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I don't understand? So it sounds like she gave you only good to mediocre photos? And kept some of the best of them for the wedding blog sites? Is that what you are saying?
shit. i'm so sorry. so in your contract do you or do you not have digital rights to the photos? look over it and see if there's anything you can use, ideally you would have gotten these terms worked out beforehand. i would ask her again for them (in person or on the phone, maybe?) and tell her you don't need them edited, but these are simply the moments from your day that you paid her to capture FOR YOU, not for her own personal stash to never be seen again. i mean, you said she initially didn't give you any pictures from your reception, but i'm guessing you paid her for the hours she spent there so she damned well better be giving you your pictures from that time. i would just stress that you don't need any edits and you're fine with them as is, but you need to have them. hell, invent a guilt trip if you have to - maybe dear aunt joan just passed away and everyone's begging to see if you have any pictures of her from the wedding and you haven't seen her in any of the shots she posted and *sniff sniff* if there's even a chance she's in them...
good luck!
Sorry if I wasn't clear... kind of ranting.
I'm saying I was extremely unhappy with the her shots of the big moments, and when I asked her about it, she gave us a few more that WERE good. In essence she had not initially provided us with shots that should have been included. So I asked for ALL of the photos, and she won't give them to me. I am concerned that she has more that we would like!
She exceeded the contract for the special edits, I believe, in order to get the wedding featured on a wedding blog, and not necessarily to give us what we paid for. Full, complete, coverage of our day.
She did give us photos of the reception, but none were edited. Our guests got better shots of the reception than our THREE photographers that we paid $$$$ for.
I am debating asking her for a face to face. I am just trying to decide if I am better off letting this go. I can't seem to yet. Every time I go through the photos I am heartbroken. We did not get her best work.
@creativeplannertobee: You know how a lot of wedding blogs post mainly detail shots, like the decorations, cake, dress, etc? And not as much of the "special moments" shots that are emotional for the people in the wedding. The blogs are more about the items used. I think that's what OP means- the edited shots were edited because they were the ones a wedding blog would use, so the photog spent her time editing those instead of the memories of the wedding for the couple. OP, am I correct?
I would ask again in person. Read and reread your contract. Make someone else that you know read your contract, see if you can find anything that might help. I hate hearing horror photography stories and it sounds like you really did your research first too. I really would just keep asking, explaining, etc until she gives in or blows up on you. She wouldn't really want you spreading the word out that she's a bad photog to work with? And the wedding blog her work was featured on... obviously this is the absolute last resort, but are you able to leave a comment on that blog posting, or email the wedding blog and explain the situation? You don't actually have to do either of those, but if you potentially have the power to, that could make the photog give in.
Let us know how things work out!
You are correct. Thank you for clarifying. I don't think she will give me what I am asking for, but I still don't understand how it hurts her to give us every photo.
I am debating having the contract reviewed, but again, I am just debating if I want to continue to agonize over this. But every time I look at them, I get upset. I think, at the very least, there is no way I am getting anything out of her over email correspondence. I will need to speak to her face to face.
What does your contract say? How many photos do you get? When do you get them? will you get all or most of the photos from the entire day on a CD? In a proof album? Will she charge additional to special edit more photos?
I would talk to her and complain. Sometimes being a bitch gets things done.
Okay, just read through this again. You paid big money for those photos. She has them.
If she gets published, go to those blogs and complain about her customer service. Yelp about her horrible customer service. Put negative reviews everywhere she's listed. Send a letter to the LA TIMES. Contact the news. I know the last two are drastic, but you never know... something could come from it. You don't know unless you try, right?
I used to work in customer service. It's good to have happy customers. The people who are unhappy and passive about it don't get what they want. The people who throw the biggest bitch fest get their way. Complain until you get those photos.
I know with some pro's they won't give you everything because it's not what they consider their best quality and it makes sense. They don't want anything less than quality pictures floating around the web and other places when their names are attached. As a personal assistant, I wouldn't send emails on behalf of my clients poorly written without proofing so I think it's fair that they wouldn't give you the pictures without the edits.
Your best recourse might be to schedule a one-on-one with the photographer and see if you can come to some sort of arrangement. They may be able to show you the duds or they may be able to provide you with the extra pictures, at a price of course, because it is their time and they did technically fulfill their contract.
Could you ask if she could at least post everything in an online gallery and if there are more of those that you like, if she could give you those. That way she isn't giving you all the photos, but you can at least look and verify that yes, the rest are so-so or hey, there's another 10 you'd like to have.
Good luck. I know it sucks to spend a lot on what you believe to be a high-quality photog and then be disappointed with the results :(
@firefly2011: Maybe see if the photographer is willing to set up some time to meet with you in person and allow you to view the rest of the photos from your wedding day. With the idea that you could select just the images you would like, this way it still allows the photographer to keep photos they may not want circulating (like ones with eyes closed, unflattering expressions, fuzzy....etc).
You would probably have to pay some more to get some face time and look at the remaining shots. As a pro, I would NEVER give a client all the photos. If she fulfilled her contract, I guess the most you can hope for is she might let you flip through the others and then you'll have to pay more for extra editing etc.
I'm sorry you didn't feel completely satisfied. It must be very frustrating :(
I really do not understand photographers witholding any shots at all. Those shots were taken on your time, on your dime. Those are shots they never would have had the oppurtunity to capture and submit to blogs or for awards if you had not hired them. You paid for those shots, they are yours. I get the feeling it's going to be difficult for me to find a photographer if they are all this ridiculously tight fisted with the shots they take.
Its not that photographers are withholding images. ALL photographers cull through the images shot for the day and eliminate the bad shots from what you receive. Bad= closed eyes, bad lighting/exposures, awkward expressions, etc.. Photographers also edit for redundancy.... do you really need 35 shots of one singular moment? No, you would never use them for anything. That is why a photographer will cull those down to the best images for each particular moment/event through out the day.
I think some people are being a bit aggressive and hasty telling the OP to slander the photographer over a few unseen images. Images that are most likely horrible or redundant of images that have already been given. My understanding is that the OP received everything she was supposed to receive via her contract, but is generally displeased with some shots and also is under the assumption that her photographer is just not giving her some images for some odd reason (note- you will never ever find a pro photog that will give any client -consumer or commercial- every single image taken. This just does not happen anywhere for anyone. If your photographer says they do, they are lying to you).
I think the sane thing to do would be to narrow it down to some specific images you feel you are missing or would like better versions of if available. Then approach your photographer with these examples, and let them know that you are not entirely happy with the images you got of these moments and are wondering if perhaps there are additional versions or angles of the same moment. (moments like your first dance, cake cutting, bouquet toss, etc.). Be willing to work with their policies if they are willing to work with you. Depending on the photographer, it may or may not cost you depending what all they entail in getting you these images.
Our photographer promised us about 500 shots, so I guess we'll be doing the culling. Another country, another system I suppose. It's fine to take out pictures that didn't come out "right" but I would definitely want all the angles.
If I were you, I would calmly call her and ask if you could please have ALL of the shots from your wedding, even if they haven't been touched up or aren't the ones she has chosen. If she says you have them all, bring up the shots that were posted that you hadn't seen before. Don't be afraid to tell her your disappointed.
I think being honest and calm is the best policy here. I'm really sorry you're disappointed with your photographs.
Just a note: Photographers always put their best work on their website... for anyone looking, it's best to see a full body of work (for example an album from start to finish.) That way you see if the quality is the same throughout or not just a few lucky shots.
No professional photographer give a client "all the shots." They should, however, provide full coverage of the event, so if things are missing, that is another story. But is that really the case? Or are you just looking for some extra choices?
How many images did you get? How many hours of coverage?
IMO, even the non "special edits" should be at least color corrected.
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So my DH and I were suuuper picky when we chose our photgrapher. We ended up choosing someone, who, based on her website and blog, had consistent good composition and her photojournalism was solid. She always had amazing shots on her blog. She seemed to have no problems ever capturing the "moments" and candids. We met her, totally jived with her and thought we were set. She was expensive... the package we chose cost about $7500. We live in LA, and photography here starts at about $3500. We had heard so many you-get-what-you-pay-for horror stories, and again, her blog was solid, so we had literally zero worry that we would get what we wanted.
We sent her a shot list and anythiing outside of poey-posey shots, we were told that she could not guarantee... Okay, I'm still not alarmed at this point.
Cut to wedding day, it was her and TWO second shooters. At one point during the first look, she walks away and says, she's not "feeling it". Um, what? She took bridal party pics where one person is waay off to the side. She did a special edit of a photo where I am super hunched over and have about three fat rolls! Seriously??! You thought this photo was worth a special edit?
The special edits (100) were getting ready, posey shots, ceremony, and detail photos. NO reception, dancing, 1st kiss, 1st dance, father daughter dance, speeches, speech reactions, or cake cutting. No "moments" were edited. Yes, there were photos included of those on our online gallery (only two of the 1st kiss, non edited and from waaay far away, 1st dance were from weird angles, or there is a chandeleier looking like it is coming out of my head). The lack of special edits during the reception, tells me that she didn't think there were any amazing shots of those. I also know she submitted our wedding to a national wedding blog, which I assume accounts for all of the edited detail edits.
Bottom line, the real-life photojournalistic shots were mediocre. I am heartbroken. We paid SO MUCH money for photos and we did not get her best work. And we thought with three photographers, that a lot of angles and perspectives would get covered. That did not happen.
I asked her if it were possible that there were more shots of certain moments and she ADDED about 20 really nice photos to our online gallery. Like a photo of my dad kissing me after the speech. About 5 more really good 1st dance photos. While I was so glad to know these shots existed, now I am wondering "What else does she have that we would like??"
She insists that her team did a great job, and to her credit, there were a fair amount of good shots. But sub par from what she represents on her website. I made a respectful request for her to give us ALL of the photos her and her team took and she declined, saying she fulfilled our contract, and gave us way more special edits than the contract called for. Which is true, but I felt the photos she chose to edit were self serving, as wedding blogs love detail shots. And getting her photos on a wedding blog is major press for her. She denied my request to give me all of the shots. I fail to see how she is damaged by giving those to us. I am livid and heartbroken, and so upset that this person is basically holding our memories hostage. I just want my photos. I paid A LOT of money. I realize I probably won't ever see them, but I am wondering, from you ever resourceful bees... do you have an suggestions? do I have any recourse? I just want my photos.
:/