photographers wedding photo's on disc - disaster?

This is why we keep telling people over and over that wedding photography cannot be taken lightly, by either the couple or the photographer.

Get a copyright release and take the files to a professional photographer or retoucher. Not everything can be fixed, Photoshop is not a magic wand, but perhaps some important pictures can at least be improved. Plan to pay quite a bit, image retouching work ain't cheap.

I starred this. Every newbie wanna be wedding photographer who has to ask what settings and what lens etc etc etc needs to read this. I am sorry you are disappointed, hopefully something can be salvaged. Good luck.

Well, without seeing just how bad the photos are, it's hard to say. Obviously, for the missing family members, all you can do is solicit photos from other people who were at the event to see if they got photos you can get copies of for memories. Most people will oblige this request.

Then, I'd recommend purchasing Photoshop Elements. I'm not sure of the price in the UK, but I can assure you that you can make the photos look better! You may have a friend who can help? If not, I would suggest reading some tips online then playing with the software. The good news is, you own the originals. So if you get better with Photoshop, you can always go back and do an even better job of retouching/cropping etc.

This was a shame, I hope you are able to recover enough from the photos you have to give you some memories of this special time. Cheers.

First, there is no reason photos on disc should play in your DVD player. This only happens with special photo discs. Normally you cannot get a CD or DVD full of photos to play on your DVD player.

As for the white borders, this is also completely normal. Photos have a 2X3 aspect ratio, so if you want to make an 8X10 print, you either need to crop a couple inches of the long side of the image, print the image with white borders on two sides, or choose a size of paper that is full frame like 8X12.

As to the actual image quality, I can't speak to that without seeing it. However for £300, I would not expect very much. I think this might be a case of you get what you pay for. I decent wedding photographer will easily cost £2000 to £6000.

So, for the price you paid, as long as some of the photos were in focus, I would say you should be happy you even got that.

Edit:

You could take these some place to be retouched, but expect to pay up to £5 per image, possibly even more.

You paid £300 for a record of possibly the most important day of your life.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but you do get what you pay for, and £300 isn't much at all. I know it's too late now but for only a few hundred more, you could've had a professional, and an album included in the price!

Your only hope now is to get a release from the photographer and send the images to a professional editor/retoucher. Alternatively you could contact the photographer telling them they haven't produced professional work and that you aren't happy.

I'm afraid this sort of 'disaster' is happening more and more in this day and age of "I bought a DSLR camera from Currys last week and I'm a professional photographer"

EDIT This is getting interesting.... Let me get this straight, you are now defending the photographer saying his work is "Amazing"? and his website is "Phenominal" (sic) ... Take the shots back to him and get him to sort them... If he's as professional as you describe, then he should take charge of the 'mishap'. People here are trying to help you... The problem lies actually with you... You've made a mistake. Your first port of call should be with the photographer, allowing them to correct any problems.

The usual way wedding photography works is that many images of the wedding are presented, and say, 50 are chosen for an album. These images would be retouched /edited and layered with backgrounds to produce the final outcome. Have you actually asked if any editing has been carried out? I doubt it, on 1000 images for £300!! If you think so, your expectations are unrealistically high!!

Question/Comment: "We received the disc which wouldnt play on our dvd player (which I found strange) but it uploaded fine to our pc."

Answer: That is not strange at all. Did you specify whether you wanted a CD or DVD? Even if you said DVD, not all DVD players can play all DVDs. Some DVD players also have a photo viewing mode (you can't just hit play and expect it to show your pictures - you have to change the playback mode). Did you ask him to put it in slideshow mode? If not, then he probably just copied them as regular files to the DVD. You need to be more clear to the photographer next time.

Q/C: "The photo's are unfortunately not the best quality"

A: For £300 you should not expect much. A good wedding photographer costs about ten times that much where I live.

Q/C: "some [pictures] have had to be cropped with white boarders when I took them to be printed just so I could get a full image!!"

A: Not all printers standardize their dimensions, so unless you want your picture cropped (which I assume you don't), printing will result in a white border on your pictures. This is not the photographer's fault - rather is is the fault of companies not standardizing.

Q/C: "We paid £300 to him just for the disc as I couldnt have thought of anything more boring than choosing an album from over 1000 photo's."

Actually, you paid him for his time. In addition, albums are not boring. You don't need to put all 1000 photos in an album - you only need to put your favorites).

Q/C: "The problem is I am unable to question the quality as its my best friends brother"

A: Chalk it up to experience. That's why one should avoid business transactions with friends and relatives (because if something goes wrong, it can ruin the relationship). That's what professionals are for.

Q/C: "So I was wondering if I took the disc to kodak or somewhere like that could they possibly do something to better the quality?"

A: Probably not. You may want to take it to a photo retoucher or "photoshop" expert. Try to find a professional photo lab in your area and see if they have someone who can digitally enhance your pictures (again you don't need to do it for all the pictures, as that would be expensive. Just pick a bunch of your favorites).

Just be aware that you can't really fix blurry photos or really badly exposed photos.

Q/C: "I so wish i'd gone with my heart originally and paid an alternative photographer. Word of advice - always work outside friends and family."

A: You don't need to tell us that. Most of us have known that all our lives (at least that's how I was raised).

Q/C: "Dont make out that I am stupid or and idiot for booking by friends brother and ONLY paying £300!"

A: I won't calll you stupid, but that was very poor judgment on your part (especially after just admitting that you originally wanted to hire someone else). What do you expect people to think?

Q/C: "He is a professional photographer, was highly recommended and has been in th profession for a lot of years"

A: That doesn't mean much. His expertise and portfolio is what counts. Just because someone is a good wildlife photographer or general photographer does not mean he is a good wedding photographer.

Q/C: "I have seen his portfolio of hundreds of weddings, photo shoots and wildlife etc and they are all amazing! His website is phenominal!"

A: Hundreds of weddings, huh? I highly doubt that. And even if it's true, most don't put them all in their portfolio or website (that's overkill). To bad he didn't show you all the bad photos from his so-called weddings (but that's not really your fault).

Q/C: "Maybe because I asked him to refrain from 'overdoing' things with photoshop is the reason why my photo's are not AMAZING?"

A: Not really. Amazing wedding photos existed without photosphop (think of all the pictures that were done in the days of film). Unless you want some really far out effect (like high key blown out oversaturated photographs), there is no reason why you can't get good pictures without photoshop.

While it is true that many digital photos need to be enhanced in photoshop (since the sharpness and contrast is sometimes lacking, or there is a gray tone), things like bad or uninspired composition, blurriness do to camera shake, and severe over/under exposure cannot be fixed.

Also, you can't "photoshop" pictures in the camera while you are taking them. That has to be done afterward on a computer (which can be time consuming).

Q/C: "I am left with mediocre pictures and can not say anything to him"

A: Of course you can. You don't have to be mean about it if you don't want, but you can tell him you changed your mind about photoshopping and if he can fix this or that.

Alternatively, you don't have to say anything to him, but neither do you have to recommend him to anyone else. If he and his family can't handle that then it's their problem, not yours.

This is the best photography course online:

http://photography-course.info/

You can be like the masses of humanity and buy a camera you can afford that has auto this and that for worry free picture taking. And learn through trial and error how to use something like aperture or shutter priority auto modes or even attempt to use the thing on full manual mode.

You seem to know already there is some thinking to using a camera and to take pictures. A good place to start is by reading the owners manual that comes with a camera. Read the information and look at the illustrations with part names and look at the real camera. Handle the camera and take pictures. Let me rephrase that. Take pictures to learn how to use the camera and maybe even to keep some. Don't start with important stuff you cannot photograph over again such as birthdays, a toddlers first steps. That puts picture taking out of the learning phase and puts the pressure and emphasis to taking pictures for real and to keep.

These first pictures are for you to learn how to use your camera. And you have learned how to use your camera when you can take pictures with it and can teach others how to use it. Honest. You can also go to a college in your area and take a beginning photography course. There you will be taught the basics even a pro must learn and do in their work. Camera handling and use, taking exposures with film and/or digital cameras, and maybe even some photo assignments to get some real time learning. In this learning do not take serious pictures you must keep as that detracts from the learning aspect of the class. Do so only if you have mastered the use of your camera before class is over.

It's like growing up in a way. And I am happy you know there is a way to learn how to use a camera and take pictures. It's like learning how to drive I suppose. Someone can teach you or you can get taught at a driving school. Both will get you a drivers liscense. One though will really teach you the fundamentals you can use for the rest of your driving career.

Ask your friend for a full copyright release, otherwise no one is going to retouch them for you either. If and when you get that from him, I'll gladly take a look at them for you.

"doing this for quite some time" doesn't make much difference. The price alone tells me he is not a wedding photographer. Some amazing portrait and other types of photographers can't shoot a wedding to save their soul. It's HARD. The hardest, most stressful type of photography out there. Just because someone can take an amazing portrait does NOT make them able to shoot a wedding.

I am so sorry you are going through this now. It's unfortunate that it has to be one of those things you have to live and learn about because there are no do-overs.

Choose your favorite images, get a release and have those ones fixed as best they can be by a professional.

Sorry to hear about this. I know how important this day was for you and your husband. You still can have some professional pictures for display if you would like to do this. I got married some time ago and I posed in my wedding gown for a professional picture that was put in the newspaper. The picture I choose was printed in the Sunday newspaper with all of my wedding information the day after I got married. I had a great photographer that even took my professional engagement picture for the newspaper. I know this will be expensive, but it's your wedding picture. Also, I would check with the guest that attended your wedding and see if they have any pictures that they can give to you. I hope my answer helped. Good luck to you.

I do feel sorry for you but this is why we keep telling wanna be wedding photographers not to do it. This day was special to you and the photographer ruined it ... ok maybe didn't ruin it but certainly ruined your tangible memories of it.

This is also the reason I don't do family and friends weddings, something goes wrong and there's a bit of strain added to the relationship.

Technically, you could sue him for failure to meet his contractual obligations but as it's the brother of a good friend that would just aggravate the issue. You could tecnically get your money back plus damages to help pay for a reshoot.

See the following articles.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2668137/...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjBSIvg3pjc

But is it worth the strain it will put on your friendship?

Some of the images could possibly be saved ... possibly but don't count on it. The problem also is that a proper retouch-er is expensive.

My suggestion at this point is rent the tux again, if you own the dress, get back in it and go to a nice studio and pay the 250$ to get a handful of formal portraits done. I know it's not the same but ...

If you were in my area, I'd offer you a decent price to help you out but I'm in Canada and you are in the UK.

You claim he isn't a newbie ... and maybe he isn't ... but the fact that he has basically not a single decent shot on the disk is rather telling. Even my assistant was able to get at least 20 shots worth passing to the couple when she started assisting me and her main role was gopher, not as a second shooter.

Good luck.

EDIT:

A few people have mentioned that 300 pounds isn't much and they are right. That comes up to about 480$Can ... that barely covers my cost of shooting a wedding. At that price, I'm not making a dime for 12 to 16 hours of work (assuming an 8 hour wedding coverage, you then need to add in time for post processing and the likes.)

Anyone charging so little can't have been doing wedding for very long ... they would have gone bankrupt by now.

If you get a release from the photog, email me at my Yahoo address and I'll try and fix a couple of them (two or three, if they CAN be salvaged) for free.

PPS:

I only consider myself competent as a wedding photographer and my clients get 500+ images of this quality:

Candid

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/58972453...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/58824668...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/55456916...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/49160740...

Posed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/58824670...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/58819064...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51633413@N07/58819062...

EDIT the 3rd:

No one has called you an idiot (trust me, this is rather amazing considering how nasty people can get on here). Hiring a friend (or family member ... we call them "Uncle Bobs") or hiring an amateur (I know it's not the case in this situation) is just a mistake MANY people make.

As for the pictures not being great because you told him not to go nuts in Photoshop ... I do almost zero Photoshop work unless requested. The images above are only edited SLIGHTLY for exposure and white balance if they are modified at all. Most professional wedding photographers are the same, time in post production reduces the profitability of the shoot ... time I spend in Photoshop is time I could spend drumming up new business or practicing my art so the motto is "Get it right in camera."

If the photos are in some cases blurry and in others uninteresting that is how the photos are. Very minor blur can be improved somewhat, but serious blur cannot. Sorry, but that just about sums it up. All you can do is ask for your money back for a job done without skill - omission of important people is simply unforgivable.

That photographer basically did not do the job, he seems to have pointed his camera almost at random. So a refund of fee and a grovelling apology is the least that he owes you both.

I am sorry to hear that part of your married life got off to a poor start.