Retouching another photogs photos

[OversighT]

I'm in a strange situation. A friend of mine has asked me to edit her wedding photos that another photographer took. I looked at a few and they are really bad. The photographer shot digital, but didn't take any time to edit the photos...many of which need boat loads of editing to be considered keepers. I was shocked to see what this photographer gave her.

What's the etiquette for this type of situation? I know the original photog has the copyrights, but my friend has no desire to contact him and ask him to do the editing. Perhaps I need to see if she signed a contract (I'm assuming she did) and what the terms were. If I am able to edit them for her, what should I charge? She has 200-250 photos she wants edited.

Thanks for reading.

T.

[Bill Huber]

I think you are on the right track, read the contract.

If she does not have the rights to the photos then you can not edit them.

I do feel that the photographer should be contacted and held accountable for doing good work, if she doesn't then he will just keep putting out bad work on the next one.

On my daughter's wedding a year ago, she went over all the pictures and the ones she wanted fixed or changed he did it with no questions ask.

[Xposure Photo]

Well, it is the old saying.."you get what you paid for" and "the cheap becomes expensive" <--- spanish saying...

More tham likely she wanted a cheap price so it did not include retouching abd it would be extra unless the photographer does not offer it bc he/she does not know how to...I personally include minor retouchings to all photos before I actually deliver them to my customers to make sure my work goes out correct.

Even though she may have the rights to print does not mean she has the rights to edit them, make sure the photographer gives her a release stating that is ok for her to edit her pics herself ot contract some one elso to do so if she wants to. If the photographer offers retouching, he.she may not like someone else making $$$ of his/her work, so there may be stipulations to it, but get it on writting before you do anything with it.

As far as retouching charges, depending on your expertise, friendship, etc, you can charge anywhere from $25-100/hour, or you van figure out a per image charge, just make sure it covers your time, expenses (location, light bill, computer depreciation, CDs, gas to and from, etc.) and profit, unless you want to give her a gift, but to re-touch 250 images of another photographer for free, I would have rather shoot the Wedding for free myself LOL

[OversighT]

Originally Posted by Xposure Photo

Well, it is the old saying.."you get what you paid for" and "the cheap becomes expensive" <--- spanish saying...

More tham likely she wanted a cheap price so it did not include retouching abd it would be extra unless the photographer does not offer it bc he/she does not know how to...I personally include minor retouchings to all photos before I actually deliver them to my customers to make sure my work goes out correct.

Quite the contrary...she paid about $2000 for the photographer. Even if you consider that cheap the photos delivered to her were far below the quality that my wife and I received from our photographer and we paid less. She is contacting the photographer now because she found the contract and it states that the photographer retains the copyrights. Maybe he'll do the right thing and fix up the photos for her for free, but I'll bet he will charge her. I'll keep you posted.


T.

[Xposure Photo]

OUCH ! ! !

Yes, Probably retouching may be extra, that is the diference beween Film and Digital...in the film days you drop the film and the Pro lab will adjust everything for you and you get great prints...in the digital era, if you want to hand out the CD, you must know how to adjust it yourself (lighting, contrast, etc.) before it hits the customer, otherwise, send it to the lab, the pro lab will adjust lighting etc. on digital just like they do film (given that it is not too bad taken) and you end up with great prints, but the files will still be the same and you will hope it will be adjusted the next time again by the same eyes, etc. that is why it is better to adjust the file so the lab does not have to and you can keep the same quality all the way thru the job.

So is Digital cheaper and easier??? Bad concept.

[ndsimm]

Originally Posted by OversighT

[
Quite the contrary...she paid about $2000 for the photographer.

T.

2 grand!!! :shock: double ouch. If I understand most copyrights and the fact that she paid for the CD so she has rights to reprint, if you are not altering the images for reasons other than quality (i.e. excessive crops, digital manipulation, etc.) you should be OK. If she were to take the CD to a lab to be printed, they would lighten, adjust contrast, etc...just as she is asking you to. I would still contact the original photographer and demand better quality. Before I even send my images to print (like all of us here), I post process. why shoot digital if you are not going to take the time to make the image better?

On a side note....time for me to raise my prices

[OversighT]

Originally Posted by ndsimm

2 grand!!! :shock: double ouch.

That's exactly what I was thinking. The good news is the photographer has given her permission to alter the photos as she desires. So now I need to determine a fair price.


T.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by OversighT

That's exactly what I was thinking. The good news is the photographer has given her permission to alter the photos as she desires. So now I need to determine a fair price.


T.

Hmmm...let's see. $2K for unusable pics. I'd say at least that much for usable ones!

Seriously, determine how many she wants to salvage and then go from there. No sense in "fixing" them all...

[MyKey]

What a crap photographer! We have quite a few weddings (say 85%) that go over the 2 grand mark but I could not live with myself knowing I gave a crap product to someone for that kind of money. Very unprofessional at bear min.

Glad to see he/she at least gave permission to alter the photos. Good luck!

[OversighT]

Originally Posted by LoungeLizard

Seriously, determine how many she wants to salvage and then go from there. No sense in "fixing" them all...

Good idea. I'll sit down with her and go over all of them and see how many she wants done. It'll help me figure out how much time I'll be spending editing.


T.

[ndsimm]

BTW, congrats..it either says a lot about your work or your friendship for her to ask you to do this.....above all, don't be afraid to charge what you are worth

[OversighT]

Originally Posted by ndsimm

BTW, congrats..it either says a lot about your work or your friendship for her to ask you to do this.....above all, don't be afraid to charge what you are worth

Thanks Nathan. I recently did a maternity shoot with her and she was really impressed with the photos and that spawned this work. Retouching/editing other's photos isn't a business I'd really like to get into, but her photog did such a poor job. Just a little cropping here or USM there would give her much better photos to put in an album.


T.

[ShutteredEye]

Good lord, at 2 grand, 200 images, that's 10 bucks an image!!!!!!!!!!! With no post processing!?!?!

[OversighT]

Originally Posted by mountainlander

Good lord, at 2 grand, 200 images, that's 10 bucks an image!!!!!!!!!!! With no post processing!?!?!

Pretty sad huh?


T.

[MyKey]

VERY SAD. Makes me made, since I am in the business, people like that give us all a bad name. At a min. we give our clients 500-800 pictures a min of 30-40 post-processed, any others of their choosen, they just need to let us know, proof books, and prints. Yeah it is sad, very very sad! I wish I knew who this photographer was so I would NEVER pass anyone too him/her.