I Want It RAW!

Recently, I've heard of couples asking for their photographer's RAW files as part of wedding packages.  If you know all about the RAW files 7 JPG files & TIFF files, etc…then now is a good time to tune out.  If not, read on.

Most people don't know what a RAW file is.  It isn't something you cook...well actually you do but more of that later. For the most part, most people put their wedding CD in a closet to be lost sometime in the future. 

If you thinking of asking for these files be sure you know what you are asking for.  So here's where I give you a bit of a definition:  

RAW files are un-processed data from an image sensor of a digital camera.  They are called RAW because they haven't been transformed by post processing software and can't be printed.  For that matter, in many cases they can't even be viewed on most computers without special software.  In order to do much useful with them, you need to cook them.

So why do couples ask for RAW files?  I think that RAW files, often called DIGITAL NEGATIVES (they really aren't), sound like something really useful.  Most of us have computers, so it seems perfectly logical to presume that with a computer and these files, you can do something useful.  For the most part, you can but you probably shouldn't.

To expand, photography these days goes beyond taking the picture.  Often, today's photography is a process where a good original image is transformed into a great image, something beautiful and moving.  That post processing can be part and parcel of the 'photographer's eye', his/her artistic ability.  When you purchase his/her photography talents, you are also paying for these after-the-shot skills. So ironically, someone asking for the RAW files can be asking the photographer NOT TO FINISH his/her artistic process.  Sound like a bad idea?

There's a great debate going on in the photographic community about digital files, whether they should be released and under what circumstances.  I'm unsure what the right answer on this is but I have observed that many of the most talented photographers - the gifted ones that we all admire and probably can't afford - do not give their files away. Not because they are trying to maintain snobbish exclusivity or are stingy.  The reason, I suspect, is that they are so committed to the high quality of their final photograph - that amazing, stunning imagery - that they refuse to allow someone else alter it. 

Many fine photographers don't just create a product, they create something they love. One does not let the things one loves be tampered with.