Photographer 3 months late on photos - help!

Justengaged

We got married in July and it's now been just over 3 months and we still haven't received our photographs (we were told it would take 2 months max).


There have been a number of emails between the photographer and I and she keeps giving excuses; she's busy, she hurt her arm and can't work etc.


It's now got to the point where I'm considering sending a letter (as advised on 'Which' website) saying that "Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, goods must be received within a reasonable time. We do not believe this is a reasonable time", but that could turn things ugly and I may never see our photos.


Has anyone else had this experience, and if so what did they do? I don't want to lose our photos to some sadistic person who may take revenge by not sending them at all.

Floss

Have you paid anything towards these photos?

Justengaged

Yes unfortunately. She's now given my a signed for delivery number, hopefully should arrive tomorrow - will see what happens.

gadgeteer_2

I've just seen this. Have you received the photos yet? I'm a professional wedding photographer so can give you more advice if you need it.

Hope you've got them.

Justengaged

Hi, yes I have got them and we're not actually happy with them. The editing, if you can even call it editing, has been really... well best word would be sloppy seeing as I need to keep it clean here


My husband and I are both amateur photographers and whilst I know this does not make us experts in the field, it gives us a basic understanding of what does and doesn't help to create a good picture.


All of the close up shots are really noisy. I have no idea what ISO she used, but for a professional photographer to provide pictures that are so grainy and almost appear to be taken on something akin to a 1MP camera is really poor.


Some of the pictures aren't focused properly, allowing for some artistic leniency, it's anyone's guess in some pictures as to what was meant to be the focal point they're that bad in some of them.


Quite a few of the pictures are over exposed, the saturation is hideously painful, I really don't know what look she was going for.


The pictures are a nice reminder of the day, but given these photos were meant to be taken by a professional, if you were to look at them you'd never know it. I saw her portfolio before taking her on (I know these will always be prime pictures on display), but we're both astounded at the poor quality by a "professional".


OH wants us to contact her and ask a) why the quality is not as good as expected of a professional and b) ask for compensation. Personally I'm a bit uncomfortable with asking for compensation, but how do other people think we should handle this?

gadgeteer_2

Unfortunately when I read about the delay I was fearing that the photographs could be poor, hence why they've tried to delay the inevitable. I'm sorry to hear that they aren't great.

With regards to making a complaint then ultimately it will come down to two fairly simple questions. How does the quality of your photographs compare to what you saw before booking? And how much did you pay?

So if you didn't pay a lot because for example they were just starting out then obviously it wouldn't be reasonable to expect the same quality as a top end photographer. Just in the same way that I'd expect a BMW to feel better than a Fiat Punto.

How do the photographs compare to what you saw prior to booking? If they are about the same quality then again it's unreasonable to expect better. But if the photographs you saw were awesome and the ones you got are not then you have a good case.

Since you are amateur photographers, may be you can look at the EXIF information on the photographs to see what the settings were and the camera used. That will give an idea of whether you are dealing with a real pro or a wannabe who thinks wedding photography is easy and has found the hard way that it's not.

It's hard to say more really without seeing the photographs. If you want me to have an impartial look then if you upload them somewhere like Dropbox and PM me a link then I'd be happy to look them over and give you my professional opinion.

Hope that helps

Justengaged

They've photographed for Vogue, and I've seen the actual photos on Vogue website with her credited for them as well so she is a professional photographer. Whilst I'm not a vogue model I did expect a certain standard but maybe we're just being picky as we know we can get better quality on our cameras and they're not as high spec as hers.


I may be being a bit harsh but given we've got high standards for our own photos, we'd obviously expect a professional to at least hit the standards of photos we mere amateurs can manage to produce.


I did have a look at the EXIF and the ISO setting is ok in the ones that are abit noisy, having looked at them again it's likely she used a poor lens perhaps, the camera she used was a 5D but no matter the sensor you're still limited by the lens used. I did notice the exposure time is longer on the worse ones as well as the wrong aperture (IMHO) so that won't have help get them focused/ as crisp.


We might just be being overly critical of them, the ones in her portfolio on her site (for the most part) are better, but as mentioned earlier she's probably picked out the best ones for that. If I pick the best ones out of ours they're not too far off (some are way off though) so I suppose we can't complain too much, I'm just a bit miffed as we were looking forward to them and feel a bit disappointed now. It's not the end of the world, was just looking for a bit of advice.


I'll just try and look at it glass half full.... there are some reasonable photos in there so hey ho, you live you learn

gadgeteer_2

Hard to say more really without seeing them. Have you shown your friends and family and if so what do they think?

I got married last year and hired one of the best local photographers. I'd probably say the second best in the area, the first being way outside my budget. I remember the same sort of mixed feelings.

The key is really do you have enough great photos to fill an album? I was much happier after putting together an album. We got over 400 photos but put just over 90 into our album.

Plus I also know that photographer's are a nightmare to please. We look at things so differently from most people and in some ways it's ruined my ability to just enjoy a snap. As soon as I see any photo now my brain is scanning it for sharpness, contrast, noise, shadows & highlights. Everyone else sees a cute kid.

Floss

Did she take all the photos or were some taken by an assistant?

Justengaged

She was the only photographer there.

I had a look through our contract though and think I have a case for refund regardless though so going to try that tact.

One part of the contract states that she will provide a photo book within two months of the wedding date. Well I've only received them electronically, and not a photo book. There was never verbally a mention of a book but if it's in the contract surely she has to still provide it?

I'll ask her to redo the photos and send a book or give us a partial refund due to breach of contract. This may be the best solution I think.

Floss

Is she a member of any professional body? It may be worth looking at their problem resolution process to see if that is an option to consider?