Ashland Daily Photo
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Clouds over Ashland

blue sky and clouds ashland oregon

JPEG version

I always process my .jpg image file separately from my RAW image of the same scene. Usually I delete the version I don’t like as much. With this photo, I couldn’t decide. Which do you like better?

raw clouds over ashland oregon blue sky RAW vs. JPEG

RAW version

3 Responses to “Clouds over Ashland”

  1. 1
    Dan:

    Hmm, I could see an argument for either. The JPG version has more color and my first impulse is to say I like it better. I also notice that there seems to be more contrast between sky and clouds near the horizon and in general the JPG seems to show more texture in the clouds. On the other hand, since the sky is the subject, the RAW image’s having less color (and detail) in the non-sky parts could be a slight advantage. Also, the blue is different in each photo. The RAW version seems more “pure” while the JPG version has more yellow or green and seems “warmer.”

    The more I look at these, the more I prefer the JPG version, but that’s just my opinion.

    I’ve had similar issues with RAW versus JPG (using my Nikon D50). I have seen decent results working with the RAW editor in Adobe Photoshop (CS4), but it’s a lot more work and doesn’t always seem to end up being as good as the JPG version. I assume it’s mostly just my lack of experience working with RAW. What do you use?

  2. 2
    admin:

    I’m using CS5 to process my RAW files, and I’m getting better with it. But I still can’t always get the results I hope for.

    Of the two above, I processed the RAW one first and really liked how the sky became the subject, and the foreground didn’t distract from the sky being the focal point. But then when I looked at the jpg after I thought, maybe the foreground is interesting enough to keep.

  3. 3
    David Pasillas:

    I actually like the jpg version here because I find the foreground interesting. I think if you lowered the blacks slgihtly and boosted the fill light a bit on the RAW it might look better. It does look a bit cool as well, so you may try to warm the temperature a little to get closer to the jpg version.

    Or if you’d rather just focus on the sky, you could crop the image above the tennis court and let the sky dominate 3/4 of the image.