We hired a pro photographer to take family photos last summer during a beach vacation. My wife wants to use some of the photos for a Christmas card and she bemoaned the fact that in all the photos, the beach and sky have been pretty much whitewashed out of existence. I told her I could fix them in Photoshop if the photographer could provide RAW versions. We’re talking about 15 photos here. Is this a reasonable request? I assume the photographer still has the RAW versions, but not sure. The photographer in fact has not responded to my request. Maybe photographer feels insulted or something.
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I wouldn’t ask for raw images. Not only are they quite large in file size, they also look nothing like the photographers usual work. I’d never give my clients raw images because I shoot underexposed with a cool white balance so they look dark and cold at first. Now you could however edit the photos you already have in Lightroom. There are probably even some presets that would work wonders on the jpg version.
If the sky is blown out they probably shot it backlit and bright on purpose, it sounds like you’re describing the “bright and airy” style. In that case the RAW files aren’t going to help, the highlights were most likely blown to start with. This is kind of on whoever booked the photographer for not looking at her style beforehand. Download the high res jpeg files and do a sky swap in Photoshop, it’s fairly easy but won’t correct the look of the beach. Or post it to the r/PhotoshopRequest and see if someone will hook you up. Most pros won’t give you RAWs, if they do they’re likely to charge for it.
Pay me enough and I’d hand them over, sure.
As a photographer I give my clients all the raws. I don’t really care for them. It’s their photos. They can have them after I get paid. Lol