[Urgent Advice] How do I respond?

Hey guys,

I need your advice on something. Did a wedding for an awesome couple over the weekend and they absolutely love the images... but... the bride asked me to get rid of the fatty areas caused by the dress. Now, not that i'm not up for that but there's a tonne load of images. What's the best way to respond to her request? Do you guys normally retouch every photo where issues like this occur?

I guess it would at least somewhat depend on how many images she's talking about. If it were a small amount I'd probably oblige; 800 images, no way. If there were a lot of images, I might offer to retouch the "wall hangers" and images for the album, but going beyond that would be ludicrous unless there was additional compensation provided for the extra processing time.

I set standards for our editing up front and on our website. I also let all my brides know that if there are a couple photos that they would like additional retouching on I am happy to help, I let them know anything they are printing large to let me know so I can make needed edits and adjustments.

This way they know things like you have been asked will NOT happen on every image without additional cost. But I will do it on a handful if they plan to print.

I would respond to your client and ask if she could let you know which images she plans to have printed larger then 8x10 and retouch those. And next time set those expectations before you ever click the shutter button.

I make it clear in my initial conversation that I do not make people smaller or fix hair if you get married outside. I don't put it that bluntly, but they get the point clearly.

That said, too late for that one, so I would go with Dan's advice. Do the album and wall images, everything else comes with a charge. Not your fault the dress didn't fit or she didn't fit the dress.

Good afternoon Bride,

Retouching of that nature is out of the scope of my normal wedding package; it's extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming to do body reshaping work on every photo, on top of my usual retouching process.

I'll do this modification on up to three images of your choice, likely the ones that you intend to print large. [or the ones of which she already purchased large/specialty prints]

However, if you need more than three images edited in this manner, I'm happy to do it at my normal hourly rate for editing, which is $xx/hour.

Thank you,

valdano

Find a nice way of telling her you'd be glad to retouch a few of her favorite ones but that if she wants substantially more than that, you'll have to get a little more compensation for the time. And of course, from here on that make sure that's something you address with clients up front.

Another option, based on Nathan's excellent reply. Note that http://www.retouchup.c​om does this work at $10 per image, I've said $12 below because of the administrative overhead, which includes getting selections, sending them away, getting them back, checking them, rework, etc. This will take some time and you may like to increase that price.

Note that I actually say exactly what level of retouching is included in my packages on my website, as I've had something similar come up in the past. See below for that.
--
Good afternoon Bride,

(insert some nice words, great wedding, enjoyed the day, as appropriate).

The level of retouching you've requested is not included in my packages as it's extremely labor intensive. Each image can take anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes, 400 images could take as long as two weeks full time to retouch. Because of this I outsource this work, the cost is $12 per image. I'd be happy to have (three/five/ten) images retouched at no cost, but beyond this the $12/image fee is payable in advance.

Please let me know which images you'd like retouched no charge, and which images you'd like retouched at your cost.
--

My website retouching Info
The processing included in all packages is enough for most couples, it will give you great looking images that are suitable to print and display in your home. It includes color, brightness, and image-wide corrections, plus up to 10 simple blink or head fixes, where such a fix is reasonably possible. It doesn’t include complex retouching work such as removing people, removing power lines, etc, though this is sometimes done at our discretion. If additional work or retouching is requested then charges will apply. Albums will have additional image processing and per-page color matching done at no charge, but complex work may be subject to additional charges.

tHanks a lot guys! Really appreciate the responses. Read them from yesterday but was on the road so couldn't respond same time.


@Dan.k78 - Yea it's about 120 images in total (not the entire wedding). She changed gowns to take the formals but that gown was a little light so it caused some bulging.

@Littlejohn - That's a nice subtle way to let them know that you won't be doing a whole lot.. at least not without a fee. Something new to add to my arsenal.

@Huntersdad - I agree with you on this and think clarity is the best way to proceed to not have expectations too high

@NathanCarter - Wow... Simply, wow! This is amazing. I hope you don't mind if I use this as is with a few minor tweaks. Simple and to the point!

@dcnats - Yup, I think Nathan's way is the best way at this point.

@tim - things like these are often overlooked... Thanks for sharing that with me (us). I'll surely implement a few of these things as I grow my business.

PS. I'll let you know the outcome and how everything turned out. About to shoot her an email now.

A per-image fee or a per-hour fee is probably a toss-up for me. Depends on your shooting style and amount of background clutter.

TBH, it usually doesn't take that long to open each image from LR to PS, do some subtle reshaping, and save it back down again. But when you're looking at 120 images, that's tedious... and if the background doesn't play nice with the problem areas - for instance, there are straight lines like a fence right behind the problem areas to be reshaped - then some images will take a lot more effort than a few nudges with the Liquify or Warp tool.

Dear Bride

im a photographer not a magician

regards

This:

nathancarter wrote in post #18010210
Good afternoon Bride,

Retouching of that nature is out of the scope of my normal wedding package; it's extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming to do body reshaping work on every photo, on top of my usual retouching process.

I'll do this modification on up to three images of your choice, likely the ones that you intend to print large. [or the ones of which she already purchased large/specialty prints]

However, if you need more than three images edited in this manner, I'm happy to do it at my normal hourly rate for editing, which is $xx/hour.

Thank you,

valdano

The OP started this thread months ago and probably doesn't urgently need the advice now.

Dang it! late to the party!

katepitt wrote in post #18210438
Why not think about some outsourcing industries from Asia. They are professional and works are inexpensive through them. In your purpose, I have an experience with https:// www.removed link.com/photoshop-retouching/ or you can check all of them through this way https:// lmgtfy.com/removed link

I'm not going to go running to the mods, but you might want to check out the forum rules and/or be a little more honest than "i have experience with ..." when your bio says that you actually work in India providing clipping path services. BTW, there is a Marketplace section to advertise your services and I'm pretty sure you can put a link to your web page in your sig line with no problems.

Two of your five posts (in two months) mention the business, so I kind of doubt that your goal in joining was to spam the board ... but I'm just a regular user, my opinion doesn't mean a thing in these matters, just giving a friendly "heads up".

LH Brisket, I already reported it.