How Bad is it when......

You go to a friends wedding and take some shot from your camera (not being the wedding photographer) and two weeks later after the wedding your friend ask you for your pics, so you burn then to a disk and hand it to her. Then after she is done reviewing them she tells you 'WOW your shots are better then the Wedding Photographers'. WTF?????????????

I took my 30D w/17-85 IS mounted no grip or my 580EX II. used the on board flash. And to top it off i just got my first DSLR about 5 months ago.

I am sure its fairly common tbh, many people dont judge photos by technical merit, alternatively maybe your just gifted, orthe other photographer was poor .... or your friends just being nice to you .... post some up here though and your sure to get a more objective opinion of them.

lol, that's when I knew Photography was my calling! lol, first three weddings I brought my film camera to, i made mini albums for christmas/wedding gifts and was told the same thing. I have viewed a couple of their albums and found that they weren't just being nice...some people choose the wrong photographer for their taste and are sorely disappointed.

I took photos at my friends wedding (discretely and with the pros permission) and burned them a CD, the album they made's better than the one of the hired "pro". The person they hired was cheap, new to wedding photography, and did an ok job, but I had about ten times more experience.

Banbert wrote in post #4006657
Alternatively maybe your just gifted, or the other photographer was poor .... or your friends just being nice to you .... post some up here though and your sure to get a more objective opinion of them.

Well duh, you guys do wedding for a living, obviously i would get a much more objective opinion on here. But this photographer was HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by many many people. But my friend said all the photos did not pop or stand out as a wow. She said there was no Moment shots. Or maybe she is just being very nice to me.

S.E.V. wrote in post #4006783
Well duh, you guys do wedding for a living, obviously i would get a much more objective opinion on here. But this photographer was HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by many many people. But my friend said all the photos did not pop or stand out as a wow. She said there was no Moment shots. Or maybe she is just being very nice to me.

Sorry if you think I am stating the obvious, I was just attempting to get you a more objective opinion of your work.

Banbert wrote in post #4006808
Sorry if you think I am stating the obvious, I was just attempting to get you a more objective opinion of your work.

No i didn't mean to make you think that, you were telling the truth. I just took my camera for my own memories of the wedding thats all, then i guess they are asking all the guest that took pics to give them copies so they can make a photo album of the guest shots along with the photographers shots. I asked her if i could get a copy of there pics from the photographer maybe need some PP'ing to make them a bit more attractive.

S.E.V. wrote in post #4006783
this photographer was HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by many many people. But my friend said all the photos did not pop or stand out as a wow. She said there was no Moment shots. Or maybe she is just being very nice to me.

Photography is very subjective. I have had friends and relatives say that my work is much better than Yervants and Joe Buissink. These are potential clients for other wedding photogs, not photographers saying this. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Point being, my work s*#ks compared to the above mentioned in my eyes and probably everyone in this forum as well; but to your average client that doesn't have an understanding of photography, I find that they mostly want something simple, and better than average... oh, and price

I'm not saying that your work, or my work for that matter, blows... obviously I haven't seen it. I'm just offering a different perspective that hasn't been mentioned before everyone starts patting themselves on the back

In the end accept the compliment. It is always better to not do business with friends or family. The more you are in the business the more you realize there a lot of blaugh photographers out there and you "could" of done better----accept the complement and get a paying client that is not related to you.

stathunter wrote in post #4007492
It is always better to not do business with friends or family. .

true that.

my friend was in a rut this past weekend so I filled in and took his candids for him (getting ready & reception - no ceremony or formals as he had a photog for that) and it was AWKWARD....never again....

blam wrote in post #4007513
true that.

my friend was in a rut this past weekend so I filled in and took his candids for him (getting ready & reception - no ceremony or formals as he had a photog for that) and it was AWKWARD....never again....

Well I'm not looking to get into the wedding area. And i know never to do business with family or friends, 90% of the time it ends up being bad.

Some of it could be down to 'buyers remorse' perhaps?

There are an awful lot of wedding photographers in it purely for the money and they produce some crap work. Whether it's good or bad, the consumer doesn't see the difference and is okay with the products they get from these jokers.

Most consumers really can't tell the difference between award winning work and crap...so until you see them for yourself, I'd take the compliment with a grain of salt. (other than it's very cool that you made your friend happy!)

Post some here...you'll surely get opinions!