Upset Bride/Groom - Color Off

[morabid]

Hello everyone. I have been doing several wedding a year for about 5 years now and I received my first complaint this week. The bride called me after getting the photos on CD and said the pictures were dark and the color was way off. She had a "friend" color correct two and email them to me. When I got them they were extremely too magenta and very bright/washed out. I even viewed them on three computers with the same result (including my main one that is calibrated by my huey. She is using a MAC.

Is something wrong with how I am viewing them. Could it be me doing something wrong? Any advise on getting acurate color other than using a huey calibrator?

[Lizzy7]

Hi there,

I think the first thing I'd do is check to see if she is looking at them on a calibrated screen :)

[philodelphi]

Have her come to your computer to look at them.

[OdiN1701]

If you're not using a calibrated monitor, you should be.

Edit - I see you do, it seemed you didn't have one by your last statement.

I'd say it's the Mac that's messed up - possibly the color profile is wrong.

What profile did you use to save them? If you use AdobeRGB you may want to convert them over to sRGB which should be fine.

If you really want to control the final product, don't give digital files, only sell prints.

[Shootfilm]

Just print them hers and yours. You can send them quickly to walgreens or costco. For 50 cents you will get a better understanding of what is going on.

SF

[viet]

It is impossible to guess if your or her friend's monitor was correctly calibrated. Why not post both your & her shots up here and we'll help? It's a photo forum, ya know.

Hello everyone. I have been doing several wedding a year for about 5 years now and I received my first complaint this week. The bride called me after getting the photos on CD and said the pictures were dark and the color was way off. She had a "friend" color correct two and email them to me. When I got them they were extremely too magenta and very bright/washed out. I even viewed them on three computers with the same result (including my main one that is calibrated by my huey. She is using a MAC.

Is something wrong with how I am viewing them. Could it be me doing something wrong? Any advise on getting acurate color other than using a huey calibrator?

[cdifoto]

Is something wrong with how I am viewing them. Could it be me doing something wrong? Any advise on getting acurate color other than using a huey calibrator?
Maybe. There could also be something wrong with how SHE is viewing them. Post a sample of what you provided her with and also a sample of what she sent back to you "edited".

This is also why I have disclaimers and educate my clients about why they shouldn't futz with the photos. They're more receptive to this information if you put emphasis on it being about them having a quality print and not on it being about your reputation at stake.

[mackb]

This brings up a good topic that maybe I can search for more on my own, but a question for everyone is: if you sell a disk of images do you provide them with AdobeRGB and SRGB? To the OP, I've had this issue once and I realized I was using my calibrated monitor, but my eye and not the histogram in my editing program (I use LR). It's an easy fix to reopen all the RAW files and give each one 1sec exposure adj while viewing the histogram. I can see the "color of PP" be subjective, but if a client says they are dark thats a problem. I'd love to see some of the images posted here.

[cdifoto]

sRGB. aRGB just complicates things.

[_Jo_]

This is why I ALWAYS print off a few of my faves to go with the CD. I also tell each client that every monitor is different and my monitor shows them as they are intended to look.

This is the only downfall of the digital age I guess.

[Valjoy]

I am with Jo on this one....I always print just a couple of images after each wedding.
Monitors can be so different. Where they get their prints done can also vary greatly.
Get a couple printed...then you will have more of an idea whether it is your monitor or hers.
good luck cheers Val

[lil_miss]

We've got a 6x4 size info sheet that goes with our discs which has a blurb similar to above - suggesting places to print them and that colour can vary between screens etc and shops and if they have any concerns then come back to us and we'll print them.

Since doing this a few months ago, I've heard last week of a lady who had a full blown argument with a shop that wanted to 'correct' our images because they were too magenta and so he added yellow.. even she could clearly see the grass that should be green was yellow yet he was adamant it was 'correct'. She refused to pay and he got all angry with her and told her she was ignorant etc.. lol.. I asked her where she went to get them done and did she get our info sheet, and the place was some where I'd never heard of.. she admitted that she didnt think there would be 'that' much difference between print labs, and will now think twice about where to go.. lol

She rang me just to let me know in case i have a list of 'blacklisted' shops.. hahaha

People just have no idea how different it can be, so the more you can educate them the better :)

[tim]

Have her come to your office/studio to view the images on your calibrated monitor. Have prints of your image and the "corrected" image from a pro lab to show her.

[vibin247]

It's always a problem since clients typically don't have calibrated monitors. As far as the printing, it's a known fact that all labs print different from each other. They could be using the same exact equipment and paper, but still could produce entirely different results. I do get work sometimes that doesn't require any adjusting at all (I manage a photo lab). If you can't sell the printing to the client, recommend her to a lab that will provide good service as well as quality work.

BTW, on the lab tech that PO'ed that lady with their printing, they should've added green before yellow as it neutralizes the magenta cast ;)

[lil_miss]

Or they should have left them as they were ;P lol she didnt ask him to fix them... he just thought he knew best..

Apparently he's pi$$ed off many a customer with police and security often having been called.. she found out after talking to the mall management and other surrounding stores.. so he must do things often hah

[londonblue007]

Or they should have left them as they were ;P lol she didnt ask him to fix them... he just thought he knew best..

Apparently he's pi$$ed off many a customer with police and security often having been called.. she found out after talking to the mall management and other surrounding stores.. so he must do things often hah


I had this happen to me when I had my wedding photos printed. The shop (lets just say it's a US chain that may or may not have gone bankrupt this year) printed my wedding photos, but edited them before hand. They brightened every one, and did some color correction and then denied doing it. I had a bunch of the photos on my blackberry, and pulled them up, showing how the brightening blew out the sky and ruined several "atmosphere" shots. Then showed them how the PP they did ruined the look of my wife's dress, made my blue suit look black, and turned my pink tie red.....

It was quite an argument and they still seemed to not get that they were doing anything wrong as the reply they gave me was "It's a corporate policy. Photographer's don't know how things will print, so we have to fix their editing mistakes". The funny part of this is my photographer is a college professor of photography and only shoots digital for weddings... the rest of the time he shoots film and processes/prints ALL of his own film work. He even prints 8x10 prints from the digital files in his print shop at the college. I would suppose if anyone would know how a photo is suppose to look when it is printed, it'd be someone like him.

[PMCphotography]

You might offer to calibrate her monitor.

[zincozinco]

Is something wrong with how I am viewing them. Could it be me doing something wrong? Any advise on getting acurate color other than using a huey calibrator?

when you give images away to clients, give them jpg in sRGB, that way it will look more or less on all screens. if she then wants to make prints on her own with the sRGB - the place where she goes will have to deal with it. in any case you know it will look good on her home computer.