Alice is a Photographer. Alice doesn’t share RAW files. Don’t be like Alice.

There is a cottage industry of articles explaining why photographers shouldn’t share RAW files with clients. This isn’t a minority opinion; it is a well-entrenched, vigorously-defended idea among photographers. Alice is one among them. Even when a client fully pays for her work, she would not hand over the master copies of the photographs she took.

It’s time we put an end to this absurdity. If we’re paying for it, we should demand RAW files from the assignment. The notion of not owning the work we paid for doesn’t make sense.

To illustrate how unfair this is, let’s introduce a new character named Bob. Bob is a programmer who freelances on software projects. Just like Alice, Bob goes through the same creative, yet laborious process while writing code. Bob too, took many years to hone his skills, and cares deeply about his reputation.

Once the project is complete, does Bob hand over an opaque binary and keep the source code for himself? Of course not. The customers who paid Bob expect the entire work that Bob did for them, and they’re free to use it in any way they want.

But let’s hear Alice out.

“We click hundreds of images. Not all of them are good.”

But we aren’t asking for every image you have clicked. Please stop using that straw man. You are free to discard images (both RAW and jpeg) which you think are unsatisfactory.

We’re asking for RAW formats of the final selection of images you want to deliver.

“You don’t know what to do with it.”

Well, yeah. Most people don’t, but some do. For those of us who know how to edit them, or are willing to learn, we need the RAW files. Meanwhile, software is making it increasingly easy to edit and manipulate pictures in different formats.

There’s another important reason. We’re not very far away from creating software which understands aesthetics just as well as we humans do. In the near future, such software might empower ordinary users to play around with RAW files and get the results they want.

Really, why deny us the fun?

“It’s a personal moment for the Photographer”

Trust me, these pictures are way more intimate and personal for the people who hired you for the job. There’s a reason why we’re spending so much money on making these pictures.

“RAW files are big”

No, they’re tiny. A 64-GB thumb drive or a Micro-SD card can hold more than 1,500 of them. And it costs about Rs.1200 (or $18).

“You will Instagram it and spoil my reputation”

This argument is totally bogus. How would you stop people from Instagramming jpeg files? It’s actually easier to Instagram jpeg files than RAW files.

You can even use the opportunity to bind people who request RAW files into not using your name in derived works. That’s a win-win for everyone.

“Do you go to a restaurant and ask for just the ingredients?”

If I bought stock images online, I wouldn’t expect RAW files. And that’d be similar to a restaurant serving many people at the same time.

On the other hand, if I hired a cook to make a dish exclusively for me at my own kitchen, you bet he’d have no problem giving me what I ask for.

What is it, then?

After perusing many of these articles, I have come to the conclusion that all arguments essentially boil down to one thing.

Fear. Of being judged unfairly.

To make things better for everyone, we need to start asking for RAW files. And at the same time not judge the photographer by what is contained in those RAW source files.