Clearly I am not a food Photographer HAHA
Lately there seems to be a hot topic coming up in the Photographer circles I’m involved in, and while I personally have never had a client ask for this this, I do think it’s definitely something that matters enough to chat about. These conversations are around whether or not to release “all images” to photography clients, edited or not. I’ve seen more than a few blog or forum conversations about it, and even had a few other Photographers ask me if I release un-edited images to my clients.The answer to this question is simple…. No.
I will never release an un-edited image to a client, not because I’m afraid that they wouldn’t like it or because something is horribly wrong with it… the reason is because an un-edited image for a Photographer is like flour & eggs to a Pastry Chef. Would you ever walk into a five star restaurant, order an incredible pastry dessert, and expect to receive a bowl of flour, sugar and eggs when it arrived at your table? These ingredients are a blank canvas to a chef the same way a RAW, straight out of camera image is to a Photographer.
Photographers that care about their work, don’t want to provide un-edited images because that’s not the finished product, and not a true representation of them and their style, product or vision. One of my friends recently used a term that I think encompasses this adequately, a “Full Service” Wedding Photographer is going to take the time, effort and care to ensure that your images are as stunning as they can be before providing them to you.
