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Free RAW photos for retouching

January 22, 2018 at 4:28:13 PM GMT+2

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We offer a collection of free photos in RAW format for training and improving your skills in photo editing. A lot of beginning photographers and retouchers wish to learn how to retouch photos better, and it's best to do this using RAW photos. Therefore, specially for you, we have collected a lot of free RAW photos which you can download for your further work and improve your skills in photo processing.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @nikol_pinhasova MUA: @alisha_gaydar Md: @isaeva_alish @julslezz

Why everyone wants to get a free RAW photo

First, let’s consider the advantages that RAW photo has in front of JPG photo. Photos in RAW format are not final and they need to be converted to JPG or TIFF for publishing on the internet or printing. Due to the fact that the picture has not yet been converted into JPG or another format, there are extensive opportunities for photo retouching.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @aleksandrakos_ru Md: @pro.nya

This format allows you to retouch and make perfect almost any image due to the fact that it contains many times more data in comparison with JPG snapshot.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @ruskih_photo

RAW format allows the processing of color without distorting it. You can easily change the white balance, process each color channel separately, reduce or increase the light and shadow; to change the exposure and reduce noise in the photo using accurate algorithms, as well as increase the sharpness of the picture.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @sudareva_diana MUA: @marikavisage Md: @biryukovtem

What makes this possible? JPG photo is an 8-bit image and has only 256 values for each primary color (red, green, blue). If we count all of these we get 256 * 256 * 256 = 16.7 million colors. While RAW photos are 12 and 15-bit images and have 4,000 and 160,000 shades of each color, which results in 68.7 billion or 35.1 trillion different shades. Thanks to such a large amount of data about the color of RAW photos it is so easy to edit them and no artifacts appear during editing.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @qwrtsxg

If RAW format has so many advantages, why is it so hard to find and download free RAW photos

The fact is that this format has both advantages and disadvantages. Photos in RAW need 5-7 times more space than a photo in JPG, they cannot be viewed on a cell phone or computer without preliminary converting to JPG, and for converting special programs are needed, this process takes a lot of time and requires a powerful computer.

To download RAW just click on the photo

Ph: @Alexandra_borcha

Software that supports RAW format

As a rule, a disk that comes with the camera contains special software needed for editing and converting your RAW images into other formats. Here are popular software that allow to work with and convert RAW images: Serif PhotoPlus, Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Corel PaintShop Pro.

What should I do if the photo in RAW format does not open?

As mentioned above, on the disk that comes with the camera there is probably special software that allows working with your RAW photos. If there is no disk, you should visit the website of the manufacturer of your camera and find a list of recommended software for working with original photos.

Ph: Mori Shtern Md: Dasha T.

If you use Adobe Photoshop, we recommend upgrading it to the latest version or downloading the Camera Raw module separately. Download the latest version of the Camera Raw module on the official site using the link below. https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-in-installer.html

Ph: @nikolph_ret Md: @valery_rukasova

Popular RAW formats

Almost every camera manufacturer has its own format; although Adobe tried to standardize them, not many manufacturers did so. Here is the full list of manufacturers and the names of their RAW formats.

Canon - CRW, CR2
Casio – RAW
Fuji – RAF
Hasselblad - 3FR
Kodak - DCR, KDC
Leica - DNG, RAW
Minolta – MRW
Nikon - NEF, NRW
Olympus – ORF
Panasonic - RAW, RW2
Pentax – PEF
Ricoh - DNG
Samsung – DNG
Sigma - X3F
Sony - SRF, SR2

We have collected the best RAW portraits, which you can download for free (just click on the photo you need).

Ph: @yu.fedotova Md: @alena_kuzena

In our RAW bank, there are mostly portraits. They are the most difficult for retouching and, accordingly, the most popular among the beginning retouchers for improving their skills in photo retouching.

These original images were not processed, and they were uploaded to give beginner retouchers the opportunity to improve their skills in photo processing.

Ph: @drinmod

For those users who only get acquainted with photography and retouching, we have prepared a lot of lessons that would be very useful; you can apply the techniques described in the lessons the same as professionals do when working with RAW photos.

All photos presented in the collection are copyrighted, so to avoid copyright infringement we ask you to use these pictures only for training and improving your skills in photo retouching. Do not use these pictures for commercial purposes.

The scope of free RAW photos is first of all for the improvement of your skills and for creating of your personal portfolio. Beautiful and professionally edited pictures in the portfolio will help you to find your first customers and will be your excellent advertisement at the beginning of a professional career as a photographer or retoucher. Over time, when you have many customers, you can negotiate with them and use their photos in your portfolio. Do you best to negotiate with customers so that they will allow you to use their photos in your portfolio. Sometimes you may need to make a small discount for this. But this is worth it - a beautiful portfolio is the most important factor in the beginning of a career

Ph: @elizarova.jpg

Start your professional activities right now, download free RAW photos, process, and post in your portfolio and get your first clients.

All images are available in RAW format; to download them for free just click on the photo you like and start working.

We sincerely wish you to get your first customers as soon as possible. But it happens that a couple of successful works in the portfolio helpes you to find the first customers, but you are not able to process their photos properly on some reasons. In this case, we recommend using photo retouching services and professional retouchers will definitely make the pictures perfect.Having ordered retouching of photos from professionals, you can continue learning on free RAW photos without losing your reputation.