My wife recently got into photography and has completed more than a few sessions.
However recently she has a client complete a session, love the pictures, then request the unedited photos. The client claims that there are shadows and dark spaces in the photos. Basically they’re not happy it seems. Should she give them the unedited photos? Everything I can find shows that she shouldn’t. So should she redo them even though they were happy initially?
Never give out RAW files imo. They could horribly edit them and make you look bad. Well, they can do that with jpegs too, but to a lesser degree before it all breaks down.
I always say: “Asking for RAW files is going to your favorite restaurant, asking the chef to just prep the ingredients but not cook them but put them in a doggy bag so you can cook them at home while paying double for the privilege.
For one thing, an edited jpg is going to look far worse and effectively do the same thing to your reputation. I’ve heard a lot of defenses for this argument but this may be the most irrational.
Secondly, a lot of issues with that analogy, mostly around the implication that the bulk work and skill is found in the edit. But do you genuinely think a chef would scoff at this request? If a customer wants to pay 10x price to do the work for themselves why would they give a shit?
Clients pay for the skill and knowledge, they pay for the pictures. RAWs are a direct product of that payment and should be the property of the client if they desire.