Today’s question comes from Frost ER who was wondering why his RAW files look different at the computer than they do on the back of the camera.
The reason for this has to do with how the camera handles your RAW files.
When you capture a photo, whether you save your images as RAW files or as JPEGs, the image starts with the raw data that is recorded by the image sensor.
If you save your images as RAW files, the camera takes the raw data and saves it to the file, with no processing or adjustments made by the camera.
If you save your images as JPEGs, the camera takes that raw data, applies a bunch of adjustments like increasing the contrast and saturation, adjusting the color tone and sharpening the image.
After applying those adjustments, it saves the data as a JPEG file.
Now, if you shoot in RAW, when you review your images on the back of the camera, that preview you see is what the RAW file would look like if the image were processed by the camera and saved as a JPEG.
So you’re not actually seeing the unedited RAW file when you preview your image on the camera.
Check out the video to learn how to deal with this and why you shouldn’t obsess over whether the camera preview matches what you see on your computer screen.
Lightroom is a powerful photography tool, but the problem with powerful tools is they’re often complicated and intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
If you want to learn how to use Lightroom to quickly and efficiently manage and edit your photos so that they look as amazing as you envision them, check out my Mastering Lightroom Video Course.