Why I shoot in RAW

[jorgemonkey]

I was out visiting my sis in law last weekend and we did a bunch of photos of her kids as well as a family portrait. I had my background setup, chair for the kids to sit in, and everything ready. As I started shooting child #2, I looked up and I saw a face peeking over my backdrop. Since I only had my 50 1.8 on my camera, I walked up, snapped an image, and then realized I forgot to change my settings. I made a quick change, but she was gone. It was pretty under exposed, and I decided to keep it any see what could be tweaked and if it could be saved since I loved her expression.

4 stops under exposed, a little brightness & contrast, little cropping, B&W treatment, and this is the result

[Canuck935]

Nice! An excellent example. No way you'd recover anything at all if that was a jpg.

[poker]

RAW has saved me more than a dozen times. The NR portion of my RAW software is a plus as well. Fortunately, memory cards are so cheap now that shooting at full mp is not a problem with my 8mp DSLR. I also love the WB adjustment capabilities. The list goes on and on.

[Axle]

Yep, RAW's saved many of my photos that were over exposed/under exposed...white balance off...

I usually won't shoot anything but, unless it's for the paper and magazine I do occasional work for.

[gracie_r]

Look at that cute little devil! Great catch.

[franciax]

What a gem - I love Raw, a couple of years ago that shot would have been lost

[Frog]

Those moments are so un-predictable and I'll probably still use jpeg sometimes but its less and less often.
The white-balance I usually leave on auto just because its so easy to adjust after the fact when I shoot raw.