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Wow, I'm so sorry this happened to you!
I don't have any personal experience in dealing with photog. yet, but I think you've handled the situation well thus far. It is important that you let her know what is wrong because this is her livelihood. She should be able to meet her clients' needs and should only put out products she will stand behind. I would say just stay persistent and kind!
Thanks for reading this...I know it's super long I'm just feeling very disappointed and conflicted. Thanks for your words of encouragement Bamboo!
In the year I've been blogging on WB, I've never had anyone with the exact same experience. I was SO unhappy with our pro pics. It was all I could do to contain myself I was so looking forward to receiving them, and when I got them I was heartbroken. First off, the photographer I booked (real popular in SoCal wedding scene) wasn't the one who did the wedding. She hurt her ankle and had to send her husband instead. We discussed it ahead of time, and I saw some of her husbands work on her website, so I wasn't panicked. It's not that he was a bad photographer. There were just so many things that I was unhappy with that I thought might not be had the original photogrpaher been the one to do our wedding. He didn't get very many pictures of my parents or my children, and I have WAY too many shots where people are blinking. I have NO shots of my ring on my hand, etc., etc. There's a lot of good shots, but I think an equal amount of shots I wasn't happy with. I got over it.....eventually. I never corresponded with the photog afterward to tell her how I felt, and I'm usually really good about doing that type of thing. I'm glad you're following up with yours though.
Definitely follow up with your photographer, especially since you were so specific with what you wanted.
Most photographers give their clients most of the photos, but not all. So there is a chance that there are more photos that you might like. No photographer will or should ever give out unedited RAW photos. You need specific software to even read RAW files. Your photographer might be willing to re-edit some of the photos. If she did the selective coloring thing, she can undo it (and she should! I personally dislike that look. Haha!). She can also crop/reframe some of the images so you get the look you want.
This is my biggest fear, that I am going to hate the photos. I hope we made a good choice. I am more worried about this than anything else at this point.
Thanks ladies! I honestly was watching my post throughout the day and no one was commenting and I just felt like "please...I know it's more fun to help someone pick shoes, or resolve a bridal party conflict, but I really need some help!"
Hi West Coast Bride,
I'm so sorry you're disappointed with your photos-- I know those are of top importance to most of us, so that's gotta be rough. :(
It's good to hear that at least there were many beautiful shots, and the fact that she was very professional and enthusiastic on the day bodes well for how she will respond to your comments. Your photographer wants you to be happy, and I'm sure can work to fix many of these issues.
I would definitely address it with her, so she can have the chance to make you 100% satisfied. You could email her something like this:
"Hi Mary! Joe and I spent the weekend looking through the wedding photos-- so much fun! You captured some perfect moments, and it was really great to work with you on the day.
Looking back through what we'd planned in the months leading up to the wedding, I was a little surprised not to see any of the post-production treatments we'd discussed before that Joe and I had loved from your work, such as xxx treatment and xxx treatment. Could we talk about which photos would work best, for some of these special effects? Those were some of our favorites from your portfolio, so we're really looking forward to seeing how some of our shots will look with these applied.
Also, we were really hoping to have a couple of wide angle shots like this and this (*attached or pasted in*) for hanging in our living room. I know you took a zillion shots on the day-- any chance that there are a couple that showcase more of the mountain/water backdrop? You've given us some beautiful close-ups and intimate shots, so we're just hoping you might've captured a more nature-focused shot as well.
I'm attaching another version of XXX song, so you can replace the repeated spacefiller in the slideshow. Please let me know if you have technical difficulties with this one-- if so, perhaps the best solution is for you to purchase it directly from iTunes/Amazon onto your system. I can send you links if you like. I'm not sure why the previous one was not working-- my father used it in his candids slideshow, so I'm assuming it's something that just needs to be tweaked on your end.
Thanks again for all your help, Mary! Just let me know what the next steps are, for picking some of the favorite shots for those treatments."
:) Whoa, that was long! :)
Perhaps you could PM Mrs. Avocado, to see if she has any tips for how to address it? She's a photographer, as is her mother, so I'm sure she deals with these things all the time.
Good luck!!
I'm so sorry to hear about your photo experience! It's such a bummer.
It seems like there are two types of problems, one that can be easily fixed, and another that is more difficult. The first is with post-processing. If she gave you a bunch of straight-out-of-camera images or images that are not edited to your liking, you can/should take the opportunity to nicely ask her to reedit (at least some of) them in accordance to what you were expecting. And she has every incentive of doing so, since you'll be more likely to order prints or albums from her if you actually like the final products! If she's unwilling to help you, you can always take the raw images and post-process them yourself (a la Mrs. Shortcake) using professional actions, like Totally Rad.
The second type of problem is harder to fix: if she didn't do the wide angle shots or capture specific moments, then there's not that much you can do at this stage. But I'd definitely communicate to her your disappointment, point out your extensive communication with her, and see if she's willing to compensate you in some way -- perhaps with an anniversary shoot in the style you expected or with credits for printing or albums?
You seem to be handling this so calmly and and logically, and I can't help thinking that that (and just plain niceness) will go a long way toward inspiring this photographer to help you. I'm guessing that she wants to make you happy.
Let us know how it turns out!!
I fully agree with JHPHI - her advice is spot on. Try the email and see what happens. Best of luck!!!
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You know, this is honestly a big reason we were originally thinking we'd not have a pro at all. I had one at my first wedding and had a similar experience. I was expecting awesomeness (having seen his portfolio, etc) and what I got was... meh. I had trouble finding any photos to frame/etc and ended up using one where we were both facing away from the camera because the others weren't good enough. I was SO MAD that I'd spent all that money for photography that I myself could have done better with a tripod. And the photog was a friend too (but we paid him well!)- so I didn't want to complain.
I think Hot Cocoa said it best, but I want to add that I am so sorry to hear about your disappoint about your pro picts! Let us know how it turns out.
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Just another note to remind you that the squeaky wheel gets the grease... Don't just let this go, for the sake of avoiding conflict. You hired this woman for her talent, which was clearly evident in her portfolio. So, you know she has the talent to create the style of treatments you want, in post-production (you said yourself that some of the shots are beautiful, so think how great they can be with a bit of tweaking). Definitely keep on her about this, until you get a bit of resolution. Good luck! :)
Oh, man, this sucks. I really like the idea of an anniversary shoot, as HC suggested.
I can tell you that I was slightly disappointed in my pics as well. It's so hard when you know in your head what you want, and you only have one chance to get it, and then it's just not there. My grandparents had their wedding picture on the wall of their living room for 50+ years, and I wanted to mimic it... and I forgot! I asked our photographer to take "candid portraits" of us with each of our guests (and I explained what I meant by that), but she really didn't. I don't have a single picture of just my dad and I. Sad.
Try to remember that the best memories of your day will be in your head, in the feelings and emotions and happiness when you think back. Photos are a bonus -- a really great bonus, but a bonus nonetheless. And if you really wanted a wide angle shot to frame and display, maybe you can still do that on your anniversary or when you have your first child (if you're having kids).
Smoochies.
I definitely think you should address this with her. You'll probably get a very positive response. Photogs don't do things like this on purpose, and sometimes they get people mixed up in their head. Maybe she did someone else's post-processing to your pics. I like the e-mail format above definitely steal that and use it. Good luck!!
As a reminder to those would be brides:
Give your photogs a day-of reminder sheet!! They have many clients, so a reminder would be VERY helpful to them! Something that tells the style you're looking for as well as what your MUST HAVE shots are. And don't put a bazillion must have shots, because they aren't going to be checking of a list. Also, they don't know who Aunt Doris is, so it's hard to get a shot of you with Aunt Doris unless you pull them aside and say "This is my Aunt Doris, can you get a shot of us?" Help your photogs out a little on the day of to try to avoid issues later.
Hey, WBC, how are you doing? Did you email your photog?
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hi there!
as a photographer, i am always unhappy to hear when clients are dissatisfied. Especially considering it was your big day and you had specific requirements.
I will be devil's advocate though...we don't know what the photographers view on this is...i guess an email to him/her would clarify that.
In terms of giving out RAWs, im sure most photographers wouldnt. Post-processing is part of the creation of the image....giving out RAWs is likegiving out a half finished picture. its like giving out film without developing it. I will really be devils advocate, but its tough to change the way you shoot and the way you process your pictures, especially if you have been doing it a long time....to expect a photographer to process things in a different way than their usual style can be very difficult. If a client hires me to shoot their big day, i would assume that they like the way i shoot and the way my pictures look when im finished....i wouldn't want to be hired then told to shoot or post-process things differently....you might as well have gotten a different photographer!
as for this situation, i agree with everyone above...we are all professionals, and as professionals we want our clients to be happy. It's our name out there more than anything else! i'm sure he/she would love to try and solve the problem to everyone's satisfaction!
let us know how it goes!
darren
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Hello Hive,
I've never started my own thread, but I really need to share my feelings right now, and I need to hear some other perspectives on my reaction to my pro pics. We got married in May and just received them last night. There are many beautiful shots, but there were also some significant things missing that I'm having some trouble getting over.
We asked for really wide angle shots and I sent her several examples. Part of why I picked her was because I saw several shots like this in her portfolio. I'm talking about shots where the bride and groom are thumb-sized in relation to big, commanding scenery. Instead, we got several photos where we're just off to the left in the shot, and the bulk of the photo is scenery. That's not a wide angle shot, and I know she would know the difference because I've seen them done properly elsewhere in her portfolio. It is no fault of the setting because we got married on waterfront private property with plenty of open sky/water and mountains and space to roam and take photos. I feel most upset about this because I discussed this type of shot with her many times over, saw it in her portoflio, and I feel like she thinks she delivered on that when really I don't think she did.
Also, I sent her a lot of instructions and examples of what types of photo treatments we like--I sent her several photos that had been re-touched with various different effects and she didn't really include almost any. Basically we got black and white, full colour, or black and white with one specific item left in colour. To my knowledge she has over 10 years of experience, and she told us she uses the most current versions of the Adobe Creative Suite.
She made a mistake in our slideshow and included one song twice in a row (there are only four songs....it's pretty obvious). She also "couldn't make one song work"according to a few e-mails she sent me. She kept having technical difficulties with it, even though my Dad used the same audio file to make me a slideshow of his candid photos.
Luckily I gave her a lot of written instructions, so I'm going to go back and read them, and then I'm thinking I'll send her an e-mail and ask whether she'd consider giving us (or selling us) the remainder of the raw/unedited images she took that day. Doing another shoot is not an option for us for a variety of reasons.
If you weren't very happy with your pro pics when you received them, how did you handle it? Any advice? Her demeanor, enthusiasm and professional were top notch on the day itself so I'm just really caught off guard by the result. Am I handling this the right way?