Well, a big no-no for me, anyway…

If you’re like 99.99% of the artist population, you probably believe in never handing out something that’s unfinished. I consider RAW and unedited images to be “in-progress” as that’s about 70% of the overall workflow. The rest, roughly 30% assuming you did all the leg work in-camera and edit in batch in some Superman software like Lightroom and don’t plan on doing extra retouching, is the editing and “spiffying” up with your style – the style that landed you the job in the first place.

So whenever I have potential clients stating they wish to receive all, and I mean all of the images from any session, whether it be wedding, head shots, what-have-you, RAW and or unedited, there becomes an instant fork in the road – for them, not for me. This is almost always where I know immediately this is no longer a potential client and I have to drop a bittersweet N-word that’s a full and complete sentence: “No.” I’m firm and stand by my answer, with an incredibly straight-forward and reasonable explanation, I’d like to add. Below is taken directly from my Pricing + Q’s page on my site:

Q: Do you turn over the RAW untouched files after a shoot?

A: I get this question a lot and my answer is always the same; Absolutely not. Kelli Bee Photography sells a style and each and every image from your session is carefully and artfully edited to represent such style, showcasing mood, feeling, and storytelling -moments captured to be revisited – by Kelli Bee Photography, edited only by Kelli Bee Photography.

Usually after that, we part ways and bid one another adieu. Once and a blue moon, however, one will insist on it, adding that they too are fellow photographers so they “know how to edit”. Be that as it may, any artist who’s worked as hard as others would sincerely understand and also respect another artist’s hard-earned craftsmanship and not try to weasel down the price for the session in-lieu of any professional post work done by the artist themselves for doing the editing their own.

This is our craft, and every artist has their own. We spend endless time and money on perfecting everything about it, especially the end result, which is the be all and end all of our very existence to express our tortured selves. I can’t bear the thought or the risk of sending out something of mine incomplete, releasing into the hands of someone who edits in a way that entirely misrepresents my style, and puts my name on it.

Did Matisse ever let Picasso finish one of his paintings? Certainly not. -Art History geeks and majors, that one’s for you.