not happy with wedding pics

budget1984

Hi we got married Christmas 2010 and we are not happy with our photographers pics. We paid him an amount for the day and he is now looking for 3000euro for an album.

We dont want to spend this amount as we dont feel the pictures are good enough for an album.

He gave us the proofs printed out in a portfolio book and to be honest we dont want to have any further contact with photographer.

Does anyone know if I can get some pictures printed from the samples in the book he provided.

Thanks in advance

magicbastarder

the photographer owns the copyright, so you cannot reproduce the work without his permission.
also, getting them printed in a commercial printers would be difficult, as they would refuse to reproduce proofs.

is he looking for €3000 for an album on top of what you paid on the day?

Ballyman

budget1984 wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can get some pictures printed from the samples in the book he provided.

Thanks in advance

I doubt it as they would be of very low quality as they are just proofs. You will have to contact him and get the Hi-Res images on a cd and you will be able to print from these. Did he make an absolute mess of the wedding altogether or do you just not like his style?? Did you see his portfolio before you booked him?

I think the only solution for you is to get in touch with him and discuss the issues you have and hopefully come to some kind of amicable solution that suits all parties.

username123

budget1984 wrote: »

we are not happy with our photographers pics.

budget1984 wrote: »

we dont feel the pictures are good enough for an album.

budget1984 wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can get some pictures printed from the samples in the book he provided.

If you are not happy with his work and dont feel they are good enough for an album - then why do you want pictures printed from the samples?

Why dont you just get him to print a few pictures for you - and not do an album?

Did you not agree a price with him at the time, was an album not included in the price? It seems like a long time afterwards to be trying to get pictures printed from the samples?

Can you not get guests to give you their pictures and maybe get some good shots from their pics?

smash

budget1984 wrote: »

Hi we got married Christmas 2010 and we are not happy with our photographers pics. We paid him an amount for the day and he is now looking for 3000euro for an album.

Why has it taken over a year for the photos?

budget1984

relax-- tpying error - we got married dec 11

I just want a few pictures printed out. not an album

PopeBuckfastXVI

budget1984 wrote: »

relax-- tpying error - we got married dec 11

I just want a few pictures printed out. not an album

Maybe you can agree a price for those prints you want with the photographer?

Or maybe a price for a CD of full res pics.

He might see that if you are not willing to purchase an album he might cut some of those losses by selling you a different product.

You are obviously satisfied with the pictures you actually want to print, so maybe you can do a deal to purchase just those pictures.

AnCatDubh

budget1984 wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can get some pictures printed from the samples in the book he provided.

Technically a reproduction of sorts - yes, but ethically, morally, and legally - no.

You need to come to some arrangement with your photographer. Re-read the contract (assuming there is one) and refresh yourself as to what you've signed up to.

Try negotiate for the images on disk - in the current climate if it were a case of €3k for an album that won't be purchased, or €1k for a disk of images that if they are of poor quality, the photographer will be unlikely to ever look at them again, then, i'd be guessing your photographer may be interested in cutting their 'losses' and getting some monatery value.

The album price sounds very top notch stuff (or complete rip off) - such albums are available, and do cost the arm leg and first born child, but it isn't your run of the mill stuff included as part of a €500 package - so would it be another option to lessen the expectation in terms of the album? Still might cost you €1000.

I feel your pain, but please don't set about infringing the individuals legal rights or you could find yourself in very deep water without a life jacket.

On wedding photographs - even with a bad batch you will find one image which you will like and want to treasure. Its unlikely to be the best taken image but one which appeals to your emotion. Your wedding food is now well eaten, the presents are probably mostly no longer in sight (or worse, perhaps not even liked in the first place), the speaches may be a case of 'cant remember what they said', the dancing finished and the music of the day no longer there to listen to. But if you get a photograph, you will have it and the memories it invokes for eternity. I know this not because you'll read it on the internet but because I have such an image myself from a bad batch of my own wedding. I love it and treasure it. I can clearly see it in my minds eye and I see it each time I enter and leave our house. Photographs are special. If you don't get a deal with your photographer, then plague your guests of the day to see what photographs they took and if they'd be willing to let you take a copy

Gaia Photography

Hi. Do You have an agreement signed with him? what it says, what did You pay for? dvd with amount of pics, prints, album?
Iam a photographer, every client need to sign an agreement before shoots.

KarmaGarda

AnCatDubh wrote: »

...

What he said! Obviously you're happy enough with the proofs that you'd like to salvage something from the photographs of the day. Best option is to sit down with the photographer, tell him/her you're not especially happy paying 3k for photos you're disappointed with, and get some sort of deal off him/her.

You said you already paid him something on the day, so I presume that was supposed to include photographs, not just proofs? Otherwise I'm not quite sure of the point of hiring the person.

PopeBuckfastXVI

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

Or maybe a price for a CD of full res pics.

I'd imagine the full size photos would cost significantly more than an album.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd imagine the full size photos would cost significantly more than an album.

Depends on the tog - when we got married it was part of the base package and the album was extra.

If he's just looking to squeeze money out of an otherwise lost sale he may be happy enough to make 500 or 1000 on the cost of burning a dvd.

PopeBuckfastXVI

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

Depends on the tog - when we got married it was part of the base package and the album was extra.

If he's just looking to squeeze money out of an otherwise lost sale he may be happy enough to make 500 or 1000 on the cost of burning a dvd.

He might do a resized images on disc deal, I guess, but I doubt you'd get full size images out of him for less than an album. Just me guessing though, obviously.


Slightly off topic; I do find it very strange when photographers offer up hi-res photos on disc, and then try to charge for additional products at a marked up price.

colblimp

Any photographer that asks €3,000 for an album in the current climate is bordering on the insane! Tell him bollox and say you want prints of your favourite images.

windingo

do the proofs not have a watermark on them?

budget1984

windingo wrote: »

do the proofs not have a watermark on them?

no- no watermark-- just like to get few printed for framing

budget1984

Gaia Photography wrote: »

Hi. Do You have an agreement signed with him? what it says, what did You pay for? dvd with amount of pics, prints, album?
Iam a photographer, every client need to sign an agreement before shoots.

no agreement signed at all. he charged us 800euro deposit for his service on the day and insurance on cameras.

My brother got few pics from the proofs from the photographer and he charged him huge amount for them also

PopeBuckfastXVI

If he's charging you 'insurance' for the camera equipment then he quite possibly doesn't have professional indemnity insurance, leaving him open to being personally sued for incompetence, especially if the pics are quite bad.

You could consider starting a claim against him in the small claims court and then eventually 'settle' for a disc of full res images?

Arciphel

Sounds like one of the people we used to get about once a week on here in the past few years. "I've got a dSLR and kit lens for Christmas, am booked to do a wedding, what lenses do I need LOL".

kjt

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

If he's charging you 'insurance' for the camera equipment then he quite possibly doesn't have professional indemnity insurance, leaving him open to being personally sued for incompetence, especially if the pics are quite bad.

You could consider starting a claim against him in the small claims court and then eventually 'settle' for a disc of full res images?

This sounds like your best bet. From the sounds of it you're not happy with the final images but are settling for them as you know this is all you have. If he did not supply a professional service you have every right to bring him/her to the small claims court.

PoleStar

All replies you have received here are valid, but I think the first thing you need to do is open a dialogue with your photographer. I suggest email followed up with a phone call and then arrange to meet. I think in the modern world, people have lost the ability to talk to people!

Just to reassure you in a way, I will give you my own experience. Got married abroad. When printing time came we were a bit strapped for cash. The photographer I think realised that we would not be able to pay for a full album and we were able to amicably negotiate a price. In the end he sent us two DVD's with all photos taken on the big day at full resolution. All parties came out winners.

I would say "approach gently from the side" as Tommy Tiernan would say. Going all guns blazing with threats etc is likely to lead to a sheet of paper with terms and conditions of wedding contract across the top placed in front of you eyes by your photographer!

CabanSail

The approach suggested above sounds sensible.

A few things do worry me though. As said before the fact that you were paying insurance for him, when one would expect a professional to have that in their overheads already. The €800 "deposit" seems to suggest an agreement for more to come.

At about this time there did seem to be quite a few people out there who thought that having a better than 50% idea of which end of a camera to look through made them a Wedding Photographer. These people had very little idea of how to control exposure beyond setting the camera to Auto and thought that Post Production was burning the Jpegs on to a Disc. I am not saying that this is the case here, but it has a few signs that it could be. A price of €3800 including an Album is OK for a Pro who knows what they are doing and your wedding would take a week of their time. This does not sound like it's the case.

upaho

CabanSail wrote: »

A price of €3800 including an Album is OK for a Pro who knows what they are doing and your wedding would take a week of their time.

The price has to be viewed in the context of the overall budget, even as a photographer I think €3800 is outrageous. There maybe a few of the top pros who "might" be worth it on a good day but in this climate that kind of money should be going to medical and legal professionals not shutterbugs.

If it did in fact take the "pro" a week of his time he's way down the learning curve in Photoshop or a total waster. He's far more likely putting it together in one of the custom packages available to do the job in a couple of hours and having it output in India and delivered to him for a couple of hundred € (certainly less than €500)

If he charged the couple insurance on his equipment why not for public liability as well. Good idea, might catch on.

AnimalRights

He sounds a ****.

uck51js9zml2yt

AnimalRights wrote: »

He sounds a ****.

We paid a thousand to a photographer in 2009 and thought that was dear but based on what I read here we got a good deal.
It included him and a second photographer, selected photos on a disk with music background, album and he gave me all the photos on a disk.
He took photos from my wife getting ready at the hotel through to the cake being cut.

Freddie59

Madalynn Sticky Pavement wrote: »

We paid a thousand to a photographer in 2009 and thought that was dear but based on what I read here we got a good deal.
It included him and a second photographer, selected photos on a disk with music background, album and he gave me all the photos on a disk.
He took photos from my wife getting ready at the hotel through to the cake being cut.

You did well there. Here in Waterford there were two lads charging between €3.5k and €5k. And people were paying them.:rolleyes:

I even saw one guy who had a relation who was a photographer (and a good one) jump into the fray......at €5k. Thank your lucky stars you only paid €1k.