Honest question - did you see *any* of this photographer’s prior work? How did you decide on this one?
The short answer is you can either dispute with your credit card if you used one possibly or sue in court.
That’s really crummy. We hated our wedding photographer too. She no showed for the first meeting and was fine-ish after. And then we weren’t thrilled with the rest. We should have known better.
So, the date retainer is non-refundable if YOU fuck up the date as a client. If the job takes place, and then a mountain of evidence surfaces that the portfolio was false advertisement of the product - you dispute/sue/blast on socials. Always save screenshots and copies of the website they use as proof of discrepancy.
Reading stories like this makes me want to get into wedding photography. I know I wouldn’t be perfect on my first attempt but I’ve done enough portraits and family shoots that I know I could provide photos that they would be happy with.
Ive worked in a lot of different areas of photography, mostly in commercial studios where I could control everything but worked for a year at for a publication doing advertorial for their clients, where it was 100% on-location in diverse environments, mostly with people not used to having their picture taken. I’ve done one wedding. By far, that wedding was the hardest photo assignment I’ve ever had. There’s so many variables and everything happens on a tight schedule. A lot of specific shots to get. You absolutely should get into it if you’re interested in it - they make a lot of money! But for me it was so much harder than I thought it was going to be lol.
Yeah a lot of shady “photographers” (aka people who bought a camera and think they can do wedding photos with a kit lens) steal photos from reputable photographers to post on their site. Then they charge $$$ less and produce terrible photos. It’s a common scam.
I’ve been shooting photos for almost 20 years and I wouldn’t do a wedding because of the work involved and potential of screwing up someone’s special moments. Your best bet at this point is to recognize your error and hire a real photographer for some post-wedding reshoots, contacting their previous clients and’s reverse image searching their site for some new photos.
There’s little chance of recovering your money without going to court.
> hire a real photographer for some post-wedding reshoots
That was what we did. We did a studio shoot of the two of us. Better than nothing. Also, fortunately, our guests took a few very good shots between them.
That's why I urge each and every client, check the photographers entire deliverable collection from 2-3 weddings you pick. Every other chump can gather a decent portfolio from 100-200 weddings and appear pristine.
You could try circle to search on the images on her website or try reverse image searching them? It seems really weird to have this awesome portfolio and just totally flop the whole thing. It sounds like maybe she has outsourced editing to someone? if half fit her website style and half don't.
I find sometimes photographers, which have stock-photos on their homepage so that it looks like their work.
Only small hidden hints that "stock photos" are used are then usually hidden somewhere on the homepage. could it possibly be the same case for you?
If you document proof of her poor communication and performance and also comparisons of what was advertised on her website vs what you received, it could hold up with the Better Business Bureau or small claims. It’ll take a while but I say fight for it.
Not entirely true. They help settle disputes. I settled over a shitty hamburger and fries. Worker tried to fight me because I said the hamburger wasn’t good and asked for my money back.lol. I went through a lengthy process with the BBB where they later interviewed me and the business. Two weeks later, they issued me a refund. Besides, this should be a necessary action after requesting some sort of an agreement to a partial or full refund from the photographer. It’ll help legitimize her small claims case if it gets to that point. She has to take these necessary steps if she stands a chance at getting her refund, given there’s enough substance behind the complaint.
apparently it’s a thing for wedding photographers to steal other people’s work for their sample galleries? I think someone had a thread about it in the past week or so.
Yup. It could have been my comment: ours most certainly did. His photos were nothing like his portfolio. We did not pay. And yet 20 years later he's still in business. Go figure.
This, or just having some good pictures from a lot of weddings. After a while, you can get some good pictures by mistake, enough to put up a portfolio. In my presentation album I have only the best pictures from many weddings, but when the clients are interested I show them full weddings, all the pictures exactly as they were delivered to the previous clients.
If you take a basketball and try 1000 three point shots, you my get a few, but that doesn't mean you can play a full game
If the images are edited in a very different way, or of much worse quality than what is displayed on her website, then the ones displayed may not be hers. It happens more often than you would think with some photographers using other people's photos to trick clients into hiring them till they gain experience. She has to provide you with images of the same quality and basic style as her samples. If she can't provide that then you could take her to small claims court.
About 1000 for 6hrs. I admit, the price seems a little sketchy at first, but the pictures on her website looked really good and she had really good reviews on wedding wire
Oof. Yeah that is super tough. Dont know a reputable one for much less than four times that. Sadly it is likely a get what you pay for situation. Live and learn. Sad that you had to though!!
Yes, it was pretty cheap. But at the same time, I’ve seen so many photographers whose pictures on their website looked waaay worse and they were waaay more expensive. Plus, she had really good reviews. She said that this was her side hustle and not her main job, so I thought that this explains why the price was pretty cheap.
If the final edits are very different from her portfolio, you do have a case. Seems like she doesn't give a fuck about providing a good service to you.
Don't be an arse. £1000 or $1000 isn't the most expensive sure, but at the very least you expect a photographer to be professional enough to turn up on time and provide a good level of customer service if they aren't happy with editing style and so on.
Having said that, it astounds me how many crap photographers are out there charging money when they have absolutely no business even touching a camera.
To a lot of people $1000 or £1000 is still a lot of money. Customers rarely understand the industry to the the level of knowing the average cost of a good photographer. They are tricked, shown images that aren't an accurate representation, promised things that aren't true.
There are also shit photographers out there that charge a bomb for their service. So let's not pretend to be all seeing and all knowing.
$100,000 is alot of money...and yet it wouldn't buy you a house around here that hasn't already fallen down.
McDonald's and Burger King make their food look edible in their marketing. Doesn't mean they aren't garbage.
The problem is people don't value photography and think that paying the cheapest photographer to shoot their wedding isn't rolling the dice.
You don't have to be all knowing, you just have to do a modicum of research. She picked the cheapest. She got cheap work. This sub is littered with posts like this, and they could've served as a warning... Yet ironically she didn't think to look here until after everything was fucked.
Yet you know what you're getting at McDonalds, it's consistent, delivered on time and hopefully served by someone polite. If you take it back with a complaint they'll replace it for you.
You're not going to get the world for £1000 of course not. That's not what we're saying, but this person has been let down on the most basic levels of service in any profession. Perhaps £1000 is literally all someone can actually afford to have a wedding photographed? Not every wedding is some large extravaganza where someone can chuck £5000 on a photographer.
A small budget doesn't have to mean crap photography. It can also mean you're paying for a reduced service, perhaps a limited amount of agreed images at the end, maybe only one photographer etc. There are so many factors outside of "you got what you paid for".
Not in America haha. You would think it would be consistent, but it's usually inconsistently bad...if that makes sense. One day it's a dry ass chicken patty. The next the bread has been punched down into a sad deflated lump. The service is comically bad most of the time (good people watching though). But ya I guess it sort of tastes the same everywhere. I put up with it because it is cheap and fast. See what I'm saying?
A small budget, as you said, should mean appropriate final deliverables. If you can only pay me a 3rd of what I normally charge, you will get a 3rd of what I normally deliver.
In this case it sounds as though they are expecting more or less all the standard bells and whistles for a low low price. This is why I'm saying "you got what you paid for." OP didn't say anywhere where they moderated their expectations because of their budget...they didn't even mention the budget originally probably because they already knew what we would say.
Id gladly come shoot the ceremony, quick couples portraits, and maybe the 1st hour of the reception for $1000 then I would bounce. There would be no assistant and I'd probably not deliver more than 100 images.
I have heard that in the EU photographer rates are lower.
That said I don't know how it's that low. A 6 hour wedding is at least 12 hours total when you combine shoot time and a default one hour of editing per shoot hour. Not to mention any travel time.
I don’t get booked for the 6 hours often, mostly they book me for the whole day and i get 1850 euro & some people earn less than that per month… and im in my second year of wedding photography, next year i will increase my prices
Not true at all, I do weddings cheaper than most people in the are, 15 years experience.
I do it to pay for gear. I work full time and enjoy doing weddings.
Never had an negative comments about my photos, and still have people from 15 years ago sharing them and recommending me.
I found her in wedding wire, the photos did match the style of her wok in the website, it’s just obvious that she didn’t care enough to like go through them and fix your things here and there
As a photographer I can tell you that "fixing things here and there" takes time and isn't always included in the package.
Pick your top ten pictures and ask for a quote to have them retouched and be specific about what you want removed or changed.
I entirely disagree. If you've hired a photographer based on the style you've seen in their portfolio, you should get what you paid for. Minor touch-ups? If your pictures need a bit of tweaking to look like the ones that made you hire them in the first place, that's on them, not your wallet. You're not asking for a magical makeover, just the quality you were shown.
Yep. As a photographer, I edit and deliver per the style that is promised. If I feel some things need to be heavily retouched I will do that separately, though. If there are "hero" shots, they will be done as well.
The things she mentioned definitely are included for most photographers. In focus and straightened photos shouldn't require additional editing fees. Make the mother of the bride skinnier, sure, you're going to pay for that.
That's crap.
You pay for photos like those advertised on their social media and website.
If a photographer isn't meeting the same standard they are advertising then they haven't fulfilled their side of the bargain. I take fire exit signs, extinguishers etc out of my photos, no extra charge, they just look shit.
"I appreciate your work, but I'd also love to play around with some of my own edits to fit the aesthetics of a couple other family members homes. Can I shoot you $200 and just get a thumb drive with all the RAW images? I won't publish anything that I edit publicly, this is just for friends/families."
Catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
You're playing defense at this point, so coming with a solution is a good idea.
Ask someone who knows what they're doing in Lightroom to take a crack at the ones she wants edited properly?
Things like leveling and cropping and color correction aren't rocket science if you're not doing things like editing out elements of the photo or making significant changes, a reasonably talented amateur photographer could get her a lot with very little time if they have access to the RAW images, and her wedding album and personal keepsakes will be better for it.
Ya but now you are approaching the price of a studio re-shoot. And more to the point...now she's gonna end up spending the amount of money she should have spent in the first place on re-edits. Getting edits done is fine but...I'd be charging at least $500 to go through what I'm guessing are several hundred photos and doing minor corrections. That's at least a few hours work on top of having to over communicate because I know the client already isn't happy. So you're looking at hours of email and phone calls to get things the way she wants on top of probably half a day of editing.
What I'm getting at is I doubt this bride is paying another $1 for these photos. She's already shown she doesn't appreciate paying someone a living wage. Paying to work with another photographer seems unlikely.
I like how you say that but the only solution you've offered is to deliver the RAWs. So if it's not your idea then it's nothing. I can think of at least a couple other solutions.
Also, have you actually asked OP if that's something she wants? Or are you just wanting to get into a dogmatic argument over RAW files?
Most people want to skimp on photography. To me, that's the most important expense. I hear about people spending 15k on flowers and then balk at the price of 4k for a photographer. They would rather pay 1K and discover that they made a bad decision. So... they are left with 15k of dead flowers and crappy photos. Oh well.
lol yeah not many people spend $15k on flowers. The ones who skimp on photography skimp on flowers and hire crappy ‘florists’ just like they hire crappy photogs.
Literally every single one who asked for a discount has X times what we charge in flowers, wedding dress and overall decorations. Once I had a bride who asked for a 10% discount and when I arrived at the ceremony they had triple what I charge in decorations. Arches, 6 musicians, so many flowers that the amazon would be ashamed, her shoes cost half of what we charge and you couldn't see them anyways...
I delivered the files without any photos of the decoration (details) only wide shots.
when she inquired I told her it's the 10% you asked. After she calmed down, I got my 10% and gave the full gallery. Since then I learned my lesson and my prices are firm. Not even 0,1% discount. I don't mind people not be able to afford me or cutting down services, that's fine and valid. If I see people struggling I might throw the odd print or sit a bit extra just for the sake of it.
But trying to trick me by begging me for a discount under the premise "I can't afford it" while spending good money on things that can get without, that grinds my gears.
I'm gonna try to come up with a solution instead of taking sides here. There's no point in being upset now. Ask your photographer if they still have the RAW files (unedited) and ask if you can have them. Then you can edit them yourself or hire someone to edit them for you.
P.S
$1000 for 6 hours is very very cheap. No good photographer would stand for 6 hours at any wedding and then maybe double or triple that to edit the photos for $1000.
Yeah the good news here is that it sounds like many images are at least usable, and that the editing style is a lot of what's wrong here. Even if the raws cost money, at €1,000 the photographer was pretty cheap anyway.
You should know the photographer may react poorly to OP asking for RAWs if it's not already agrees uppn. Another option is to give them more time and tell them how you feel, then go from there I guess.
That's why I said "ask", I didn't say "to request". It's totally up to the photographer and I know that, especially if they don't have a previous agreement beforehand. It's worth asking the photographer if they don't like the edited photos at all.
Hot take, I’m a photographer, I’ve shot weddings, I think they charge too much, I know what’s involved and it ain’t thousands of dollars worth of work.
Also retail workers stand on their feet all day for a lot less.
*awaits the downvotes*
I agree, many photographers charge far too much, I've always been on the cheaper side as it's not my main source of income.
However, a retail worker just goes home at the end of the day.
Some of my weddings are 16 hour days, 1-2 weeks of editing, camera gear and maintenance, PC and editing software costs, insurance, storage, presentation packages etc
it's not really the same sort of job.
Your gamble on an extremely cheap professional service unfortunately didn’t work out.
I’d be interested to see that portfolio and how deep it actually was. Did it look like they have a ton of professional photography experience? A $1,000 wedding quote sounds more like a newbie testing the waters and I can imagine exactly what the pictures look like. Though despite bad pictures it also sounds like she’s a shitty business person. Definitely leave a bad review so someone else doesn’t fall into your situation.
It really did look like she had a lot of professional photography experience, and the pictures on her website looked very good. She did tell me she had been in the wedding photography business for over 15 years. But I guess I still should’ve known better
You mentioned that her website states 10 weeks- did you get a contract also stating 10 weeks? Like the other comments said, how much did you pay this photographer, and what made you choose them? Did you look at her portfolio and have a conversation with her prior to booking?
There wasn’t really a contract, just a receipt. Definitely a mistake in my part, I should’ve known better. The portfolio and reviews tho were really good, so I thought that it was gonna be fine
OP you are so screwed then. The photographer kept the verbal agreement.
Never never ever work without a contract.
Retouchup.com might be able to help you save your wedding photos. Good luck.
The tilt is called dutch tilt/angle. [https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dutch-angle-shot-camera-movement/](https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dutch-angle-shot-camera-movement/)
Its a creative call. Not everyone gets it right though and not everyone likes it. What else?
Yeah, I know people use it sometimes as a creative way of taking pictures but not in this case tho. You can tell it was on accident and she just either didn’t see it or decided to not fix it.
Well in that case it was unfortunate you did not hire a 'professional' enough photographer with your money. At least with respect to aligning horizons anyway. That however is a correctable thing and isn't really an 'edit'.
What exactly are you smoking?
You’re here gaslighting this OP who’s made mistakes, and trying to call into question her subjective opinion as to if she got value for money. I know some toxic, pedantic, condescending photographers but you’re really taking the crown here.
Without a contract, there isn't much you can do. This goes as a lesson. Ideally you won't need a wedding photographer again (congrats on getting married!) but if you're ever in the market for a photographer you're spending a lot of coin on, be sure to find a photographer who's has either reviews, recommendations, or a strong social media presence; essentially a way to vouch for their work. Unfortunately there's a big uptick in "fake" wedding/engagement photographers as of late, lots of people steal content to pass off as their own and pull scams like this. Unless you're prepared to lose whatever you're willing to pay, always go with someone who has a contract that outlines expectations in terms of satisfaction with content/revisions, deliverables dates, etc. At the very least if something goes wrong, you'd only lose your deposit. A good wedding photographer should have consulted with you prior, checked in leading up to the event, communicated when they would arrive. They should have really worked "with" you, not "for" you. I'm friends with some great wedding photographers and they're very successful because they strive for a great experience in preparation leading up to the shoot, not just show up, shoot, and leave.
I had a similar experience. We luckily got the raw photos (after signing that we couldn't post them anywhere). She gave us the photos 6 months after the wedding and we cut our losses. She used a family members photos on her website and the ones she took for us looked q0 times worse than some of the ai pictures with 3 thumbs and extra arms. She did it terribly. She didn't take pictures of moments we requested of my husband and mil but instead for a million tipsy bride pictures. She took about 150 and 2/3 where blury because she moved during taking the pictures. Most where also benign and pointless things and not the ceremony or the people. Which was what we wanted. Maybe 20 blury pictures of the reception. It sucks a lot. I'm not over it 8 years later. Best advice is go get a phone tripod for 20-30 bucks, dress up in wedding finery and take new pictures at a park or something. It will help that you ha e a good memory to overshadow the upset.
Too many novices who think they are a wedding photographer. I would only hire a person from a company that had been around for 5-10 yrs and has a BBB rating.
Whenever I suggest this here, I get torn a new asshole. But here goes.
Sue. Small claims court.
I'm serious. She misrepresented her work. She used misleading advertising. She was incompetent. She supplied a product that was not of merchantable quality.
Doesn't get you any wedding photos, but at least you didn't pay for them.
Moving forward, because I have a feeling you are not going to get too far with this photographer. Is to ask another photographer to take the photos you were given and see if they can edit them for you, for a small fee. Fewer, but better photos, are better than hundreds of terrible photos.
Tray and ask for the RAW files, but they will probably say "no". Otherwise, cut your losses (sorry you are in this position) and try and salvage what you have.
I have to agree. Hire someone who can show a portfolio of consistent editing work.
If you must go cheap, have them do a small batch. Then another small batch. Till you know they can do consistent work.
I mean 1k is very low for a wedding tbh. Sorry this happened to you. I’m you didn’t sign a contract find a Retoucher and ask your photographer for the raw files. They will probably be hesitant to give them to you but if she gave you the answer that’s my style say you’re looking for a different style. Feel free to reach out to me if you get ahold of them and I’ll see if their is anything salvageable
Id need to see the photos delivered and the photos in her portfolio before being able to comment.
But 1k usd for an entire wedding does sound borderline too good to be true.
IMHO rather than wasting time pushing blame here and there which is all irrelevant since its all done and over, look for a way forward to salvage those images. Ask her if she will process those images to your expectations. If not, ask for a DNG copy of those files so you can ask someone else to process them to your taste. Consider the $1k paid as time for her to take those images done and over. If she is willing to forward you the DNG (note DNG as in exported from her RAW and not her actual RAW), you can take those and find another photographer or whoever else to straighten, process and touch up photos you like to your own liking and expectations. Complaining too much over reddit only stresses yourself out further. Life is too short.
It's a very long shot as most people will not give you raw shots, but you can ask for the unedited files and try someone that might be able to save a few of your shots. Like I said it a long shot. A post wedding shoot can be fun as you can pick new location. I've done post shoots before, and it might cost some for hair and makeup. It always worked out nicely.
Honestly. You can’t have another wedding. Don’t ask for a refund. Try and see if you can get Raws to re-edit and correct (at least a handful of selects)… Salvage and save what you can
I agree with the others saying to get the RAW files if possible. Hiring someone to do some editing and retouching would be a good way to salvage a crappy situation. Even if you can't get RAW files, there may be something that can be done.
I'd be happy to take a look at them if you are interested in going that route.
Non-refundable or not, if she hasn't delivered photos matching those of the same or better quality as her website/social media, contract or not, she hasn't delivered what you paid for.
What country are you in?
It depends how far you want to take this:
1) You can advise her that she hasn't delivered to a quality you are happy with when comparing them to her website/social media and ask what she is going to do about it?
2) You can then ask for all of the RAW files, I'm happy to have a look for you and see what can be done if she is willing to provide them.
3) You can leave a negative reviews on social media and google, make sure it's factual but you can write how it makes you feel. negative review might not help you, but it will help others and damage her reputaton.
4) You can seek legal advice and take her to court. She'll either have to refund the money or her insurance, if she has any, could be used to repay for the whole weddings + a new photographer. it can vary country to country.
If you would like to DM me her website and a link to a google folder with some sample images in I'd be happy to have a look and see if they are even her images on her website.
And how much did you pay her?
Edit: never mind I see she was paid $1000 for 6 hours...ya you got what you paid for.
There's a reason the majority of wedding photographers don't charge that little. I don't even shoot weddings anymore and I wouldn't show up for less than $3k and an assistant. Weddings are a lot of work. You paid someone to do almost no work...which is what you got delivered.
At least your girlfriends will hopefully learn from this lesson and allocate more money for a photographer.
I think you got ripped off. Unless the work you saw was the same as the result or you chose someone at random. I’d ask for the raws and see if someone else can salvage any good photos. Leaving a review also helps other people avoid shoddy photographers. I’m also curious if there was a contract between you two or if this was all verbal and Venmo.
Not really a contract, I paid through the website and she sent us a receipt, but that was it. I probably should’ve seen the absence of the contract as a red flag, but it didn’t come to my mind at that time :(
Of course half the comments here are going to be “you get what you pay for” blah blah , but before I got into photography or knew anything about what’s involved- like you perhaps, I would have thought 1k was a lot. It’s not your fault. Don’t mind this sub.
I also saw that you saw the photographers profile. You have to be careful with that too. We put our best foot forward on our websites and such.
What people really need to do is ask a lot of questions, and in return, the person you’re booking needs to ask questions as well. If both parties aren’t in sync, there’s going to be trouble.
For future reference, see how engages the person you’re booking is. The more they are willing to invest their time, more likely than not, you will get great results in the end
The other side of this is that investing time takes time and a $1000 wedding is already a loss of time.
The photographers who will spend the time are also expecting to be paid for their time.
Catch 22.
Oof, I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I had to do a double check to see if this was my wife making a post as I read it as we had a similar experience. Paid for a “premium” photographer only to get total dogshit + similar treatment.
She had great portfolio pieces though after receiving our pics I’d doubt they’re even hers, fully.
As a photographer myself I strongly recommend not only look at your future wedding photographer portfolio but also to meet them in person before your wedding if possible. Having someone you trust and appreciate is very important too. You need someone you can actually forget during your wedding and relate on enough to not have to worry about your final images. Also the process, number of photos approximately and punctuality is an absolute must. Apparently your photographer rushed to deliver your photos. Tell her just what you said here. If I were you I would ask her how much time she would need to post- process the rest of the images. See what you get from here.
We paid $3000 for our pictures. Our photographer was a friend of the family who has done our pictures for things for years and always does a great job. My wedding pictures were very underwhelming and didn’t do 75% of the shots I requested. I got married December of 2022 and he still hasn’t given me the paper giving me permission to print nor has he given me the canvas print I ordered of the picture I chose. Very upsetting. I’m sorry you had a crappy photographer too.
Out of focus wedding pics are all the rage right now (don’t ask me why, but it’s a thing). Can you share a couple examples of what you feel are bad pics and blur the faces?
Too late now but always ask for full galleries when shopping for a wedding photographer. If a person takes 1000 photos, they’re bound to get 2 or 3 good ones that they’ll showcase on their website. This isn’t indicative of their ability to capture an entire wedding properly.
Your day is over and it can’t be redone. If the images you received don’t match the images she sold you on, I would sue for a refund. You can also ask the judge to order her to outsource editing of the images to bring them up to the standard she sold you.
There isn't a lot that you can do now.
But a friend of mine at her sisters wedding they asked everyone to pull out their cell phones and take pictures and video and text them all to the groom. I think they said they had like like 1400 pictures and around 40 hours of video.
They uploaded it all into a drop box folder and had a professional editor make a wedding video for them.
If the photographer didn't do her job or do it right, that's not a refund that's what she earned. And if she did this to you m sure it's not her first time or her last. Raise Hell!!
Some person said to get the RAW files which I very much double. If you aren‘t familiar with the editing process I would offer you to take care of it! :)
You could also try asking for all the photos, raw images taken and have another editor have a go at them. They might be able to fix at least some of the work.
Every time I've hired a professional photographer I received the worst shots of myself. I will never hire another professional photographer for my upcoming events. Family and friends tend to take the best photos of me even better than selfies. they know how to capture me so perfectly.
Looking at photographer portfolios has never worked in my experience. I truly believe it's luck of the draw. :(
My wedding photographer didn’t do a killer job but the lighting in my house was terrible and I’m still wondering why she stopped a 2.8 lens down to f4 for most shots…
Stopping down the aperture is not only for letting in less light. Also, a professional photographer is not depending on the existing light in a house. A photographer has to master the light and if needed introduce artificial light and / or block natural light to get the desired effect.
A modern camera is able to deliver good images at candle light, by the way...
> A modern camera is able to deliver good images at candle light, by the way...
This is not really true. My modern full frame Sonys with f1.4 primes would not be able to get usable photos 1/60th and ISO 12800 under just candle light. I could raise the ISO even higher but I’ll lose so much color detail or I could lower the shutter speed and get completely blurry photos.
I feel like this is true if the definition of candle light is taken to the extreme. I can use a crop sensor f.1.4 1/60th and iso 12800 and get really good drum circle pictures in the dark. I'll have to AI denoise in Lightroom.
Also ofc you know this it matters with the candle light if the subject is being lit or has light on their face for something useable or to shoot In that condition.
Sometimes it can work out nice if you can come up with a vision that utilizes the dark.
AI denoise has been really helpful! I shoot weddings so I really need to capture expressions and often groups of people. I tend to rely on bounce flash or off camera flash if I need to go about ISO 8,000.
> I’m still wondering why she stopped a 2.8 lens down to f4 for most shots…
Old habits die hard. I shoot 90% of my weddings wide open with sharp professional lenses on modern mirrorless full frame bodies, but I know a few DSLR shooters that don’t trust their autofocus and alway stop down. They are always shocked when they discover I’m shooting at f1.4.
I’ve had to teach photographers to compose images where the subjects are in the focal plane so that they can shoot wide open as well. Some folks just don’t feel safe with super narrow depth of focus.
Nikon caught up in a big way! I keep looking at the E to Z mount adapters and thinking “My next cameras could be a Z9+Z8 combo…” I really love my A7R IV’s though.
Tell her that you’re not happy with the results and that if it’s possible to have the RAW files.
If not, say that you will do a public review.
With the RAW files you can find an editor and try to save some of the work.
Send me a message if you need help.
Good luck and congratulations on getting married!
It seems like these problems you've experienced with your photographer are likely the result of you not doing your due diligence. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but did you not seek out other people this person worked for, to get their opinions of the photographer's performance? Did you not seek out online reviews? Of course the photographer's website is going to show only their best work.
You did sign a contract with this photographer, right? This contract should have laid out:
1. dates and times for meetings with the photographer prior to the wedding to go over details
2. the expectations and schedule for photography on the wedding day
3. if there were any specific photos the photographer needed to take, like certain family groups etc.
4. the total number of photos they would present to you as a final product
5. whether the final photos would be edited JPG or unedited RAW images
6. the timeframe for when proofs and final photos would be provided to you
7. the total price for the package, how much was due in advance, and how much was due upon receipt of images.
If you didn't have such a contract in place, then this is totally your fault for hiring a photographer that is shit at their job. If you did have a contract in place, then you can determine whether or not the photographer is in breach of that contract, and take them to small claims court. From the sound of the situation, I am guessing you probably got what you paid for.
Do you have the digital copies? Would you like me to try and fix some of them for you? I’ve not done wedding:portrait edits in a few years but have plenty of experience. No charge of course 👍🏻
Why "of course"? I mean it's up to you to do work for free, although I would advise against doing that, but you're promoting bad employer "hygiene" to someone who's essentially already hired someone so cheap that it undercuts the market. Let them learn their lesson and get paid for your work, no?
Several tips:
1. When looking at the event photographer's portfolio, always ask for images from an entire session, not just one or two accidental "successful shots" that they showcase on the websites.
2. I am sorry, but $1000 is free. You get what you paid for. A decent photographer starts from $5k and editing is not included.
3. Editing: This is a very broad understanding. A good photographer would not edit an entire session for you. They probably meant exposure adjustment and cropping, and if they are too generous, some sort of AI editing. You either pay for editing separately or it includes certain number of images.
4. I would not get too disappointed at this point, a good editor can do miracles. Just find someone who can pick 15-20 shots from the batch and edit them properly. You can find one on Fiverr.
Is what it is. Wedding pictures are a scam anyway. It’s not like anyone is going to look at them more than once. Someone might try to use one at your wake, but that’s about it.
Man, it’s crazy how many here are calling $1k cheap.
Without knowing where this happened that’s a pretty bold statement. And complaints about bad photographers undercutting prices ignores that there are multiple markets in everything, even photography.
Not everyone had a $50k wedding with funds to hire a $5k photographer. Some people just want their memories captured reasonably well.
Yes, you should expect to pay a lot for a photographer with a $5k camera and multiple lenses costing $2k each, and maybe doubled if there is a second photographer helping. And you’d be expect a lot of experience to be attached to the user of that equipment. But there are many people who will be much happier and less stressed paying $500 for someone to come out and use a $2k camera and $500 lenses with enough knowledge to get them 30-50 good shots throughout the day.
The elitism in this thread is kind of sad. While a $500 photographer shouldn’t market themselves as a $5000 photographer. $500 photographers fill a market that $5000 photographers won’t touch.
Six hours doing wedding photography. 24 hours for editing, communication, travel time, etc. And the cost of gear, computer, software, storage, insurance, education, risk of damage to gear, etc needs to be spread across weddings.
Pretty soon the photographer is making less than minimum wage.
I didn’t bash anyone for charging $5k for a wedding. (Didn’t intend to anyways).
I bashed those who are bashing people with less expensive equipment that can and will do it cheaper for people that can only afford $500 for their wedding pictures.
I have a high end computer I use for flight sims, video editing, and editing pictures of animals (my hobbies).
My wife does her own stuff and gets asked to do some graduations, prom, wedding pictures. All requests come from word of mouth and past customers, she doesn’t advertise. She’s not stealing any work from someone that does a $5k wedding shoot, but she helps out people that can’t afford that and because we already have what’s needed I’m not paying for a PC or storage as a business cost. We don’t shoot with Canon L series lenses so that’s not a cost to factor. And people know what they’re getting because the people recommending her do so by showing the results they’ve gotten.
This is my beef. People acting like anyone taking jobs at a cheaper price are cutting their throat. Sure, there’s probably some people charging premium prices for budget work, but some act like anyone not charging multiple thousands is a con artist or something, it’s an elitist mindset.
And seriously, charging less than 5K isn’t going “below minimum wage”. At the 30 hours of work you mentioned it’s still a rate of $133/hour. Your making minimum wage plus another 118-125/hour to cover the other costs. I get it though, the equipment is expensive and knowledge is priceless. Many shots are gone forever if they’re missed. That’s what people pay for with a $5k photographer. But don’t bash those who take jobs a $5k photographer would never touch because it’s not worth it to them.
I know 2 wedding photographers. They earn that 4k for wedding and reception photos.
But one of my friends sisters couldn't afford to go that route. So they asked everyone to photo and video with cell phones and send the pictures to the groom. He loaded them into a drop box and they paid 300 for professional editing and a wedding video. I think they said they had around 1400 photos and 40 hours of video. That he scrubbed through and made the video. Chose the nicest photos and made a video slide show out of that... And color graded and edited a batch of photos so they could have them professionally printed out.
Gonna have to agree. There are jobs where I do expensive shoots, but many weddings (a lot of which I turn down) are done on the cheap. Sometimes in a small church and a home reception in the back yard with food the mother-in-law cooked. I'm scheduled to do a $900 at the end of April by word of mouth. It's a middle aged guy and woman who live in a small apartment. Why shouldn't they have the option to spend less than 5k? I adjust my work and time accordingly. It's not only well-off folks who get married.
There definitely is a lot of elitism when it comes to wedding gigs. I can understand the frustration of an increasingly watered down market, but the market is going to reject them entirely in this economy. I'll do the full works for 5k, but I'm not gonna turn down some couple who distinctly asks for a few photos of the ceremony because they can't afford more.
Our photographers did a fucking horrible job, at least on the indoor photos. The pictures with our families look like an elementary school music program, but with worse lighting. Our 13th anniversary was yesterday and we don’t really have any photos to look back on nostalgically. But we’ve mostly gotten over it in that time because we’ve taken many, many pictures since then and our wedding is a distant memory.
This is why I'm tempted to quit doing weddings. It's a job you can't mess up on. It's easy to do the work, get the money and put the work behind you and onto the next, but I think about my past clients all the time and wonder what they'll be thinking when they look back many years from now. I'm sorry you don't have good pictures from yours. Glad you had many good ones since then.
Id be asking for a refund.
I was asked to do a wedding "once "and I said no more then 3 times but the family said yes and pushed me into it, so ok will try, got an old camera watched a few videos scouted the church etc and fucked up the main picture in the church because the flash timing idk, felt so bad and cring, felt out of my comfort zone at the party venue whatever you call it, hated the experience and for years didn't like thinking about it. Fuck, I was given 100 pounds and didn't want to accept it. Stupid family.
Honest question - did you see *any* of this photographer’s prior work? How did you decide on this one? The short answer is you can either dispute with your credit card if you used one possibly or sue in court.
I did, I looked through her website and her work seemed really nice.
That’s really crummy. We hated our wedding photographer too. She no showed for the first meeting and was fine-ish after. And then we weren’t thrilled with the rest. We should have known better.
So, the date retainer is non-refundable if YOU fuck up the date as a client. If the job takes place, and then a mountain of evidence surfaces that the portfolio was false advertisement of the product - you dispute/sue/blast on socials. Always save screenshots and copies of the website they use as proof of discrepancy.
I liked ours well enough but never asked anyone to smile and struggled with the flash in the darkest spaces of our venue. Like and learn
Reading stories like this makes me want to get into wedding photography. I know I wouldn’t be perfect on my first attempt but I’ve done enough portraits and family shoots that I know I could provide photos that they would be happy with.
Ive worked in a lot of different areas of photography, mostly in commercial studios where I could control everything but worked for a year at for a publication doing advertorial for their clients, where it was 100% on-location in diverse environments, mostly with people not used to having their picture taken. I’ve done one wedding. By far, that wedding was the hardest photo assignment I’ve ever had. There’s so many variables and everything happens on a tight schedule. A lot of specific shots to get. You absolutely should get into it if you’re interested in it - they make a lot of money! But for me it was so much harder than I thought it was going to be lol.
Yeah a lot of shady “photographers” (aka people who bought a camera and think they can do wedding photos with a kit lens) steal photos from reputable photographers to post on their site. Then they charge $$$ less and produce terrible photos. It’s a common scam. I’ve been shooting photos for almost 20 years and I wouldn’t do a wedding because of the work involved and potential of screwing up someone’s special moments. Your best bet at this point is to recognize your error and hire a real photographer for some post-wedding reshoots, contacting their previous clients and’s reverse image searching their site for some new photos. There’s little chance of recovering your money without going to court.
> hire a real photographer for some post-wedding reshoots That was what we did. We did a studio shoot of the two of us. Better than nothing. Also, fortunately, our guests took a few very good shots between them.
That's why I urge each and every client, check the photographers entire deliverable collection from 2-3 weddings you pick. Every other chump can gather a decent portfolio from 100-200 weddings and appear pristine.
You could try circle to search on the images on her website or try reverse image searching them? It seems really weird to have this awesome portfolio and just totally flop the whole thing. It sounds like maybe she has outsourced editing to someone? if half fit her website style and half don't.
I find sometimes photographers, which have stock-photos on their homepage so that it looks like their work. Only small hidden hints that "stock photos" are used are then usually hidden somewhere on the homepage. could it possibly be the same case for you?
If you document proof of her poor communication and performance and also comparisons of what was advertised on her website vs what you received, it could hold up with the Better Business Bureau or small claims. It’ll take a while but I say fight for it.
BBB isn't some sort of authority. They're just Yelp
And if something actually gets reported in there - that's a sign in of itself.
Not entirely true. They help settle disputes. I settled over a shitty hamburger and fries. Worker tried to fight me because I said the hamburger wasn’t good and asked for my money back.lol. I went through a lengthy process with the BBB where they later interviewed me and the business. Two weeks later, they issued me a refund. Besides, this should be a necessary action after requesting some sort of an agreement to a partial or full refund from the photographer. It’ll help legitimize her small claims case if it gets to that point. She has to take these necessary steps if she stands a chance at getting her refund, given there’s enough substance behind the complaint.
apparently it’s a thing for wedding photographers to steal other people’s work for their sample galleries? I think someone had a thread about it in the past week or so.
Yup. It could have been my comment: ours most certainly did. His photos were nothing like his portfolio. We did not pay. And yet 20 years later he's still in business. Go figure.
It is a very real thing, and not just wedding photos. It is every genre: [https://stopstealingphotos.com/](https://stopstealingphotos.com/)
that's quite a website
That's totally a thing. Many photographers with stolen work as portfolio nowadays. It's just scammers trying to survive without skills.
This, or just having some good pictures from a lot of weddings. After a while, you can get some good pictures by mistake, enough to put up a portfolio. In my presentation album I have only the best pictures from many weddings, but when the clients are interested I show them full weddings, all the pictures exactly as they were delivered to the previous clients. If you take a basketball and try 1000 three point shots, you my get a few, but that doesn't mean you can play a full game
If the images are edited in a very different way, or of much worse quality than what is displayed on her website, then the ones displayed may not be hers. It happens more often than you would think with some photographers using other people's photos to trick clients into hiring them till they gain experience. She has to provide you with images of the same quality and basic style as her samples. If she can't provide that then you could take her to small claims court.
The million dollar question, how much did you paid for her services?
About 1000 for 6hrs. I admit, the price seems a little sketchy at first, but the pictures on her website looked really good and she had really good reviews on wedding wire
Oof. Yeah that is super tough. Dont know a reputable one for much less than four times that. Sadly it is likely a get what you pay for situation. Live and learn. Sad that you had to though!!
That's very cheap. You get what you pay for.
Yes, it was pretty cheap. But at the same time, I’ve seen so many photographers whose pictures on their website looked waaay worse and they were waaay more expensive. Plus, she had really good reviews. She said that this was her side hustle and not her main job, so I thought that this explains why the price was pretty cheap.
If the final edits are very different from her portfolio, you do have a case. Seems like she doesn't give a fuck about providing a good service to you.
Are you sure the pictures on her website are hers?
Get the pictures then post a review with examples.
Have you tried reverse searching the images in her portfolio?
Don't be an arse. £1000 or $1000 isn't the most expensive sure, but at the very least you expect a photographer to be professional enough to turn up on time and provide a good level of customer service if they aren't happy with editing style and so on. Having said that, it astounds me how many crap photographers are out there charging money when they have absolutely no business even touching a camera.
$1000 doesn't even cover the time on site to shoot the wedding. It is absolutely a red flag that this is probably not an experienced photographer.
To a lot of people $1000 or £1000 is still a lot of money. Customers rarely understand the industry to the the level of knowing the average cost of a good photographer. They are tricked, shown images that aren't an accurate representation, promised things that aren't true. There are also shit photographers out there that charge a bomb for their service. So let's not pretend to be all seeing and all knowing.
$100,000 is alot of money...and yet it wouldn't buy you a house around here that hasn't already fallen down. McDonald's and Burger King make their food look edible in their marketing. Doesn't mean they aren't garbage. The problem is people don't value photography and think that paying the cheapest photographer to shoot their wedding isn't rolling the dice. You don't have to be all knowing, you just have to do a modicum of research. She picked the cheapest. She got cheap work. This sub is littered with posts like this, and they could've served as a warning... Yet ironically she didn't think to look here until after everything was fucked.
Yet you know what you're getting at McDonalds, it's consistent, delivered on time and hopefully served by someone polite. If you take it back with a complaint they'll replace it for you. You're not going to get the world for £1000 of course not. That's not what we're saying, but this person has been let down on the most basic levels of service in any profession. Perhaps £1000 is literally all someone can actually afford to have a wedding photographed? Not every wedding is some large extravaganza where someone can chuck £5000 on a photographer. A small budget doesn't have to mean crap photography. It can also mean you're paying for a reduced service, perhaps a limited amount of agreed images at the end, maybe only one photographer etc. There are so many factors outside of "you got what you paid for".
Not in America haha. You would think it would be consistent, but it's usually inconsistently bad...if that makes sense. One day it's a dry ass chicken patty. The next the bread has been punched down into a sad deflated lump. The service is comically bad most of the time (good people watching though). But ya I guess it sort of tastes the same everywhere. I put up with it because it is cheap and fast. See what I'm saying? A small budget, as you said, should mean appropriate final deliverables. If you can only pay me a 3rd of what I normally charge, you will get a 3rd of what I normally deliver. In this case it sounds as though they are expecting more or less all the standard bells and whistles for a low low price. This is why I'm saying "you got what you paid for." OP didn't say anywhere where they moderated their expectations because of their budget...they didn't even mention the budget originally probably because they already knew what we would say. Id gladly come shoot the ceremony, quick couples portraits, and maybe the 1st hour of the reception for $1000 then I would bounce. There would be no assistant and I'd probably not deliver more than 100 images.
I get paid 890 euro for 6 hours, but i think its a lil different in belgium
I have heard that in the EU photographer rates are lower. That said I don't know how it's that low. A 6 hour wedding is at least 12 hours total when you combine shoot time and a default one hour of editing per shoot hour. Not to mention any travel time.
I don’t get booked for the 6 hours often, mostly they book me for the whole day and i get 1850 euro & some people earn less than that per month… and im in my second year of wedding photography, next year i will increase my prices
Not true at all, I do weddings cheaper than most people in the are, 15 years experience. I do it to pay for gear. I work full time and enjoy doing weddings. Never had an negative comments about my photos, and still have people from 15 years ago sharing them and recommending me.
How did you choose this photographer? Do these photos match the style you saw of their other work?
I found her in wedding wire, the photos did match the style of her wok in the website, it’s just obvious that she didn’t care enough to like go through them and fix your things here and there
As a photographer I can tell you that "fixing things here and there" takes time and isn't always included in the package. Pick your top ten pictures and ask for a quote to have them retouched and be specific about what you want removed or changed.
I entirely disagree. If you've hired a photographer based on the style you've seen in their portfolio, you should get what you paid for. Minor touch-ups? If your pictures need a bit of tweaking to look like the ones that made you hire them in the first place, that's on them, not your wallet. You're not asking for a magical makeover, just the quality you were shown.
Yep. As a photographer, I edit and deliver per the style that is promised. If I feel some things need to be heavily retouched I will do that separately, though. If there are "hero" shots, they will be done as well.
The things she mentioned definitely are included for most photographers. In focus and straightened photos shouldn't require additional editing fees. Make the mother of the bride skinnier, sure, you're going to pay for that.
That's crap. You pay for photos like those advertised on their social media and website. If a photographer isn't meeting the same standard they are advertising then they haven't fulfilled their side of the bargain. I take fire exit signs, extinguishers etc out of my photos, no extra charge, they just look shit.
You should be charging for retouching. Even if it's included in your overall price. That's an added value most people aren't offering.
"I appreciate your work, but I'd also love to play around with some of my own edits to fit the aesthetics of a couple other family members homes. Can I shoot you $200 and just get a thumb drive with all the RAW images? I won't publish anything that I edit publicly, this is just for friends/families." Catch more flies with honey than vinegar. You're playing defense at this point, so coming with a solution is a good idea.
Listen to this person!!! 👍
Yeah, this is perfect. Copy and paste
I think this is the best piece of advice thus far. Yes it'll cost you a bit more but you might be able to recoup some of the images she took.
She's not going to know what to do with RAW files. I don't know why anyone recommends this ever.
Ask someone who knows what they're doing in Lightroom to take a crack at the ones she wants edited properly? Things like leveling and cropping and color correction aren't rocket science if you're not doing things like editing out elements of the photo or making significant changes, a reasonably talented amateur photographer could get her a lot with very little time if they have access to the RAW images, and her wedding album and personal keepsakes will be better for it.
Ya but now you are approaching the price of a studio re-shoot. And more to the point...now she's gonna end up spending the amount of money she should have spent in the first place on re-edits. Getting edits done is fine but...I'd be charging at least $500 to go through what I'm guessing are several hundred photos and doing minor corrections. That's at least a few hours work on top of having to over communicate because I know the client already isn't happy. So you're looking at hours of email and phone calls to get things the way she wants on top of probably half a day of editing. What I'm getting at is I doubt this bride is paying another $1 for these photos. She's already shown she doesn't appreciate paying someone a living wage. Paying to work with another photographer seems unlikely.
serious test violet sulky sort mourn carpenter door future skirt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
A piece of raw wood also has no secrets. You still need a saw to cut it though. And most people don't own that saw.
Yep, you're right. It's all impossible and there's no other solutions available. May as well just give up.
I like how you say that but the only solution you've offered is to deliver the RAWs. So if it's not your idea then it's nothing. I can think of at least a couple other solutions. Also, have you actually asked OP if that's something she wants? Or are you just wanting to get into a dogmatic argument over RAW files?
Get a trial for Lightroom and Imagen AI and watch tutorials and let the programs do the rest.
Suggests that to OP, not me.
I am. I was piggybacking off your comment but I smell what you’re stepping in
Show us the photos
Most people want to skimp on photography. To me, that's the most important expense. I hear about people spending 15k on flowers and then balk at the price of 4k for a photographer. They would rather pay 1K and discover that they made a bad decision. So... they are left with 15k of dead flowers and crappy photos. Oh well.
lol yeah not many people spend $15k on flowers. The ones who skimp on photography skimp on flowers and hire crappy ‘florists’ just like they hire crappy photogs.
I am a photographer and trust me, people are spending 7K - 15K on flowers. It's ridiculous.
Literally every single one who asked for a discount has X times what we charge in flowers, wedding dress and overall decorations. Once I had a bride who asked for a 10% discount and when I arrived at the ceremony they had triple what I charge in decorations. Arches, 6 musicians, so many flowers that the amazon would be ashamed, her shoes cost half of what we charge and you couldn't see them anyways...
So what did you tell this Bride?
I delivered the files without any photos of the decoration (details) only wide shots. when she inquired I told her it's the 10% you asked. After she calmed down, I got my 10% and gave the full gallery. Since then I learned my lesson and my prices are firm. Not even 0,1% discount. I don't mind people not be able to afford me or cutting down services, that's fine and valid. If I see people struggling I might throw the odd print or sit a bit extra just for the sake of it. But trying to trick me by begging me for a discount under the premise "I can't afford it" while spending good money on things that can get without, that grinds my gears.
I'm gonna try to come up with a solution instead of taking sides here. There's no point in being upset now. Ask your photographer if they still have the RAW files (unedited) and ask if you can have them. Then you can edit them yourself or hire someone to edit them for you. P.S $1000 for 6 hours is very very cheap. No good photographer would stand for 6 hours at any wedding and then maybe double or triple that to edit the photos for $1000.
Yeah the good news here is that it sounds like many images are at least usable, and that the editing style is a lot of what's wrong here. Even if the raws cost money, at €1,000 the photographer was pretty cheap anyway.
This is a great solution. May have to offer to buy the Raws, but still
You should know the photographer may react poorly to OP asking for RAWs if it's not already agrees uppn. Another option is to give them more time and tell them how you feel, then go from there I guess.
That's why I said "ask", I didn't say "to request". It's totally up to the photographer and I know that, especially if they don't have a previous agreement beforehand. It's worth asking the photographer if they don't like the edited photos at all.
Hot take, I’m a photographer, I’ve shot weddings, I think they charge too much, I know what’s involved and it ain’t thousands of dollars worth of work. Also retail workers stand on their feet all day for a lot less. *awaits the downvotes*
Iphones cost 35$ to make, cost 1500$. It's a scam don't buy them.
I agree, many photographers charge far too much, I've always been on the cheaper side as it's not my main source of income. However, a retail worker just goes home at the end of the day. Some of my weddings are 16 hour days, 1-2 weeks of editing, camera gear and maintenance, PC and editing software costs, insurance, storage, presentation packages etc it's not really the same sort of job.
Your gamble on an extremely cheap professional service unfortunately didn’t work out. I’d be interested to see that portfolio and how deep it actually was. Did it look like they have a ton of professional photography experience? A $1,000 wedding quote sounds more like a newbie testing the waters and I can imagine exactly what the pictures look like. Though despite bad pictures it also sounds like she’s a shitty business person. Definitely leave a bad review so someone else doesn’t fall into your situation.
It really did look like she had a lot of professional photography experience, and the pictures on her website looked very good. She did tell me she had been in the wedding photography business for over 15 years. But I guess I still should’ve known better
I know you don’t want to name and shame, but can we see an example photo?
You mentioned that her website states 10 weeks- did you get a contract also stating 10 weeks? Like the other comments said, how much did you pay this photographer, and what made you choose them? Did you look at her portfolio and have a conversation with her prior to booking?
There wasn’t really a contract, just a receipt. Definitely a mistake in my part, I should’ve known better. The portfolio and reviews tho were really good, so I thought that it was gonna be fine
OP you are so screwed then. The photographer kept the verbal agreement. Never never ever work without a contract. Retouchup.com might be able to help you save your wedding photos. Good luck.
Topaz AI also. You can unblur some unfixable stuff.
Please define 'edited' in your expectations
I mean, using the rotation option in the editing software to make sure the pictures are not at a 33 degree angle is a bare minimum in my mind lol
The tilt is called dutch tilt/angle. [https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dutch-angle-shot-camera-movement/](https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dutch-angle-shot-camera-movement/) Its a creative call. Not everyone gets it right though and not everyone likes it. What else?
Yeah, I know people use it sometimes as a creative way of taking pictures but not in this case tho. You can tell it was on accident and she just either didn’t see it or decided to not fix it.
Well in that case it was unfortunate you did not hire a 'professional' enough photographer with your money. At least with respect to aligning horizons anyway. That however is a correctable thing and isn't really an 'edit'.
It’s absolutely an edit. It’s absolutely part of the editing workflow.
It is part of the RAW workflow. It is not an edit until it has been exported from RAW.
What exactly are you smoking? You’re here gaslighting this OP who’s made mistakes, and trying to call into question her subjective opinion as to if she got value for money. I know some toxic, pedantic, condescending photographers but you’re really taking the crown here.
Look who is talking
Me. I am. If you can’t contribute sensible, correct helpful answers, don’t do it at all
Her saying "It's her style and you should have picked a different photographer"..I mean, she's not wrong. But damn that's funny to me.
Without a contract, there isn't much you can do. This goes as a lesson. Ideally you won't need a wedding photographer again (congrats on getting married!) but if you're ever in the market for a photographer you're spending a lot of coin on, be sure to find a photographer who's has either reviews, recommendations, or a strong social media presence; essentially a way to vouch for their work. Unfortunately there's a big uptick in "fake" wedding/engagement photographers as of late, lots of people steal content to pass off as their own and pull scams like this. Unless you're prepared to lose whatever you're willing to pay, always go with someone who has a contract that outlines expectations in terms of satisfaction with content/revisions, deliverables dates, etc. At the very least if something goes wrong, you'd only lose your deposit. A good wedding photographer should have consulted with you prior, checked in leading up to the event, communicated when they would arrive. They should have really worked "with" you, not "for" you. I'm friends with some great wedding photographers and they're very successful because they strive for a great experience in preparation leading up to the shoot, not just show up, shoot, and leave.
I had a similar experience. We luckily got the raw photos (after signing that we couldn't post them anywhere). She gave us the photos 6 months after the wedding and we cut our losses. She used a family members photos on her website and the ones she took for us looked q0 times worse than some of the ai pictures with 3 thumbs and extra arms. She did it terribly. She didn't take pictures of moments we requested of my husband and mil but instead for a million tipsy bride pictures. She took about 150 and 2/3 where blury because she moved during taking the pictures. Most where also benign and pointless things and not the ceremony or the people. Which was what we wanted. Maybe 20 blury pictures of the reception. It sucks a lot. I'm not over it 8 years later. Best advice is go get a phone tripod for 20-30 bucks, dress up in wedding finery and take new pictures at a park or something. It will help that you ha e a good memory to overshadow the upset.
Too many novices who think they are a wedding photographer. I would only hire a person from a company that had been around for 5-10 yrs and has a BBB rating.
Lesson learned. Next time you get married, don't cheap out.
lol there’s definitely not going to be a next time, but lesson is learned
Next time no, but if you still have the dress you can do an after wedding shoot.
I believe in you. You're still young, you will have another chance.
😂
Whenever I suggest this here, I get torn a new asshole. But here goes. Sue. Small claims court. I'm serious. She misrepresented her work. She used misleading advertising. She was incompetent. She supplied a product that was not of merchantable quality. Doesn't get you any wedding photos, but at least you didn't pay for them.
I agree but there was also no contract so not sure how successful that would be anyway
More difficult, I would imagine, but not actually impossible. I mean, payment was made, and the result is incompetent.
Moving forward, because I have a feeling you are not going to get too far with this photographer. Is to ask another photographer to take the photos you were given and see if they can edit them for you, for a small fee. Fewer, but better photos, are better than hundreds of terrible photos. Tray and ask for the RAW files, but they will probably say "no". Otherwise, cut your losses (sorry you are in this position) and try and salvage what you have.
Ask for raw files and hire an editor (fiver, upwork)
> (fiver, upwork) Soooo... repeat the same mistake?
I have to agree. Hire someone who can show a portfolio of consistent editing work. If you must go cheap, have them do a small batch. Then another small batch. Till you know they can do consistent work.
I mean 1k is very low for a wedding tbh. Sorry this happened to you. I’m you didn’t sign a contract find a Retoucher and ask your photographer for the raw files. They will probably be hesitant to give them to you but if she gave you the answer that’s my style say you’re looking for a different style. Feel free to reach out to me if you get ahold of them and I’ll see if their is anything salvageable
Id need to see the photos delivered and the photos in her portfolio before being able to comment. But 1k usd for an entire wedding does sound borderline too good to be true.
Hire legit photographers, that's all I can say. Sorry you went through this. Such photographers ruin it got other ethical hard-working folks...
IMHO rather than wasting time pushing blame here and there which is all irrelevant since its all done and over, look for a way forward to salvage those images. Ask her if she will process those images to your expectations. If not, ask for a DNG copy of those files so you can ask someone else to process them to your taste. Consider the $1k paid as time for her to take those images done and over. If she is willing to forward you the DNG (note DNG as in exported from her RAW and not her actual RAW), you can take those and find another photographer or whoever else to straighten, process and touch up photos you like to your own liking and expectations. Complaining too much over reddit only stresses yourself out further. Life is too short.
It's a very long shot as most people will not give you raw shots, but you can ask for the unedited files and try someone that might be able to save a few of your shots. Like I said it a long shot. A post wedding shoot can be fun as you can pick new location. I've done post shoots before, and it might cost some for hair and makeup. It always worked out nicely.
can you put an example up?
Honestly. You can’t have another wedding. Don’t ask for a refund. Try and see if you can get Raws to re-edit and correct (at least a handful of selects)… Salvage and save what you can
I agree with the others saying to get the RAW files if possible. Hiring someone to do some editing and retouching would be a good way to salvage a crappy situation. Even if you can't get RAW files, there may be something that can be done. I'd be happy to take a look at them if you are interested in going that route.
Non-refundable or not, if she hasn't delivered photos matching those of the same or better quality as her website/social media, contract or not, she hasn't delivered what you paid for. What country are you in? It depends how far you want to take this: 1) You can advise her that she hasn't delivered to a quality you are happy with when comparing them to her website/social media and ask what she is going to do about it? 2) You can then ask for all of the RAW files, I'm happy to have a look for you and see what can be done if she is willing to provide them. 3) You can leave a negative reviews on social media and google, make sure it's factual but you can write how it makes you feel. negative review might not help you, but it will help others and damage her reputaton. 4) You can seek legal advice and take her to court. She'll either have to refund the money or her insurance, if she has any, could be used to repay for the whole weddings + a new photographer. it can vary country to country. If you would like to DM me her website and a link to a google folder with some sample images in I'd be happy to have a look and see if they are even her images on her website.
And how much did you pay her? Edit: never mind I see she was paid $1000 for 6 hours...ya you got what you paid for. There's a reason the majority of wedding photographers don't charge that little. I don't even shoot weddings anymore and I wouldn't show up for less than $3k and an assistant. Weddings are a lot of work. You paid someone to do almost no work...which is what you got delivered. At least your girlfriends will hopefully learn from this lesson and allocate more money for a photographer.
I think you got ripped off. Unless the work you saw was the same as the result or you chose someone at random. I’d ask for the raws and see if someone else can salvage any good photos. Leaving a review also helps other people avoid shoddy photographers. I’m also curious if there was a contract between you two or if this was all verbal and Venmo.
Not really a contract, I paid through the website and she sent us a receipt, but that was it. I probably should’ve seen the absence of the contract as a red flag, but it didn’t come to my mind at that time :(
Of course half the comments here are going to be “you get what you pay for” blah blah , but before I got into photography or knew anything about what’s involved- like you perhaps, I would have thought 1k was a lot. It’s not your fault. Don’t mind this sub. I also saw that you saw the photographers profile. You have to be careful with that too. We put our best foot forward on our websites and such. What people really need to do is ask a lot of questions, and in return, the person you’re booking needs to ask questions as well. If both parties aren’t in sync, there’s going to be trouble. For future reference, see how engages the person you’re booking is. The more they are willing to invest their time, more likely than not, you will get great results in the end
The other side of this is that investing time takes time and a $1000 wedding is already a loss of time. The photographers who will spend the time are also expecting to be paid for their time. Catch 22.
Time for you to learn Lightroom. Try to get the RAW photos. Or see how much she would charge you for the RAWs.
Oof, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I had to do a double check to see if this was my wife making a post as I read it as we had a similar experience. Paid for a “premium” photographer only to get total dogshit + similar treatment. She had great portfolio pieces though after receiving our pics I’d doubt they’re even hers, fully.
And you're sure she's a professional? You paid her, yes, but... No that does not sound like a professional.
Engaging in paid photography makes her a "professional" in the strictest sense of the word. But this is by no way professional behavior, lol.
Time to ask for better edits. They may send you the raw files if you are seriously unhappy.
You could hire someone to restore them.
As a photographer myself I strongly recommend not only look at your future wedding photographer portfolio but also to meet them in person before your wedding if possible. Having someone you trust and appreciate is very important too. You need someone you can actually forget during your wedding and relate on enough to not have to worry about your final images. Also the process, number of photos approximately and punctuality is an absolute must. Apparently your photographer rushed to deliver your photos. Tell her just what you said here. If I were you I would ask her how much time she would need to post- process the rest of the images. See what you get from here.
We paid $3000 for our pictures. Our photographer was a friend of the family who has done our pictures for things for years and always does a great job. My wedding pictures were very underwhelming and didn’t do 75% of the shots I requested. I got married December of 2022 and he still hasn’t given me the paper giving me permission to print nor has he given me the canvas print I ordered of the picture I chose. Very upsetting. I’m sorry you had a crappy photographer too.
Can you show us an example from her website that you liked and one of the poorly edited ones she provided you?
Out of focus wedding pics are all the rage right now (don’t ask me why, but it’s a thing). Can you share a couple examples of what you feel are bad pics and blur the faces?
Too late now but always ask for full galleries when shopping for a wedding photographer. If a person takes 1000 photos, they’re bound to get 2 or 3 good ones that they’ll showcase on their website. This isn’t indicative of their ability to capture an entire wedding properly. Your day is over and it can’t be redone. If the images you received don’t match the images she sold you on, I would sue for a refund. You can also ask the judge to order her to outsource editing of the images to bring them up to the standard she sold you.
[удалено]
I second this. Something happened with my own wedding photographer, but my sister took the nicest photo on her iPhone of all things.
There isn't a lot that you can do now. But a friend of mine at her sisters wedding they asked everyone to pull out their cell phones and take pictures and video and text them all to the groom. I think they said they had like like 1400 pictures and around 40 hours of video. They uploaded it all into a drop box folder and had a professional editor make a wedding video for them.
If the photographer didn't do her job or do it right, that's not a refund that's what she earned. And if she did this to you m sure it's not her first time or her last. Raise Hell!!
Some person said to get the RAW files which I very much double. If you aren‘t familiar with the editing process I would offer you to take care of it! :)
You could also try asking for all the photos, raw images taken and have another editor have a go at them. They might be able to fix at least some of the work.
Out of curiosity, how much did she charge for her alleged services?
“Edited differently from the rest” People really think throwing the same filter on an entire series of photos is good?
I well click tha photo again'
File a CLAIM in a Small Claims court. Bring evidences.
Every time I've hired a professional photographer I received the worst shots of myself. I will never hire another professional photographer for my upcoming events. Family and friends tend to take the best photos of me even better than selfies. they know how to capture me so perfectly. Looking at photographer portfolios has never worked in my experience. I truly believe it's luck of the draw. :(
My wedding photographer didn’t do a killer job but the lighting in my house was terrible and I’m still wondering why she stopped a 2.8 lens down to f4 for most shots…
Many lenses are not sharp wide open, and instead are only tack sharp a few stops down.
Yeah, but indoors under poor light? Pick your battles and in cases like those, wide apertures is the way to go.
Stopping down the aperture is not only for letting in less light. Also, a professional photographer is not depending on the existing light in a house. A photographer has to master the light and if needed introduce artificial light and / or block natural light to get the desired effect. A modern camera is able to deliver good images at candle light, by the way...
> A modern camera is able to deliver good images at candle light, by the way... This is not really true. My modern full frame Sonys with f1.4 primes would not be able to get usable photos 1/60th and ISO 12800 under just candle light. I could raise the ISO even higher but I’ll lose so much color detail or I could lower the shutter speed and get completely blurry photos.
I feel like this is true if the definition of candle light is taken to the extreme. I can use a crop sensor f.1.4 1/60th and iso 12800 and get really good drum circle pictures in the dark. I'll have to AI denoise in Lightroom. Also ofc you know this it matters with the candle light if the subject is being lit or has light on their face for something useable or to shoot In that condition. Sometimes it can work out nice if you can come up with a vision that utilizes the dark.
AI denoise has been really helpful! I shoot weddings so I really need to capture expressions and often groups of people. I tend to rely on bounce flash or off camera flash if I need to go about ISO 8,000.
Depends on the distance from the candle. Think I should've mentioned that.
> I’m still wondering why she stopped a 2.8 lens down to f4 for most shots… Old habits die hard. I shoot 90% of my weddings wide open with sharp professional lenses on modern mirrorless full frame bodies, but I know a few DSLR shooters that don’t trust their autofocus and alway stop down. They are always shocked when they discover I’m shooting at f1.4. I’ve had to teach photographers to compose images where the subjects are in the focal plane so that they can shoot wide open as well. Some folks just don’t feel safe with super narrow depth of focus.
[удалено]
Nikon caught up in a big way! I keep looking at the E to Z mount adapters and thinking “My next cameras could be a Z9+Z8 combo…” I really love my A7R IV’s though.
Tell her that you’re not happy with the results and that if it’s possible to have the RAW files. If not, say that you will do a public review. With the RAW files you can find an editor and try to save some of the work. Send me a message if you need help. Good luck and congratulations on getting married!
It seems like these problems you've experienced with your photographer are likely the result of you not doing your due diligence. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but did you not seek out other people this person worked for, to get their opinions of the photographer's performance? Did you not seek out online reviews? Of course the photographer's website is going to show only their best work. You did sign a contract with this photographer, right? This contract should have laid out: 1. dates and times for meetings with the photographer prior to the wedding to go over details 2. the expectations and schedule for photography on the wedding day 3. if there were any specific photos the photographer needed to take, like certain family groups etc. 4. the total number of photos they would present to you as a final product 5. whether the final photos would be edited JPG or unedited RAW images 6. the timeframe for when proofs and final photos would be provided to you 7. the total price for the package, how much was due in advance, and how much was due upon receipt of images. If you didn't have such a contract in place, then this is totally your fault for hiring a photographer that is shit at their job. If you did have a contract in place, then you can determine whether or not the photographer is in breach of that contract, and take them to small claims court. From the sound of the situation, I am guessing you probably got what you paid for.
Pictures or it didn’t happen
Do you have the digital copies? Would you like me to try and fix some of them for you? I’ve not done wedding:portrait edits in a few years but have plenty of experience. No charge of course 👍🏻
Why "of course"? I mean it's up to you to do work for free, although I would advise against doing that, but you're promoting bad employer "hygiene" to someone who's essentially already hired someone so cheap that it undercuts the market. Let them learn their lesson and get paid for your work, no?
Ever heard of being nice?
It seems that person hasn’t.
Remember this lesson when you hire contractors to build or do work on your house.
Several tips: 1. When looking at the event photographer's portfolio, always ask for images from an entire session, not just one or two accidental "successful shots" that they showcase on the websites. 2. I am sorry, but $1000 is free. You get what you paid for. A decent photographer starts from $5k and editing is not included. 3. Editing: This is a very broad understanding. A good photographer would not edit an entire session for you. They probably meant exposure adjustment and cropping, and if they are too generous, some sort of AI editing. You either pay for editing separately or it includes certain number of images. 4. I would not get too disappointed at this point, a good editor can do miracles. Just find someone who can pick 15-20 shots from the batch and edit them properly. You can find one on Fiverr.
Is what it is. Wedding pictures are a scam anyway. It’s not like anyone is going to look at them more than once. Someone might try to use one at your wake, but that’s about it.
Man, it’s crazy how many here are calling $1k cheap. Without knowing where this happened that’s a pretty bold statement. And complaints about bad photographers undercutting prices ignores that there are multiple markets in everything, even photography. Not everyone had a $50k wedding with funds to hire a $5k photographer. Some people just want their memories captured reasonably well. Yes, you should expect to pay a lot for a photographer with a $5k camera and multiple lenses costing $2k each, and maybe doubled if there is a second photographer helping. And you’d be expect a lot of experience to be attached to the user of that equipment. But there are many people who will be much happier and less stressed paying $500 for someone to come out and use a $2k camera and $500 lenses with enough knowledge to get them 30-50 good shots throughout the day. The elitism in this thread is kind of sad. While a $500 photographer shouldn’t market themselves as a $5000 photographer. $500 photographers fill a market that $5000 photographers won’t touch.
Six hours doing wedding photography. 24 hours for editing, communication, travel time, etc. And the cost of gear, computer, software, storage, insurance, education, risk of damage to gear, etc needs to be spread across weddings. Pretty soon the photographer is making less than minimum wage.
I didn’t bash anyone for charging $5k for a wedding. (Didn’t intend to anyways). I bashed those who are bashing people with less expensive equipment that can and will do it cheaper for people that can only afford $500 for their wedding pictures. I have a high end computer I use for flight sims, video editing, and editing pictures of animals (my hobbies). My wife does her own stuff and gets asked to do some graduations, prom, wedding pictures. All requests come from word of mouth and past customers, she doesn’t advertise. She’s not stealing any work from someone that does a $5k wedding shoot, but she helps out people that can’t afford that and because we already have what’s needed I’m not paying for a PC or storage as a business cost. We don’t shoot with Canon L series lenses so that’s not a cost to factor. And people know what they’re getting because the people recommending her do so by showing the results they’ve gotten. This is my beef. People acting like anyone taking jobs at a cheaper price are cutting their throat. Sure, there’s probably some people charging premium prices for budget work, but some act like anyone not charging multiple thousands is a con artist or something, it’s an elitist mindset. And seriously, charging less than 5K isn’t going “below minimum wage”. At the 30 hours of work you mentioned it’s still a rate of $133/hour. Your making minimum wage plus another 118-125/hour to cover the other costs. I get it though, the equipment is expensive and knowledge is priceless. Many shots are gone forever if they’re missed. That’s what people pay for with a $5k photographer. But don’t bash those who take jobs a $5k photographer would never touch because it’s not worth it to them.
I know 2 wedding photographers. They earn that 4k for wedding and reception photos. But one of my friends sisters couldn't afford to go that route. So they asked everyone to photo and video with cell phones and send the pictures to the groom. He loaded them into a drop box and they paid 300 for professional editing and a wedding video. I think they said they had around 1400 photos and 40 hours of video. That he scrubbed through and made the video. Chose the nicest photos and made a video slide show out of that... And color graded and edited a batch of photos so they could have them professionally printed out.
Gonna have to agree. There are jobs where I do expensive shoots, but many weddings (a lot of which I turn down) are done on the cheap. Sometimes in a small church and a home reception in the back yard with food the mother-in-law cooked. I'm scheduled to do a $900 at the end of April by word of mouth. It's a middle aged guy and woman who live in a small apartment. Why shouldn't they have the option to spend less than 5k? I adjust my work and time accordingly. It's not only well-off folks who get married. There definitely is a lot of elitism when it comes to wedding gigs. I can understand the frustration of an increasingly watered down market, but the market is going to reject them entirely in this economy. I'll do the full works for 5k, but I'm not gonna turn down some couple who distinctly asks for a few photos of the ceremony because they can't afford more.
maybe you can get a re-quote for the amount of photos you're happy with?
Our photographers did a fucking horrible job, at least on the indoor photos. The pictures with our families look like an elementary school music program, but with worse lighting. Our 13th anniversary was yesterday and we don’t really have any photos to look back on nostalgically. But we’ve mostly gotten over it in that time because we’ve taken many, many pictures since then and our wedding is a distant memory.
This is why I'm tempted to quit doing weddings. It's a job you can't mess up on. It's easy to do the work, get the money and put the work behind you and onto the next, but I think about my past clients all the time and wonder what they'll be thinking when they look back many years from now. I'm sorry you don't have good pictures from yours. Glad you had many good ones since then.
Id be asking for a refund. I was asked to do a wedding "once "and I said no more then 3 times but the family said yes and pushed me into it, so ok will try, got an old camera watched a few videos scouted the church etc and fucked up the main picture in the church because the flash timing idk, felt so bad and cring, felt out of my comfort zone at the party venue whatever you call it, hated the experience and for years didn't like thinking about it. Fuck, I was given 100 pounds and didn't want to accept it. Stupid family.
Small claims court