2 | CHAPTER ONE why Shoot raw? Odds are good, since you are reading this RAW-centric book, you already know the advantages of setting your digital camera to capture RAW data. Just in case there is any doubt, let me briefly explain why shooting RAW is so cool. I've said this many times: RAW data is the holy grail of digital photography. It contains the basic data produced by your digital camera's sensor. RAW data is also referred to as the "negative" of a digital image, from which the JPEG (or TIFF or PSD) files are derived, much like a print is derived from a negative, Figure 1-1, in traditional photography. assembly and Interpretation