The Nuts and Bolts of the Shooter-Only Package

All-new in 2019, I'm offering a brand new type of wedding photography package to the menu. No editing, no post-processing. Just me, my artistic eye, my work ethic, my gear and a bunch of digital, unedited RAW files for you at the end of the night. It's not for everyone, but the Shooter-Only Package might be just what you were looking for. 

​This is a service I’m testing out as of 2018. In this day and age, many people have access to editing software or want to try their hand at culling and editing the photos from your wedding day. Or perhaps they just want to save money on paying me to edit the photos and instead have a friend do it for free (or cheap). If that’s you, this service is ideal for you. 

A quick explanation of terms and processes: 
RAW files are basically digital negatives. Shooting in RAW is a specific setting in a digital SLR camera that produces a very large image that is meant to be processed in an editing program, such as Lightroom or Photoshop. In my case, you’ll know the images are RAW because the filename is something like “141A4241.CR2” instead of “141A4241.JPG.” It’s that .CR2 vs .JPG that makes the difference. At one point, RAW images couldn’t even be opened without editing software such as Photoshop or Lightroom, but today even a smartphone can open up, edit, and post a RAW file to social. When I give you the RAW files, I’m giving you a bunch of files that end in .CR2. 
JPEG or JPG files are the format of most photo files. In photography services where I edit the RAW files in Lightroom, I export JPG files and share them with the client. JPG files can be viewed by any device or photo viewer, such as iPhoto, and can be uploaded to social or any online printing service (if you want to order prints or make a photo book). 

What makes a photo great occurs in two stages.
First is what happens in the camera, which is everything that makes a photo technically good: composition, gesture, timing, angle, exposure, shutter speed, depth of field, clarity, ISO, and the like.
The second stage is everything that happens after the photo is taken, called post-processing. This is what takes a photo from good to great, and what gives my photos their distinct style. Post-processing is taking a set of RAW photos from the camera (ending in .CR2), importing them to Lightroom, culling them to select a small percentage of them to edit, adjusting color, contrast, white balance, clarity, exposure, applying filters, cropping, and a whole host of other adjustments. The last step is to export them from Lightroom as a final JPG photo image. 
In a shooter-only package, I only control the first stage. The second stage (all the post-processing) is up to you. 

WHAT I DO: 

• In this service agreement, I’m the wedding photography planner and the camera girl. 
• I will meet with you in advance of your wedding to work out all the details like schedule of the day, shot schedule, timing, important names and details, and so forth. 
• I will attend walk-throughs of the location as necessary, and be responsible for all photography-related questions from the coordinator or other vendors. 
• I will co-create (with you) a detailed shot schedule and work from it on your wedding day. 
• I will utilize 8 years of professional photography experience to shoot beautiful images, despite the varied lighting and movement challenges that weddings present. 
• I will show up with all the gear, spot the moment, coach and direct you and your fiancé in portraits, compose the shot, organize and direct people for the portrait hour, and shoot the photos. 
• I will work tirelessly all day long, capturing beautiful shots of every moment I possibly can. 
• Within two business days, I will upload ALL the RAW files to a Dropbox folder and share them with you so you can download them. 
• I will leave the RAW files in the Dropbox folder for 6 months, giving you time to download and store them. 

WHAT I DON’T DO: 

• I don’t do any culling or post-processing.
• I don’t provide you any editing software, or advice on how to use the software to edit your photos. 
• I don’t sell presets. 
• If I do edit any of your photos for my professional portfolio, I don’t give them to you (but you can pay to download them from my online gallery if you like the way I’ve edited them.) 
• I don’t store your RAW files long term. Once I share the files with you via Dropbox, I’ll leave them up for 6 months, giving you time to download and store them. Then I’ll delete them to make room for other files. 

COST
My shooter-only + RAW file distribution rate is flat fee of $200/hour of shooting, with a 2-hour minimum. If you book me for 3-hours, that’s a $600 fee. If you book me for 10 hours, that’s a $2000 fee.  

THIS TYPE OF PACKAGE IS PERFECT FOR:

• Clients who are photographers or media editors who understand the editing process and want to do it themselves. 
• Clients who know a photographer or media editor and can get RAW images edited at a discounted rate. 
• Clients who don’t care much about the editing process and just want the good, the bad, the outtakes, the doubles, the random, and the blurry photos of the day (and who have a way of turning the RAW files into JPGs). 

Before you jump in with a shooter-only package, please read the following articles explaining the pros and cons of why most photographers don't do this >> 

• https://petapixel.com/2016/02/08/dont-photographers-give-raw-photos/ 
• https://petapixel.com/2014/10/27/let-wedding-photographers-do-their-jobs-or-why-you-cant-expect-a-disc-of-unedited-images-on-the-cheap/
• https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/photographer-question-i-just-want-the-raw-files/c0c72da2b99cd728.html 
• https://www.iqphoto.com/blog/wedding-photography-raw-files/ 

Any stipulations or details? 
Since I’m just the camera girl, the RAW files you're paying for are a product of my eye, my camera skills, and my work ethic, not of my artistic vision or editing aesthetic. As such, if you do choose to post these images to social media or otherwise share them with the world, please state that this image was “shot by Cecily Breeding” and then also credit the editor by saying “edited by [that person’s name].” This way, if the edit is really super awesome, I’m not taking credit from the work of the editor, or if the edit is a little crazy or just not my style, it’s clear that it wasn't my work.
I will likely edit a small handful of photos (30 or less) from the day and post them to my website or blog, because if I edit them, they are a representation of my work. If you want the full resolution versions of those photos, you can download them from my gallery for $20 per photo.
If at some point you decide you want me to edit a set of your RAW files, my hourly rate is $150/hour for editing. Just send me a list of the file names of the photos you want edited and I’ll get back to you with a time/cost estimate.
Please note that I will not store your RAW files forever. I delete RAW files every few months to make space on my hard drives. If you want me to edit your files, you’ll need to find a way to store and distribute them back to me. I recommend Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other form of cloud storage.  ​