Sometimes couples will ask for the raw images with wedding photographers or the raw video with videographers for the wedding day.

I’m a firm believer that you don’t need this and today on the blog, we provide you with a couple of great reasons why you don’t need it and it’s a waster of money in the first place.

You’re buying the waste from the ‘prep’

Ah, a fancy sit-down restaurant. You know, one of those high-end places that you enjoy visiting, but rarely go because it costs a great deal of money.

You and you’re soon-to-be spouse sit down, the waiter comes over and pours your favorite wine, hands you a menu, and looking over everything, you ask for the waste that didn’t make the plated dinner.

Wait, the waste?

Yes, you ordered the waste. The skins from the high-end mashed potatoes, eggshells from the pastry, the trimmings from the filet steak, the ends of the cut onion, the brown leaves from the spinach, and so forth.

Well, when you purchase or ask for ‘raw’ images or video, you’re asking for the stuff that didn’t make it into the ultimate presentation.

As a professional, I can tell you that just about everyone, no matter what experience level they may have, will have images or clips that simply don’t turn out great and will be overlooked in the final production.

Let me provide you with a couple of examples.

Closed eyes in a group
Slightly out of focus
A burst of images that are all similar

Listen, I understand. You WANT EVERYTHING you can get from the wedding day.

Take a glance at the image above, it’s of a few bursts that we took at a wedding last year. Some images here are better than others, some are brighter, sharper, ones with the couple closing their eyes, others looking at each other.

The truth is that no one will want 20 similar images of the same thing, especially if they are less than stellar.

Your raw images are in RAW

Another issue that you will most likely have is the format of the images and not being able to view them without an editor of some kind.

See, in your mind, professionals are taking jpg images of the wedding day.

Truth be told, most take images in a format called raw or *.raw.

This format is more washed out than a jpg or *.jpg file, making it darker than it normally is.

The average computer user will not install additional software just to view the files and a wedding photographer isn’t going to edit those images just like the final products unless you pay them a HUGE amount of money.

But I REALLY Want EVERYTHING

Some couples will want literally every single image or video clip regardless of how good they are or not, but the question is why?

The truth is that couples want to retain as much as they can from the, but one image of many is going to make most couples happy.

Let’s conduct a quick test. Look at these images below.

Of the four images that you see above, which do you like the best?

Well, if you answered any of them, the truth is it’s the same image that’s been edited and a LUT (called a look-up table) or known as color grading.

The truth is you don’t need 4 different versions of the same image and that’s my point. You’re not going to print all four on a canvas to showcase them, you’d print the BEST one.

Again, photographers and videographers are going to provide you the best of the best that they have captured for you, so getting 12 or 20 of almost the same images or video clips is just wasted money.

What if it’s Free?

Sure, it’s if a freebie from the professional, take it. But don’t expect everything to be stellar, even the best professionals make mistakes and imagery that isn’t great.