File format for wedding: Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what...

bleirer

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

raw+JPG
Raw to allow edit and pull all the detail from selected images.
JPG to weed out all 'misses' and 'almost there' capture then to share instantly in order to create a selection of images to be edited in raw for printing.

Note that in my opinion any photographer that delivers his/her files on a CD or USB drive is usually delivering a half baked result.

BebuLamar

Although if the photographer would give you RAW+JPG it's good for you but I doubt that any pro will give you the RAW files.

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Why aren't you asking for edited - i.e. finished files? Presumably the photographer knows what he's doing.

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Find a different photographer.

Edit: if they can afford it or put any value on having photographs.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Depends on the Printing service. However, a Wedding Photographer will make more on prints than the actual shoot, so if they handed over a USB drive, it would be proofs, not final images. And, these days, photo editing software resides on everybody's Smartphone.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

If the photographer gives you or them a flash drive, or DVD, it will have the finished (edited) product on it. It will be jpegs with high enough resolution for printing, but no pro will ever provide you with the raw files, that just does not happen, nor should you ever be asking for them!

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Find out the file sizes. 6000x4000 minimum at native camera resolution.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Most good photographers will never let you have the raw files. They will provide a proof set of low to medium quality jpegs. Once you make your selection, they will spend the time to make you a set of FINISHED, images that have been carefully retouched and optimized. Run-and-gun and less experienced (and less professional) photographers will burn a DVD or copy the files to a memory stick at the end of the night. It's up to you to get the images cleaned up and retouched. You aren't saving anything by using such photographers, but you are definitely getting a lower quality result.

If you want to know what they offer - you need to ask that questoin of them. No one here is going to have the right answer.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

As a former professional photographer I NEVER gave any client a negative, or any digital file what so ever. Pro's don't do that. Amateurs do however.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Processed JPEGS.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Why would you not ask the photographer - no one here is doing the job!
Edit: At least I don’t think so!

DMGill Loc: Colorado

I once talked to an inexpensive shoot and burn wedding photographer who was unable to balance strobe and available light. As we talked it came out that she didn’t know what an f stop was! She had a camera, set it on “P.” called herself a wedding photographer, and gave customers a disk of her ‘photographs.’ She was friendly, cute, talked a good line, and photographed a lot of weddings. Buyer beware.

When the cake is gone and the flowers wilted the photo album is what is left to remind of the day.

Jim Bob

bleirer wrote:

Daughter getting married in Cleveland, head spinning over photographers. Specific question though, will they have a choice of file formats, and if so what format would be best for to ask for on the USB drive, The couple doesn’t have photo editing software. Would lossless tiff be a good universal choice for sending photos to printing services?

Depends on the photographer. Tiff would be OK. Maybe even JPEG.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

Find a Photographer who takes quality images on film. Then order quality prints, from the selection made from the proofs.