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10/15/2009 08:46:48 PM · #1 |
So0o0o0o, I did a wedding a few months ago..
The bride is now complaining there is not enough photos. I gave them over 270. I post them on my site, send them a disk of the photos and a few sample prints.
I don't give out/publish any of my work that I feel that is not acceptable. Like OOF shots, underexposed, over exposed, noisy, group shots with someones eyes closed, redundant photos ( I pick out the best ones and get rid of the others) and etc...
She never mentioned it before, til now. She wanted more candids photos of her dad and mom together (they're divorced and moved on). IME, that is almost impossible to capture a divorced couple that have moved on and remarried. So the brides dad is a ghost other than the ceremony and formals.
The bride also claims to be a photographer. Of course, I'd ask her the question, "If you were the photographer, would you want all your unacceptable photos be published and released?"
I didn't think so...
FWIW, I got only paid $400 not all for me, I still got to pay my assistant.
But since I am fairly inexperience with weddings (I have been doing other types of events for years). I'd like to try to find a happy medium though, if that is even possible.
What do you think I ought to do? Your opinions/advice?
Thanks in advance
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10/15/2009 08:56:48 PM · #2 |
some of the people part of the time
part of the people some of the time
all of the people none of the time
forget it and move on |
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10/15/2009 09:01:48 PM · #3 |
If she's bitching about it, I agree with David, forget it and move on.
If she had been nice about it, and really was interested in "not as good photos", understanding that they're not up to your standards, but really wanted more shots to remember the day, then I'd sell the others at a discounted price. But if she's taking the bitchy, complaining road, there's absolutely no way that I would do anything about it. If she's starting out complaining, she'd just complain that they're not good enough, and would probably complain about the quality of your work to other people. There are just some people you cannot please. |
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10/15/2009 09:10:22 PM · #4 |
As the groom said, "She just hates the world".
Thanks
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10/15/2009 09:10:57 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by ben4345:
... a wedding a few months ago.. |
Hasn't the statute of limitations expired? ;-)
You could tell her that the other photos are gone (if you want to lie), or perhaps watermark all the other photos with a big "Rejected" stamped across them ... maybe say that less-than-really good photos get charged at three times the usual rate.
At $400 for coverage by two photographers and providing images on disk I think you are already undercharging by about 5 times the typical fees ... |
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10/15/2009 09:16:09 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by ben4345:
As the groom said, "She just hates the world".
Thanks |
If the groom said that, I think it sums it all up.
Just tell her no. Or that you deleted the originals.
For what you got paid, and what you've already given her, she's got no right to be complaining.
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10/15/2009 09:43:45 PM · #7 |
sounds like she has a problem not you. For one you gave her a great bargain to shoot her wedding. You also, I am sure, gave her wonderful pics of the festivities. Just tell her to suck it up and drive on. That's harsh but what does she expect, a refund. $ 400 is cheap and she needs to get over it.
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10/15/2009 10:16:42 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by ben4345:
As the groom said, "She just hates the world". |
Maybe you can include them as a bonus on the CD of the divorce court photos ... ;-) |
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10/15/2009 10:39:01 PM · #9 |
| Reading between the lines I think the bad pictures have already been erased. If so, maybe that's a takehome to never erase anything from a wedding. You can tell her they have been erased, but don't actually do it. ;) |
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10/15/2009 10:55:31 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Reading between the lines I think the bad pictures have already been erased. If so, maybe that's a takehome to never erase anything from a wedding. You can tell her they have been erased, but don't actually do it. ;) |
I haven't actually deleted the photos yet..
Though, I might as well as they are worthless to publish.
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10/15/2009 11:33:57 PM · #11 |
Offer to do a follow-up "trash the dress" photo session at the beach and maybe her divorced parents will come along for additional shots too...;-)
Get fabulous intimate sunset photos of her and the hubby and charge 3x the price of her wedding.
Make the most of this opportunity...;-)
::Edited for spelling::
Message edited by author 2009-10-15 23:34:42. |
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10/15/2009 11:46:18 PM · #12 |
| One thing you don't want for sure is her spreading a bad rep about you and the services your do or don't provide. Make her as happy as you can and move on. Just make sure that on the next one you create a contract that has something in there about your situation here now. That way future clients can read and understand the amount of pictures they will be getting. |
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10/16/2009 12:18:27 AM · #13 |
| The person I feel sorry for is her husband... |
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10/16/2009 01:04:52 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by Dirt_Diver:
One thing you don't want for sure is her spreading a bad rep about you and the services your do or don't provide. Make her as happy as you can and move on. Just make sure that on the next one you create a contract that has something in there about your situation here now. That way future clients can read and understand the amount of pictures they will be getting. |
If she's going to talk smack about me, I already can imagine the conversation...
Bride: Don't go to this photog!
potential client: why?
bride: he didn't give me enough photos
potential client: how many did he give you?
bride: over 270, a disk, some sample prints, and bring an assistant
potential client: hmm, how much did you pay him?
bride: $400
potential client: really? That's cheap!
potential client: how did his photos come out?
bride: There good, but not enough of them!
potential client: Well, $400 isn't much you know, what do you expect anyways.
potential client: Atleast your photos came out
did you have a prior agreement of how many photos he suppose to give you?
bride: no
potential client: uh huh... *starts thinking how dumb the bride is...
And so on it goes...
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10/16/2009 02:12:22 AM · #15 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
The person I feel sorry for is her husband... |
exactly, its strange and a little sad that he already has this opinion of her general attitude yet he only just married her, obviously he wears the dress...
as was said before, do what u can to make her happy within ur own morals, its easy to tell her to go f**k herself, thats what id wanna do, but whatever u do or say she will get over but it may affect ur business for a long time, so do what u can (within reason) regardless of how absurd a bitch she happens to be |
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10/16/2009 02:37:58 AM · #16 |
And they all lived happily ever after...except for the photographer. If we as photographers are going to put up with this continually...and im sure we all have had this before...at least get paid well for doing so as long as the work is on standard. Put you head down and do what you know you do well. Move on.
Message edited by author 2009-10-16 02:41:10. |
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10/16/2009 04:13:08 AM · #17 |
The key to any service is to discuss with your client what it is you are going to deliver; number, type and style of pictures etc.
Put it in writing in the form of a contract and get your client to sign it.
When she complains you simply refer to the contract.
As for offering to do trash the dress.... NOOOOOO.
She sounds very much like she will just complain about anything anyone does so simply cut and run
My guess is that you won't be the only service provider at that wedding who is getting complaints |
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10/16/2009 05:46:31 AM · #18 |
Originally posted by Dirt_Diver:
One thing you don't want for sure is her spreading a bad rep about you and the services your do or don't provide. Make her as happy as you can and move on. Just make sure that on the next one you create a contract that has something in there about your situation here now. That way future clients can read and understand the amount of pictures they will be getting. |
Originally posted by ben4345:
If she's going to talk smack about me, I already can imagine the conversation...
Bride: Don't go to this photog!
potential client: why?
bride: he didn't give me enough photos
potential client: how many did he give you?
bride: over 270, a disk, some sample prints, and bring an assistant
potential client: hmm, how much did you pay him?
bride: $400
potential client: really? That's cheap!
potential client: how did his photos come out?
bride: There good, but not enough of them!
potential client: Well, $400 isn't much you know, what do you expect anyways.
potential client: Atleast your photos came out
did you have a prior agreement of how many photos he suppose to give you?
bride: no
potential client: uh huh... *starts thinking how dumb the bride is...
And so on it goes... |
Heed your own advice......realize that as far as this........Witch is concerned, you've already come up short on a job that you didn't get paid enough for in the first place.
You shot the wedding and gave her the appropriate images.
You cannot help ir that she's decided now that it wasn't enough.
You're done.......Move on.
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10/16/2009 06:30:02 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
Originally posted by Dirt_Diver:
One thing you don't want for sure is her spreading a bad rep about you and the services your do or don't provide. Make her as happy as you can and move on. Just make sure that on the next one you create a contract that has something in there about your situation here now. That way future clients can read and understand the amount of pictures they will be getting. |
Originally posted by ben4345:
If she's going to talk smack about me, I already can imagine the conversation...
Bride: Don't go to this photog!
potential client: why?
bride: he didn't give me enough photos
potential client: how many did he give you?
bride: over 270, a disk, some sample prints, and bring an assistant
potential client: hmm, how much did you pay him?
bride: $400
potential client: really? That's cheap!
potential client: how did his photos come out?
bride: There good, but not enough of them!
potential client: Well, $400 isn't much you know, what do you expect anyways.
potential client: Atleast your photos came out
did you have a prior agreement of how many photos he suppose to give you?
bride: no
potential client: uh huh... *starts thinking how dumb the bride is...
And so on it goes... |
Heed your own advice......realize that as far as this........Witch is concerned, you've already come up short on a job that you didn't get paid enough for in the first place.
You shot the wedding and gave her the appropriate images.
You cannot help ir that she's decided now that it wasn't enough.
You're done.......Move on. |
I understand people recommending that you do what you can to make her happy. But:
1. you won't make her happy anyway
2. All she can complain about now is not enough photos. Even if you give her more, she can start complaining about the quality, and now you have less than publishable pictures out there for her to show to while she's complaining. It's safer to have her b**ch about lack than to have substandard photos out for people to see. |
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10/16/2009 07:17:36 AM · #20 |
Been thinking about this a bit...
Give her 2 x disc's with 270 images on. The way she has been complaining makes me believe she might not even notice the difference. She's happy and you give her more than what she expected...hopefully |
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10/16/2009 07:38:44 AM · #21 |
I think I paid $750 for two photographers and got 500 pics. But most of the pics were like 5 - 10 pics of the same pose. So in reality I probably got around 300-350 individual photos. So if your pictures are all individual, she got a lot of photos for the price.
Did she specify up front about the photos of her parents? Did she then inform her parents of her desire? If you got one good posed picture of them and one or two of them smiling in the same scene together at the reception, I think you did a great job fulfilling her desires! Be firm, don't offer her anything (unless it's a paid follow up gig.) and don't worry. One person can't do much damage to your rep. |
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10/16/2009 07:43:56 AM · #22 |
I wouldn't worry about it and move on. Don't give her any additional pictures if they aren't something you would want associated with your name. If she's complaining now, what do you think she'll show everyone if she gets her hands on a photo that is substandard?
I would also make sure you have a contract next time stating what you will and will not do for the wedding and what coverage is provided. You can also include a statement about not providing photos that don't meet technical standards. |
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10/16/2009 07:51:42 AM · #23 |
Originally posted by EL-ROI:
I think I paid $750 for two photographers and got 500 pics. But most of the pics were like 5 - 10 pics of the same pose. So in reality I probably got around 300-350 individual photos. So if your pictures are all individual, she got a lot of photos for the price.
Did she specify up front about the photos of her parents? Did she then inform her parents of her desire? If you got one good posed picture of them and one or two of them smiling in the same scene together at the reception, I think you did a great job fulfilling her desires! Be firm, don't offer her anything (unless it's a paid follow up gig.) and don't worry. One person can't do much damage to your rep. |
Again I come back to a contract. My contract clearly states that I'm not responsible for missing any shots of people who aren't available or if nobody points them out to me. It's simply put in there to cover my butt for things like this, and not to get out of doing a good job. I also asked the bride months before the wedding who would be pointing out the VIPs (when we went through contract), then a week before, and then at rehearsal. |
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10/16/2009 08:13:09 AM · #24 |
($400 / 270photos) = $1.48/photo
I can't even get that good a deal in one of those coin-operated booths in the mall hallway.
Clearly, your client is insane. :-O
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10/16/2009 08:32:22 AM · #25 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by ben4345:
As the groom said, "She just hates the world". |
Maybe you can include them as a bonus on the CD of the divorce court photos ... ;-) |
LOL!!!! |
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