Normally, digital cameras process image data captured by the sensor and save the finished photo as a JPEG file, but RAW files contain the image data in its unprocessed form. You need a program capable of processing these RAW files on your computer, but the advantage is better image quality and the ability to choose some of the settings later rather than having to commit to them when you shoot.

My wife and I have a huge iPhoto library on an external hard drive connected to our iMac. We are going on vacation for a week and I was wondering if we can take the hard drive with us, open the iPhoto library on my MacBook Pro and edit, tag, and organize the photos and have the changes stick once we bring the drive back home.

Digital cameras save a wide variety of shooting data when you take a picture, and it’s embedded invisibly in the image as ‘EXIF’ data. iPhoto can use this in a variety of ways. For example, it uses the date saved by the camera to sort photos chronologically. But there’s a lot more information in there that you can use to find your photos quickly, and without having to resort to manual keywords or albums.

Your digital photos may be the most meaningful zeroes and ones you own -- after all, you can’t get back the moments they capture. The good news is you can keep those memories safe without keeping them hidden on a hard drive. But first, make sure they’re backed up to that hard drive by including your iPhoto Library (Home > Pictures) in your backup routine. We don’t want you losing a single shot of your Chihuahua in her Halloween costume.