phone that takes photos, you have one – if you have a point-and-shoot camera, you have one – and if you have a pro-level camera, you have one. You may have noticed that when you look at your image files on your computer, they have the file extension .jpeg or .jpg, like ‘filename.jpg’. 

But, do you have a camera that captures images in the RAW format? Yes, you do if you have any camera at all. All cameras capture their image in a raw, unaltered format. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the image is ultimately saved in one of the raw image formats. For most people, this is just fine.

DIGITAL CAMERAS HAVE A SENSOR

Here’s what happens when you press the shutter button on any digital camera. The image is captured on a sensor (in the old days, film would be waiting for those light rays after they passed through your lens – today an electronic sensor is waiting for those same light rays), like the one at right that’s in my camera.

And here you can see the sensor (the greenish-blue thingie), when the lens is removed, as it sits in my camera.

See ‘Size Matters’ below for a short discussion of camera sensor megapixels and their importance.

As soon as you snap your photo, that sensor, along with the computer chip in your camera, now passes color information along the camera’s electronic pathway.

WARNING: Don’t want a bit more technical information? Then skip the next paragraph.

Each pixel on the sensor is made to respond to either red, green or blue light (but not all three) and there are 2 green-sensitive pixels for each red and blue pixel, because human eyes are more sensitive to green. I don’t want to muddy the waters much more, but there is another important step in here: a process called ‘Bayer interpolation’ calculates what the ‘true’ color of each pixel should be based on the relative strengths of the red, green and blue neighboring pixels. Each pixel in the converted image now has three color factors stored for each-and-every pixel: the red intensity, the blue intensity, and the green intensity. The brightness of the pixel is also stored for each pixel. The mixture of those three colors for each pixel gets converted into color intensity for each of the typical colors, be it red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, or the millions of colors in-between.

So, the computer chip within your camera has now determined which color each of the pixels should be, along with their intensity, and that color information is now transmitted along the camera’s electronic wiring to the next step.

CAPTURING THE IMAGE

Once that color intensity information has been calculated, it is passed to a computer chip that is installed in your camera. But, before it reaches that chip, it is in a raw, unaltered state – this raw image has not yet been saved to the storage device in your camera (a ‘card’ for many cameras, or typically a built in storage device within your cellphone). So, just before that image reaches that computer chip in your camera, the image is in a raw format. If you were able to see that image at this point, trust me – it would not be very flattering to you as a photographer, as it is very dull in several ways.

Another really cool thing is that a lot of other information travels along with that captured, but as yet unsaved, image. Information such as the camera model, date, time, lens and camera settings, and location (on some cameras, but for sure on your cellphone camera). That information will be stored in the image file down the pipeline as explained below.

JPEG STORAGE

So, what happens next to this raw image? That’s where the computer chip in your camera does some marvelous things. What that chip does was determined several years ago by a group of camera-industry folks who started to meet in 1986. They called themselves the Joint Photographic Expert Group (the acronym for which is JPEG – cool, huh?!). In a 1992 meeting, they all agreed that the raw, unprocessed, unaltered, unadulterated and non-manipulated image that the sensor captures had to be enhanced if the masses were to ever buy a digital camera.

The JPEG agreed on the following: the raw image should have the contrast increased a certain amount, so the image doesn’t look so ‘flat’; the raw image should have the saturation increased by a certain amount, to give it more ‘color’; the raw image should be sharpened a certain amount, so it doesn’t look so ‘fuzzy’. 

Another factor that is adjusted is the ‘white balance’, which is a bit more difficult to explain in a short article; but, suffice it to say that it has to do with whether the overall look of the photo is warmer or cooler, and is directly related to the settings you can make using your camera’s menu for ‘scenic’, ‘portrait’, ‘shadows’, ‘tungsten’, 'flash', etc.

They also came up with a way to save the photographic image so that it would take up less space on your storage device, which means that an image saved as a jpeg image loses just a bit of its quality each time it is saved.

So finally, the sensor information with the JPEG-designated changes, as well as the camera and capture information mentioned above, is baked into the file with the file extension of .jpg as it is saved to your camera.

CAPTURE SUMMARY

So, when you press the button on your camera, the sensor captures the light rays, the electronic version of those rays is sent through your camera’s wiring to a computer chip in your camera, then that chip manipulates the image using the Bayer calculations and standards created by the JPEG folks, and finally it is saved to your camera’s storage device. You then just look at the image digitally, print it out at home, upload it to a print facility, or take it personally to a print facility.

If you want to have prints larger than the usual 4”x6” variety, you may or may not have much luck getting a quality print – as the camera’s sensor size is one of the factors that determine print-size quality. Again, see ‘Size Matters’, below.

Here is a simple flowchart showing the process just described. The flow along the top is the one to generate a JPEG file. The blue line below avoids all of the JPEG's enhancements, as discussed next.

SAVING IN RAW FORMAT

If you have a more expensive camera, like a digital single-lens reflex (or DSLR), or one of the new mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses, then that camera most likely can actually save images in a raw format. The file extension (instead of .jpg, for instance) is .nef for Nikon, .cr2 for Canon and .arw (among others) for Sony, etc. Most of the cameras just mentioned can also save images in .jpg format instead, or at the same time (i.e. two different file-format images are saved at once to the storage card).

And further, even though one may just intentionally be saving images in a raw format, there is also a small .jpg image being created and saved (whether you want it to or not – and you do, by the way) for display on the back of the camera. Yes, that image one sees on their DSLR camera back is a jpg image that sits in another file alongside the file for the raw image.

SO WHAT, YOU SAY?

OK, if you are satisfied with cellphone and point-and-shoot photo quality, saving images in the .jpg format, stick with it. If you are interested in pursuing a higher-level of photography, then you will want (actually, I’d say ‘need’) to capture and save your images in the raw format.

Why? The files saved in the raw format that you will be working with have tons more information with which to work, which I will demonstrate for you in a follow-up article. In other words, the raw files are not limited to the fixed enhancements that the JPEG manipulation bakes into the .jpg files. 

The down side? You will have to manipulate every image using software (like Adobe’s Photoshop or Lightroom) to get to a satisfactory .jpg image to print yourself or to send away for printing. That means that you will need to touch every image to even get it up to the same quality as the JPEG’s criteria of the less-featured cameras.

SIZE MATTERS

In the case of your cellphone camera or point-and-shoot camera, the sensor is much, much smaller than this one shown at the beginning of this article. And being smaller, the files that are saved are much smaller. If you tried to blow up a photo to a large size using an image from your cellphone, it would look quite ‘blocky’ and have very little resolution.  As a quick guide, generally speaking, a camera that captures images at 3 mega pixels (or 3mp) will create a decent print of only 5”x7”. If you have a camera that captures its images at 10mp, you could print an images at 9”x13”. My Nikon D800 camera has a 36mp sensor that creates images that can be printed at 16”x24” with no additional manipulation needed. So, size does matter when it comes to camera sensors and how large you want to print an image.

 

Summary

As mentioned above, if you want to get into photography at a more-serious level, you should consider a camera that can save images in the raw format, and then invest in the software and time to manipulate those raw files. If you are satisfied with what you have, stick with it.

I will show you what I mean by 'having more to work with' in a raw-image file in an upcoming article.

Ciao for now,

Steve

 

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Our Veterans Fought in Italy

This week, we celebrate Veteran’s Day. Since my articles typically concern Italy, I thought it appropriate to honor those who fought in the costly Allied battle for Italy during World War 2. During the battles fought to defeat the Germans and to liberate Italy, over 150,000 Allied soldiers lost their lives to take Italy from the Axis powers.

In July 1943, the Allies made their first foray into Italy as they invaded Sicily. By the end of August, Germany and Italy were able to evacuate most of their troops to the Italian mainland, leaving Sicily to the Allies. We had gained a foothold!

But, then began a long and costly mainland march to the north for the Allies.

“More than half the width of the peninsula comprises crests and peaks over 3,000 feet that were relatively easy for the Germans to defend; and the various spurs of this spine confounded the Allies with its succession of ridges and rivers. ”

Allied forces landed on the ‘toe’ of Italy on September 3, which was interestingly enough, the same day that the Italian government agreed to an armistice with the Allies. Though we were no longer at war with Italy, we had to march through their country to extract the Germans. So, while the Germans were busy disarming the Italian army, the allied forces continued to invade the south of Italy with landings at Salerno and Taranto. It wasn’t easy, as heavy resistance was encountered along the way north.

As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain in the form of the Apennine Mountains, which form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east. In the most mountainous areas of Abruzzo, more than half the width of the peninsula comprises crests and peaks over 3,000 feet that were relatively easy for the Germans to defend; and the various spurs of this spine confounded the Allies with its succession of ridges and rivers. The rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which constantly thwarted our Allied plans.

Anzio proved to be a difficult campaign

At the end of 1943, the winter halted our advance on the western side of Italy as blizzards, drifting snow and zero visibility caused our advance to grind to a halt. Landings at Anzio behind enemy lines were intended to destabilize the German defenses, but the early thrust inland became bottled up in the beachhead.

What was left of Monte Cassino after the long seige

It took four major offensives between January and May 1944 before a twenty-mile front between Monte Cassino and the western seaboard was breached. 

By 25 April, the Italian Partisans' Committee of Liberation declared a general uprising, and on the same day, our forces advanced north and took the German Army of Liguria by surprise, causing its collapse.

As April came to an end, the Axis forces in Italy were left with little option but surrender.

The several battles to secure Italy cost the Allies 152,000 lives, while the Axis lost 311,000 lives.

Our thanks to all who have served in the uniform of the United States of America.

Ciao for now,

Steve

 

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Transforming a Sunken Door

Original snap shot of The Sunken Door

I'd have to say that the construction of the door in this article was probably a bit ill advised. It seems that there would be a water issue because of the below-ground-level entrance.

I was not able to detect any sort of rain-water diversion for this door - the stone work of the pavement is not even raised a bit..

“You can imagine water flowing into this ‘door well’ as the streets of Venice begin to flood. ”

Additionally, there is this thing in Venice called 'aqua alta', which literally means high water. Aqua alta occurs when the tide and wind are aligned in such a way as to push water into the Venetian lagoon in excess of what it can handle - this causes flooding in the town of Venice. This flooding can be as much as a few inches (normal) to around three feet (abnormal). 

You can imagine water flowing into this 'door well' as the streets of Venice begin to flood. Fortunately, not much life occurs on the first floor in Venice...the second floor is where most of the traditional living begins, while the first floor is relegated to storage and such.

To transform the snapshot of this door, I began as I always do for Venice photos by removing extraneous conduits, pipes, etc. that are ubiquitous to Venice. Though these items do create a bit of an eyesore, the nice people who live there do need their electricity, gas and water. And, it is a bit of a chore to get these needed utilities into the old stone buildings. But hey, it's my job to remove these modern intrusions in my efforts to create a Venice of a by-gone era when these modern conveniences didn't exist.

Extraneous elements removed

This second photo shows that I have now removed these items from around the entrance, and I have also gotten rid of the mail slot and modern keyholes and such on the doors.

As the original snapshot was a bit 'flat' - i.e. lacking in contrast, saturation, and such - I worked a bit on those elements to get to this next point.

Finally, my assessment was that the door itself was still a bit on the boring side, and was being overshadowed by the surrounding area in terms of color and texture. Wouldn't you agree? 

You will note that the area at the top of the door in the previous photo has red tones, and the bottom of the door has some cyan, or aqua, tones. It's subtle, but it's there. So, I brightened that door and increased the saturation of those illusive tones to achieve my final product - as you can see below.

 

As this entrance has most likely been a couple of centuries, I suppose we shouldn't worry too much about the owner's water issues.

 

[As a bit of diversion back to two weeks ago, a couple of you wrote to let me know that the doors in 'Securing Your Haven' still had a bit more clandestine mystery. You noted in the original photo that there was still another lock hidden behind that long-vertical-squiggly bar, and you were right! And again, that lock is not accessible unless that long-vertical-squiggly bar is itself unlocked and moved aside -- the plot's as thick as day-old oatmeal! Thanks for the heads up!]

 

Ciao for now,

Steve

 

 

 

 

Transforming l’Uomo della Pizza

“The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?”

I’d have to say that Rome by night is a good bit more enjoyable than Rome by day. The summer heat, traffic and general hub-bub of the day are gone.

It’s as if the setting sun acts as a catalyst to transform the streets, piazze and campi of each neighborhood into something that is far more charming, more romantic, and of course, more temperate.

It was during a late evening stroll to the Trevi Fountain that we came across this scene at a neighborhood pizzeria.

The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?

Upon spying him standing there, I quickly dropped to one knee to take this photo, as I visualized him being the dominate object of the image, and the lower camera angle seems to make him a bit larger than life. 

Because I was kneeling down, with the camera aimed slightly up, there was a good bit of distortion as the vertical lines of the buildings converged. So here is the image after I eliminated the vertical distortion. 

You can see that a bit of the photo has been lost due to the correction, but as I was shooting wide angle, there was plenty with which to work.

I am now ready to do a bit of cropping and adjustment to color balance and lighting.

In the version above, you will note that the interior of the pizzeria is well lit, while our pizza man is in shadow – as are the tables and patrons. After a bit of work, we can see below that the building exterior, table, patrons and the pizza man have been illuminated, while the interior has been darkened a bit. 

Additionally, I really liked the texture of the paving stones and the shadows that our pizza man was casting, so I emphasized those aspects, too.

Finally, a bit of cropping to get right down into the subject of the photo resulted in the version you see just above.

That was a good bit of cropping of the original image wasn’t it? Yet, there is still a lot of detail in the photo. My camera gives me the ability to do significant cropping without a lot of loss of resolution. The Nikon D800 is a 36mp camera – this camera has a huge sensor, whereas the vast majority of other cameras are in the 10-12mp range. That gives me a lot of room to isolate objects in the image.

For my final version, I found the two patrons on the right and the Hostaria store to be distracting. I was able to crop out the store, but the two patrons had to be removed through magic – even Harry Potter would be jealous.

In cropping, it was important to the composition that our pizza man is off-center a bit to the left. Since he was looking to our right, we need to give him some room to gaze.

So, here is the final photo, which can be found on my website in the Rome gallery.

I like the feel of this late evening shot -- colorful cloths on the street-side tables, two patrons studying the menu to select just the right ingredients for their pizza, and our l’oumo della pizza contemplating…what?...use your imagination.

If you would like to speculate upon that which he contemplates, use the comment box, below.

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Stumbling-Block Holocaust Memorials

Though today’s article will probably be my shortest, it is perhaps the greatest of significance.

“These stumbling blocks are a type of monument created by German artist Gunter Demnig beginning in 1992 to commemorate victims of Nazi oppression.”

I was overwhelmed by the stolperstein (stumbling block) plaques that we found embedded in some of the cobblestone streets of Rome.

These plaques were placed outside the former residences of Jews who were taken away to concentration camps by the Germans. Yes, the Jews of Italy suffered the same fate as others in Europe.

This original snapshot shows two such plaques.

In this transformed version, you are able to read the inscriptions. 

Here is what these two plaques say:

“Here lived Angelo Tagliacozzo. Born 1916. Arrested August 8, 1944. Deported to Auschwitz. Died February 20, 1945 at Dachau”
“Here lived Angelo Limentani. Born 1920. Arrested May 8, 1944. Deported to Auschwitz. Murdered”

These stumbling blocks are a type of monument created by German artist Gunter Demnig beginning in 1992 to commemorate victims of Nazi oppression. Stolpersteins are small, cobblestone-sized memorials for individual victims of Nazism. They commemorate individuals who were taken by the Nazis to prisons, euthanasia facilities, sterilization clinics, concentration camps, and extermination camps.

Why the term ‘stumbling block’? Before the Holocaust, it used to be the custom in Germany for non-Jews to say, on stumbling over a protruding stone, "There must be a Jew buried here." There’s an historical irony here that’s hard for me to get my head around.

Do you know that there are people who to this day deny the existence of the holocaust?

May God bless those who suffered the Nazi’s atrocities.

 

Ciao for now,

Steve

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