You Don’t Want Your Photographer to Give You Raw Files (No, Really)

Can I have all the raw files from my wedding or photo shoot? It’s a question that I’ve been asked more than a few times by photographer clients over the years. Maybe it’s even a question you’ve wanted to ask yourself, but you’re not sure if it’s rude to ask?

What if I told you that you don’t really want those unedited photos from your photographer?

Before you get angry, I promise I’m not here to tell you I know what you want better than you know yourself. But if you want to grab a cup of coffee (or your beverage of choice) and read on, you might just be surprised to find out … you actually agree with me.

Let’s dig into what a raw photo file is, why the RAW format for photos isn’t something most people can open on their computer and what it really means to get unedited photos.

What Is a Raw Photo?

First things first. Let’s talk about what “raw” photo really means. The word has more definitions than you might realize.

As a documentary-style photographer, I use the word “raw” when I talk about the emotional moments I capture with my lens for families and couples. These are those unvarnished, unposed, entirely unique to you moments that you’ll cherish forever.

But that’s not the only version of raw that I — and my photographer colleagues — use when we’re talking about our photos.

A RAW photo (capitalization intended!) is a specific file format for digital images. If you’ve ever looked at a photo file on a computer, maybe you’ve seen that after the name there’s a dot followed by a few letters?

Common Photo File Formats

• JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg) — This is the most common format for still images and photos. Most photos taken on digital cameras and mobile phones are saved as JPEGs. I’ll dig more into these in a moment.
• PNG (.png) — The format is mostly used for graphics, logos, and images that need crisp edges. These files maintain higher quality than JPEG, but they also create larger file sizes which take up more space.
• GIF (.gif) — You probably think of GIFs as an animated image or a meme, but this format can also be used for still images. (And I won’t tell you how I pronounce it … no need to start a war today.)
• HEIC (.heic) — If you or a friend have an iPhone, your photos are likely being stored as HEIC files on your phone.
• WebP (.webp) — Ever tried to save a photo from the Internet? Naughty, naughty! You may have noticed the .webp extension on the file. This image format was developed by Google to reduce the size of image files on websites. The smaller files make webpages load faster, but all that compression vastly reduces the quality.

What’s a RAW Photo File?

The RAW format for photos contains minimally processed or uncompressed data captured directly from the camera’s image sensor. Think about it kind of like a digital negative. It contains all the raw data that a camera’s sensor has captured, but it hasn’t been processed into a viewable image yet.

In essence? When I capture images using the RAW photo format, I’m able to have more control over the final product than I would if I used the file formats available on most commercial grade cameras or even your cellphone.

Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

• You take a photo with your cellphone of something absolutely amazing. Let’s say it’s a turtle you just rescued from the middle of the road.
• You hop in your car and drive off.
• A few hours, you go to show your friend the turtle photo and you realize that it’s way too dark to actually see your new buddy who you just saved from being squashed by a car (go you!).
• No sweat! You’ve got a photo editor on your phone! So you open up the photo to edit it. You start playing with the brightness, and while you’re at it, you play around with the colors too. Maybe you even zoom in so you can see the little guy up close and personal.
• You get done with all your editing, and you realize that the turtle is easier to see now, but now your little buddy looks REALLY grainy and is kind of a blob in the middle of your photo.

This is what happens when we take photos in most formats! The camera recorded the turtle and the scene in front of you. BUT the camera decided that recording every single thing it saw would require it to hold on to a LOT of information … so much information that it would eat up half the memory on your cellphone.

Here’s where taking photos using the RAW format is different. RAW files:

1. Are HUGE because they include all the information the camera saw in front of it
2. Can only be open with special software designed to be used for RAW files
3. Allow the photographer to retain control over edits, rather than allowing the machine to make quality decisions
4. Must go through a second process after the photo is taken

Using RAW photo files is an integral part of providing you with high quality images that are well lit, have the vibrant colors I’m known for, and of course will turn out fabulous when you print them!

Why Photographers Don’t Share RAW Photos

OK, so if RAW photos offer higher quality images, why don’t photographers share them with our clients? Are we just hoarding all the goodies?

Well, no!

RAW photos (uppercase) are actually pretty … well … raw (lowercase). They’re a bit like those moments I love to help families and couples hold onto — unvarnished and untouched.

They’re so raw that you can’t actually even print them … or open them on most computers or phones. You need special software like Adobe Lightroom to do that.

Remember how I said that using this format gives me more control over the image? It does … but I don’t get to exert all of that control until I move those RAW photos into my computer and complete what some photographers call “post processing” or “hand editing.”

During this process, photographers:

1. Use specialized software created to work with the RAW photo format
2. Make adjustments to lighting and coloring of each image based on the plans I had when I composed the photo … remember, I didn’t let the camera make those decisions for me
3. Convert the files into a format that is smaller so it won’t take up my clients’ computer memory
4. Prepare the files for printing

In other words? I turn those RAW photos into photos you can actually use!

Here’s an example of how I took the raw files from a high school senior’s photos taken in Callicoon and went through the steps to prepare them for a printable photo that her family would want to hang on their wall!

The first image of the three (the one on the far left) is the RAW photo. While the photo is technically fine, it’s very flat, and the subject — a high school senior — does not stand out from the background.

My first step is to make some minor edits to create more distinction between the background and the subject.

Next, I crop the photo to remove some of the background that distracts from the overall image, and I edit out a reflection in the senior’s glasses that was created by the placement of my off-camera lighting equipment.

Will My Photographer Give Me EVERY Photo?

Hopefully you’re nodding along here and agree you really don’t want those raw photos after all.

But why don’t I just give you every photo in that file format that’s smaller and ready for printing?

Sometimes what you see when you open your gallery really does represent just about every photo I captured, but that’s very, very rare.

You saw me clicking my shutter plenty, so there must be more photos, right?

Probably not.

My hand-editing process isn’t just making sure the photos are beautifully lit.

I’m also ensuring you receive a gallery that doesn’t have that photo of nothing but your dog’s tail as he ran through your family session RIGHT in front of my camera, that photo of your face screwed up in pain just as a bug flew into your eye, or that blurry photo of the same high school senior’s torso that I randomly captured when my finger hit the shutter while I was walking (see below).

Would you want this photo?

I didn’t think so either!

Do you have more burning questions about what photographers do and don’t do? Drop them in the comments!