Why Your Photographer Won’t Give You Raw Photos
Have you ever ordered a meal from Hello Fresh? You know upon signing up that you will be given the raw ingredients to make a meal they laid out in a plan. Photography does not work this same way, and if you’ve ever thought to ask your photographer for the raw photos from your shoot – think again. There are many reasons why a photographer would not be able to provide you the raw images they took during the shoot, read on to find out a few top reasons.
It’s all about TRUST
When you spend time researching and speaking with different photographers to find your perfect fit; you are also finding someone you ultimately trust to take, edit and distribute photos to you. This can be in the form of the digital images they edited or printed bundles with cute frames or books containing multiple pictures for you to enjoy.
If you were to ask your photographer for the raw photos, you are sending the signal to them that you don’t trust their editing skills to create the perfect photo for you. While this may not be the intention behind your request, a lot of photographers spend their time carefully editing and choosing great photos from your session.
We own the photos
If you’ve never had a professional photography session, the biggest thing to understand is that they own those photos until you purchase something. Photos come in many different types of file types, and you may likely receive the .jpg file of the photo if you purchase a digital image. However, it’s important to know that the original photo taken is likely in what’s commonly known as TIFF/EP format. Therefore, you’re paying them to edit and give you the best of the best from your photoshoot day. It’s also important to know that as professional photographers we keep and archive all photos even if you don’t see them.
We might need to go back for more
Say it’s a year after your wedding and you wanted to buy some more pictures from your special day. But – you run into a problem because you purchased pretty much all the photos from your gallery! Don’t worry, the raw photos have been kept from your photographer and you’re in luck.
We want to uphold our reputation
If we had a client asking for the raw shots and we gladly handed them over, they would probably use some app to edit and put onto their Instagram. Not that we don’t trust our clients, but as business owners you keep your products and watch them with a close eye. Our business is photography and our reputation of providing only the best and cutest photos to our clients is most important to us! We want you to feel good sharing our photos of you with your family and friends which can only be achieved by our professional edits so our editing style is consistent.
Whether you just took photos or are planning to soon, we’d love to be your gals! Check out our services here and connect with us. Our promise is to give you the same quality as you have seen throughout this blog.