Photography - RAW vs JPG

The topic of RAW vs JPG seems to come up a lot.  When I first started with digital cameras, I shot only JPG, but the more I read about the differences as well as advantages, the more I started shooting in RAW format.

JPG's are quicker to download from the camera to the computer and much smaller files, but with today's computers and cameras, and storage devices, those concerns are no longer, well, a concern.  The main difference between RAW and JPG is the fact that anyone shooting a JPG, even if they do shoot an image perfectly in-camera has just arbitrarily thrown away 16,129 tones (per color channel) in the print and kept only 255.  When you toss forty-eight thousand tones or colors, which seems like a bad decision, even if you don't do any post-processing, your image may not look quite as good as it could.  And if you do edit, you will be throwing away even more information, which can result in unwanted artifacts in the print/file.  So needless to say, I always shoot in a RAW format.  The more times you edit an image, the more information you discard, and that can lead to deterioration of the image.  If you've even seen uneven gradations in an image, that is what has happened.  It's usually more visible in monotone areas, like the sky, or a plain wall.  Or, even worse, you may end up with a portrait with a blotchy face.  Another advantage to RAW is if you accidentally do not expose the image perfectly, you have a better chance of getting a decent result.  Plus I have found I can even out the highlights and shadows a bit more.  This is especially needed if the lighting is terrible and you are unable to change it.

What about processing the RAW images?  Well, with Lightroom (which I use) and other software programs, it's pretty easy.  After you see the images that come out of your camera, you can edit them and apply presets (instructions within Lightroom telling it what you want it to do to an image) to all your photos at once (assuming the conditions they were taken in are the same).  Then you can export them as JPG files to save disk space.  Once they are perfect or the best you can make them, then you may want to delete the RAW files, or put them on an external hard drive for storage.  I just saw one on sale - a 4 TB drive for $109.00 - enough to hold more RAW files than you will probably ever take.

Most cameras can shoot both RAW and JPG at the same time, which might be a good way for you to compare the two.  With some Nikon cameras, there is room for two memory cards, and you can record RAW on one and JPG on the other.  With other cameras, these would be on the same card and would take up a lot of space so you might want to get a card with more memory.

Smart Photo Software

Just bought a new software program called Smart Photo.  I'm experimenting with it and was impressed how easy and quick it works for at least some things, such as dropping in a new sky.  Below is an original photo from when I was little - with a pretty plain sky in the background, and then the new sky.  There were around 1,000 different skies to choose from.  It can do a lot more (such as remove objects, etc.), but will have to wait to post more as I experiment.

Original (shot at Jones Beach, NY) of my brother and me.

With some clouds added in and then converted to B&W - notice, too, that I was able to lighten the faces.  The color to B&W was done with Lightroom. 

With the clouds in color, which is interesting.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing these.

Your Health and Freedom

The elections are over - Finally!  Some love the results, and some hate them, but they can't be changed, so time to move on and think about what is most important in your life and what can be done to make it better.  For me, health is number one.  If that is also a major concern for you, then the FDA, CDC, Department of Agriculture, and any agencies that affect our health need to be reformed and corruption needs to be eliminated from those agencies.

The U.S. is only one of two countries that allow drug companies to advertise (the other being New Zealand).  About 109,000 people die each year in the U.S. from properly prescribed prescription drugs, and at least some of those deaths are no doubt a result of this advertising policy.  Here is an article about just one class of drugs (pain killers) - Link.  The other problem with allowing this advertising is that the drug companies, for all practical purposes, dictate what the media can report on regarding their products.  When was the last time you saw a negative comment about vaccines in the media?  Go to the internet, and you'll find plenty.

I've covered vaccinations in great detail on this blog over the past year (I've spent hundreds of hours researching this subject).  They are responsible for untold injuries and deaths (literally untold, in many cases), but instead of making them safe or voluntary, the opposite is being done - making them mandatory and they are definitely not safe (regardless of what you hear in the media or from most doctors, and especially pediatricians, not to mention the drug companies themselves).  A big reason for that is that the drug companies are not liable when it comes to vaccinations, nor are those who inject innocent children with the toxins that they contain.  No studies have been done on multiple vaccines given at one time, which means the government is allowing or forcing medical experiments on people, which goes against the Nuremberg Code and medical ethics.  It is a human rights violation and loss of freedom.  Let me repeat this - Medical Experimentation on citizens and Loss of Freedom - what, when, or where does that remind you of?

The U.S. has the highest infant mortality of any developed nation (perhaps due to vaccinations?). Autism has become an epidemic, going from less than 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s to about 1 in 50 now.   About our life expectancy and health - check the statistics on this and you'll see at least 30-35 countries do better than the U.S.  Why?  Corruption at the FDA and CDC, which push vaccines and drugs, plus other corrupt government agencies which allow (promote?) pollution, pesticides, fluoride in our water, poor diets with more chemicals, etc.  It's surprising we live as long as we do.  And if we factor out smoking, cancer rates are rising, and more cancers are happening at a younger age.

What about medicine?  This Link of statistics should give you something to think about before your next doctor or hospital visit.

Sometime in my next few posts I will give a list of some new links.  It is my hope that you will do some research from independent sources and from the many links I have posted.

The following is a little off-topic, perhaps, but something to think about.

Did you know the U.S. has the highest percent of its population in prison than any other country, except for Seychelles.  Here is a link to a Chart showing that.   Shouldn't someone try to figure out why this is and make some changes?  Could it be partially caused by drugs and vaccines that damage our central nervous system?

Vaccines, Nuremberg, and Freedom

Here is a movie clip from the 1961 movie, Judgement at Nuremberg.  At 6:16 of the video, Spencer Tracy said, "This is what we stand for, justice, truth, and the value of a single human being."  From the trials came the Nuremberg Code.

Vaccinations are medical experiments.  No long term studies have been done, and no studies of multiple vaccines given at once have been done.  In fact, it could be said that no true studies have ever been done, because the "studies" that have been done don't use true placebos, they discard data they don't like, and they are much too short in length of time.  Check this link about vaccine testing.  In the U.S., they won't even do a comparative study about the health of those vaccinated vs those who haven't been vaccinated.  In Europe they have, and those who were not vaccinated are so much healthier.

One more point for now - most adults do not get vaccinated, and by the time they are in there 30s, most, if not all, of the vaccines they had received will no longer be protecting them.  If you believed the pro-vaccine crowd, all those adults should be getting sick and dying from widespread multiple vaccine preventable diseases.  Do you know anyone who this has happened to?  It would be all over the news.  Ergo, this is not happening, so when they say all these diseases will come back if we stop vaccinating, that is a myth.

Getting back to Nuremberg - they conducted those trials and made the code so the horrors of medical experiments would never happen again.  And similar to Nuremberg are the Helsinki Accord and Geneva Convention.

Mandatory vaccines go against these agreements.  And the new NPRM - Notice of Proposed Rule Making can allow the CDC to force any vaccine on anyone.  Here is a summary of NPRM.

Between these two things (mandatory vaccines and the NPRM) the U.S. will be where Germany was before then Nuremberg Trials - forced medical experiments and procedures with no say (sounds a bit like Germany under Hitler).  If they can do this, what's to stop them from forcefully drugging people, or ??????  Freedom will be a thing of the past.

Once again, please do your research from independent sources.  In past posts, I've supplied well over 100 links to reputable sites of doctors, immunologists, researchers, health organizations, etc.  Plus sites of anecdotal evidence, VAERS, and even the CDC.  In a post coming up, I will list many more links regarding vaccines - hope you will read those that interest you.

My Experience with the Flu Vaccine

I joined the US Air Force many years ago, and during basic training they required everyone to line up for the flu vaccine - no choice given.  They did not give any information about possible side effects or what ingredients were being shot into your arm (literally shot, with the flu gun).  I just remember extreme pain in my arm about 10 seconds after the shot, and then being sick for the following three days.  Mild fever, achy, feeling generally terrible.  I have no doubt it was a direct result of the shot.  Something else happened that at the time I didn't connect to the shot.  About a week or two after the shot, the tips of my fingers starting showing little red dots on them, and after several days of this, the skin started peeling off and my finger tips were red and raw - so bad, it got me out of KP.

Needless to say, I never got another flu shot, nor any other vaccines.  And now, thanks to a healthy diet and supplements, I never get the flu.  In fact, I haven't even had a cold for the past 5 plus years.  But if you believe the vaccine pushers, you would have thought I would have gotten pneumonia, meningitis, hepatitis, the flu every year, and be dead by now.

No one knows if the flu shot is effective or how effective it might be.  Why?  Most people aren't tested to see if they have the flu or some other similar virus.  And the flu virus mutates, so the vaccine may be for the wrong strain.  But what is known is that the side effects are going to affect a certain percent of people, and some of those will be life threatening.  There's no way to know ahead of time, and once something happens, you can't undo the shot.  What are the possible side effects?  Make sure you read the actual package insert (the one that's several pages long) to read the list.  Then you can make an informed decision.

For me, maintaining a strong and healthy immune system is so much better.  In my next post on this subject, I'll be adding a lot of new links for your further research.  There are some really good articles out there.