So I finally added RAW as a file format my camera saves with. I’m not sure why it took so long, other than I had to get around to installing software to make full use of the format’s potential. For those who don’t know RAW, it’s a format that saves all the details of the photo as captured by the camera’s sensor before any additional settings (such as white balance or noise reduction) are applied. This allows you to go back later and make any changes to the image that you would otherwise not be able to if you set those extra settings prior to taking the shot and only saved as a jpeg.

This means that this otherwise badly underexposed shot…

can be mostly salvaged without having to resort to contrast and brightness manipulation.

Oh, and I also decided to create my first HDR image. It’s really a shame that I picked such a boring subject, but at least I don’t feel bad for spending very little time adjusting it to make it look good. Look at the top of the window. Yikes.