dana_hendrick

I recently did a photo shoot of a family in a park. I use my rebel all of the

time and have never had this issue. Some of the pics taken in succession were

so faded looking they almost had the appearance of black and white.

Any suggestions?

I was VERY clear (as the Bride) with my main photographer that I would be having a back up photographer at my wedding. He stated that he had no problem with it. What I was unclear about was the role of my "guest" photographer and he allowed himself to be bullied by the main photographer. But the photographer NEVER gave me guidelines as to who could and could not take photos. Yet on the day of my wedding, he took it upon himself to tell my second photographer that he needed to make sure to stay out of his way. Well, the second photographer complied during the ceremony (sadly) but not afterwards and not at the reception. I was soooo glad b/c the first photographer took 37 pictures of my cake and none of people at the reception. I was very clear to him that I would be making a digital coffee table book and wanted a storybook wedding with many candids of my friends and family.

Now, from a photographer side, I really try to encourage the B&G to buy a cd up front so then anyone else who takes pics isn't stressing me out because I've already been paid for the services that I'm providing. And David, I DO charge my friends and family b/c my enemies won't hire me! HAHA!

Is anyone using a photo mosaic program to produce a large mosaic from many

small pictures?

There was a guy at the briday extravaganza selling a 20x30 for $1200! I have

played around with the free trials of a few so far (easy mosaic 2005, PanaVue

assembler and mosaic creator). The free downloads have limitations and I've

only had great success with the Easy Mosaic.

Anyone else played with one or actually sell them to your clients?

Joey,

I didn't think about that, you're right, that adds a WHOLE new perspective!

Hi Bob,

Are you talking about adjusting the park photos? I would love that. There are a few that are a bit dark that I think would be wonderful pictures. My email is scottanddana@sbcglobal.net

The photos were taken by my girlfriend with my digital Rebel.

Hi Abe, yes, I've had some wonderfully awesome people on this site offer to fix some of the photos for me. Problem is, the ones I need are all blurry. As I said before, fortunately my backup photographer was able to capture the missing candids from the main photographer and that was important to me. In his contract, he promised "hi-res" pics on a cd. They wer all taken at low resolution. When I tried to explain the difference between resolution and size, it was a meaningless conversation. he just didn't get it.

Curtiss ,

I would be more interested in having a few of the park photos fixed. If you could help out with that, then that would be wonderful!

Brett Prucha, Jul 20, 2007; 01:34 p.m.

Dana,

Glad to hear you now have some resolution in this matter even if it's not all you hoped for.

Thanks for giving us a follow up. I hope we were helpful to you.

Brett,

Everyone on this site has been wonderful. Even those who were skeptical at first before looking at the pictures. Everyone was still professional and very informative. Unlike the honeymoon site that I posted to where one girl told me that the pictures were in my head. Boy have my girlfriends and I had a blast with that one! "Oh, you want to see my wedding pics? Well just look here, they're in my head!"

the original post is under forums/legal questions with the title: photographer needs help with bad photos by Dana Hendrick (2007-05-10)

And yes, fortunately my girlfriend is very familiar with my digital rebel and produced some fabulous photos.

Talitha, the photographer charged $1000 for 6 hours and the photos on a cd. I didn't want prints b/c I do digital scrapbooking and I also wanted to produce my own hardbound photobooks as gifts to my wedding party.

Oh, and Conrad, that's one of the GOOD pictures! You can at least see Scott's face. But yes, the composition is just bad. And, I don't have any ill will against all professional photographers, don't think that. But, if I am in Philly, I will be looking you up! Same goes if you're in Houston! You'll have a personal escort of the city!

Hi everyone! Well here's an update and closure to this problem. As I left

you at the end of the last thread, I was contemplating accepting the offer by

my photograper. My hubby works with many lawyers so I sat down with one (no

charge) and went over the whole story and process of small claims.

Unfortunately in the state of Texas, since there was a contract, I was only

going to be able to sue for the amount of the contract. Bad thing is, if I

won, I wasn't guaranteed payment and may end up back in court just trying to

get my money.

I settled for the $500 and for the "color corrected" cd and set of pictures.

The "color corrected" cd was a total laugh! Believe me, I wasn't surprised.

I was basically just looking for the money at this point. The pictures that

he printed were very flat and lifeless. Some of the pics he corrected were

actually WORSE than the originals! Again, I was just in hysterical laughter.

The pic of Scott and I lighting the unity candle has this really weird pee

yellow cast around us!

The "release" I signed was also a joke! My lawyer told me to sign it all day

long because it basically wasn't worth the paper it was written on, AND it had

typos in it!

Well, at least I have an interesting story to scrapbook!

On a lighter note, we did go to the park and do our re-takes. My girlfriend

took them with my camera and did a fantastic job. The pics are just

beautiful! AND Al's Formal Wear gave us the tux for the weekend for FREE!!!

They were wonderful and so compassionate when they heard my story. I was

hoping they would give it to me at a discount, but I never expected free. I

did send A's Formal Wear a very nice note with copies of some bad wedding

photos, and some of the awesome photos taken by my girlfriend.

And finally, I did get the cd from the back up photographer and his pics are

AWESOME! He took many candids at the reception. Sadly he didn't get the

ceremony either (due to the fact that the OTHER photographer said he was the

main guy and that Kirby needed to stay out of the way), but the photos after

the wedding - taken in the SAME hall, with the SAME lighting, turned out.

Hmmmmm imagine that!

If you would like to see the park photos go to www.dotphoto.com username is

ddphoto and password is april

Thanks again everyone!

Eric,

Just a quick question....it was stated above in the beginning but if people had to rearrange the flowers and open them up to be suitable to the bride, then how are the pictures going to help the florist except that the florist is going to say that is how they were delivered? I would REALLY be interested on how the judge rules on this one. What is really going to help this case is if someone took before and after pics of the flowers. Or took pics of the people rearranging them. Otherwise, it seems like a case of he said/she said.

Hopefully this will end favorably for the B&G. It sucks to have any type of stress like that on your wedding day.

I, in my heart, feel you have done the right thing by staying loyal to the B&G.

D

This happened to a couple at a very ritzy hotel in Houston. Someone took the basket from the reception hall and it was full of cash donations for their honeymoon. VERY SAD! They had no pictures of the person who did it so I would be thrilled to have evidence of the "crashers". I say do whatever you can to help this B&G. You will be their hero even if it means a bit of extra time from you.

And I agree......... your pictures are BEAUTIFUL and $2.50 is waaaaay too little for a 5x7.

Dana

Jennifer,

The theater district in downtown Houston is beautiful! There is a large fountain that photographs wonderfully! Also, the Downtown Aquarium is there and they have a ferris wheel that would be fun in a wedding dress. Please feel free to email me at danasdesigns@sbcglobal.net and I will give you my cell phone number. I would be more than happy to help you.

Dana

Jennifer,

Also, some photographers chose to send me private posts so as not to be chastized for their comments.

OK, gang, so sorry that I have been gone. I basically blinked and a month has gone by!

Here is the latest. Photographer X has sent me an email after 5/10 being the last correspondence from him. It is below: (with names removed):

Dana and Scott,

I have a proposal for you.

1. A cashier?s check for $500

2. Hi-Res color corrected CD?s of the wedding

3. A set of color corrected 4X5 prints of the wedding (which you will be surprised)

Also, I need a liability release from you and Scott, signed by both of you, releasing both xxxxxxxx and/or xxxxxxxxxx Photography from any further compensation, or damages, from the photography taken at your wedding on April 14, 2007.

I hope you will find this a satisfactory settlement, and we can finally have closure on this matter.

Sincerely,

xxxxxxxxxx

cc: PPA

Howe and Hutton Law Firm

Marvin Zindler

So for those of you who don't know MArvin Zindler, he is the famous journalists that exposed the "chicken ranch" in Texas years ago. Since then, he has been a people's journalists helping the public against companies that take advantage of them. Esp the elderly. He also does a bit on restaurants and violations. I think it is interesting that he is saying in his email that he cc'd Marvin Zindler. The email doesn't indicate that it was sent to anyone else.

Anyway, Scott and I went to the park last week and had our photos redone. So we at least have some very beautiful photos of him and I. It was a major pain to get dressed up again. The photographer is asking to give us $500 but it was $200 for Scott's tux re-rental, $130 to have my dress cleaned 9which I will have to pay again when I have it preserved), $30 for a new bouquet. So that pretty much eats up the $500. As for the 4x5's of the photos, that will surely hide any of the flaws that are easily seen in the 5x7's. I did the calculations - I received 244 pics. 54 of the ceremony and only 1 came out. 64 of the reception with NO candids, 12 pics of Scott and I cutting the cake, 14 blurry pics.

So should I take the money and run? It just seems that he is getting off easy. He was so kind as to tell me that he fixed one of the alter pics taken after the ceremony and that I needed to be satisfied by having one. I didn't appreciate him patronizing me. He told me to be happy with my new found photo.net friends who never made mistakes ever. I was quick to tell him that no one on this list EVER said that they never made mistakes, only that they wouldn't have handled this they way that he did.

I have all of my paperwork ready to go and file in court. I will tell you that I have contacted a lawyer and she is reviewing his offer (it is a friend and so I'm not being charged).

I will keep you guys updated with any new events.

Dana

Crystal,

I use Dana's Designs Photography, what about Crystal's Creations? I agree that "photographics" is a little technical and "exposed" does sound a bit on the porn side.

Dana

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging! OK, these comments (or answers) begin with the post from Nadine Ohara on 5/10/07 at5:22pm

Nadine - there was a lot of motion blur. He stated to me on the phone the day after giving me the cds that he had the camera on the wrong setting and that is why the pics of us walking down the aisle are blurry. But, if you look in the video, you can see people stopping as they are coming down the aisle.

He said in an email that he shot a birthday party that same week and it turned out fine and that the mom bought the whole book of images. Well, great for her.

El Fang - he was a client at my hospital and came "highly recommended" by another studio in Pasadena that is very, very, very prestigious. I trusted that studio. They told me that they had used him for back up weddings before.

I also don't think that $1000 is cheap just for photography with no pictures. At least not in this area.

Another thing that I just noticed is that THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF MY MOM AND DAD at the reception! And only one each of Scott's mom and dad. OK, now I'm even more mad.

Jaimie - I understand that people can make mistakes. But own up to it. He still has not come forward with any compensation like an album. He only offered to "re-take the photos that I didn't get". Well, that is mostly of the ceremony. So I asked him how he planned to do that b/c it meant renting tuxes, getting the church again, etc. His reply was that he would do the best that he can. I asked him what that meant, and he never answered. He then went on to tell me that he has a loved one battling colon cancer and his finances aren't great. Yet, he is accusing me of slander and going to go to court over it. He is also (now 4 weeks after the wedding, an email, and certified letter from me) claiming that it was a camera malfunction.

Ni - yes, I did see his work. Again, like I said earlier in this post, he was recommended by a highly prestigious studio in my area. I met with him in person, saw his portfolio and discussed what a storybook wedding was.

Bob - I did get some pictures that are good. But there are 53 pictures of the wedding ceremony and 1 of them is useable.

Ni - I do understand your comments about not taking every thing as truth. But I do know that I have video proof that at least some of the time he was shooting with his flash straight up in the air and with a diffuser on it. He was also LOOKING at each shot. We could have easily turned up the lights in the church and it still would have been a beautiful wedding. ALSO, the video is beautiful! There was a camera in the back of the chruch at least 40 feet away from the alter and the other camera was right behind one of the projector screens. Neither had any additional lighting and the video came out just fine. So the church wasn't THAT dark.

Mark - I did handle it professionally. I had a lawyer that Scott works with look over the initial letter before I sent it. I'm also not worried about a lawyer in Chicago that the PPA presented to him. I know that they are not going to fly to Houston to fight a small claim. And yes, $1000 is worth the effort b/c he was not up front and honest with us from the beginning.

Steve- yes, he has pretty much told me that he doesn't have the money. BUT he just opened a brand new studio in a very rich part of town. Not really feeling sorry for him right now. The funny thing is, that the studio who recommended him AND 3 other people whom I have not met, have stepped forward to offer FREE services in lieu of him not producing what was promised. I have given him plenty of opportunity to make amends. Quite frankly, as rude as he was and rolling his eyes at every shot we wanted makes me not want him to re-shoot anything. If I did, I would definitely have a back up photographer!

Debbie - I'm not trying to put him out of business. I only asked him for the $1000 back along with tux rental, flowers, and money for a new photographer. He countered with no money back at all and only that he would retake all of the ceremony pictures. Did he not think that would cost us money? So Scott and I are supposed to get my 3 bridesmaids and groomsmen back in town with tuxes at $200 each? Not including the ring bearer and the flower girl?

Andrew - it is funny that you mention Judge Judy! I know a clerk at the small claims court in my area. She told me some of the stuff that I needed and told me not to be surprised if Judge Judy contacted me. She said that they regularly scan new claims for their show. Small claims in Texas is only $85 and up to $5000 for the suit total. You automatically get court fees back if you win.

Alec - the lawyer already looked at his contract and is surprised that he hasn't been sued before. Thanks for the information.

Greg - actually, in the area I live in $1000 is the going rate for the package that I booked. Again, he was highly recommended by one of the higher end studios with an excellent reputation. (they were booked on my day). The bad thing about getting some enlargements is there isn't a good one of Scott and I. There are only 64 pictures of the reception that was 2.5 hours long. There are no candids of my mom and dad, brother, groomsmen, bridemaids. No pics of Scott's mom and only one of his dad. Of the 64 pics, 11 of them are of Scott and I cutting our cake. Plus, I asked for some compensation in the form of pictures or an album and there was no response to it. Just that he would re-take the ceremony.

Greg - he was allowed to use a flash, and take pics at any time during the ceremony. When Scott and i lit the unity candle, he only took one shot (or only gave me one shot) and you can see him in the back of the church on the video, hurrying up to the alter, with his flash pointing straight up in the air.

Brett - great, thanks for the information.

Paul - about the flash and the bounce - you are right, he did have the flash straight up, and you would have needed a spotlight to bounce off the ceiling in our church as it is about 2 stories high, painted white. The projection screens are two free standing screens that are fixed on the alter. I've included a pic that someone took before the ceremony with my digital rebel. Although, not the best, it is still better that what he produced.

Nadine - he didn't use a bounce card on any of these photos. And this photographer says he doesn't need any advice b/c of his experience.

Ni - thanks for the info and the breakdown of what works for a wedding.

Carissa - my sentiments exacltly.

OK, now, you guys have asked to see all of the photos.

You can go to www.dotphoto.com

user name is ddphoto

password bad

This will give you access to an album with all of the photos as they were giving to me. No photoshop or color correction of any type. None of these photos in this album have been retouched. It will take about an hour for the photos to load so try accessing them after 8pm central standard time.

AGAIN, thank you all so much for taking the time and consideration in posting your comments. I promise that even if I didn't address you individually in this post, I have read every comment on this thread.

<div></div>

Hi everyone! I was able to salvage a few portrait posed pics of me before the wedding by turning them b&w. But none of the ones of my husband came out. The ones of him with his groomsmen look like they are at a funeral and one of the guys looks jaundice. I use dot photo for uploads and will upload all of the pics tonight so you can go and look at them. I will upload the untouched photos.

Fortunately, I have a canon rebel 300d and I shot a bunch of pics. I did the pics of my veil with my shoes at the bottom and then did my veil with my jewelry laid out. Basically some of the "storybook" wedding that I was looking for. We went to a night club after the reception and I shot there with my little baby canon powershot 4.0. THOSE pics are better in the pitch dark than what this guy did.

And lighting would be a good excuse if the pics on my rebel in the sanctuary before the wedidng didn't come out. AND whoever was using my camera (back and forth between my brother and one of my bridesmaids) was shooting on automatic. Those pics unfortunately are just not useable b/c they are too far away and shot from the side.

There was a point made about looking at the pics while you take them, ya think??? This is what I LOVE about my digital rebel!!! He kept looking at the pics and saying "oh that's a great one, that one is cool too, and this one and this one". I think he was secretly shooting someone else's wedding in his head.

I'm working on packages to send to the organizations that he is affiliated with.

Again, thank you for the information and support.

WOW! You all are wonderful! Thanks so much for the advice and the help.

I will go down the posts and try to answer/comment to each one.

Gwen - the contract is very basic. "the studio takes utmost care with respect to the exposure, development, and delivery of photographs. However, in the event the studio fails to comply with the terms of this contract, due to any event or act outside the control of the studio, the studio's liability is limited to refund of the retainer."

This is the only statement about liability.

Paul - I would be happy with him refunding my money at this time. If we have to go to small claims though, I am going to ask for the money for the tux, etc. I paid him $1000 for his services.

The sharpie information makes sense. Although, one post on here talks about the lightscribe. I just bought one a few weeks ago and haven't used it yet. I heard it is pretty cool.

Jim - I agree. If the pics were good, the sharpie really wouldn't have mattered. He is a member of the Professional Photographers of America and that is where he has consulted an attorney. And thanks for the documentation advice. I already have a binder set up!

Bob - I do have one studio trying to fix some of the photos. The photographer didn't shoot in RAW. Didn't even know what that was when I asked him.

Ben - I got the wedding video (done by a different company thank goodness!) and the photographer is shooting a canon 5d with the flash shooting straight up into the air and a heavy diffuser on it.

Paul -I didn't think about looking for the metadata. I have the originals at a photo studio and I'm going to get the discs today. So I will look at that tonight when I get home. And I'm sending you an email from my work address.

Allison and Ellis - thanks for the info

Bob - there is nothing in the contract about missed photos except for the disclaimer at the top of this thread.

Anne - my new hubby works with attorneys all day long. He has a good friend that initially looked over my letter that I sent to make sure I had removed emotion and that it sounded professional. She is out of town right now but I think my next step is going to have her send a letter from her office. We are going to do a trade. She needs pictures taken of her and her doxies and I do a lot of animal photography.

Lisa - my thoughts exactly! I made the statement that if you bought a $1000 dress at Macy's and it fell apart the first time you wore it, then you would get your money back.

Ryan - I don't think you are way off. My new sister-in-law thought the exact same thing until she saw the pics. She is a horrible photographer and she said she could have done better. My husband at first thought - "well, 5 or 6 of them came out so who cares about the rest?" until he saw them too. I appreciate your point of view.

Ashley - Thanks for the comments!

David - in the photographer's defense, the package I purchased was a digital package which was his res scans of the film and all of my pics on a cd. Being a photography myself and having access to high end labs, I didn't want to pay the mark up for the prints. Plus, I was doing a coffee table book for my parents for a wedding gift.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their comments and their advice.

I will post some pics too!<div></div>

I will try and make this as short as possible while still giving all of the

information needed.

I am a photographer and shoot mostly location photography - babies and puppies

at the park, engagement, parties, etc. I have done about 10 weddings, mostly

for friends, and only if they are small.

I just got married and so needed to become the bride looking for a

photographer. I'm sure many of you can relate to putting yourself in this

position. I figured out that I couldn't walk down the aisle and take my own

photos.

So, I hired a local, professional photographer. He is a client at my

veterinary clinic. If you look at his website, he boasts many years of

experience, best wedding photographer in the nation, etc. I'm trying not to

give away who he is because slandering his name is not my intent. I saw his

portfolio.

OK, so after returing from my honeymoon my photographer comes by the office

and hands me 2 cds. By the way - scribbled on the cd is my name and date of

the wedding. Even I put a label on cds when giving them to my friends!

Anyway, he states to me, "I'm so sorry that the pictures of your bridesmaids

walking down the aisle didn't come out, I don't really know what happened,

guess it was a digital thing". I was in complete shock. I was at my office

so I tried to keep my composure. As soon as he left, I shut the door to my

office and proceeded to look at the pictures. I was devastated. None of the

pictures of my ceremony came out at all. Most of the pictures taken before

the ceremony were orange and blurry. Even after I color corrected them in

Photoshop, they are still blurry and pixelated.

I soon found out from wedding guests that he had chosen to use his brand new

digital camera to practice on my wedding.

So I called him. No answer. Next step - I sent him a letter telling him how

unhappy I was with the pictures. My contract stated that he was supposed to

give me hi-res cds and a storybook wedding. Fortunately I took the pics of my

veil and shoes, my jewelry, etc. because he took none of these. I asked him

for the fee back that we paid, money to re-rent the tux for my husband, money

for my bouquet and to hire a new photographer. It came to just under $2000.

We will not be able to re-create the wedding, but I did want some decent pics

of me and my husband at the park.

In response to my letter, he pretty much said that he wouldn't give any of my

money back and all he was willing to do was to re-shoot the pictures that

didn't come out. Now, I don't know how he proposes to do that b/c most of my

wedding party is from out of town.

I guess the most frustrating part is that he gave me the cds with an arrogance

that they were fine. I would have been horrified to have to present the

quaility of photos that he did. And I would have at least told the client

that the pictures didn't turn out. He has told me if I don't succumb to his

offer then he has a law firm in Chicago that is willing to represent him.

Can you guys please give me some advice? I am not a sue happy person. But I

guess I was just hoping that he would give me something tangible. Maybe offer

me 1/2 of the money and an album with 20 prints in it.

Thanks for reading such a long post!