A Client Is Asking for the RAW Files. What Do You Say?

Your first reply has one job. It finds out what the client is trying to do. It should be friendly, short, and free of any policy lecture.

Hi Sam, thanks for asking. Before I answer, can you tell me a bit about what you have in mind? Are you looking for more photos from the day, a change to how some of them look, files for a big print, or a copy for safekeeping? Each of those has a good answer, and I want to give you the right one.

This works because it treats the request as reasonable. It also gives the client words for what they want. Many clients have heard that “RAW” means “everything” or “the best quality” and use the term for that reason.

Once they answer, pick the matching reply below.

The table maps the common reasons behind a RAW request to what the client actually needs and what you can offer instead.

They want more photos. The honest fix is to show them more, in a form they can choose from.

That makes sense. The RAW files are unprocessed camera data, so they would not look like your finished photos. What I can do is put together a gallery of the extra frames from the day. You mark the ones you love, and I finish those for you. Extra images are [price] each, or [price] for the set.

They want to edit the photos themselves. Find out which photos and what bothers them. It may be a few frames and one specific change.

Thanks for telling me. I would rather fix it for you than hand over unfinished files. Can you leave a note on the photos you want changed, and say what you would like to be different? Small corrections are included. Bigger changes, like removing a person, I will quote before I start.

They want to print large. A RAW file is not a print file. A full-resolution finished JPEG is.

Great plan. For printing, you want the finished full-resolution file, not the RAW. Tell me which photos and roughly what size, and I will send you the full-resolution versions ready for the lab.

They are worried about losing the photos. Answer the worry directly.

Totally fair. Your gallery link stays up, and you can download every photo in one click. I recommend saving a copy to your computer and one to a cloud drive. That way you always have them, whatever happens.

They still want the RAWs after all that. Decide your policy once, then state it plainly. Either answer is fine as long as it matches your contract.

I do not include RAW files in my packages. My finished photos are the work you hired me for, and the edit is part of that work. If there is a photo you want changed, I am happy to help with that.

RAW files are available as an add-on for [price]. They come unedited, they need photo editing software to open, and they are large. Want me to send details?

You do not need to argue these points with a client. They are here so your own policy has reasons behind it.

• A RAW file is unfinished. It has no edit, and it looks flat straight out of the camera.
• It carries your name without your work. An edit someone else makes can end up online next to your credit.
• It needs special software. Many clients cannot open it on a phone or a basic laptop.
• It includes the rejects. The blinks, the test shots and the near-duplicates all come along.
• It is heavy. A full shoot of RAW files is hard to send and hard to store.

Selling RAWs anyway is also a policy, for example to commercial clients with their own retouchers. That is a valid choice. The point is to decide it before the shoot, not in the middle of an email thread.

The easiest RAW conversation is the one your contract already had. Add a short deliverables line to your package description and your agreement.

Deliverables: [number] edited images, chosen by the client from an online proofing gallery, delivered as full-resolution JPEG files. RAW files are not included. [Or: RAW files are available for an added fee of [price].]

Mention it again when you send the proofing link, so the rule sits next to the photos as well as in the contract.

If your question is about who owns the images or what the client may do with them, that is a legal question. Ask a lawyer or your professional association where you work.

Here is the plain fact. clientgallery.io hosts JPEGs. It does not warehouse RAW files or master video. That is part of what keeps the price flat.

So the gallery is not the place to send RAW files. It is the place to handle the needs that usually sit behind a RAW request.

• More photos. Clients mark picks at two levels, a star and a love, in the full-screen view. When they are done, they press “Send my picks”, which locks the selection and notifies you.
• Edit requests. Comments are off by default and switched on per gallery. A client can leave a note on a photo, or draw on it to show the spot. Notes are signed with the gallery’s client name.
• Big prints. On a paid plan you upload a full-resolution ZIP of the finished files for the gallery. The client downloads it from the same page.
• Safekeeping. Clients can download the whole gallery in one click or any single image, and hosted galleries do not expire.

The download switch is worth knowing about. Turning it off hides “Download all photos” and the per-photo download button. It does not hide a full-resolution ZIP you have uploaded, so only upload that ZIP when you are ready to hand the files over.

If you decide to sell RAW files, send them with a file-transfer service built for large files. Keep the gallery for the finished work.

1. Reply with the question, not the policy.
2. Match their answer to one of the needs above.
3. Offer the fix for that need, with a price where one applies.
4. If they still want RAWs, state your written policy once.
5. Update your contract and gallery email so the next client knows up front.

Once the real need is met, the RAW question often goes away. A client who keeps asking needs a clear, calm answer, not a longer explanation.

This page states no external figures. Every clientgallery.io figure and feature above comes from the product itself: the pricing section, the gallery page and the studio settings, checked on September 16, 2026. The reply scripts are templates to adapt, not quotations.