Exposure, composition, lighting, post-processing, and genre specialization.
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Post insightAperture, shutter speed, and ISO are the exposure triangle. But the fourth variable — distance to your subject — controls depth of field more than aperture alone. At f/2.8, a portrait at 3 feet has razor-thin DOF; the same lens at f/2.8 shooting a landscape has enormous DOF. This is why phone cameras have such deep DOF despite wide apertures — the sensor is small and the focal length is short.
JPEG applies lossy compression and bakes in white balance, contrast, and color profile at capture time. RAW files preserve the full 12-14 bits of sensor data, allowing you to recover 2-3 stops of highlight/shadow detail in post. The file size penalty is real (3-5x larger), but storage is cheap. For social media only, JPEG is fine. For client work, portfolio, or prints, RAW is non-negotiable.