why are jpegs making a come back?
I'm a convert… that guy… whatever it is you want to call me. I now have JPEG switched on across all of my cameras, and you’d have to fight me to switch it off. Did you read that properly? I said I'd switched JPEG on. I didn't say I'd switched RAW off. I think is one of the big misconceptions when someone declares they shoot JPEGs
We’ve been told countless times that RAW is King and JPEG is… well… what is JPEG for? Well, you might have noticed a bit of a JPEG resurgence recently! And mainly in the Fujifilm space, but this article isn't Fujifilm-specific at all. So let's see if I can convince you in the next few minutes to go and switch on JPEGs.
I'll even explain how I use JPEGs in a professional capacity as well
CAN THEY ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD?
First up, can JPEGS actually look any good? Well, you tell me. These are all straight-out-of-camera JPEGS that I really like.
The thing is, it does take a little bit of time to dial in some settings to get good results. But once you find what you like you are sorted and can begin to create a consistent look. This is why Fujifilm JPEGs specifically have really taken off. A combination of a large amount of in-camera options backed by an amazing community sharing their favorite settings. There are even a couple that are trying to emulate film. Whether you think that they do or not is a little subjective… and if you want my opinion I'm not convinced.
Regardless…. I do think they look great and are more than passable for many applications especially a quick Bluetooth send to my phone and post on my socials. I love to keep you guys up to date with what I'm doing when I'm away over on Instagram and this creates a simple friction free workflow.
WHAT IF WE DON'T LIKE EDITING?
Some of us love editing and some of us loathe it! Personally, I'm a little all over the place! At a high level, I love editing my good photos, we've all been there finessing an image to our heart's content. This is why RAW is still firmly switched on. Because I want all the flexibility I can possibly have in this situation.
But if it wasn't for youtube picking up a camera for me would be more about documenting life. On that recent family trip we did to the pub last weekend I didn't go out to create great images. I went out to capture a couple of memories. I don't want to sit and edit the RAWs of these, it's not the point of my images. But having JPEGs that replicate my style and create a consistent body of work is a great bonus.
SEEING MY STYLE IN THE VIEWFINDER AND ON THE LCD
This leads to something I never expected about this JPEG process. I’ve found huge value in setting up JPEG settings to match my own personal style. This is because I can see it being applied in the EVF and on the LCD. When I'm out taking photos because these JPEG settings live on the LCD I can see the real world with my own style applied to it. This means when shooting it gives me a visual representation of the scene.
In a professional setting, I’ve done a couple fitness brand shoots and it's great to be able to show the model what the photos look like on the LCD with my editing style somewhat already applied. I think we've all been there, we as photographers can see the potential of an image because we can visualize the edit but other people can't.
CAN YOU STILL EDIT THEM?
RAWs are definitely better if you are going to edit but that doesn't mean that you can't edit JPEGs. There is less information but pretty dramatic edits are still possible. So if you plan on only doing moderate tweaking then maybe JPEG isn't so bad. Next time you realize you’ve accidentally stuck a JPEG into Lightroom play around with it! you might be surprised by just how flexible they are.
ITS FUN
Finally, the most important part for me is that I've found it so much fun. In the same way that some of us love editing, I've had a lot of fun just messing around with settings, understanding what they do, and seeing how they work in different conditions knowing it's completely harm free as I still have the RAW files.
DID I CONVINCE YOU?
If not, then hopefully you can understand why other people might! If you’re curious about my JPEG settings then you can find all you need here!