We hired a pro photographer to take family photos last summer during a beach vacation. My wife wants to use some of the photos for a Christmas card and she bemoaned the fact that in all the photos, the beach and sky have been pretty much whitewashed out of existence. I told her I could fix them in Photoshop if the photographer could provide RAW versions. We’re talking about 15 photos here. Is this a reasonable request? I assume the photographer still has the RAW versions, but not sure. The photographer in fact has not responded to my request. Maybe photographer feels insulted or something.
You can ask, the worst they can say is no. Prepare to be charged extra for the release of the RAW photos, and in the most extreme case work with the edited photos with the Generative Fill functions.
I would be personally mad as a photographer if I saw that done to my work, but if there’s no contract stating the images can’t be altered or manipulated, you’re within your rights to do it. What happens after that is on your relationship with the photographer.