RAW converting a cat

[Shiobock]

My friends cat was posing on her beautiful baroq-esque sofa like a duke of sorts, so I quickly turned on my EOS 1000D (aka Rebel XSi), and shot some RAW's, RAW because the lightning conditions weren't optimal and I didn't have time to browse the white balance modes. I got to say that I'm considering shooting RAW all the time now that I realize the full capability of it.

The shutter speed was 1/15 second, ISO 800 and f/2.5. I managed to get an unshaken photo somehow, so the only things I edited were my friends little sister (who friendly refused from getting off the sofa during her Disney time), and the color and contrast.

Here's a comparison on my conversion vs. straight conversion (of course it's an unfair match since the RAW file is well... raw. The camera does nothing to it. Maybe I should've compared a JPEG version of it but I shot only as RAW. Sorry!)
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g191/Karjanainen/Mirri1_triptych1_comp-1.jpg

Here's the final raw converted, clone brushed and cropped image.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g191/Karjanainen/Royal_Cat_is_Royal_by_Shiobock.jpg

I'm rather satisfied with it, of course I appreciate any critique or comments.

[ladybug]

very royal, thanks for the comparison shots. I have a point a shoot but the information is invaluable to me.

[Byron Gale]

This kind of photo makes me wish I could meet the cat in person... :p

Nicely done!!

[elwoodsusanm]

That's excellent :) I always shoot RAW too.
Sue

[Chesney]

Gorgeous cat and a beautiful cat portrait!!

[SharLamb]

I saw this in your gallery and loved it there. So rare to catch such a perfect picture of a cat. Fabulous job. I've had my Rebel for 3 weeks now, and am still just feeling it out. I thought I was brave to move away from 100% automatic, so I'm not ready for RAW yet, but hope to be someday soon.

Pat the Cat for me.

brrrrrrooooowwwww >^..^<

[mariangela]

Wonderful picture. I also am getting to know my new camera, and haven't tried RAW yet, but after seeing this, perhaps I will, soon.
AGG

[vawitt]

Wow! Just gorgeous!

[Shiobock]

Wonderful picture. I also am getting to know my new camera, and haven't tried RAW yet, but after seeing this, perhaps I will, soon.
AGG
In practice working with JPEG image is almost the same, but since you can preview the changes in RAW converters without actually adjusting the image permanently, you can freely edit the settings like white balance, contrast and brightness change, curves, sharpness, noise removal etc, without degrading the photo (atleast until you convert it to the final JPEG). What I'm trying to say is that RAW is a bit easier in that sense, if you're willing to do some work.

In Digital Photo Professional (a RAW-converter that comes with Canon's Rebels), you can also compare the unaltered and altered image side by side, which is very handy for keeping the modifications realistic, as in you won't blow any highlights/make the shadows too dark etc.

[fletch]

RAW Rocks!

I did a similar side by side comparison to demonstate the effect over at my blog. I took the same shot captured in RAW and processed it twice, once in ACR with all the bells and whistles and once in the camera with defualt and auto settings. Its not really scientific test and I'm sure someone with more skill that me could probably get to the same end result with a JPEG but the flexibility of RAW is just fantatsic, not having to worry about WB when shooting is such a bonus.

Here is the result:

http://jfletcherphoto.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/p7211423.jpg?w=750&h=500 (http://jfletcherphoto.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/should-you-shoot-raw/)

[dmrdm]

Yes, RAW is great! I always shoot RAW these days. Being able to effortlessly tweak little things makes it so easy to use.

Last Feb I went to Maui and after taking my camera in and out of the bag a million times my shooting mode got turned...all my pics for a day were dark, but I was able to fix almost all of them. Was so happy.

Your cat turned out wonderful!