A kind message by us creative professionals to clients. We just want you to understand.
Don't ask us to edit photos or videos you send via text.
The reason we don't want to edit your photos when you send them via SMS or MMS is that we automatically can't use them as a part of our professional portfolio due to the loss in quality. To the average person looking on Instagram or text message, they can't tell what happened but when you take that same degraded file and upload it to a pro portfolio site like Behance, no other photographer will take us seriously. It will look like we don't know how to preserve image quality.
Don't copy or screenshot images from your text and then send them via email.
People think we just want them via email because we can see them on our computers. For some, that's partially correct. We are asking you this because if you have the original files, sending 1 via email (if JPEG and under 25MB) will be sent at its original quality. Now, If you have more files to send, that takes me to my next point below.
Don't send groups of photos via email.
Doing this will take forever because you will be sending one or very few files via email from numerous photos in a library. Instead, use WeTransfer. No one needs an account. Let me say this again. No one needs an account.
Don't only use Apple services to send files.
You are probably shamelessly addicted to Apple. If not, congratulations, you dodged a bullet. The moment an Apple product becomes required for something, the less compatible you'll be to all simply because not everyone wants to be locked within the "Apple ecosystem". Hardcore tech enthusiasts like myself choose not to fall into a consumer luxury brand. That had abandoned professionals. The more universal you are, the more resilient you become. For every communication service Apple has made, there is a more universal alternative.
Universal Alternatives
Airdrop = Snapdrop
iCloud Files = WeTransfer
iMessage = WhatsApp or my favorite, Telegram & Slack
(I don't use WhatsApp)
When we ask for the RAW file, it doesn't mean an unedited JPEG.
We know that raw chicken is uncooked but the chicken alive is even better. - Wally Aime
A .JPEG holds a lot less information than a .RAW file.
I'd explain the difference but this article is for the common folk. Watch the video below.
Don't use SD cards as hard drives.
It's very common for a client to run out of space on their devices. Lots of them don't keep track or even have external hard drives. So they buy a bunch of SD cards and keep their files on it like a hard drive. << This is NOT a good way to store files.
SD cards are only like boats full of passengers waiting to get to their next destination and that destination is an external hard drive. Never keep files on SD cards.
Be patient.
Stop wanting everything so fast. It's also very common for non-professionals to send pictures directly from the camera to their phones as .RAW files or .JPEGs. If you do this, the photographer or retoucher will be turned off. This tells them that you're not willing to wait for high level retouching and that you value a faster turnaround time than skill level. The retoucher will feel like they aren't any use to you or under challenged if the photographer wants to retouch the photos. In other words, when they see you use a filter on their work and call it "the same as a retoucher", the retoucher will feel under valued. They'll interpret this as equating their years of skill to a sloppy instagram filter. Some photographers/retouchers wouldn't even want their names attached to something they did that was altered. The proper way to transfer files is via an SD card to a computer so that they can be professionally edited with 0 hit to quality/data. You may think you're helping the photographer/retoucher save time by sending files to your phone but you are actually degrading their work and making them do work they will be less proud of.
Stop trying to do everything with your phone.
Clients think everything will be faster if they could use their phones. What they don't know is that .RAW files may not open on most mobile devices, they don't upload to website due to its size and clients end up screenshotting it to make it work but they are just ruining a .RAW to a .JPEG. The solution is to get a laptop so you don't have the pros pulling their hair out about what quality drops you settled for just to upload an image. If we did our job, you should have fully edited JPEGs ready.