Terrible wedding photos?

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AndyG123

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Andy
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My sister in law has recently had her wedding photos taken (it was the wedding reception as they had a lockdown wedding)

When she's received these photos she's not happy with them at all...

Some are massively under exposed.
Some have been edited in a way thay the blacks have been crushed so much a green tree in the background blends in with the grooms suit!

White balance on my white shirt is way off on some shots, some it's pink, some it's white, some it's a blue shirt.

The first dance photos are actually unusable as the exposure is so off you can only see the grooms face pretty much and not his suit!


She has asked if she could actually have the raw files to resize some images and re-edit some of the images (or I would have done this) however the photographer has said that the images are their property and not to be edited - fully understandable!
What's making the matter worse is that the photographer's actually a friend of my sister in law. So she's finding it difficult to approach him with her concerns....

Is there anything actually wrong with her saying... I hate the edits and there's not a single photo I like?
No contract was actually signed either. So she wasn't actually aware that the images aren't her images. (only the copies which have been given to her)
 
You would assume that she was familiar with the photographers style before booking them? If not, that was a mistake.

For sure if she isn’t happy she should speak to them about it and explain that she dislikes the way they have been edited. Don’t be surprised though if the photographer takes the view that they have been edited in their normal style. She could suggest that she is willing to pay to have them edited differently that way the photographer can just outsource to someone else.

Was she happy with them before you expressed your opinion? Sometimes other photographers because they prefer a different way of doing things can influence how the client feels. Things like white balance etc. aren’t really a concern for most couples. Most couples just like or dislike photos based on the emotions they provoke. Very rare to see a wedding client unhappy unless they are a photographer themselves taking an issue with things like white balance.

Off course just like anything else there are some terrible and some great photographers out there taking photos at weddings. Unfair to pass judgement here though not having seen any of the images.

From what you have said the editing seems to be the main issue which is usually a style preference sounds like she got a dark and moody style and that wasn’t what was wanted.
 
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They did actually use the same photographer for the actual wedding and the editing style does seem to be more severe than the original set of images.
It almost seems like a preset has been applied but then no edits applied afterwards to correct the exposure or shadows where the image needs it.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Sounds like a cheap friend to friend job gone bad.
This is why you don't get friends to photograph a wedding.
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On this topic I've actually spoken to a work colleague who has mentioned about me photographing his daughters wedding!
Now I've initially said no as it's too much pressure and I'm not a professional... He's adement that there is no pressure as they were originally not going to get a photographer and use their phones for photos!

But it still doesn't sit right with me!
 
TCR4x4 said:
Sounds like a cheap friend to friend job gone bad.
This is why you don't get friends to photograph a wedding.
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Yup. A family member did ours (part time paid photographer who at the time had done several weddings) and it took months to get anything off them and when we did it was the raws and I processed them.
 
AndyG123 said:
On this topic I've actually spoken to a work colleague who has mentioned about me photographing his daughters wedding!
Now I've initially said no as it's too much pressure and I'm not a professional... He's adement that there is no pressure as they were originally not going to get a photographer and use their phones for photos!

But it still doesn't sit right with me!
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Don't do this if you're uncomfortable with it. Your colleague may be saying there's no pressure .... but that could change if he and/or his daughter or unhappy with the results, and it might also put your work relationship at risk?

Personally, I'd decline and say that I don't feel confident/comfortable about doing a wedding and stick to my guns.
 
Had some development with this... The bride and groom have messaged the photographer and explained why they are unhappy with the set of images...

He has said that he will provide tiff images for editing, and also said "the jpegs are 100% and will edit no problem"

Im actually even concerned about the level of detail which will have been lost in the tiff file to be honnest - I edited a set of my own photos and tried to match the editing, exported as a tiff and reimported and I'd say at least 50% of the range was lost as soon as I tried to re edit the tiff file.
It almost makes me question if the photos were originally shot in raw format or a tiff format.

*just to clarify on this, my original concern thay the tiff would be an export of the edited images, and the jpegs were already under exposed so retrieving shadow detail would be more of a challenge for a jpeg*
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If the tiff files are direct from the camera then this wouldn't be an issue.. Just tried to educate myself on how a raw format captures colour per pixel and a tiff file holds the r g and b data seperatly.
 
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gramps said:
Not sure if I see the problem with this.
.tiff has plenty of detail and many photographers don't use RAW but shoot in jpeg, including wedding photographers.
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I think my original concern was that the tiff files may have been the images which had been edited, exported as tiff files.
(and some of the edits had no black detail in them) which I'd never be able to retrieve.

However as you suggest it may just be the format the camera uses and the original tiff will have the detail required.
 
gramps said:
Not sure if I see the problem with this.
.tiff has plenty of detail and many photographers don't use RAW but shoot in jpeg, including wedding photographers.
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Which would be fine if changes aren't needed but the problem here seems to be that op feels that the photographer has cocked it up. Tiff could be ok but which would you say has a better chance of success after cocking up the exposure and/or WB? Correcting exposure and WB issues in jpegs or raw?
 
I don't think there is anything wrong in going back to the photographer saying it's not really processed to her tastes and if he'd be willing to redo a few to her tastes and then he/she can do the rest along similar lines.
If the photographer is indeed a friend he/she shouldn't mind at all.
 
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woof woof said:
Which would be fine if changes aren't needed but the problem here seems to be that op feels that the photographer has cocked it up. Tiff could be ok but which would you say has a better chance of success after cocking up the exposure and/or WB? Correcting exposure and WB issues in jpegs or raw?
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Clearly RAW but tiff gives plenty of scope unless the images are total rubbish.
Whatever, it appears that both parties may have an issue of having made a poor choice. :(
 
Sounds like the photographers isn't necessarily aware that jpg files lose information. The comment that they “are 100%“ would worry me - sounds like a confusion of resolution with information.

I’d be wary that the tiffs were actually exported from jpgs. Important to find out how the original images were stored in camera. As has been said, if they are under exposed, then jpg gives far less leeway to recover.
 
gramps said:
Clearly RAW but tiff gives plenty of scope unless the images are total rubbish.
Whatever, it appears that both parties may have an issue of having made a poor choice. :(
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Based on the description, the images are heavily under exposed and will need all the help they can get. I suspect - though I don't know - that he shot in jpg and made an error somewhere. No idea why he'd offer tiff and not raw files.
 
I'm hoping that the tiff files are a of a decent enough exposure that I have enough range to pull back the shadow detail... But the edits have had all of the shadow detail removed from them. So fingers crossed I'll get good tiffs!
 
I'd just like to point out that we haven't seen any images, so we don't know what we're talking about.

That said, if the bride (or whoever paid for the photos) is unhappy, she is free to reject the images and demand her money back, as well as the costs of restaging the event.

The small claims court provides a relatively quick service for claims up to £10,000 in total. ( https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/l...laims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/ )
 
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To give a fair comment / opinion on the photos for this thread it would be helpful to see some of the photos to critique and maybe the community could edit the said photos to recover any details of concern !
Or the main issue maybe the photos composition are just poor and any editing will not rectify this at all !
Until we see the photos it is difficult to give any qualify advice to the OP !
 
Tysonator said:
Until we see the photos it is difficult to give any qualify advice to the OP !
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I'm not sure what the guys running the hamster cages would say about that. Copyright issues could rear their ugly heads! :wideyed:
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I'm not sure what the guys running the hamster cages would say about that. Copyright issues could rear their ugly heads! :wideyed:
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That said there is not much the community can do !
Some are masters of wizards LightRoom or Photoshop and can perform Adobe dark magic on what we might consider unrecoverable image ! ! ! lol
 
nandbytes said:
I don't think there is anything wrong in going back to the photographer saying it's not really processed to her tastes and if he'd be willing to redo a few to her tastes and then he/she can do the rest along similar lines.
If the photographer is indeed a friend he/she shouldn't mind at all.
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Unless the photographer delivered to the same standard as their portfolio. Some people don’t like the photos because they hired the wrong photographer for them. That’s on the couple not the photographer.
 
T_J_G said:
Unless the photographer delivered to the same standard as their portfolio. Some people don’t like the photos because they hired the wrong photographer for them. That’s on the couple not the photographer.
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that assumes they have "standard", apparently white shirt is showing up as blue, pink and white.... doesn't seem much of a standard.
 
nandbytes said:
that assumes they have "standard", apparently white shirt is showing up as blue, pink and white.... doesn't seem much of a standard.
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Nope but if their portfolio is like that, then although it's not a good standard, then they may have got what they paid for.

Of course, without seeing the photos, we're all just making assumptions.
 
Marc said:
Because the tiffs will be cropped and straightened?
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They would be, but if you're going to do some serious recovery work then a little straightening and cropping is a minor matter (except for a tog that couldn't frame well).
 
I will try to get some photos but reluctant to post at the moment as its been mentioned that if I am permitted to edit the photos one of the terms may be that I'm unable to post photos in comparison for example!

Thanks for the advice! And I'll hopefully be able to get a decent set from the images provided!
 
ancient_mariner said:
They would be, but if you're going to do some serious recovery work then a little straightening and cropping is a minor matter (except for a tog that couldn't frame well).
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What bi mean is that the photographer may well send photos that have already been cropped and/or straightened if exposure is the issue.
 
The photographer's comment that, "the jpegs are 100% and will edit no problem" is concerning. I wonder what he means.

I hope something can be recovered from the .TIFF files but perhaps, as mentioned above, they might be badly exposed.

Dave
 
Not directly related but illuminating in general terms is some advice I received early in my programming career...

"Never rely on 3rd party descriptions of a problem. If you haven't seen the problem for yourself, you have no idea what's going on. Remember: one man's big bird is another woman's sparrow!"
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Not directly related but illuminating in general terms is some advice I received early in my programming career...

"Never rely on 3rd party descriptions of a problem. If you haven't seen the problem for yourself, you have no idea what's going on. Remember: one man's big bird is another woman's sparrow!"
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Don't you mean “one man’s big cat is another’s domestic kitty“ ;)
 
Pound Coin said:
Don't you mean “one man’s big cat is another’s domestic kitty“ ;)
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Or even: "one man's octopus is another shark's starfish..." :wideyed:
 
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