Let me just clarify a point here I may have failed to put across I do not want the photographer to hand over all and any copies he has, and I am looking for Jpegs and prints of his work, and would be sending family and guests to him for their copies and reprints etc... What I am after is a disc containing the RAW Files as well as printed albums of his processed and final images. We all have differing opinions of what white balance, cropping and colour toning etc works on any given image and for my own satisfaction would like to be able to edit with the RAW files in lightroom to my own tastes ie try the picture in high contrast b&w. I would not be selling these images they are for my own and my wife's perusal. In terms of lost profits from reprints I am not going to order an extra 30 prints or whatever package the photog sells just to see what one photo would look like with a sepia tint I would just do without but be unsatisfied. And although I may well pick a photog because of the quality of his or her body of work I am paying a photographer to shoot my wedding solely because it would be damn near impossible ( not to mention suicidal as far as the wife goes) to shoot it myself. I understand the rights of the image belong to the photog I would just like to have copies of the RAW files too

I may be exposing myself to ridicule here but am I missing something? I'm not trying to insult a fellow photographer I was just under the impression that if they were taking photos of me, for me, that having the original files and paying for them wouldn't be a problem. Am I really being naive? I just presumed that were I to be in the reversed position I would be handing over all images to the client as they have paid for the shoot and therefore the images belong to them. I find the comment do you want his camera too a little much...when I pay someone to decorate my house I don't expect him to give me his paintbrush, but nor do I expect him to keep samples of my wallpaper (poor analogy but it's 1am here) GWR100 that's an awesome offer dude but I could never let someone do that FOC and tbh I'm not looking to skimp on paying the photographer. Merely trying to understand why I wouldn't own the rights to the images I have paid him or her to take. Please note I am not trying to flame here or cause anyone to be insulted I really am trying to understand my rights as a client. I would be looking to get finished Jpegs from the photographer and the RAW files as well so I could edit them to my own liking and would obviously pay accordingly. I find the I wouldn't have you as a client comments a bit insulting to be honest. I am just asking a question as I genuinely don't know what to expect as I haven't done this before. Thanks guys

Hi guys havent posted for a while as have been pretty unwell, but thems are the breaks with Crohns I suppose, anyways...
My question is a simple one, I fear however that the answer may not be.
I am getting married in August next year and when it comes to the photographer I want him/her to shoot in RAW & JPeg and give us the original RAW files as well as the edited Jpegs all photographers seem to offer. Do you guys (especially you UK Hogs but Please feel free to chime in if you're from elsewhere) know of photographers that would do this as the general response from photogs on various message boards and Yahoo answers seem to be highly offended at the mere suggestion of it, some even going so far as to state that they own the RAW files and would never give them up. Surely if i have paid the photog to take my pictures the images belong to me.
Thanks in advance for your answers and please feel free to give me your opinion even if it is just an opinion.
Cheers Guys...and its good to be back!!!

After spending a couple of days getting reacquainted with the A77 i have decided to keep the A77 after all and get the D7000 in a month or so. I think my problem in general was that I had abandoned the A77 in favour of the D5100 and really grew fond of the Nikon. I think all the time it is possible for me to Juggle things around financially and keep both brands I will but in the long run if it came down to getting rid of one brand to keep the other currently the nikons would edge slightly out over the sonys :D
thanks for all your input guys
Wezza

Usually the same applies to me, however with the money I've shelled out so far in the last 12 months on cameras and other equipment its a little hard to Justify £600 (approx $900) for another body. Roughly translates to "The Wife Wont Let Me!!!"

Hi Fellow Hogs

I have a bit of a dilemma, albeit a quite nice dilemma, but a dilemma nonetheless. I have been offered a good part ex deal on a brand new Nikon D7000 that would see me sacrificing my Sony A77 Body and I'm not sure whether to do it or not. I have already been to snapsort and the Winner was the D7000 by a couple of points, and the D7000 is the Dx Format camera I have wanted for a while, am just not sure about sacrificing the sony. Since getting my D5100 the Sony has sat unused and unloved in the corner of my cabinet. so the choice is take it out and start using it or get shot for a shiny new D7000 without the EVF that I rather dislike on the Sony :D
Am just after a show of hands really in terms of who would stick with the A77 and who would take the D7000, many thanks in advance guys
Wezza

Thanks Terje, will keep you posted when the site goes live!

I personally already use the subscription method as my budget does not justify the £600-£900 price of owning the software and I for one fail to see the problem. I pay my £17 a month and for that am guaranteed all updates and upgrades for as long as I pay the subscription. It's a win win for me as I'm not being forced to shell out another £900 when CS7 comes out

I have the 3600hs and the Sony A300 and A77 the 3600 HS appears to work well with both bodies whereas the 5600 and 5800 HS I have don't seem to work anywhere near as consistently

Just had a look at your blog Terje, the pictures are all very good indeed (I'm a HDR fan) and it seems you have locked down your own style of pictures pretty tight. The photo of the boathouse with the upturned red boat is one of the best looking images Ive seen in a while. No BS mate I fell in love with it straight away. The composition is awesome and the HDR works very well (Assuming it is HDR and not just a major major contrast tweak :D ) Definitely keep shooting, and I also wanted to applaud your decision to use a blog for displaying your images as the idea never crossed my mind, though I was looking for something myself that allowed me more flexibility than the standard Yola type create your own website packages. Something that allowed me to more accurately express my personality along with the images ive taken. Hope you dont mind me using the idea myself, I would of course be more than happy to credit you as my inspiration, if i eventually get something off the ground and maybe provide a link to your blog as a thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks for sharing your images and congratulations on the sale, I for one am not surprised at all that people are willing to pay cold cash for them as I would happily open my wallet for the boathouse pic, though the wife would not be so happy for me :(
To summarise, excellent body of work mate and thank you for the inspiration :D

From what I can remember the standard hotshoe mount supports most brands except Sony. Nikon & Canon both use a universal or standard hotshoe if I remember correctly and as such you should be fine with anything advertised as Standard. Definitely double check though as I only shoot Sony and Nikon. Hope this is somewhat useful

I too tried flipping the eye but your results are a lot better than mine were. You've done a great job though, thank you for the time and effort you put in. I do like what you've done but as everyone else seems to think I think I actually prefer it with the hair!!! Again massive thanks for your efforts though.

Wezza

Thanks for the replies guys, After reconsidering the image after your comments TJohn I can see your point and agree that the hair implying wind does add a storytelling element to the pic. And on that note may just leave it as is.

Hi Fellow Hedgehogs

I took the following image today as part of a series of test shots while scouting a new location for portraits. As it happens it was a tad too windy to really get serious today but ended up quite liking this shot. However most of my daughters face is obscured by her lovely blond mop!!! I have tried myself in Photoshop to remove the hair from her face using a combo of the clone stamp, healing brush and Gaussian blur but couldnt get it looking the way i wanted i.e as if it hadnt been touched!!!
If any of you guys fancy playing around with it and seeing what you can do (and letting me know roughly what you did) I would much appreciate it as I'm fairly sure it CAN be done, I just cant seem to pull it off myself.
Many Thanks in advance
Wezza

Shawn&Aimee_ChurchRd_001

I have used photoshop on and off for many years but only sort of dabbled with it prior to finding photography. Once i started taking photos I continued with an old copy of photoshop as I couldnt afford the new CS6 version. Then i discovered that adobe do a subscription service as an alternative to buying the full version. You basically rent the software for a small fee every month (£17 in the UK) and have access to all updates etc. Recently however I downloaded a free trial of Lightroom 4 after hearing many good things about it, and because I shoot RAW all the time. Lightroom took a little getting used to (By that I mean a few hours on Youtube and Lynda.com watching tutorials) but in all honesty now I use lightroom more and more and Photoshop less and less. In fact I only really use photoshop for fixing images now. ie removing unwanted elements i didnt notice in the viewfinder or cleaning up spots etc. Photoshop is excellent but Lightroom is my no1 go to program of choice now.
However this question is kinda like asking which car should I buy as most cars will get you to work and home again but everyone has their own preference for why they use the car they do. I suggest downloading the free software and trial versions of the paid software and seeing which suits your needs and whose interface you prefer and go from there.