As Photographers I’m sure that we’ve all been put into in this place. You’ve finished a shoot, and before you can even get through culling the images, the client wants to see all the raw files. Should you give raw files to clients or withhold them, biding time until you can produce the edited bunch?

Jamie Windsor’s video on giving your raw files to clients is an important one considering the fact that it is an issue that may recur throughout your whole career, but wedding and family portrait clients are the most notorious raw-requesting offenders. This video is not referring to clients who have asked for them within a contract or large productions in general. If you expect to deliver only edited JPEG files according to the contract, Windsor goes over a few issues such as the fact that many don’t know what raw files actually are or what programs are necessary to open them.

I have worked with a few agencies to which I provided the raw files for them to choose selections, which I could then go ahead to edit. The process has proved to be an efficient way of ensuring they get what they want and does not waste any of my time.

This video should help in navigating an issue that may arise more times than we would like to count.