Wedding Photos

I need someones opinion. I recently got married and hired a fairly new photographer, she has only done 3 or 4 weddings, but her photos looked decent on her website so I figured she would get at least some family shots/ in focus shots that I could print for family members. I got the photos back and they are so grainy and dark that I feel like they're not even printable.

Well, these are two examples. If the rest of the bunch are consistent with these two, then I'd agree that there is too much shadow on the faces for formals.

Regardless...have you talked to her about it? What is your intended solution?

Even if everyone in the forum agrees with you, there's little we can do about it. You haven't mentioned if anything was said to the photographer, and what the response was...

The perils of relying on cheap, inexperienced photographers to capture once in a lifetime events. Where did you find this photographer and how many wedding photos were in her portfolio? What price range was charged?

Are these supposed to be the finished images? It appears to me these were underexposed and pushed in post. But perhaps these are only proofs and the finished photos will be processed better once you've made your selections? But I would not be happy with this quality finished product.

These are the finished photos. I found her through her website, which looked pretty good, not amazing but the photos were decent. She has about 10-15 wedding photos on her website and none of them looked like this. I have not talked to her yet, I wanted to get another opinion first to make sure I'm not just being too picky. I just picked up the flash drive from her yesterday.

They basically all look like this, out of the 300 photos she gave me I would say about 10 are not like this. ay,
I have not talked to her yet, I wanted another opinion to make sure I'm not just being picky. I plan on emailing her sometime today.

You're not being picky. If they all look like this, you definitely need to contact her. I'm not sure what you can do about it now, but these are not good. Number one is crying out for a flash.

I think the few you have shown are poor.

Okay, you're right. I'm going to contact her, I'm hoping she gives me at least a few hundred dollars back!

It's possible that the samples on her website were taken by other people. Fraudulent, but it happens.

OhLook wrote in post #17785171
It's possible that the samples on her website were taken by other people. Fraudulent, but it happens.

Yep sadly it happens too often IMHO

OP if those pictures are what you got , i would not be happy ... at all !

bumpintheroad wrote in post #17784697
Are these supposed to be the finished images? It appears to me these were underexposed and pushed in post.

Indeed, both images have an exposure compensation of -67 (minus67) taken with 11 minutes differences.
I won't be surprised that she forgot to change her setting with the exposure bias (and i don't speak that she didn't use a flash)

Honestly, those are awful. Apparently your photographer ewas unfamiliar with the concept of flash. I'll give partial credit to the black and white one for an attempt at creativity but the simple shot of the couple is atrocious.

mandimoe wrote in post #17784965
Okay, you're right. I'm going to contact her, I'm hoping she gives me at least a few hundred dollars back!

Absolutely awful service, if you paid hundreds, or more, for the service. I would not be surprised if the photos on her website/facebook or whatever she advertised with were not even done by her in a real setting. You never know with people. Unfortunately there's a multitude of "photographers" out there who are just people with cameras with no experience. They don't command high prices for a reason. And they dupe people thinking they'll save a buck for important once-in-a-life-time events, and produce these kinds of results.

Sorry for your misfortune, but there is also an unfortunate lesson to learn from it I'm afraid.

Definitely contact her. I would also be angry and those results are unacceptable in my book.

Do you have any contract or anything?
What form of payment (something you can hold/cancel)?

Very best,

Well, I'm a relative newbie to the wedding business myself, having shot only 8 weddings as a second shooter and one as primary but my shots are way better then what you posted! It's obvious that she is not familiar with a flash. I would contact her and demand some explanation and a possible refund. I wonder if she shot in RAW? If she did, there is some hope. I would ask for all RAW files and have them edited by someone else. Here is a sample of my first wedding as primary with rotten lighting at the venue. Nothing exciting but the shots are well lit and not grainy. Good luck

Personally I won't pass judgement until I've seen the portfolio on which the decision to hire the photographer was based, knowing how much was paid and I'd also want to see the entire set that has been given.

Without the additional information it is impossible to make a reasoned judgement on whether or not the standard of the work provided was comparable with the photographers portfolio.