Customer Expectations Question

rms

I'm a longtime dgrin member and a very (very) amateur photographer, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from the pros here on my expectations as a customer of a pro photographer.

I recently hired someone to shoot a family event. We just got back the photos and, although there were some very impressive shots in the proofs and he captured some amazing shots of some difficult-to-shoot family members, the technical quality of many of the photos was just not up to par.

Much of the problem probably came from the fact that the event was held in a lower-light situation, indoors, and that our photographer didn't use a flash or other supplemental lighting for his candids. As a result, I think his autofocus may have had trouble finding the subject of the photo, and so a large number of the photos are just fuzzy. We can't use some shots with great composition because they're just not as crisp as we would expect. I noticed that in some cases he used Photoshop to make the fuzziness less obvious, but you can only improve so much.

I guess what I need is some guidance on how much of this is to be expected. I know that not every candid shot is going to be award-winning, and so I don't want to be obnoxious and make a big problem out of this if it's something that just comes with the territory. On the other hand, I'm not sure what he can do to make it right, since the event is over, and I don't think it's fair in any case for me to ask for my money back given the amount of work he has already done.

Anyone have experiences (from either the customer or pro perspective) with this issue? Any advice would be appreciated.

Pupator

We had the same problem with my wedding photog. He did not compensate for the strange lighting in the church (some very bright spots, some totally dark places). As a result we ended up with images filled with shadows. He then over saturated and brightened the images in post to make a real mess.

We told him of our displeasure and he was willing to give me his original (unphotoshopped) files, but he was not willing to help in any other way.

The way I saw it he had two good customer service options:

1) Offer us some of his time to take a few formals of my wife and I in wedding day dress in a studio situation (this would have made the MOTB and MOTG quite happy).

2) Offer a refund of just enough of his fee for us to pay for someone else to do that.

photogmomma

Yikes. As an almost pro photographer, if I handed someone proofs that were fuzzy, I would have offered to reshoot. I won't refund any sitting fees (mine are quite low compared to others), but I would refund the price of all the photos or offer a reshoot for free, if possible. Or, if they wanted to stick with the photos, I'd offer a reduction in price because they weren't up to par.

If it were me, I'd call up the photographer and say something nice about the composition, etc, and then ask about the fuzziness and tell him that you're not very happy about it. Ask him nicely what his policy is when someone isn't very happy with the final product and see what he says. Don't attack him as this is something VERY personal and you never know - this might be his best work to date! If you compliment him on the setting/composition/whatever and then ask about the fuzziness, he might not take it as personally and be more willing to work with you.

I'm SO sorry about your experience, but sometimes things aren't as you expect as a pro. But planning for the unexpected should be something a pro should do - having additional lighting, fast enough lenses for low light situations, etc. should be done if they want to be seen as a pro.

But if he takes care of you in some way, shape or form, he should realize that you'll be a supporter of his instead of a detractor.....

Oh, and Pupator, I read about your problem and I'm still pretty bummed for you! That just sucks...

Pupator

photogmomma wrote:

If it were me, I'd call up the photographer and say something nice about the composition, etc, and then ask about the fuzziness and tell him that you're not very happy about it. Ask him nicely what his policy is when someone isn't very happy with the final product and see what he says. Don't attack him as this is something VERY personal and you never know - this might be his best work to date! If you compliment him on the setting/composition/whatever and then ask about the fuzziness, he might not take it as personally and be more willing to work with you.

That's some great advice!

Oh, and Pupator, I read about your problem and I'm still pretty bummed for you! That just sucks...

Thanks Andi! I think we'll be able to salvage some good prints thanks to the good folks here at dgrin. Not to mention, apart from the photography, everything about the day itself was perfect, so what more could I ask?

Scott_Quier

Pupator wrote:

Not to mention, apart from the photography, everything about the day itself was perfect, so what more could I ask?

Maybe the competent photography you paid for?

But I do feel for you and know exactly how you feel about the balance of the day being perfect. Twenty years ago, back when I was a student and had about 2 nickles to rub together, I handed my rangefinder to a friend and asked if he knew how to use it. Nope. We got about 2 shots that were worth looking at. The balance, about 20, were all OOF, over/under exposed. A complete mess. Oh well, I guess I got what I paid for. The balance of the day? Well, she's still hanging around and hasn't yet figured out the extent of the raw deal she signed up for!