Am I out of my mind?????

Hi, I shot my 3rd wedding 3 weeks ago(no I am not a craigslister) I work off of referrals from people at my work. A woman I work with booked me. Of course because we work together I didn't make her sign a contract. I know... BIG mistake. A week ago I showed her 180 images that I had completed and I received a nasty email from her new husband telling me that MOST IF NOT ALL of the photos are out of focus and unacceptable. Here are random samples I chose from the 180...am I going crazy??? I think they are fine especially for my 3rd wedding ever! Yes, I have a website and my photos on there are of this exact same caliber. They paid me $800 dollars, I worked from 10am-10pm and I brought along a second shooter for the ceremony free of charge. The only ones that have been edited is the one of them embracing(his face is red..trying to fix that) and the B&W of the father giving her away. I am at a loss....

Of the samples: a number are overexposed, a number are significantly underexposed, and the B&W one is soft.

Considering that you would probably choose to show us your best work from the set, the rest of the photos probably follow suit. If I paid $800, I would be upset as well.

apart from your posing being a littl bland in the samples i dont see anything that would make her flip out, your colors are a little off IMO, 1st wedding or 500th wedding consistency is key.

The big question is Have you been paid yet

I'm aware some are overexposed. What can I say? I'm a Jose Villa devotee. Yes they already paid.

TheBurningCrown wrote in post #12930767
Considering that you would probably choose to show us your best work from the set, the rest of the photos probably follow suit. If I paid $800, I would be upset as well.

+1

Sounds like it was a budget deal and it looks like they got exactly what they paid for. The photos aren't anything special and I agree with what Dave said. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

That said, are they that horrendous? Not at all. Post processing these would go a very long way in improving these photos and making them more presentable. However, I am not sure what kind of expectations they had from you?

I have seen a lot worse wedding photo's and they have been happy with them!

The photographs are not bad but they also aren't great. To be honest, they are the photographs you'd expect for an $800 wedding. No offense to you, its just you get what you pay for.

If I were the groom, I would be content with them for that price. It sounds to me like he may be trying to get his money back because you and his wife work together.

VIEVE wrote in post #12930845
I'm aware some are overexposed. What can I say? I'm a Jose Villa devotee.

Overexposed and high key are not the same thing.

Staszek wrote in post #12930897
The photographs are not bad but they also aren't great. To be honest, they are the photographs you'd expect for an $800 wedding. No offense to you, its just you get what you pay for.

I hate to be the one to be harsh, but photos like this do not strike me as being worth $800. Especially with no post-processing. For $800, I would much rather stick a P+S in the hands of a high school kid, pay him food and minimum wage, and spend the good amount remaining on something fun.

Again - if I paid $800 for the work, I would be disappointed.

would like to see your website or other samples of your work so i can compare what theye xpected to what they got

TheBurningCrown wrote in post #12931526
Overexposed and high key are not the same thing.


I hate to be the one to be harsh, but photos like this do not strike me as being worth $800. Especially with no post-processing. For $800, I would much rather stick a P+S in the hands of a high school kid, pay him food and minimum wage, and spend the good amount remaining on something fun.

Again - if I paid $800 for the work, I would be disappointed.

Valid point. With that said, for $800 I would rather buy a Rebel and ask my most artistic friend to shoot the wedding. In the end I would have similar photos and a new camera. I tell my "budget" clients this as well.

Truth is, I wouldn't pay $800 for a wedding. You know the results wont be top notch for one reason or another.

I would be disappointed with no processing, I would say the shots seem average, but as another poster said quite bland. You really need to pull the exposure up and sort the colours out an a few.

With no lack of respect meant what were these taken on?

to take some positive from this:

i had a similar experience a long time ago when a couple were unhappy with the shots i supplied

looking back, they were right and the shots were not of a high standard

shook me a little, but in the end made me sit down and work out what was wrong with the shots and what i needed to do to improve

overall that one experience alone has made me a better photographer..

i suppose the harsher lifes lessons, the more we can learn from them

I agree that they're not great, but I've seen much worse. Whether $800 is a high price to pay for those shots depends where you are. I can understand why the groom is disappointed. He might not have had any say in the choosing of a photographer. One would also hope that a new photographer improves with each wedding as well.

My quality improved DRASTICALLY after my first wedding because I learned from everything I did wrong. Not just technically with the camera but with the posing and generally taking control when necessary.

I am a craigslist photographer.

Lack of processing involves less time and results in a less finished product.

The photos show nothing suggesting poor quality, they are OK. Weakest photo (besides first one, which has nothing interesting about it) is of the groom's hand on the bride's chair. Others are all OK without being spectacular or bad. Can't tell specific focus issues.

Comparable to your other photos before? No point of reference...