Wedding Photo Misery

star2sparkle

Hi everyone
What do you do if you really don't like your wedding pictures? Help!
I had two wedding ceremonies. I had a pagan handfasting ceremony in our garden (when we had a professional photographer) and the registry office to legalise the wedding. This wedding, we took our own pictures, and they were much much better than the professional ones!
I have never liked the way I look and am super critical of my appearance but the unprofessional ones (and I have a good camera) compliment me beautifully and I love them. The professional ones of the handfasting, well, he seems to have caught people quite badly. One of my friends looks like she has buck teeth! Don't even ask what I look like! Half the time my hair looks yellow, and then orange! And my eyes puffy. I look old and tired.
The ones that we asked him to do didn't come out so well (like ones where our kids catch us kissing) as the composition just didn't work, lighting, distance...I'm not sure, I'm not a photographer. Sometimes my face looks fat, other times I actually look like a mannaquin! Our friends look really fed up when they weren't!
The ones where we 'posed' look a bit awkward which I suppose you expect but the many of them are not flattering at all! Due to the lighting as well I my skin looks all bumpy and lumpy (this didn't happen in the unprofessional ones) and I am so disappointed and upset with them.
On his site, the other couples have well over 300 pictures, some over 500. All we have is just over 200 and yet he took loads! He was there until late at night, so I don't get it.
We got on with him so well too. He was like one of the guests, we liked him so much and I realise brides have high expectations but he really hasn't done a great job. He photographs objects like shoes and flowers well but people, he often seems to catch them in an unflattering way, if you know what I mean.
Plus, despite getting on with him well, he now doesn't email back. I sent him a nice email to say thank you so much for helping to make the day special and then another asking when the pics would be ready when he didn't answer and just his assistant finally answered. We never met his assistant. It just seems rude. He soon emailed back when we were looking for a photographer and he was competing!
One of my friends took some pics and they are better too!
I have only paid the deposit and I know I will have to complain to him now but should I pay it all? It is so expensive for a bit of a hash up. Plus I note that all I would have to do is take the few that I like, crop them and save them but I guess this would be totally against copyright laws. Considering we have to pay on top to have them printed out into an album seems wrong too but I know that is how it seems to be these days.
I have tried to ring him but no response and now I have emailed him, airing my concerns but I just wanted to ask what other brides think.
Thank you

TeamLowe

When you say your pictures are better, are there any amateur ones from the handfasting to compare? just thinking it might have been a struggle with lighting etc but then again a good photographer would allow for that

What is the deal you've got? Is it x for photos being taken then y for the prints? I'd be tempted to say 'I'll pay you for your time but I don't like the photos thanks'

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Express your disappointment ASAP in writing by recorded delivery, e-mail and telephone are not a formal method of communication. You will be covered by the Sale of Goods Act and/ or the Supply of Goods and Services Act - both are available online.

star2sparkle

Thank you for your replies. Really appreciate it.
Got a few amateur ones from the handfasting to compare and they are better to be honest. At least we look normal! But it is such a disappointment. You have high hopes and then they are dashed. I have only paid a deposit so I'm not sure about the rest of the money but it was over a thousand pounds that I was meant to pay; for the album, thank you cards and a pre-wedding shoot (which we never had!) but we have to fork out for the cost of the pictures being printed.

FatVonD

Converting them to black and white and making them high contrast and 'arty' might help. Could you make some kind of montage with the best of them?

zoesmummy_2006

I hated all the wedding photos the professional photographer took, they all just seemed staged and forced and we all looked uncomfortable on them. The best photos I have are ones that friends and family took, I have some truly stunning ones from them-and like you im very critical of how I look and I hate having my photo taken.

Fortunately im since divorced so dont ever look at them lol, but should I ever get married again I dont think that I'd pay for a professional photographer.

claire16c

I guess every photographer is different. The one for our wedding was brilliant, I normally hate myself in photos in the day time, but he took amazing photos that I love, and could not have been achieved by an amateur.

What I would suggest is that if you paid for the same amount of time as the other couples on the website then check with him that hes put all the photos on the site - perhaps he has more on the computer but just didnt upload them all?

are you getting the cd with them all on? Bit of a long shot but if you have a friend thats good with photography, perhaps they could do something with them?

I think you should only compare them to the handfasting ones your friends took though, as the lighting etc will be different for each day.

Lara44

You could have some retouching done?

podperson

I would say definately bring it up with him, preferably in writing. I'm a wedding photographer and would always much rather a bride said something if they weren't happy with the piccies so I could see if there was anything I could do to improve them. Obviously there might not be much to be done about some of the poses being a little awkward but the colour should be able to be corrected fairly easily. Also, I've had odd occasions where the photos haven't been as good as I'd have liked due to the lighting and often they can look a lot better in black and white or with a tone or something to them. I do find it a little strange though that you only have about 200 for a full day. I rarely have under 1000 for a full day - obviously the couple won't get this many with duplicates and some being better then others but 500-600 easily. I usually end up with over 200 for a ceremony only shoot!
If you're not happy with them though then I would let him know you don't want the prints now. He should at least knock some off even if he doesn't take the whole price for the album off.
Good luck with it x

PS - If you have no joy with him then if you want to pm me I don't mind having a look at the photos and seeing if they could be retouched a bit.

claire16c

Thats a good point pod person.

I just checked my file and I have 177 wedding photos - that the photographer colour corrected etc.

Then I have on another cd somewhere, ALL of the raw photos he took, and I think theres around 500. And I think we paid for about 2.5 hours (although he stayed for around 4!).

So 200 really should not be all of them. Hopefully he has them on a cd for you.

star2sparkle

Thank you so much for your replies and Podperson (love the name) thank you for your so kind offer. I may need you :-) As yet the photographer has not replied but he was actually with us from 10am till 10pm so God only knows why there are only 200 pics! Strange eh? Plus the fact that he isn't answering his phone or email doesn't bode well. I could just take the pictures and create my own album and thank you cards without paying him at all; it would be cheaper! But the images are on his site and I dont want to give out the password till they are corrected at least. We were to have a pre-wedding shoot but that hasn't even been mentioned again. Isn't it funny? He seemed such a great guy too and everyone loved him. It makes it all the more disappointing.