Are we being unreasonable? re Photographer

Zazen999

Did you sign a release, as if not he shouldn't be using them in any of his promotions?

karen_newcastle

I am really sorry this happened to you but it does make an excellent example of how you should be 100% clear on what you are getting at the start. Cheap isn't always the best....or the best value for money. I've come across this confusion before about the DVD an not being able to print from it. I dont think tradiing standards will be able to help as you signed the contract agreeing to the deal.

Does the DVD contain more then the 100 prints you've already received?

As I photogapher I think £2000 for the CD is VERY high. Maybe £500 is more reasonable (although all my packages include the CD of all the files as standard). I would suggest trying to speak face to face (or at least on the phone) to this guy and make him an offer, explain that his packages were confusing and misleading and you are making a fair offer.

Please do no take the advice to screen grab or reproduce the files from the DVD without the photographers consent as this is illegal and you could end up in a bit of trouble if the photographer finds out.

Copyright and Printing rights are two different things. I ALWAYS retain copyright of my images however I do grant permission to print from the CD for personal use only to my clients.

£4.99 for a print is reasonable IMO at I charge a similar price.

Dizzie77

Karen - Trading Standards will be able to look through the contract and see what is there, which is something we can't do on here.
There may be an offence of misleading by omission - they offer free advice, so it won't hurt OP to make an appointment for them to
check through the docs.

Good to hear from a professional photographer though in relation to costs.

Bubble16

Zazen999 wrote: »

Did you sign a release, as if not he shouldn't be using them in any of his promotions?

This is something you really need to check as it could be used as a bargaining tool for you. Check your contract, to be honest he will probably have included a line about using your wedding photos for promotional use however if he overlooked it then he cannot do this without signed permission from yourself and you could negotiate a fairer price in return for this.

manda1205

Thank you all again, I hadnt thought that he may want to keep them to use as showing what work he had done, and we will ask him this, as if this is all he wants then we aren't bothered about that at all.
Karen_newcastle, the DVD has jsut the 100 prints he printed out. He hasnt shown us the others he took, as he said they werent up to standard. As for the copyright and printing rights, all it says in the contract is copyright, it doesnt mention printing rights anywhere. Also we totally agree, this is a very good example about how things go wrong, and how even if you think theyre trust worthy due to being friends etc doesnt stand for anything. Also good to know you charge similar for prints too and he's not toatlly ripping us for them.
Just hoping we can come to an agreement with the price of a CD.

manda1205

Update; The photographer has got back to us, after looking at the other local photographers websites we sent him, he has decided to let us have a CD with all 100 pics on for £200. He even said he had intended to make in excess of £300 from after sales on enlargements etc, what is slightly annoying is that he felt he couldnt disclose all these costs in the beginning, to be fair I think it was his duty to tell us, not wait for our askings. With so much going on trying to arrange a wedding its very hard to think of every little thing especially when you know nothing what so ever about it, although I accept we shouldn't have trusted so much and looked into it further.
We are going to take his offer and then we can at least move on and put it behind us. And at least now I know exactly what to be asking any future photographers that we use for anything else.
Thanks for everyones input, it's much appreciated.

bubbles0169

karen_newcastle or anyone,can you explain the difference between copyright and printing rights? if you dont have copyright does it mean you cant give the photos out or reprint them or what?

Zazen999

manda; if he has done this to boost his portfolio then he should not have charged so much; I did photos for a friends wedding a few weeks back, they got a memory stick with every one on there and full access to do what they want with them. If I was doing it for a friend of a friend I'd have just charged a day rate and the price of a memory stick and asked for recommendations from them.

He's been a bit of a twonk as these things are ALL about reputation and I'm sure you are never going to recommend him to anyone. Esp when it is a friend of a friend.....

And if he hasn't got a model release, make sure you don't appear on his website.

o_t_e

bubbles0169 wrote: »

karen_newcastle or anyone,can you explain the difference between copyright and printing rights? if you dont have copyright does it mean you cant give the photos out or reprint them or what?

Basically if you own copyright you can do whatever you like with the image file (if you want to use an image for commercial/advertising purposes there are certain qualifications to this general point). If the copyright owner gives you a licence to print you can do with the image whatever the copyright holder says you can do with them - and if they're not explicit you should ask. Generally a licence to print doesn't mean a licence to print once only.

Regarding manda1205's original & subsequent post, if he's offering the hi-res files for £200 I would pay and move on and, obviously, do not recommend their services to others. One thing to consider is if he subsequently wants to use the photos of your wedding to promote his business he either needs a clause in the contract to say he can do this or he needs a model release - if he didn't put that clause in the contract he can't use the photos he took of you for commercial purposes without your permission.

A set of 100 6x4 prints from a pro lab on fuji dpII paper costs about £25 by the way, individual reprints can be more expensive.

louisecat

manda1205 wrote: »

Update; The photographer has got back to us, after looking at the other local photographers websites we sent him, he has decided to let us have a CD with all 100 pics on for £200. He even said he had intended to make in excess of £300 from after sales on enlargements etc, what is slightly annoying is that he felt he couldnt disclose all these costs in the beginning, to be fair I think it was his duty to tell us, not wait for our askings. With so much going on trying to arrange a wedding its very hard to think of every little thing especially when you know nothing what so ever about it, although I accept we shouldn't have trusted so much and looked into it further.
We are going to take his offer and then we can at least move on and put it behind us. And at least now I know exactly what to be asking any future photographers that we use for anything else.
Thanks for everyones input, it's much appreciated.

Good to know things have worked out in the end, even though he was a disappointment!