WHY PROFESSIONAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER’S DON’T SHARE RAW FILES
WHAT ARE RAW FILES?
Raw files are unprocessed, uncompressed digital images, straight from a digital camera lens. They are the starting point for us creative professionals to craft them to their full potential and final output.
WHY I DON’T DELIVER RAW FILES?
To put it simply, RAW files are not the final product. As a professional photographer, I’m hired to deliver the final product. The process of wedding photography includes post-production editing and once completed we’re able to deliver those high-quality, carefully selected images which last a lifetime.
RAW files are not in a ready-to-use format and require specialized software and skills to work with them. This means that as the client, you may not be able to access or work with them, and they may need to hire a professional to do so. This additional cost may be unexpected, and it may come as a surprise to clients who request the raw files and footage.
WHY DO WE SHOOT IN RAW?
Shooting in RAW captures a high level of image detail, with large file sizes and lossless quality. RAW provides a higher quality and more flexible file format compared to other image file formats, such as JPEG.
The images captured in RAW have a greater amount of image data in comparison to JPEG files. The files contain details and information including colour depth, contrast, and brightness, having this additional information allows flexibility when editing. Adjustments can be made without degrading the quality of the image.
When shooting if there is an overexposed photo, the RAW image can better recover those areas and can be brought back using adjustments of highlights and exposure settings.
AN INSIGHT INTO EDITING AND COLOUR GRADING IN POST-PRODUCTION EDITING?
The process of wedding photography goes way beyond just capturing those special wedding day moments. It’s our job to capture your love story from beginning to end which includes post-production. We carefully select the best images from the day which on average is around 1500 files! These selected images are then individually edited which becomes the final outcome. These images are then uploaded to your online wedding gallery for you and your families to view.
Take a look at this example, with the RAW file and then after it has been colour graded and edited.
RAW File
Edited
PRESERVING COPYRIGHT
Raw files and footage may be misused, once clients have access to the raw files and footage, they can edit, crop, and share them as they see fit. This may result in the misrepresentation of my work, as well as copyright infringement issues. It is important to protect my intellectual property and deliver only the final, edited product to you, the client.
TO SUMMARISE
In conclusion, RAW files are explicitly for the photographer and videographer and are used as a starting point for us to then edit and bring to life those special moments from your Wedding Day.
It’s in my best interest to not share these files and I hope this blog had given a clearer understanding of why.
Ultimately I would never produce unfinished work, and sharing RAW files would be doing a disservice to the paid service I provide. I take tremendous pride in my work and would want to share and showcase my talent to the best of my ability.
NEXT STEPS
Check out some more RAW vs Edited photos over on my social media:-