There are lots of great sites to help you learn the basics of photography and keep up with the latest news, but recently I came across the new site Learning Photo which is doing something a bit different than the others.

For each shot shared on the site, the photographer describes the location and how it was taken, and why any changes were made while shooting. Then, in addition to the information and final photo, the original images are offered for download if you’d like to see exactly what Joe started with. It’s the first time I’ve seen a photographer offer RAW images for download and tweaking by others. Serious digital photographers shoot in RAW because it allows for fine-tuned control and pre-processing in an application like Photoshop CS, and it’s great to see a photographer letting readers go “behind the curtain” in this way. The RAW images are licensed under a non-derivative license, so you’ll have to ask Joe’s permission if you want to post a black-and-white version of his shots online, but in the case of learning how to shoot and process the best photographs possible, sharing RAW images under a Creative Commons License is a great way to share source with prospective students while protecting your photographs from being exploited by others.