groom has cold sore!!! - am i expected to edit out?

[billy_saddle]

<p>Gday guys,</p>

<p>I did a wedding last year where the groom had a not too pleasant cold sore. I told them i could edit it out in some of the stand out pics for enlargements etc. They believe i should edit every single photo though.</p>

<p>I was at that time a fairly budget wedding photographer and gave a 20% discount already as it was a friends sister. the package only included 4 hours coverage and images edited and supplied onto a dvd.</p>

<p>I have to admit its an ugly cold sore lol ... the process to edit 458 pics seems daunting especially when i think about how much i charged.</p>

<p>any thoughts?</p>

[jessica_cussons]

<p>Hey Billy,<br>

Personally I would edit it out of them all for them. For me the most important thing is giving my clients the very best wedding photography pictures I can possibly do whether I charged too little or not (as im sure all wedding photographers have charged too little at some point and then realised they had to do too much work for it!). It may not be the best business advice but these people are possible people to reccommend you and easily bad mouth you. Word of mouth is key so I would protect yourself and your business and just do it! This is just my opionion though but hope it helps!</p>

[dawn_tyler]

<p>Hi Billy,</p>

<p>I would edit it out - I tend to anyway. It's your business and your art that it is representing so why would you want them to retain any photos that are less than their best to show others? A cold sore is not something you can prevent, but it is definitely something you can edit. All it takes is two clicks of the cloning tool, and with only 458 images, that shouldn't take you longer than a few hours and it's all done. In fact, I would have never gotten into a discussion as to which ones I would edit it out of - I would have just edited it out! How much you get paid, discounts you gave - none of that matters to the client or to potential referrals that look at the couples wedding pictures and all they can see is a cold sore and not your talent. However, you could write into your contract in future that any editing is extra at "X" per hour etc. It's up to you! Hope this helps.</p>

[billy_saddle]

<p>thanks for the replies,<br>

unfortunately i have given the images to them, cold sore and all already and do have some unhappy clients :( it has caused a snowball effect and now they have several issues with my photography... no matter what i do i do have my first unhappy wedding clients</p>

[aura_jane]

You would not believe the amount of acne I edited off my last bride and groom. That took up 90% of my edit time, but

they were so happy. They have now decided to also get a wedding album because they like the way they look. More

money for me, plus they referred 2 more brides to me. It's worth the effort.

Also, I you are just giving out a DVD of the shots, consider printing 4 or 5 of them yourself through a professional printing

company first. I do this on luster and metalic so they can see why I charge more for prints than the corner store does. It

gets me a ton of print orders. Sometimes brides will go print your work at the corner store not knowing they are going to

crop it depending on size and mess up the color and make your work look terrible. Then they blame it on you and say it

was your work. My mother did that with her photographer and I have tried in vain for 2 years to explain that it was not the

photographers fault that the 8x10 version has parts of the heads cropped off. A lot of people actually don't know these

things.

[robert_landis]

<p>I would do it- the negative word of mouth if you don't would cost you a lot more down the road.</p>

[matt_needham]

<p>"They believe i should edit every single photo though."</p>

<p>That will be a typical expectation from people who hire you as a pro unless you specify otherwise.</p>

<p> </p>

[picturesque]

<p>At this point, if you don't edit all of them, you will not have happy customers. I've done it before to 400-500 images. It isn't that bad. Chalk it up to experience and next time you'll do things differently, right?</p>

<p>Next time, put a limit on things up front. Name a number if you want. Or just the ones that go into the album. Put it in writing so it isn't up for interpretation. Or quote a retouching fee and put it in writing.</p>

[surfidaho]

<p>Howdy!</p>

<p>I did a wedding once for a bride who developed an acne spot directly in the middle of her forehead just before her wedding. It was very red, and very visible.</p>

<p>I didn't even ask. I edited every picture.</p>

<p>Another time, a groom came to me when nobody else was around and shyly confessed that he was embarrassed by how one of his teeth looked crooked. I fixed every picture where the crooked tooth was visible.</p>

<p>People don't hire me to record the truth about their wedding day. They hire me to capture the ideal.</p>

<p>It's actually pretty easy to fix mouth stuff. Just copy and paste an equivalent area from the other side, flip horizontally, move it where it needs to be, adjust color to match (if necessary) and layer mask the edges with a very soft brush.</p>

<p>Later,</p>

<p>Paulsky</p>

[joshroot]

<blockquote>

<p>Another time, a groom came to me when nobody else was around and shyly confessed that he was embarrassed by how one of his teeth looked crooked. I fixed every picture where the crooked tooth was visible.<br>

People don't hire me to record the truth about their wedding day. They hire me to capture the ideal.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Exactly.</p>

<p>I had a groom who was in the navy and confided in me that he was really embarrassed by a throat tattoo he had foolishly gotten while on shore leave. He had gotten a high neck tux to cover it as best as possible and said they were saving money to have it removed. But asked if I could remove it from any photos where it was really obvious. I made sure not a trace of that tattoo was showing in any of the photos I gave them. Sure it took time, but I can count 3 additional weddings that I can directly attribute to that couple and how pleased they were with my work.</p>

<p>We all have to set limits on what we say we are willing to do for clients. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't ever go above and beyond. When you do something special for people when it matters most, they tend to remember it.</p>

[chauncey_huffman]

<p>Billy,<br>

I'm sorry that things didn't work out for you in this situation. Matt Needham was correct when he said "That will be a typical expectation from people who hire you as a pro unless you specify otherwise." When you're a pro people expect everything in the world. If there are things that you don't want to deal with (like editing a cold sore out of 400+ images) then that needs to be made clear up front when you have your first consultation and have them sign the contract. I make it clear both in my contracts and in our consultation that I do minor facial editing and creative editing as needed. I tell them that I will take care of anything that reasonably takes away from the picture, and I give them examples. Blemishes, Yellow Teeth (upon request), Bags under eyes and stray hairs that may fall into faces are the most common examples. Anything that goes above and beyond such as removing a person, opening eyes, putting a smile on someones face etc. will be considered extra and they will be charged an hourly rate for those "fixes." I also am sure to tell them that not all problems can be fixed. I can do a lot with my software but if you happen to be looking the wrong direction or the wrong person gets the bouquet, that can't be helped. "I always throw in the bouquet joke to break the tension." The truth is, as much as it might be a pain to edit something out of 400+ images, it's our job, post-production is the most tedious part of the job by far, but (personally) it's one of my favorite parts. I hope that this doesn't effect you too negatively and you can move on from it.<br>

Good luck!</p>

[g.e._masana]

<p>I don't think pleasing customers means he has to retouch 458 images. He offered to work on those that would be used in enlargements and that should've been noted as generous and sufficient by his customers. As he states he's a "budget photographer", I think he simply has people wanting to squeeze him for additional services for nothing. A reasonable customer would've said, "I know it's not your fault, but we'd like to have all those images retouched. Is that additional, and if so, how much would it be?" Instead, though he made an offer over and above what they contracted him for - they said it wasn't good enough and demand more. That's just wrong. I'm all for making happy customers and I'm all for creating fantastic images, but I'm totally against having customers take advantage of the photographer.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>How much you did or didn't charge has no relevance to the situation. You needed to control and manage your clients expectations and this topic needed to be discussed before the wedding. Also there should be some guidelines concerning post-processing image files included in your contract. Since you've delivered 458 images, I think that it's fair for them to expect that they've all been processed. You've learned a valuable lesson about running a studio and customer service. Often, shooting the wedding is the easy part.</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Download the trial of Portraiture, and see if that will get you close enough:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx">http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx</a></p>

<p> </p>

[kevin_swan1]

<p>I have a very similar story. The groom in one of the weddings I shot last year developed a very visible cold sore on his upper lip the day before the wedding. 2 weeks after the wedding, I had their photos online. They loved them. I met with them a few days later to deliver their prints. By then, they had seen some of their guests' photos on Facebook. The groom told me he'd forgotten about the cold sore until he saw his friends' photos and saw his cold sore in every one of their photos. He told me, "I didn't remember seeing it in your photos, so I went back and double-checked, and sure enough, it wasn't there!" That's when I reminded him about the magic of Photoshop, and why it's worth it to hire a pro. ;)</p>

<p>They loved that I had completely eliminated it from every photo. Wedding photography is a people business, not a photography business. It's all about over-delivering, and keeping your clients happy. You should retouch the photos at no extra charge. If you find it's more work than you bargained for, then raise your prices. If you're charging money for a service, people have a right to expect professional results. YOU set your prices, not your clients, so if your prices are too low, that's YOUR mistake. Don't take it out on your clients.</p><div></div>

[g.e._masana]

<p>So low budget photographers are to include everything a higher budget photographer does? So if the customer next demand a higher end leather album for the contracted price, he should comply?<br /> <br /> You know, back in the film days, major retouching was an additional expense, even with high end photographers. Just because we need not pay a retoucher to do the work nowadays and may be able to do it ourselves does not mean it's a given that it's included, especially if one is a low end photographer. Don't fault the guy for not charging enough, the fault is in his not setting terms. <br /> <br /> I just finished an assignment where the groom had a cut above his eye and I retouched all the affected images, but then, I get paid nice dollars to retouch just about everything. But do you believe people get what they pay for? If you really believe people get what they pay for, then this low budget photographer is absolutely fine delivering a product without retouching, isn't he?. <br /> <br /> Or do you think a budget photographer should deliver an equivalent product to your higher priced goods?</p>

[ejder]

<p>My general rule is that a big, honking, obvious and temporary flaw (cold sore, big zit, etc.) should be edited out - and it usually takes all of 10-30 seconds to do - while permanent flaws like moles should be left alone.</p>

[billy_saddle]

<p>gday again,<br>

wow thanks for your responses. i have found them quite helpful. <br>

i did edit every pic... just only touched up the cold sore on the "money shots"<br>

I have no doubt the client if very disappointed but i also know since day dot they have been trying to find ways to give me less $$ " can you give me a discount because..." could you please give us an extra enlargement because...." "do you think you can stay a little bit longer to get....." </p>

<p>I guess this was my first " very demanding client" and it was unfortunate it was at my than budget price discounted 20% with little bonus chucked in....... and i gotta get some times you get demanding clients that do expect the world no matter how much they paid.</p>

<p>BUt i had that vibe from day dot that this is one couple that was never going to be happy - this should have been my warning to do everything possible so they had little to complain about. lesson learnt for sure<br>

FYI - other complaints - groom had double chin in some pics - "we told you he was worried about his chin yet he still has it in some pics" ( i explained i could shoot from above the groom all day ... but it didnt matter)<br>

some group photos a couple of guests was not looking into the camera due to 6 or so family members snapping at the same time and some major communication issues as some of the guests had poor english - i just could not get their attention.<br>

not enough portraits after ceremony - i had 19minutes of available light after the bride was 30minutes late to the ceremony on a wedding that had a very little window for photos.</p>

<p>the worst part about this is a got some not to shabby pics... some i like - they are so focused on the photos they dont like and are so focused on not like my photos they have informed me though they are all useless and none will make it into there wedding album......<br>

anways lol ... lesson learn't i think.. cover all bases do everything you can to make every pic the best it can be<br>

i am going to edit everything again with cold sore gone and have the peace and mind that if they still complain that i have tried everything to make them happy.</p>

<p> </p>

[katie_odell1]

<p>We have a saying "If it lasts more than 7 days, it stays." So in this case, I would edit the cold sore out of every photo it showed up in. If people have a tattoo or something else that is permanent and they ask me to take it out because they are concerned about it, I will, but I do not offer this up on my own. Acne, cold sores, razor burn, that stuff is edited without the client even asking.</p>