should I say something...
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Topic: should I say something...
Posted By: jjands
Subject: should I say something...
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:02pm
| or just leave it? Just got wedding photos back and they're not the photographers usual great photos. We hired her because her photos are incredible but comparing ours to the other weddings she's done lately ours are so-so. She charged us less because we didn't have a wedding party but it was still close to $1000 we got almost 300 photos in a cardboard box and a copy on disk. I thought we'd get a album too. Say if she got them printed at 10cents per photo thats only $30....what do you think? |
Replies:
Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:09pm
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If you are not happy I would speak up.
Did you have a contract that outlined what was included? I would have been surprised if $1000 included an album but if you were led to believe it was then she needs to provide one. What a shame, I hope you had a fantastic day though! |
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:17pm
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I too would be surprised if $1,000 included and album. Also, you can't take the 10c per print into account - most photographers print their own and therefore their time goes into it, and photos are adjusted etc. so that they look great.
But definitely bring it up with her - did you sign a contract? |
Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:27pm
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I wished I had of said something to our photographer when we got ours back, looking at them now (two years later) they are attrocious! There are red eyes and shadows throughout a lot of them.
Most photographers either print their own, or use a professional photographic shop to print (I know ours did) You can only ask... ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:31pm
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I think $1000 is cheap for wedding photos, how much time did she spend with you on the day. Did you have a contract and/or agreement as to what you were getting? Not sure where you are but to give an example we paid $2500 for our photographer and that included an album that was $900 alone. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:31pm
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Ours cost $1800.00 and was for time and files on disc only. The other ladies are right in saying that most use a photo lab and they're alot more expensive then the self print stations in shops.
I would say something. A well penned email may prompt her to offer you some kind of compensation. You'll probably find she is already aware that the quality isn't so hot. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/"> 
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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:33pm
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I know ours prints them at the pharmacy she works from. So $1000 is fair enough for 4hours? I asked if I could purchase my own album and she said no she makes her own but then she just gave them to me loose in a box. She's a lovely girl so I don't want to be mean oops sorry must've posted that while you were writing. Can I ask what a $900 album was like? |
Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:45pm
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It really depends on the experience of the photographer.
Just to give you another comparison, we paid $3k for our album alone (we could afford it and it is stunning). If you're not happy speak up, perhaps she can make some improvements with Photoshop. |
Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:46pm
We paid $850 for ours, and Im pretty sure $200 of that was for a disc? 
Which is probably why we got shadows and red eyes, and is the reason why I didnt bother saying anything to her when we got them back. ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: MissAngel
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:49pm
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we paid $750 for ours and got 300 photos and 2 DVDs with images on and a 12X9 enlargment. No album. Remember you're paying for these guys time and gear etc lol.. ------------- Alex, Thomas and Lily http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 4:56pm
| Maybe DH and I expect too much we are both into photography and have alot of the gear. And to think she'd get pics printed at lets be realistic less than 10c each and a disk takes 2 secs to make and costs a dollar or two. Photoshopping our photos wouldn't have been a big job and a cardboard box maybe $10 thats a incredible hourly rate maybe I'll upgrade from hobby to career lol. I've booked her for baby pics so maybe they will go better like I said she is so lovely I don't want to upset her and I know she take just the most AMAZING photos. |
Posted By: LadyLizard
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 5:14pm
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Jjands- snap!
My H and I paid $2K for our photographer (for 4 hours work) and were really disappointed with the results, especially when we only got a DVD of the photos (no prints etc, as we planned to do the printing ourselves). We saw the work of one of her competitors and it was alot better for the same price. We felt we had to use the one we did though as she knew my Dad etc etc not that that ended up helping! (no mates rates as she had previously promised) My H is into photography himself too, and he is now going to have to photoshop most of them again himself. Our friends paid $10K for the photographer and videographer to stay from 8am till midnight, and while there is no way we could have afforded that, the results were just stunning. Another idea that we are doing is to make your own photobook we used this site for our travelling photos and will use it for our wedding ones too. www.blurb.com You download a programme and lay out your photos on it, upload it and send it to the site and they send a printed, bound coffee table style book back- totally worth every cent, they look awesome, and you can include words, captions etc. ------------- http://www.alterna-tickers.com"> 
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Posted By: noisybaby
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 5:16pm
| Man we paid $7000 for ours and it included a large album and a small one but she gets to keep the originals. Our photographer is an award winnintg one and the photos reflected that.My thoughts were you get what you pay for. If you have any questions ring and discuss these with them. I wouldn't have thought it would include an album. Are you sure you haven't got your wires crossed somewhere along the line. |
Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 5:56pm
| Ah well maybe I'll just leave it and hope the baby ones are as good as her usual. Just a bit gutting would've like to got 2 or 3 wedding ones framed |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:00pm
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I'd nicely tell her that you were a little disappointed. Photographers generally want you to be happy - they rely on your word of mouth after all.
When we got ours back years ago we complained as the developing was really bad and some of them had sticky stuff on them. Turned out the Photographers used a third party to develop the prints and the sqeegee they used had deteriorated all over the photos. They were so apologetic - we got all the bad photos reprinted and they also gave us a free huge photo to make up for it. So it does pay to speak up. -------------  
 
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:15pm
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We got a Queensberry album they're around $400 empty, and we had our photographer for the whole day.
jjands what is it you don't like about your photographs? ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: fire_engine
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:37pm
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I'd maybe send an email saying you were a bit disappointed (but be specific on what you are disappointed about). See where she takes it from there - most people would try to fix the problem. ------------- Mum to two wee boys |
Posted By: pomikiwi
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:46pm
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If it's the quality of your photos that you're not happy with then I'd probably have a chat with her (ie whats she's captured is not as good as usual). But if it's just what you got for your money ie prints, disk etc then maybe thats all you'd get for your budget IYKWIM?
I'm sure she'd want to know if you thought her photo taking wasn't upto her usual standard. Good luck hun! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
DD-Carys Amelia 17.03.06 |
Posted By: LadyLizard
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:48pm
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I wouldn't run the risk of using her again for your baby photos without saying something!
As one of the others said- she relies on your word of mouth to keep her business going. I didn't say anything personally to our photographer, but i definitely wouldn't ever use her again, nor would I recommend her to anyone. If you are planning on using her again, she should know what specifically you weren't happy about so she has a chance to make it up to you. You never know she might even give you a discount for the other session. ------------- http://www.alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: LadyLizard
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 6:51pm
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PS I totally sympathise. I still get upset when I think about how ours turned out and if I see someone elses that are just gorgeous.
You do definitely get what you pay for. ------------- http://www.alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 7:01pm
| wow I asked her if I could use a $70 album I found! We had a beautiful setting which you can only see in 3 photos and she just wasn't as creative on our day as normal. It just wasn't up to her normal standard. There's a couple with eyes closed and really bad expressions etc... Just showed DH her other weddings she's done and now he's completely gutted |
Posted By: LadyLizard
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 7:40pm
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My DH was spewing! All ours are offcentre, with eyes closed too and the wrong moment caught.
JJ- if you are seriously thinking about using this lady again (if your DH will let you), she needs to know that you aren't happy. People said to me that the main thing was that our wedding was amazing, but to be honest, I would quite like a decent record of that! I guess all you need is 20 good photos to make a decent album. ------------- http://www.alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: busyissy
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 7:49pm
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I think if you aren't happy definately say something. it is a very special day and the photos are the most special momentos of it, you don't want to look back in years and regret not saying something.
I love your wedding photos, our photographer did a great job but unfortunately didn't get a album straight away and then had a baby and then another and we can't afford an album now  . Mind you I'd rather have the babies!!
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Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 8:03pm
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If your not happy , id say something , sorry to hear you've been disappointed
Our wedding photographer usually charges about $1800 or more , but since shes friends with DF we are getting them for free,yee ha! ------------- 
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Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 8:06pm
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I would definitely speak up.... as nicely as possible.
Don't even get me started on my wedding Photographer. From what I had seen her photos looked great and we thought she would be well worth the $3500 we paid. On the day she was horrible and was just in the way the whole time. We ended up with a small album with only 50 odd photos in it, most part of collages. The photos she took were pretty shocking too, so many out of focus, off centered and just didn't work. She also missed a few basic shots, we don't even just a nice pic of the 2 of us worthy to hang on the wall. At the time we had spent all the money on the wedding we couldn't afford to get any extra work done from her. She did tell us we could come back in a couple of years if we wanted to buy them on disk, only to find that when we went back she had deleted all the photos of the actual wedding telling us she 'didn't think they were important photos' I am still angry about my wedding photos 4 years later. Its one of those things you just cant go back and change. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 8:15pm
thanks everyone I appreciate your thoughts on this as to me photos were the most important thing after my husband! Love the idea of a photo book and have been looking at them on the net..DH is trying to find a selection of photos he would put in there but so far it's not looking good  I will have a word to her before the baby shots if I chicken out about these. I'll pull a selection of bub photos that I love and recreate exactly what I like  I'm a little sad for her to as they really don't show what she can do.
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Posted By: LadyLizard
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 8:34pm
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Daizy your story is awful!
So sorry about that. ------------- http://www.alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 16 February 2009 at 10:00pm
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if its really so bad there arent any photos you would use for an album or to enlarge then you should definately say something. We paid about $800 for our photographer and that was a mixture of colour and black and white plus we got the negatives (we are talking 5 years ago so back in the day you still had negs hehe)
but our photos are great, sure there are some pretty random crappy ones but the majority are great. Problem is what can she do about it now....nothing except give you some money back and if your not worried about the money then is there any point creating tension if you want to use her again. Maybe see what happens with the baby ones, at least she can re take them if need be. |
Posted By: ohanlon82
Date Posted: 17 February 2009 at 8:55am
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we spent $2800 i think it was and that included a queensberry album...
i would say something to them... or just an email with some feedback, just make sure you state the reasons that you are not happy with. I know what you mean about photos being very important Good luck ------------- http://lb2f.lilypie.com/TikiPic.php/RPaODBg.jpg |
Posted By: M2K
Date Posted: 17 February 2009 at 9:17am
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Wow that seems alot to pay for photos! I know its well worth it, because after the day itself has finished, the photos last forever, I would pay a large amount for decent photos. Its a shame you aren't happy with the end result, is she a 'professional' or just does photography as a side hobby?
I think you should say something, but then again, you can't really re-do them either. Maybe she can do free baby portraits? ------------- 
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Posted By: Emily281
Date Posted: 17 February 2009 at 2:02pm
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Haven't read all the responses thouroughly but just did a quick scan and would have to agree that if you are unhappy with the quality and type of photos you got then I would complain, but if its just what you got for your money then I think its reasonable. We paid $2500 australian (about $3k NZ) for ours and we got all our printed photos in plain blue photo albums (5x8s), all the photos on CD, a photo montage on DVD set to our wedding music, a nicely done album with photos we selected (approx 30 pics), and a photo book (which cost $250). So I think what you got for $1000 is pretty reasonable when you consider it also includes the time she spent at your wedding. ------------- TTC#1: Jan 07 Aug 08: Lap found and excised Stage 3 Endo Nov 08: 2nd lap clear - given OK to TTC after next AF |