Fiancee Says I Don't Like The Why I Look

Did an engagement session this past Sunday and shot 220 photos. She was pleased with my attention to detail and the time I spent with then both close to 2 1/2 hours. They signed the contract and paid the full fee in cash. I was shocked at this and told them they only needed to pay a deposit or retainer at 50%. They insisted they wanted it out of the way. I did the shoot and all went well.

Until I got a call this morning from him that she only liked 10% of the photos and the rest "she did not like the way she looked" and mentioned her hair which she had done the day before. We were down by the lake so it was windy and cold, still snow around and he had to carry her on her high heels across the snow and ice.

As I want to make my client happy I have offered to redo the session and spend 1 more hour, until I get some specifics which I have asked for I am at a loss with this one. I rather find out now what her statement means before we go to the wedding. I also think I shot too many photos. I am sure we have all had this type of occurrence and would like to know how you handled it.

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I hope you did not deliver 220 .. It is a LOT .. 30 to 40 is more than enough IMO. As far as these images, They look disconnected in the first one and should at least be looking at each other. The lower one has a plant in his face. So I would not be happy with wither of these if I were the client.


Personally I would schedule a consultation and review the images with her and see EXACTLY why she is not happy and what her issues are. You certainly do not want to go into her wedding guessing what she does not like.

Best of luck to you

Like Scorpio, I hope you didn't deliver all 220 shots. Delivering too many illustrates a major misunderstanding of client psychology. It's a lot of work perusing through hundreds of shots. In the case of an engagement shoot, there's not much variation in the subject. So you're going to get many, many redundant shots. Also, a beginner mistake (and I'm not saying you're a beginner) is not to cull out flawed shots. These would be technically flawed shots and any that are not flattering to the client. What you get with too many is that the client starts to get bored. Then she gets ornery. Then she starts getting critical. Then she starts wondering if you're as good a photographer as you said. 10-15 shots that knock their socks off make you look like a camera god.

No I delivered 128 which in hind sight is still too much, I think 24 would be the high end or even less?. I agree about the plant should not be there and should have been culled but I missed it. yes they look disconnected but I have others where they are looking at each other.

I have asked for a meeting before I do the reshoot to find out her expectations but she did say she is not photogenic and does like photos of herself typically, obviously this comment concerned me at the beginning of the shoot

Sounds like a difficult situation. Best of luck

Keep us posted...can't wait to hear how the wedding goes...no re-shoots there. Good luck!!

Good luck with everything and you certainly have the right business attitude.

With that said if most of what you delivered was like the ones posted then I kind of understand her position. The first one I just don't get the composition. It's shot wide-ish (35mm?) which is fine as long as the environment has something interesting. But they're just walking around and staring at their feet in an environment that doesn't strike me as that interesting.

In the second one the plant next to his face is a big distraction. I also don't really get the moment-- he's trying to escape and she's kissing his chin. As displayed on the forum the compression makes things look really bad but if the full res looks as bad as the one on the forum then that's a problem. Exporting things at forum resolution from LR will help.

RE number of shots-- I take ~200 most of the time in a 2hr session and will deliver 20-40. I like to spend my time on the ones that I do keep and I fire off a fair number in bursts during moments that I like in order to get the right facial expressions.

Best of luck and I hope it all works out.

You can please some of the people some of the time but you cant please all of the people all of the time

I agree with the above. When you deliver too many you give the client more chances to nitpick. I think you need to have a chat with the couple and explain that you cant be held responsible for her hair and makeup choices going forward. Also look at the shots she finds objectionable. Some women (and men) simply have a self image that doesn't mirror reality and can be very difficult to please. The unspoken issue may be body image, at a wedding you cant custom pose the clients so that you hide or deephasize flaws so she get what she gets.

Exact same thing happened to me. 45 shots delivered, paid in full, but she didn't like the way their faces looked in most shots... I'm a photographer, not a freakin magician! That's the way you look! I offered a full refund. They said no. They wanted the RAW files. I said sure, just buy Lightroom, OnOne Photo 10 and Photoshop and watch a few hundred videos and you'll process them in no time!

They stated that they understood, but never emailed again. One of the few complaints that I've had, but the one that was hardest to deal with.

It really hurts when you spent a lot of time on photos to have someone complain about the way they look, but hey, that's reality...

I agree with the others. Always pick you very best shots. Get used to using your star ratings, some shots will just not make the cut. Good luck to you!

My engagement sessions generally run 10:1, meaning that out of 220 shots (which would not be uncommon), I would deliver about 20. Never show your marginal stuff (and we all have plenty of those!) It only gives the client more opportunity to be unhappy. And if she is one of those people who just doesn't like the way she looks in photos to begin with, you have to be especially careful, obviously. Good luck with the wedding!

You can have quantity and quality. I deliver 80ish from a one and a half hour shoot.

you know if you are getting that "vibe" with digital you can always show them some some as you go to see how they are feeling about them.
as far as the 2nd shot here its blue shot too close with too wide an angle lens, the light is spotty and there is a plant in front of his head. I would not like it either

One of my clients complained that her arms looked too fat.

Sorry, it's not my fault. You can only do so much *shrugs*