Processing
...so I finally caved in a took some shots in the RAW mode (well I took them JPG + RAW). I've long been conflicted about processing images too much, however, what finally convinced me is that especially on night shots I can modify things in 2 seconds - things that I'd have to spend minutes to experiment with on the camera. For instance, (as was pointed out in a recent comment) you can slide the WB to get one you like. This is the same as taking lots of pics - typically I will attempt the same shot in several WB modes. Similarly you can switch to Landscape mode or add saturation. These are all things I do on the camera anyway. In addition, if I play with these things in RAW (using a Canon program that came with the Rebel) I will learn more about when to use each - and this will help me achieve my main goal which still remains: taking the best shot right off the camera.
Messing with WB and saturation in RAW does not seem like cheating so I will probably take all crucial shots (and most night shots) in RAW from now on.
In some instance you are under pressure to hurry up. Often other people get impatient. Often you run out of time. Often stuff moves or nice light ends. Often you get eaten up by mosquitos (like today when I took this). Therefore often I don't have time to try 3 WBs and 2 saturation setting for each shot. RAW helps get more and better pictures faster.
In this I only changed the WB slightly and changed it to Landscape mode.
Processing
...so I finally caved in a took some shots in the RAW mode (well I took them JPG + RAW). I've long been conflicted about processing images too much, however, what finally convinced me is that especially on night shots I can modify things in 2 seconds - things that I'd have to spend minutes to experiment with on the camera. For instance, (as was pointed out in a recent comment) you can slide the WB to get one you like. This is the same as taking lots of pics - typically I will attempt the same shot in several WB modes. Similarly you can switch to Landscape mode or add saturation. These are all things I do on the camera anyway. In addition, if I play with these things in RAW (using a Canon program that came with the Rebel) I will learn more about when to use each - and this will help me achieve my main goal which still remains: taking the best shot right off the camera.
Messing with WB and saturation in RAW does not seem like cheating so I will probably take all crucial shots (and most night shots) in RAW from now on.
In some instance you are under pressure to hurry up. Often other people get impatient. Often you run out of time. Often stuff moves or nice light ends. Often you get eaten up by mosquitos (like today when I took this). Therefore often I don't have time to try 3 WBs and 2 saturation setting for each shot. RAW helps get more and better pictures faster.
In this I only changed the WB slightly and changed it to Landscape mode.