Photo editing...

[JHoughton]

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way that I can get photos edited. My best friend had her wedding photos done by a "friend" who happens to be a photographer. They turned out to be completely unprofessional. They sent the bride completely unedited photos! The photographer had made a lot of promises and then didn't follow through after the bride graciously paid her. Needless to say I am kind of in a bind. I didn't know if it was maybe unethical to edit someone elses work but I thought I would give it a shot.

[Paulo]

Good luck, Jill. I believe something similar to this came up on the thread a while back. There's a lot of people with reasonable post processing skills but the main issue your friend may come across is copyright of the images by photographer that actually captured the images. I'm not a lawyer so I could be wrong. Did she sign a contract with the photographer specifiying conditions of use of the images captured?

[JHoughton]

haha no...like I said it was a "friend"... The photographer actually sent the bride an extra copy of the photos on a CD to give them to someone else to edit them... it is a really crappy situation...

[Paulo]

Really!? What a strange way to do business. So he's ok with the bride going to someone else to edit his images? Did he give her anything in writing regarding being ok with or was it all verbal? If not, have your friend request something in writing from the photographer, even if they're "friends". I think she'll have access to more help, if people know they're not going to later get in trouble for processing someone else's work. It's protection in case their 'friendship' turns sour later and try to find ways to retaliate against her and the person(s) that ends up editing her images.

[daveb]

Jill I sent you a pm

[JHoughton]

Thanks Paolo! Oh don't worry the photographer was actually a friend of mine...I was the maid of honor! But the friendship has already gone sour! I am drafting a copyright release as we speak!

[boxofrocks]

I wonder if the "friend" was paid. There a lot of paid photographers that give you a CD ad tell you to do with it what you like--some for around $600 and up, and they don't include editing.

She'll probably need to pay someone to have it done well. I wish I could help, but I'm so busy in that regard right now I'm having to subcontract some work myself.

[lscottpht]

If you need someone, there is a great person out in McKinney named Courtney. She was used by Huy Nguyen at F8 Studios and also works with Brooks Whittington. She is not cheap, normally around $200-250 for around 400 images, I think, but that is for decent ones. If they were shot in jpeg and require a lot of work, it would be more. If you decide to go this route, let me know, and I will get you her info.

[CaptainTom]

What do you mean by "unedited". Are they in RAW mode ? Are there just plain lousy photos in the bunch ?? Do they need to all be color corrected, sized, cropped, levels adjustment, dodged, burned, framed ?
I've done jobs where the client wanted the "unedited" images. I never send crappy photos, and will make sure the images that are sent are at least color correct, etc.

Depends on what the original agreement was I think, before I can buy into the "bad photographer" label.