What's on your mind? If you have a question about digital photography, send it to me. I reply to as many e-mails as I can, and I round up the most interesting ones about once a month here in the newsletter.

Want to read more FAQs? Browse reader questions from July, August, and September.

Tell Me About RAW

Can you please explain the RAW format, how to use it, and when it's advisable?
--Jeff Wetherington, Calgary

Sure thing, Jeff.

The term RAW refers to the native format used by some cameras that stores unprocessed information from the image sensor--no color correction, no sharpness, no white balance--and includes no image compression, like you get with JPEG files. Every camera manufacturer's RAW format is different: for example, Nikon calls its NEF while Canon uses CR2.

Serious photographers like RAW because it offers the best possible starting place to edit photos on the PC. But using RAW forces you to do extra work. You will probably want to edit your RAW photos before sharing them. You'll have to convert them to JPEG before you can do that, since Web sites and most other people can't display RAW. I've written a few columns on the subject:

• "File Format Refresher"
• "Shooting in RAW, Part 1"
• "Shooting in RAW, Part 2"

Infrared Photography With Nikon

Recently, you published a Hot Pic of the Week called "Space Needle," an infrared photo taken with the Nikon D80. That led me to wonder, does the Nikon D80 ordinarily have an IR-blocking filter? I thought infrared photos could be taken only with modified D-SLRs that have had their filter removed. Could you clarify?
--Rob Bohl, Potomac, Maryland

That's a great question, Rob.

As I've mentioned in previous columns (like February's "Digital Photo FAQ"), in order to take infrared photos with a digital camera, it needs to be able to see infrared light. You can test this by trying to photograph the infrared flash from a remote control. Many cameras have a filter over the image sensor that blocks most infrared light.

Nikon has been making its cameras less sensitive to infrared with each successive generation. The D80 can shoot in infrared--though you'll need to invest in an infrared lens filter that blocks all other light--but newer models like the D40 and D200 are not usable as infrared cameras.

Scanning Old Photos

I have hundreds of old slides that I would like to move to my Web site. How do I do that? Is it possible to scan them?
--Bruce Morgan, San Francisco

Sure, Bruce, you can scan your old photos. You'll want to invest in a scanner to do that.

But which to buy? There are flatbed scanners designed mainly for scanning photo prints and film scanners that can scan slides and negatives. Many flatbed scanners work with adapters that accept slides and negatives, but if you have a lot of them and want high quality, high resolution results, you'll get better results with a film scanner.

Can you "scan" photos with a digital camera instead? Some people do, but I don't recommend it. You'll have to contend with glare and uneven lighting, keeping the camera perfectly perpendicular to the photo. The results might not be of high enough quality to make good prints.

Macro Not So Sharp

I recently purchased a new digital camera with a macro mode, which I like very much. But when I push the macro button for a close-up, oftentimes the focus is not sharp. Could you tell me what I may be doing wrong?
--Jim Gardner, Iowa City, Iowa

There are a few possibilities, Jim. The most likely problem is that you're not within the camera's macro focal distance. That tulip only works in a narrow window, such as no closer than 6 inches and no farther than 20 inches (check your user guide to see the useful macro range for your particular camera).

If you're the right distance away but still getting fuzzy photos, your hands are probably shaky. You'll get better results when you use a tripod for macro photography, since the close distances and magnification can easily make your photos blurry.

Blue Photos

I recently bought a new camera with which I am pleased, except for the fact that photos taken on the auto selection look blue. I have read articles mentioning this after I purchased the camera. What is the easiest remedy?
--Jan Ammons, Margate, New Jersey

It sounds like your camera isn't setting the white balance accurately. That's easy to fix; you can set the white balance using the manual white balance control, or wait until you get your photos onto your PC and use a photo editing program to adjust the white balance after the fact. Read "Fix Your White Balance" for more tips.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This week's Hot Pic: "Last of the Summer Buoys," by Kelli True, Hampstead, New Hampshire

Kelli says: "My husband, son, and I went camping near Acadia National Park. I brought my Canon 30D with a 50mm lens, and I took a lot of pictures. One afternoon, while out for some lobster and site seeing, we ran across a store with its outside walls covered in buoys. I did only a small amount of editing in Photoshop."

This Week's Runner-Up: "Bee in Flight," by Deb Wallace, Westerville, Ohio.

Deb says that she took this photo of the bee "banking a turn to land on my lavender." She used a Nikon D100 and a 105mm lens. She adds that she likes it because it "reflects the physics of the bee's flight."

See all the Hot Pic of the Week photos online.

Have a digital photo question? Send me your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself. And be sure to sign up to have the Digital Focus Newsletter e-mailed to you each week.