What do I tell him? (they want all pictures)

another tip, go download a file renaming program, so you have consecutive file numbering rather than missing photo's from the one's you supply them i.e. img001.jpg and then img007.jpg - they will wonder what happened to 002 to 006, so get your files renamed, then you wont get asked

Ratjack wrote in post #16353677
So I recently did some pictures for an old friend of mine. We were really good friends back in high school, but don't talk a whole lot anymore. The photos were of him, his wife, and their 1 year old son.

I normally supply 10 edited images, but since I know them I edited every usable image there was and I delivered ~35 images to them. The rest of the images that were not delivered were because of bad lighting, posing that was unflattering, or blurry out of focus pictures.

He messaged me today and said they loved the pictures but wants the rest of the unedited ones. I would never do this for anyone else but I don't know what to do since he and I were good friends. I don't feel comfortable giving him pictures that I feel look really bad and are not representative of what I can do.

Should I just give them to him? Or should I tell him I delete the unusable ones during the culling process?

Thank you in advance!

Just say no unedited images ever leave your computer. I get people trying to nudge me all the time and I just say flat out no. I tell them I don't deliver unedited images, period. I also tell them I delete all the duds (which I do...if they're not worth showing they're not worth keeping).

I also tell them this before they ever sign my contract.

carlh wrote in post #16354684
another tip, go download a file renaming program, so you have consecutive file numbering rather than missing photo's from the one's you supply them i.e. img001.jpg and then img007.jpg - they will wonder what happened to 002 to 006, so get your files renamed, then you wont get asked

This is a good idea for organization and ordering purposes but it doesn't actually stop people from asking for more. They KNOW you took more than what you delivered because they heard the clacking of the shutter. Renaming the files won't change the fact that they were there.

Thank you for the input everyone. I will tell him that all the photos that were not up to my standards were deleted since they were not good for anything. I appreciate all of your input!!!!

Ratjack wrote in post #16354705
Thank you for the input everyone. I will tell him that all the photos that were not up to my standards were deleted since they were not good for anything. I appreciate all of your input!!!!

A good decision I think.

My experience is that people who aren't into photography, particularly those who remember the film days, generally take their own snapshots with a view to keeping/liking almost every one. I sometimes notice this when I'm with family or friends and there's a significant moment they'd like to catch, they'll pull out their P&S and press the shutter button once - that's it. In their shoes I'd be trying different angles and settings, taking lots of pics and possibly driving everyone nuts (I'm certainly not a pro!).

The idea of taking many more pics than you intend to form the 'finished product' and choosing only the best 5-10% (say) of these could simply be unfamiliar or strange to them. Your friends might feel they're missing out on something worthwhile if they know you haven't given them everything, maybe you could explain that it's normal for pros to take many more than they'll end up using, and then delete (or just not release) the majority!

my favorite is when some regular person with a point and shoot tries to act pro and get all the angles but all the shots are terrible and they upload the entire card to facebook.

they expect the same from you i suppose.

i like the analogy about the chef serving up burned food


if the goal was to make one perfect picture of each situation, then they get that one perfect picture from each situation, not all the second best and third best and fourth best and fifth best from each situation.

but before you tell them no one wants to look at out of focus pictures of camera shake, remember that some people upload entire memory cards of grainy blurs and think they are fantastic because aunt gertrude is in all of them and they love her.

drewl wrote in post #16354854
my favorite is when some regular person with a point and shoot tries to act pro and get all the angles but all the shots are terrible and they upload the entire card to facebook.

they expect the same from you i suppose.

i like the analogy about the chef serving up burned food


if the goal was to make one perfect picture of each situation, then they get that one perfect picture from each situation, not all the second best and third best and fourth best and fifth best from each situation.

but before you tell them no one wants to look at out of focus pictures of camera shake, remember that some people upload entire memory cards of grainy blurs and think they are fantastic because aunt gertrude is in all of them and they love her.

So true! I "like" on facebook,for instance, means nothing in regard to quality of the image. You could slap a glob of goo on your lens and take a pic of someone they like and the pic while receive rave reviews.

cdifoto wrote in post #16354696
Just say no unedited images ever leave your computer. I get people trying to nudge me all the time and I just say flat out no. I tell them I don't deliver unedited images, period. I also tell them I delete all the duds (which I do...if they're not worth showing they're not worth keeping).

I also tell them this before they ever sign my contract.

Exactly...what is wrong with telling them the truth these days? It's your work, your vision and only the photos that meet your standards get seen. You are human and many photos you shoot are junk...nothing wrong with that.

All this renaming files is such non professional behavior...

cdifoto wrote in post #16354698
This is a good idea for organization and ordering purposes but it doesn't actually stop people from asking for more. They KNOW you took more than what you delivered because they heard the clacking of the shutter. Renaming the files won't change the fact that they were there.

It will just make you look like your trying to pull something over their head. You take 100 snaps and deliver 10 that are sequentially numbered and think you are actually fooling them. The only fool here would be YOU.

drewl wrote in post #16354854
my favorite is when some regular person with a point and shoot tries to act pro and get all the angles but all the shots are terrible and they upload the entire card to facebook.

they expect the same from you i suppose.

i like the analogy about the chef serving up burned food


if the goal was to make one perfect picture of each situation, then they get that one perfect picture from each situation, not all the second best and third best and fourth best and fifth best from each situation.

but before you tell them no one wants to look at out of focus pictures of camera shake, remember that some people upload entire memory cards of grainy blurs and think they are fantastic because aunt gertrude is in all of them and they love her.

Well in that case, you as a professional had better get a great shot with aunt Gertrude which will make them google-eyed all over the photo or you have not done your job well.

Hogloff wrote in post #16354928
It will just make you look like your trying to pull something over their head. You take 100 snaps and deliver 10 that are sequentially numbered and think you are actually fooling them. The only fool here would be YOU.

I don't think people take it that far. I number sequentially for my own organization purposes and to make proofing easier. I have an excel spreadsheet for batch uploads to my website and I'd go mad if I had to fill it in with the K09Xxxxx.jpg numbers from one camera, JI0Dxxxx.jpg from another camera, and 6J2Ixxxx.jpg of yet a third camera instead of YYYY-MM-DD-xxxx.jpg for all cameras. The latter being sequential means I have ONE template of 2,000 rows and merely do a find/replace for the YYY-MM-DD part and then delete the unneeded rows. It's sooooo much faster than trying to match up missing file numbers or worse - enter them all by hand. Plus, it's easier for them because they can make a simple list: "Image 1, 12, 17, 56, 73" etc.

I have had this same situation a few times also. What I do now is explain during the shoot that even though I might take 50 pictures I might have only did 8 different poses. I let them know that there is numerous reasons why you don't get to see all 50 of the pictures. Blinking, facial expression, hair out of place, lighting etc... I will also delete a lot of them as I'm doing the shoot and as I delete it say things like oops got a blink or hair blew etc... Last year I did a wedding for a friend of my Daughters. Well when they looked at their edited proofs they asked about the other pictures. For example they mentioned a particular pose they did. Well the bride was quite overweight and I spent a lot of extra time tucking in here and there from her wearing a dress to tight. Well I showed them the picture they mentioned and well they could see right away why I didn't include it in the proofs. After that they took me for my word for how i picked which ones were good and which ones were bad.

Ratjack wrote in post #16353677
......... tell him I delete the unusable ones during the culling process?

Thank you in advance!

Ratjack,

That's what I'd say mainly because that's what I do; delete them. With that said I do tend to keep more than most....:o (And not to imply that all I keep are keepers).

I would go with deleted.

Yup I always say I deleted them because they didn't meet my expectations or standards.