Frequently Asked Questions

I don’t really know what I like – are you able to help me find my aesthetic style?

Absolutely! We endeavour to enhance your images to best suit your aesthetic preferences, and will work with you until your files are at the stage where you love them.

What exactly does the digital processing fee include?

Our prices include any adjustment that can be performed in Lightroom. As a general rule, when editing weddings, the main toggles we use are:

Temperature/Tint
Exposure
Contrast
Highlight Recovery
Shadows
White/Black Clipping
Tone Curve Adjustments
Colour Adjustments
Noise Reduction

The retouching I require is not included in your standard digital processing fee, are you able to accommodate to my needs?

All of our editing is done exclusively in Adobe Lightroom. Editing such as skin smoothing, telegraph pole removal and liquifying are not services we offer. We have professional retouchers we can recommend to you that offer these services.

What about cropping and straightening?

If you find that you use the crop/straighten tool a lot in your workflow, please let us know. Obviously cropping by itself can be a little ambiguous but we always try to keep structural elements and horizons on the straight side!

Are you able to provide black and white conversions?

There is a range of ways we can provide you with black and white images for your client. A full set of black and white in addition to your full set of colour is an additional $50 charge. Otherwise if you’d prefer for us to edit a certain percentage of your images as just black and white (eg. 70% colour, 30% black and white) then there will be no additional charge.

I only need a small number of images processed to update my blog/website to a more consistent style, how will I be charged?

For image numbers below 100, the portrait rate card fees will be applied.

What is your turnaround time?

Our turnaround time is 10 business days (or 14 days) from payment of your invoice – all year round.

I am not an Australian photographer, do you accommodate the international market?

Yes! We really love working with international clients. With our special online image sharing system, the process is quick and seamless.

Where are my images edited?

We are very proud of the fact that 100% of the work performed on our clients images is done all under the one roof in our office in Sydney, Australia. Unlike some other editing companies we will never outsource production anywhere else. All of our staff work together, collaborate daily and uphold the highest standards of client confidentiality that we expect of our entire team.

Do you have a shopfront? Can I drop my hard drive off in person?

Our studio is located in St Peters, Sydney, Australia.
We are able to accommodate in-person drop offs by appointment only. Please email us if you prefer this method and we will send through our location details.

Will I be working with one editor?

Yes! We will assign an editor to your work who will get to know you, your style and your specific preferences. You can speak with them directly too! If you’re an extremely busy photographer who shoots a large number of weddings or if you own a studio with multiple photographers we may have two editors that know your work really well to edit for you. That way, when you’re busy there will be no delay on turnarounds, this also covers us all if your main editor is sick or on leave.

How do I send you my files?

Please see our Editing Page.

Can you supply sneak peaks before to me before the 10 business days?

Unfortunately it’s too disruptive to our workflow to be providing sneak peaks for your clients or social media earlier than the rest of the job. If you do any samples through the job then it gives us a great idea of the direction you’re heading in with the edits and we’ll use them as a guide when completing the whole job.

How do I receive my images back?

How you will get your images back depends on how you’ll be sending them to us.
Lightroom 5/CC catalog and SmartPreviews: You’ll get a Lightroom 5/CC catalog back
Full RAW files: you can receive either a Lightroom catalog, XMP files or high resolution JPEGs

What happens if I don’t like the edits I receive?

The short answer is: We’ll make it right!

As editing is so subjective, especially as we first start working together it’s possible you’re not 100% happy with the look of the edits. While we do our best to minimise this by having approved samples and presets sometimes there are still some tweaks that need to be made. With every job that leaves RAW Digital Lab your satisfaction is our number 1 priority.

Once we find out there’s a problem – we’ll get you a revised catalog within 24-48 hours.

Can I still work with you if I use Lightroom 4

We can work with Lightroom 4 however as it is a more labour intensive process with files we charge a $25 extra service fee and add 2 business days to your turnaround for each job using the method. This means it is often better to upgrade to Adobe Lightroom Creative Cloud if you plan on using us long term. If you would prefer to use Lightroom 4 simply send us an email and we’ll set you up. 

Can working with you remain confidential?

Absolutely! We only feature images on our social media and website after receiving written permission from our wonderful clients for each individual image. We do not need any credit for editing your images and you do not need to tell your clients you’re using our service.