4 Reasons Why your Photographer won’t give you RAW files

Many couples ask “Can I have the all raw files?”. The vast majority of photographers will not give them to you, and it will be in their contract. There is such an abudance of editing software and education out there that you may want to edit the files yourself to your liking, but there’s several reasons why not only your photographer won’t give you the raw files, but you really won’t want them. Before we get into it, let’s discuss what raw files are.

Raw files are unprocessed and (usually uncompressed, but can be compressed) image files that come directly from the camera sensor. They contain a ton more data than .jpeg files and so have significantly larger file sizes. Because they have so much more data, there’s a lot more that can be done with them when they are edited. For example, there are more details that can be recovered if parts of the raw file comes out dark, there is more dynamic range, etc. the list goes on. Essentially, you can do a lot more with raw files from an editing standpoint. So here’s why you won’t get them.

1. It’s not the final product.

   Photography is just like any creative art. The final images are the final product, the raw files are the partial product. You wouldn’t hire a baker to bake a wedding cake, but only ask for the raw ingredients. You wouldn’t hire a painter, only to receive the paintbrushes and paint. When you hire a photographer, you are paying for their style, their creativity, their artwork. Let them put their time into their artwork and deliver a final product that accurately represents their brand, which brings us to the next reason.

2. We don’t want our brand to be mis-represented.

   Photographers have truly unique styles that no two photographers are the same. Even with the same editing style, no two photographers will produce the same gallery. Our photos, that represent our editing style, is how we market ourselves and get future clients. If a client takes raw photo, edits it, posts on social media, and tags the photographer, that may very well tarnish the photographer’s reputation.

3. It contains sensitive data and there are copyright implications involved.

   This is actually one of the biggest reasons why raw files won’t be shared with clients, but photographers don’t really tell their clients. I used the cake analagy up above, but I’ll take it one step further. Beyond hiring a baker and receiving the raw ingredients, you’re actually asking them to give you the recipe. The secret sauce. Raw images contain a plethora of meta data that is proprietary to the photographer. We don’t want to run the risk of giving raw files to a client, having the clients edit them, and submitting them to a magazine for publishing or even selling them. You don’t go to a restaurant and ask for the recipe of your favorite dish.

4. You really don’t want them.

   Raw files are huge file sizes that would take forever to transfer as they occupy so much bandwidth, further increasing processing time and disrupting the photographer’s workflow. But sure let’s say you offer to pick up a USB of all the raw files. In a wedding day, you would have thousands of raw images from just one photographer alone. Let’s say you have two photographers. Not only do you need specialized software to even view them, do you really want to go through thousands of photos one by one to pick out the ones that are good? When I say good, I don’t mean the ones you like. I’m talking about culling through duplicates, strange facial expressions, awkward hand placements, subpar composition, misfocused, misexposed, etc. the list goes on and on. You don’t want to have to look at yourself in the photos that look weird, let the photographer do that for you.

At the end of the day, you paid for a photographer to do this for you so you don’t have to. Your wedding photographer has edited so many photos that they’d be able to do it quicker and better than you could do it yourself. Yes I understand how it’s tempting to want to edit to the style that you like. To ensure you get photos you like, here’s what I would suggest: Hire a photographer that aligns with the style you like. Each photographer will naturally edit to what they like. You’ll more likely get the edits you like if you hire the right photographer to begin with. If you have really specific preferences beyond that, after your shoot, ask your photographer to send you a couple samples of edited photos. Let them know first any changes in style you’d like before they start editing the whole gallery. I personally wouldn’t recommend this but if you really do have specific preferences for photos that you don’t think fully align with your photographer’s style, it’s better to communicate to that upfront.

Hope that clears up any misconceptions why you won’t get raw files from your photographer. It is an industry-wide practice for clients to not receive raw photos from their photographers. I really suggest you refrain from asking. Photographer’s won’t like that you do ask, as it is mildly insulting (“you don’t trust me?”, “you don’t like my style?”). Find a photographer whose style you like and trust, and hire them. Let them worry about the photos so you can focus on enjoying your precious moments.