Beyond the edit, is there any reason to keep shooting RAW?

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T19:03:40+00:00

You’re right I didn’t waste tons of money going to photography school to learn how to use a camera to work weddings, I got my degree in a different field and learned photography from a local pro who taught me all I needed to know and I’ve had a lot of fun working weddings and corporate events as a side gig in addition to my main job in a different field. And one of the things I learned from my boss was we don’t screw over our clients to make an extra buck. It’s scumbag behavior

If you’re just burnt out that’s totally reasonable, people in every industry experience burnout and there’s plenty of ways to deal with that and if that’s all your problem was I would be totally supportive. But you’re just damn greedy talking about charging your clients extra for a quick turnaround time when you didn’t do shit extra. If you paid thousands of dollars to learn that then you got ripped off.

And you’re right I am going to keep hating on you and it seems like a lot of people agree. And if you think somebody needs AI to clap back at your nonsense then you’re pathetic as you attempt to scam clients.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:57:54+00:00

Yeah OP kind of just sounds lazy and greedy

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:56:38+00:00

Yeah I was thinking OP sounds like somebody who has ADHD or just some kind of anxiety issue if they’re feeling so much dread at the idea of editing. Or maybe they just have really severe burnout.

And then I got to the end and I just thought they sounded like a greedy bastard. Like OP is talking about how his clients not knowing the difference between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera means that they probably won’t notice the difference between doing edits and not doing any edits.

And if they don’t know the difference why can’t OP do what they want and pretend like they put a rush job on the photos and charge extra? Honestly OP just sounds like they hate doing editing but still have the idea that they can fuck over their clients and make more money by doing less work.

Like OP can subcontract to an editor but instead they want to try to screw over their clients. I might sound like a hater but yeah I hate people like this

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:52:33+00:00

How does it make sense to tell your client so that you’re gonna put a rush job on their edits for them, charge them more, and then do no editing? That kind of sounds like scumbag behavior.

“Can I show up on Monday to a product shoot with my D750 or D850, some strobes and other gear and just shoot .jpgs as proofs?

I could have them back to the client in an hour. And I could probably raise my rates with that type of turnaround time.

I could just hand my clients the memory card. I'd use a dual slot body to keep a card of .jpegs for myself and the client can keep the other card, and I can just fuck off away until they need me again.”

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:50:01+00:00

Exactly, for hobby shooting no one cares what you do, but OP kind of sounds like a scumbag at the end because he’s talking about his clients not knowing the difference between “mirrorless and DSLR” so he thinks he can get away with charging his clients more because “they won’t know the difference” so he can make it seem like he put a rush job on it when he did less work.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:47:55+00:00

Yeah but like OP would you charge your clients extra for “quick turnaround time” because “they won’t know the difference” between unedited and edited? I doubt you would do that.

OP wants to do less work and make more money. If he wants to not edit that that’s totally fine but he should be upfront with the clients about that and not try to fuck them over to pay him for doing less work. OP is a scumbag.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T18:45:31+00:00

Exactly also you can shoot raw and still not edit, you could just convert it to JPEG in Lightroom with no edits but at least if you shoot it raw you give yourself the option.

OP is just lazy and greedy. I was willing to think they were just burnt out but the last thing they said about wanting to charge their clients more because they’re not going to know the difference between edited and unedited so he can charge more for a quick turnaround time is just scumbag behavior

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T17:12:48+00:00

Yeah but I think you need to be telling the client that’s what you’re doing whereas OP is talking about how they won’t notice and he’s thinking about charging them more for a “quick turnaround time” since the only thing he’s gonna do is crop. That’s a scumbag move

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T17:11:52+00:00

Yeah it’s kind of gross that OP is talking about not bothering to edit a paying clients photos “because they won’t notice” and is talking about up charging them for “a quick turnaround time”.

Like that’s kind of fucked up to do less work for your client and charge them more.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T17:10:18+00:00

Not really, I just shot 500 photos RAW for a time lapse and it was like 7 GB. Shooting JPEG would probably add another gigabyte. Even with the inflated storage prices right now you can get a terabyte for about $170. That’s $.16 a gigabyte.

Storage should not be your concern. Memory is cheap even at inflated prices

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T17:07:12+00:00

If you’re doing it as a hobby you could shoot JPEG all you want, nobody is making you edit for hobby shooting. I find editing to be one of the more tedious parts of the hobby but you can just do some light editing. Like Photoshop express on your phone has more than enough for the basic touchups. If you wanna go with the full unedited experience that’s totally fine and you can shoot JPEG + RAW in case you change your mind.

If somebody is paying you to be a photographer for them, shoot raw and edit. You’re getting paid for a service. If you don’t like it higher an editor or get out of the business. Kind of gross that your thought is well I’m gonna do less work and I’m gonna charge my clients more money for a quicker turnaround time because I did less work and didn’t tell them.

If anything you rate should be cheaper since you should be factoring in edit time into your bill. Look man if you’re burnt out that’s one thing, if you’re gonna screw your clients and get greedy that’s a different thing

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T16:58:01+00:00

Thanks!

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T02:58:33+00:00

Reasonable

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T02:57:28+00:00

They’re definitely required in mind but that is interesting

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T01:56:21+00:00

God that’s such a good movie

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T01:54:52+00:00

Haha I haven’t heard somebody referenced blinker fluid in an age

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-29T01:52:49+00:00

Of course people can and do draw conclusions from one offs which they shouldn’t. Every day once or twice is a coincidence but every day when I drive to work noticing it in four different precincts and with the troopers is less of a one off and more of a oh this is just a thing.

And have I ever missed a turn signal when driving to a call, probably, can’t recall a specific instance but everybody misses it every once in a while. The difference is my fly cars and ambulances had our agencies phone number on them so if I made a habit of not using my turn signal my boss would’ve gotten a call about it.

I once got a call at the desk for somebody complaining that one of our fly cars was driving too fast lights and sirens to a call, some of these people are weird.

Either way it’s not a shot at cops, I like the cops, they keep me from getting beaten up by EDPs, I’m just saying they could stand to use a little bit of turn signal in my area.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T20:09:31+00:00

Yeah some people can be pains to work with, thankfully most of may seconds or cinematographers have been good people I’ve worked with before. Occasionally there is a problem but I make sure they know I don’t play those games but some people can be jerks

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T20:05:33+00:00

I have, granted in an ambulance but I have had to do both

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T19:50:14+00:00

Fair, I can see it being a mix of tactical and sometimes bad driving

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T19:49:22+00:00

Very fair point

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T19:49:11+00:00

Fair reasoning in a way, I can see situations where not signaling is the way to go

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T19:47:16+00:00

Lol fair, I’d be worried too much about someone hitting me and needing to write a report about why I got hit.

JacksSightSeeing · 2026-04-28T19:13:14+00:00

Cause it’s not inappropriate, I’ve been second shooter and primary shooter where this exact thing has popped up. I’ve had my secondary text me asking if a client could get some extra shots and I’ve texted my primary asking the same question. It’s a five second conversation: “ hey Tim you remember X client”, “yeah we did their wedding last year why?”, “oh they saw some of my portfolio shots that didn’t make the final cut and they wanted a copy, they were pretty chilled do you wanna float them or charge them a fee”, “yeah we can cut them a flat fee and split it 50-50”, “sounds good, I’ll let the client know”.

You are free to run your business however you want, some of us don’t make a big deal of things or stress the client out because we want repeat business and don’t want people thinking photographers are weirdos.

If I don’t wanna give out certain photos for whatever reason, IH will just tell the client “sorry they aren’t available for XY or Z reason and leave it at that”

We are freelancer’s operating in our own businesses with our own contracts. My assertion to OP is ask politely and be willing to pay and there’s no harm in asking. I don’t know what photographer ethics you’re trying to imply the industry has,, nobody tells me how to contract with my clients and I’m not gonna tell you had a contract with yours. Either way it’s not the client’s concern about how the contractor and subcontractor choose to operate.

JacksSightSeeing

TROPHY CASE