Recent Engagement Photos

[smseeley]

Ok, this is the first time I have posted pictures for a critique. This couple was really easy going and fun to work with. Please let me know what you think about the poses and also post processing. Thanks! Even name is Dillard and password is 12206.

https://momentshare.com/lab/album.ph...=20&image_cat=

[Wes]

Hmmmm...

First critique - provide a user name and password if you want comments on your photos.

Other than that, they look GREAT!

[smseeley]

Ok, I'm a little upset...the people in the engagement photos above are very upset because I took around 200 frames at the photo shoot but only posted 27. Personally I thought 27 final pictures was a little to many, but they were expecting 200 final pictures!!! I guess I should have specified that even though I took 200 shots they would not be getting that many, but I thought that was common sense. So, she ordered a CD and she wants all 200 on the cd!! What do I do? I can't give her all 200 because in a lot of them their expressions look, well, bad! Thats why I took soo many!! And to top it off, my prices are very low ($30 sitting fee + $50 for a CD) because I just started doing this as a business. Is this price reasonable for the 27 I did give them? It would take me forever to post proces all 200!

Ugh, very frustrated!

[smseeley]

Oh yeah a password!!! Event name is Dillard and password is 12206.

[LadyShutterBug]

explain to her that some of the images are not up to your standard-- not what you want to present as your professional work. what she sees are the "final iamges". you are hte photographer. you are the professional. you give her the final product that you wish to deliver-- do not start out in business by letting the customer push you to do things you'd rather not do :)

and never tell them how many pictures you took during a session.

[Silvernic]

Some fill flash would really improve a lot of the shots. A few more full body shots. And don't be afraid to get a little crazy with them.

As far as #s go, I usually aim for about 50 shots for them to preview, but I do charge a lot more than you. Don't be selling your self short on your pricing. If you are worth more, then charge more!

[KeepsakeGirl]

Originally Posted by LadyShutterBug

explain to her that some of the images are not up to your standard-- not what you want to present as your professional work. what she sees are the "final iamges". you are hte photographer. you are the professional. you give her the final product that you wish to deliver-- do not start out in business by letting the customer push you to do things you'd rather not do :)

and never tell them how many pictures you took during a session.

I agree. A professional photographer would never hand over images that don't represent their very best . You don't want funky images ending up out there just because they expected a certain number. Never promise a certain number of proofs and you'll be fine :)

[photobykim]

Originally Posted by LadyShutterBug

and never tell them how many pictures you took during a session.

I second that!! and agree with the others.

[smseeley]

In the future I will definately not tell how many frames I took. I guess this is part of the learning and growing process.

Ok, I just got another email from them and they want all of the uneditted pics posted on their online gallery! Is this common practice to post uneditted pics?

So what do you think about the actual pictures?

[Silvernic]

No way baby. Tell them that your computer ate the extras. Maybe agree to a few more, but you can't post them all.

[LadyShutterBug]

just sayno.

"I prefer to present final images that represent my standard of quality. The remaining images are duplicates of what you see represented in your gallery, and are unedited. Is there a specific photo that you're looking for?"

[smseeley]

Originally Posted by LadyShutterBug

just sayno.

"I prefer to present final images that represent my standard of quality. The remaining images are duplicates of what you see represented in your gallery, and are unedited. Is there a specific photo that you're looking for?"

That is actually what I said to her about 5 minutes ago :) I even offered to reprocess any photo where she did not the effect. And I am so hurt...she replied back and said that she spoke with some brides on a forum on The Knot and they said that they got every single photo taken from their engagement photos. She said I could either put all 200 on a cd for her or destroy her check!! She also said she told the brides on the Knot "what I have done" therefore giving me a bad reputation. And to top it all off, I was going to shoot her wedding, but now she said she will not be using me for her wedding because of what I have done. and yes at this point I literally am crying. So be honest, are the pictures really that bad?

[photobykim]

I personally do not think they are bad. This does not seem to be a question about your work. I think some of the poses are really cute and creative. Some are very classic engagements poses. I'm not a total expert, but they're good. and it doesn't seem to be an issue of the quality with her, it's the quantity. There is no reason for you to have to sit and process all of those images, when your first instict was those were the best.

I'm sorry that she is trying to pull all of that out from under you honey. Those brides probably think they got all their images, as photographers, we know they didn't. Tell her that you delete the unusables, there is no way she can get all 200. They have to understand that there are multiples of the same image and they hired you trusting you know what you're doing and that you picked the BEST image that you want to represent your work and that represents them the best. I wish I could tell you something else that would make you feel better about this. You just got a bridezilla x3. She should not be pitching a fit over the rest of the images, when she hired you she hired you for your talent, work, and faith that you knew what you're doing. Ok so you slipped up and told her how many images. I did that one time too, because we were shooting for about 1 1/2 hrs and the groom to be said wow how many images have you shot, I feel like it's over 1000...it was causal conversation so I didn't think anything of it and replied, no probably around 250 or whatever it was. So later on after they were process and there was not 250 the bride said what happened, I told her we did several shots of the same pose, different angles, etc. I picked the best ones. I was lucky and she let it go after that. But had she not I would have told her the others were deleted. I dont keep what I dont use. If I did that my computer would crash or I would have a lot of useless cds.

BIG HUGS!!

[sbp]

In my view she is over with you don't worry about it. It is not going to get any better by taking tension. You learn very good experience very early then few us gets in middle with high end customer.

I will not worry about it. I know it is hard but you have to let it go.

I have given someone full cd to choose photo as knowing that I know her very well and wedding was in June still no word. I called her three time and figure out that that was lost case. I think that was just two fun day.

[smseeley]

Thank you so much Kimberly! That makes me feel a lot better. I know I made my mistake when I told her I had taken around 200 frames, and yes this was also in casual conversation. At least I have learned something from all this: don't tell them how many pics you took!