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Track 5 · Digital2 min read

LESSON 21

A RAW workflow

Import, develop, export. The RAW file stays as it was shot; every change is a set of instructions laid on top.

THREE STEPS · THE RAW FILE NEVER CHANGES

Three boxes joined by arrows: import, develop, export, with a dashed loop from develop back to the untouched RAW file.

What a RAW file is

Data straight from the sensor, not yet a picture, with the full 12 or 14 bits per pixel the sensor reads out. Each maker has its own format; Adobe's DNG, launched in 2004, is an open one.

Import

Copy the card to the computer and to a second drive before you format it. Name folders by date and add keywords now, while you still remember the day.

Develop

A raw converter turns the data into a picture: white balance, exposure, contrast, colour and detail. The same file can be developed again and again, in different ways, without wearing out.

Export

For screens and the web, export a JPEG in sRGB, the colour space assumed for pictures with no profile. JPEG typically compresses about ten to one with a visible but accepted loss, so the RAW stays the master.

Try it today

  1. 01Shoot one scene in RAW plus JPEG.
  2. 02Import both and back them up.
  3. 03Develop the RAW: white balance first, then exposure, then contrast.
  4. 04Export a JPEG in sRGB.
  5. 05Compare it with the camera's own JPEG.

Figures from Wikipedia, 'Raw image format', 'Digital Negative', 'sRGB' and 'JPEG', read 2026.10.16. The steps under Try it today are working practice, not a standard.