Jessica Claire - Photographer

Megan: Could you go one step further and go back through and tell us which action you used to help bring out that RAW information? Looks like a few Totally Rad Actions, or maybe it's just tweaking in Photoshop... 3.18.09, 7:57AM

Dotun: Hi Jessica, I shoot both for my weddings. I know it takes up even more space. but here the deal. My RAW files serve as backup. if I look my jpegs and l see no issues then I discard the RAW. For my studio or commercial work definately RAW. As per storage, I think the future is Blu-ray. One thiing about hard drives is that they will eventually fail at some point, optical media will las much longer if stored well. basically I still keep ultimate DVD backups. Last month I my 250GB external drive crashed...now imagine what that feels like without my DVD backups. 3.17.09, 12:05PM

Rick @ Wedding Paper Divas: That's a bold statement! I shoot both RAW and .jpg for similar reasons but my 1D body makes that easy since I can write one format to CF, the other to SDHC. The .jpgs are ready to go for the web, RAW for archiving and later touch up if necessary. Lightroom makes bulk exporting to .jpg a snap so it doesn't seem too cumbersome. But, you already know the remaining big negative, storage space. It piles up fast! 3.17.09, 11:59AM

Whitney: Ohh i'm definitely a JPEG girl too! I feel ya! & I hate editing pictures as well! I tried shooting on RAW once and after that I said "no way" but maybe i'll have a change of heart soon! :) 3.17.09, 11:06AM

Alisa: I shoot only in RAW and love it. I have a work flow down where I can get a wedding edited in one week using the Raw editor that you can download for CS4 - so priceless and yeah, they take up a lot of space, but that's what terabyte externals are for :) 3.17.09, 10:51AM

imthiaz houseman: well Jessica...you make a really good case. we shoot jpeg as well and we've been talking about making the switch this year but we were not sure if that's what we wanted to do... 3.17.09, 10:36AM

Melanie Reyes: You'll love the switch and never go back! By the way the MyBook 1T external hard drive is the BOMB. I have that and a 500gig, hehe. I use ACR and love love love editing in it! 3.17.09, 7:04AM

Naqib: Nice work Jessica..I must say I do the same too..when it comes to selectively shooting in RAW in difficult scenarios or for large family portraits so my facial details dont get too much distortion..and for me I shoot almost exclusively in AV mode ..I also shoot exclusively in JPEGS due to size issues of RAW..but I have options for those who insist on RAW and I charge an extra fee for it...do check out my website if you have the time.. http://www.qippy.com Naqib,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia Wedding Photographer 3.17.09, 5:27AM

Alex: How do you get such spot-on focus on the eyes at such a wide aperture, especially for the one photo with the 3 kids? I hold as still as I can with my Canon 50mm 1/4, but I still can't come close. 3.17.09, 4:41AM

Pascal: I always use raw to give me more flexibility but only use it afterwards in editing when pics can benefit from it. It's true that the space involved can be a bummer (because I save everything) but I worked out a good networked backup solution, which is self redondant (expensive but sooo worth it). Thanks for the tip on the CF card, I will look into it. 3.17.09, 4:17AM

Matthew Saville: Jessica, WELCOME to the "sometimes I shoot raw, sometimes I shoot jpeg" club!! BTW- Delkin and Prospec cards are rated 305x and 350x, and also have a lifetime warranty. Can't speak for Delkin but my Prospec cards haven't corrupted one image in 100,000... *knock on wood* (however, I DO firmly believe that nickel-and-diming on memory cards is downright foolish. If your standard is Hoodman, then stick with it!) Lastly, as others have mentioned- I'd wager that B&H or Adorama carries G-Tech for less than a local mall store. (love mine, BTW...) Take care, =Matt= 3.17.09, 2:28AM

Ro: I am so happy to hear you admit this. I have the very same philosophy about the jpegs! I think RAW format is very overrated. Yes, it can help out a few images, but if you know when to switch to the format, then your golden. Thanks for sharing!! 3.17.09, 12:56AM

Ryan Jensen: Oh, I knew you'd eventually come over to the dark side. Now just start shooting those 5D Mark II images at 20 megapixels a pop and your whole new equations goes kersplat! 3.16.09, 11:18PM

Ivan M: Make sure you're also storing everything somewhere else in case your house goes on fire or something else bad happens. I periodically back up all photos to another hard drive I store at work (my computer is at home). 3.16.09, 11:04PM

Mark: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAW_image_format Just wanted to "claireify" to some of the blog followers...when you say the image looks better sooc as jpeg instead of raw....you should understand that you are actually saying that the conversion your camera mfg made to display/save the image in jpeg looks better than the conversion (photoshop, lr, insert your software here) made to the raw data image to display it. You really don't "view" a raw image...it's converted to jpeg or tiff by the software then displayed...so if you like the jpeg better, your software is probably not doing as good a job as your camera mfg did. Try opening up your raw image in the mfg raw software...it will probably look different than photoshop, lr, etc. Adobe makes camera profiles to try and "reproduce" as best they can the "in-camera conversion" to jpeg. Google ACR Camera Profiles.... Sorry for the run on..just thought this might help some folks. 3.16.09, 10:53PM

Cory Ann Ellis: Hello Jessica, I have been using the G-Tech products for a few years now. Just wanted to say that I love them and haven't had any issues with the 6 G-drives I have. I did recently switch to their hot swappable eSATA systems G- Speed eS and am so much happier about having less wires. I work off one set and mirror to another set. I have three stacks in total. You can also purchase direct from G-tech and often you get a discount coupon for 10-15% off your next purchase. O and I like my hoodman products as well. Haven't tried the card reader though I'm going to have to give it a go. CA 3.16.09, 10:39PM

bethanyfphotography: I've just recently been shooting JPEG to force myself to get my exposures right the first time and I'm loving it. For whatever reason I feel like the image is more beautiful right out of the camera than put through the RAW processing. But I definitely shoot in both RAW and JPEG when I hit some crummy lighting just to cover my butt. :) 3.16.09, 10:26PM

marta locklear: I have tried it both ways, and I keep coming back to RAW. Once I fell in love with LR and made my own presets...processing is much faster, and I get the results I want every time. Glad you have finally shared your dirty little secret ;)! 3.16.09, 10:12PM

Cameron Clark | c+k studio: I think you should still back up to DVD the original RAW or JPG files. I've been told many times that no matter what a hard drive will fail just a matter of when. If you keep your DVDs archived well, they could last a long long time. 3.16.09, 10:09PM

Wesleyjpeg: Welcome to the dirty secret club Jess! We shot jpeg for years b/c if it was good enough for you, it was good enough for us. Then we saw the potential with raw and being able to reign in highlights and get that creamier skin. It's just prettier no matter what others say! 3.16.09, 10:06PM

Stephanie Trachy: This is so great! Thanks for sharing because I keep going back and forth myself! I can't stand the storage issue RAW has. I also want to be rid of the DVD back-up FOREVER!!!! 3.16.09, 10:04PM

jb: I couldn't remember the name of those drives when you talked about them at wppi so thanks for posting!! it was cool to hear your thoughts on the jpeg/raw thing. I've done both, and I haven't picked a side! 3.16.09, 10:02PM

jennifer gillard: I wish your dirty little secret was a way to rid us photographers of endless hours retouching those dirty little dust spots I see on the first of the third image. grrr.... lol. Most awesome "slight" recovery on the last image, I love it, as I love all your work. You are an inspiration!!! 3.16.09, 9:49PM

jessica claire: stephen, thats why this is in ADDITION to remote backup AND my drobos. If all three methods fail...how much more safe can I be? Three separately located backups are good with me. DVD's will be phased out as more and more files become larger anyway! 3.16.09, 9:48PM

Stephen Dickter: FYI I work a lot with the G-Raid and Mini-G's for video production. We have had a couple of power issues with them recently - not able to mount the drive or the power input goes bad. Then that leads to very expensive data recovery. So, as always, backup backup backup. Drive quality comes and goes (remember when LaCie was the standard?) Also, Vanessa - I have heard horror stories of backing up online. What happens when that company goes out of business? Or has a security breach? There have been a few photography gallery sites that have disappeared recently taking a lot of people's work with it. I say, stay tried and true - backup at home. DVD's in a fireproof safe. In 10 years, we probably won't be able to access jpegs anyway... (my two cents) 3.16.09, 9:47PM

Kristen: I am soooo glad you posted this! I’m one of those that took several photography classes and everything was so mixed when it came to jpeg and RAW. Soooo… I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago and had always been told to at least shoot RAW for the ceremony. I set my camera to shoot in jpeg + RAW and found myself liking my jpeg images better. I too shoot in manual mode. I do agree that sometimes I may not have had to trash a shot but it’s not worth it to me. SO SO SO glad that a successful “wedding” photographer shoots primarily jpeg. YOU GO GIRL!! 3.16.09, 9:38PM

Vanessa Myers: Thanks for the info! Have you looked into the idea of backing up your stuff onto the internet on sites like mozy.com or carbonite? I've been looking into it lately and wondered if there are many other photogs doing that right now. I know Mozy.com automatically backs up new files on your computer whenever you're online. That'd be kinda nice! 3.16.09, 9:37PM

Courtney: Thanks for the tip on the Hoodmans-- I'll be picking up some of those... I'm still learning and shooting mostly in RAW but you inspired me many months ago to test out shooting in JPEG... 3.16.09, 9:35PM