Working with camera RAW photos

Most DSLR cameras give you the option to take photos in RAW mode. RAW mode records more image data than a typical JPEG. A RAW photo is a 12-bit or 14-bit image and comprises of up to 16,384 levels of brightness. The camera records information, such as ISO, color temperature, and saturation settings, but stores this information in a header. The RAW image data itself remains uncompromised and uncompressed, making it similar to a photo negative that you can print as you like. Compare this to an 8-bit JPEG photo which contains 256 brightness levels, and which has already had some irreversible processing applied by the camera. The Camera RAW Lab in Corel PaintShop Pro acts like a digital darkroom and lets you apply a personal touch to your RAW files.

After processing a RAW image, you can leave it as a read-only RAW file, or export it to a JPEG, GIF, or PNG file so you can edit it.

This section presents the following topics: