It’s one of the most common questions I hear as a photographer. After all it’s a digital age, everyone has a camera and everyone is a photographer right so I just want a disk with all of the files.
Yes we definitely live in a digital age and yes everyone does usually have a camera at hand, one that just keeps getting better so yes everyone a photographer of some sort. When you take photos on your phone or with your camera, you will have the digital files so everyone is used to that.
When you’re working with a professional photographer you will that find that not only are digital files, not a given, there is a wide range of approaches to digital files. Some photographers will include digital files on a cd or flash drive or as a digital download. Some will charge for digital files but still offer them, but there are many photographers that simply don’t offer them at all.
As with most things, there’s no right way or wrong way; everyone simply choses their own way, you just need to know what is is not being offered and make sure it’s a match for your needs. If it is important for you to have digital files, be sure to ask your photographer as you look and make sure you understand the details of what they offer.
Some things to take into account.
Are digital files offered at all? This will be yes or no and if digital images are important to you this is something that may make a big difference as you select a photographer.
If digital files are offered, are the included in the price that you will pay or will they need to be purchased separately. Does the photographer include any digital images with purchased products? If so, be sure to understand all of the details.
If you will get digital files what size will they be and what will you be allowed to do with them? Here are some examples
Files for sized and optimized for sharing on social media, these may or may not have a watermark and you likely won’t receive a print release to print them yourself.
Files that can be printed to a specific size perhaps an 8x10 or the size of the product purchased
High Resolution Files that can be printed with a print release
Your photographer may offer any or a combination of these or even a different model. Keep in mind that digital images are one of the most valuable items that a photographer provides. They are like the negatives that all prints used to be made from so once the file is sold or given away, they likely won’t be able to sell additional products or images from the files so this key fact is often reflected in the price of digital files.
Also, many photographers pride themselves on the final product that is delivered to customers; this includes strict quality control, color and print management, and they deliver carefully selected products that represent the quality of their brand. If you are printing and creating your own products a lot of control is lost and the final product may not be representative of their studio’s brand.
Often there are many final steps in getting the image you see ready for it’s debut as a product, this may mean some tricky copping, background or edge extensions, in depth retouching to make sure that image is going to look great staring from the wall. Often you don’t see these extra steps but if you’ve tried printing yourself you might have come across some tricky aspects that your photographer just handles for you.
One other thing that is related to this, often people request Raw Files. Raw Files are a file type that many photographers prefer, it doesn’t have any processing done to it unlike the jpeg files that most of us are used to. Jpeg’s have some processing done to them by the camera and can be considered a finished product. Most photographers will process and edit the raw files and then convert them to jpeg for delivery, printing etc. Raw files also require special software to access and review and most don’t have access to it. Think of the raw files as a cake with it’s different components, they need to be mixed together and then baked. Most photographers are only going to provide the finished cake to you so even if they do provide digital files, most do not provide raw files, of course there are different circumstances but often if you do have a need for the raw files the pricing structure for them will be different.
These offerings vary with every photographer so ask for what you need in the beginning of the process.At Trina Yarrington Photography, LLC I understand your desire to have digital files and do offer them but the specifics of what is included and at what price varies so it’s best to have a discussion in the beginning of what it is you want and what your plans are and we’ll make sure we find the perfect products and services to help you meet your needs.
Do you have any questions about Digital Files?
-Trina