Emailing a complaint to another photographer

[musicmaster]

So at my graudation in May, there was a company hired to shoot all of the photos (three poses, one in line waiting for the deploma, one in front of an american flag, and one shaking the dean's hand)

They were using Nikon D40's (lowest possible), the 18-55 and a Nikon SB600 flash, with no diffuser may I add.

Needless to say the photos were horrible.

Color balance was off (although a 2 minute fix in photoshop helped some), the angle which they got when actually recieving the deploma from the dean, you couldn't even see the dean, just part of the back of his head.

Anyways, would it be appropiate to professionally critisize them for this. The photos weren't cheap either ($12/per 4x6 + shipping and handling).

Thankfully, I was able to scan each of the 4x6 (we only got one of each pose) photoshopped the correct colors (as correct as I could get from a scanned image) and reprinted them myself so they werent completely ruined.

[bacchanal]

It might be more effective to complain to the people who hired the company. If enough people complain, maybe they won't be back next year.

[Gary_Evans]

I shoot some graduations in the UK and you have to bear in mind what the photographer is going through.

He/She may have been told where to stand, they may be freelance and ave to use the equipmemt provided, there may be 100's of photos to go through and to get them to the clients quickly they may have been batch processed in which case the occasional one with bad colours may slip through.

That said, I pride myself on the fact that we try and offer a superior product to our competitors and employ a customer services lady to deal with any problems that do occur ............... so long as they are genuine.

If you contacted us saying something along the lines of "I am a photographer", "I corrected your images" or "I scanned them" I would simply ignore you as you are being a smart-arse.

So no, dont professionally criticise them, just raise your case in a civil way as a regular customer and I am sure that you will get a better result in the end.

[KYmom]

It might be more effective to complain to the people who hired the company. If enough people complain, maybe they won't be back next year.


I agree, they already have their money so they don't care after the fact.

[Gatorboy]

Thankfully, I was able to scan each of the 4x6 (we only got one of each pose) photoshopped the correct colors (as correct as I could get from a scanned image) and reprinted them myself so they werent completely ruined.

I'm sure he would be very receptive to "You suck, and I violated your copyright."

[_aravena]

^Quite. Although I'd be sure to get someone to read over whatever you may write. Sorry about the photo of the Dean and you diploma. Sucks for such a moment to be ruined.

[basroil]

If the photos were bad, and you purchased a package before being able to see the photos, I would take it up with the company for a refund, and also talk to other parents about it. If there is a better business bureau in your area (since your profile says IL, the answer is yes), I would lodge a formal complaint with them too. Rather than a professional to a professional, the complaint should be made as a customer to a service provider, because the customer is always right (unless we just say we won't do the service).

[Gatorboy]

They were using Nikon D40's (lowest possible), the 18-55 and a Nikon SB600 flash, with no diffuser may I add.

Perhaps there were no walls close by, and the ceiling was extremely high -- so the diffuser wouldn't do much good.

Were you forced to purchase?

[Kenski]

Just because they had a lower end DSLR doesn't mean it can't take pictures. My photographer for my wedding took a couple pictures with OUR point and shoot (at the time) of us and I couldn't believe the camera could take such good pictures. its not about gear.... In this case, it sounds like the shooter was the problem BUT like posted above, he was probably told to stand in a certain place.

[Sledhed]

I'm sure he would be very receptive to "You suck, and I violated your copyright."

That's exactly what I thought.

[jaypie77]

If you care that much, try to outbid them for next year's contract.

[metalpam]

My graduation photos were horrible, too. I didn't buy them. If I hadn't had lots of photos with family, though...I would have been pissed. I would complain to the company that hired them. Just let them know that the equipment was low-grade, the balance was off, and that they might SELL MORE PHOTOS next year with better photographers.

Make sure you put in the whole "you'll make more money" part. You might not regain your moment, but you'll spare the next graduating class from butchered photos.

[bham]

I used to work for a company that did quite a few graduations. They are shooting a large volume in a short period of time. Many of the "photographers" they usually hire aren't really photographers but are college students they get to work for pretty cheap and all the equipment is owned by the company. The company is usually not paid at all by the school, and they make all their money from sales. They only shoot jpg and try not to do any post processing, they leave it up to the lab.

The company I worked for, the owner was pretty good and made sure and did many test shots prior to the ceremony to try and fine tune the settings, but once the ceremony started there isn't time to change anything on the cameras, or you would miss some people. All the ceremonies I shot were indoors so the lighting really didn't change.

When working a couple grads we shot near 500 grads in an hour, that is a grad every 10 seconds. Not every shot is gonna be great with that much volume.

[Halliday]

If you care that much, try to outbid them for next year's contract.
I agree.
Making $ at photography is harder than it looks.