Rant about my job- professional photographer

youngishbear

Tue, Oct 13 2015, 7:37 am

amother wrote:

I hired a photographer for my upsherin who we discussed upfront exactly what I want and we discussed that every photo had to be edited. We agreed upon price and it was high like 500 an hour or more. I discussed I want photo of every person in room, crowd shots, every person who cuts hair, I gave her a list.

Bottom line is photographer was trying so hard to be artsy and creative that she missed every important shot. It took her ten minutes to shoot a photo that for every one person cutting hair she missed out on the next two.

Also she then wanted to charge me more for editing that was discussed beforehand.

I am upset that I missed out on many photos I don't have and quality was terrible but of course I paid what I agreed upon. But yes I will tell people not to use so and so prices are so high and not worth it.

And I am so happy when friends give me their photos because I am finding that their photos came out nicer.

So yes people are upset when someone who doesn't know what they are doing charges as if they do and don't deliver what they promise.

If you are a beginner charge as if you are a beginner. Even if out are spending more hours on the job but that's how you learn and I don't have to pay for you to learn on my child.

Apparently, OP does a different kind of photography. Taking good candid shots at a simcha requires slightly different skills than photo shoots, and not everyone is suited for that.

amother

Bronze

Tue, Oct 13 2015, 8:03 am

Just a question to everyone. Why is anyone hiring a photographer who does not have good pictures in their portfolio? I don't understand the complaints about hiring someone and then deciding the pictures weren't good. If you saw the pictures beforehand then you kind of knew what you are paying for.

So I am trying to understand are these photographers deceiving everyone somehow or are people not looking at portfolios beforehand?

amother

Mint

Tue, Oct 13 2015, 8:21 am

I don't want to give too much detail in case photographer is on this site. But this was a few years ago before Instagram and photos everywhere and word of mouth meant a lot. Today everything is let's see a photo first, years ago we discussed with photographer and if they promised to meet your demand you hired them.

Point is that to me I look at photography as a finished product I am not counting your hours it's not like babysitting where you pay by the hour.

And I have paid $850 for a photo album I spend a lot on pictures but they must be gorgeous.

Op you sound like someone j would want to use can you send an email where we can contact you.

The Happy Wife

Tue, Oct 13 2015, 9:48 am

amother wrote:

Even years ago, photographers still had portfolios. You could still see the kind I work they did even before the digital age.

Simple1

Tue, Oct 13 2015, 11:02 am

I understand your frustration op. I have experience in the field but never developed into a serious business (mainly word of mouth). I agree with most of the posters.

I found in my community it became more practical to cut down on my work flow instead of raising prices. Most people don't notice nitpicky details and would rather save money. The one thing that customers DO want and that I dont sacrifice, is that their kids look adorable in the pictures, ie, fun smiles, no awkward expressions. If we get that, then they're thrilled.

Sounds like you are catering to a high end crowd, so you'll need to brand yourself as such. Not everyone can afford it.

I like seeker's idea to simplify the pricing structure. It is important to get the right balance of listening to the customer and growing a thick skin.

amother

Silver

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 2:03 am

I spent over $800 for upsherin puctures by someone who I believed to be a great photographer. I got some cute pictures, but when I got the large blowup prints they looked so dark. It was too late to do anything about it. I don't think it was the printing job, and I have a hard time confronting people (especially if it's too late anyway)

What bothered me even more was that she was so unprofessional when we came to choose the pictures. We made an evening appointment to go reviews the pictures. Had to hire a sitter...she pushed it off by an hour last minute. Then when we got to her at the scheduled time there was no answer. We wasted another 45 minutes until she came home and we started the choosing process.

We had to rush home because the sitter had to be home at a certain time. It wasn't supposed to take so long to choose pics, but we had such a late start cuz she wasn't home when she was scheduled to be. I felt so rushed, and later second guessed my decisions. I spent double the money of what I planned, and I believe if I would have had more time to review the photos I wohkd have ordered different sizes...

So I don't plan on using her on the future. And I don't know who to use. Looking at their online pics doesn't tell you the whole story. And obviously, those are the best pictures they have. It doesn't mean they get such pictures every time. I'm not a professional, I don't know everything about lighting, and whatever else goes into taking pictures. It's a risk.

saw50st8

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 4:26 am

OP, not everyone appreciates the value you put in, or thinks the value is worth it to them.

A friend of mine sews cute kids clothing for a living. She once asked my opinion on something (she had made a cute shirt and skirt set with a fabric she designed and was selling it for $30). I told her it was fine, but when I am buying custom made, I only buy something fabulous because the set looked like something I could pick up in children's place for a lot less. She was highly offended because her stuff is better quality etc but I explained to her that her unique pieces are totally worth it to me because I can't get something similar elsewhere. I bought a kids skirt off of her that was made from an old army uniform. It was super cute. That was worth it to me.

People use hyperbole a lot. So the whole "rip off" might be more of a way of saying "there's no way I could afford that." There's a wonderful photographer near us who a lot of people use. She's fantastic (I've never seen a bad shot) but she's super pricey. I just admire her stuff.

amother

Bronze

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 5:53 am

amother wrote:

Dark pictures can be a printing issue, it can also be an editing issue. Its a pity you didn't speak up if you were so unhappy and spent a lot. I don't mail the pictures directly to clients for this reason, I check each and every picture and reprint if needed.

I hope most photographers are not like that, I would never act that way. Don't be afraid to hire another photographer, don't let your experience with her ruin photography for you. There are so many photographers out there who are a pleasure to deal with.

amother

Silver

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 8:28 am

amother wrote:

The pictures did go to the photographer first and my husband picked it up. She told us right away that one of them came out too dark and she reprinted that one which we got later. His hair looked too dark in the first picture. When I got the reprinted one, it was a bit lighter but also more washed out (his face was a little too white). It wasn't much of an improvement which is why I dropped the issue. Again, the pictures are pretty, but for that price I really expected more. Looking back I see that many of her pictures were taken outdoors (mine were indoors). Maybe its easier to take pictures outside.

cityofgold

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 9:16 am

While we have photographers on this thread, I have a question.
I got professional photos taken, but she doesn't do printing. She said, "take them to the photo store and they'll help you."

Well, the photo store ones came out ok. Not so clear or beautiful. I've gotten stunning professionally printed photos before, and I would like to take my digitals and order them printed somewhere else. Is there an online place you'd recommend?

amother

Bronze

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 9:38 am

cityofgold wrote:

Mpix is the highest quality available to non pros. Although I do have to caution you that each digital file needs to be prepared separately for each type of print, as I gave the example above a 5x7 print digital file looks different than a 16x20 canvas. I find that most photographer that do not print at all don't know how to prepare the files so you might not get great pictures even with mpix but it is the highest quality.

cnc

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 10:49 am

cityofgold wrote:

Adoramapix

cookiecutter

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 6:04 pm

There are two separate issues here - the amount you charge, and the way you collect it. Many fewer people would complain if you charged a sitting fee and then gave them their pictures. But you do the sitting for less than it is worth and hope to make the money back on the pictures. That has advantages but I can see why people describe it as keeping their pictures hostage. Imagine if you ran a restaurant that had great food at low prices, but charged you for leaving.

amother

Bronze

Wed, Oct 14 2015, 6:24 pm

cookiecutter wrote:

First of all no one has accused me personally about holding their pictures hostage. It was said in general about photographers. Second of all what does "give them their pictures" mean? Why should I ever give anything for free? Do you work for free? Do you work for $5 an hour? If I were to charge a sitting fee high enough to cover all the digitals in the gallery that would be very expensive and I would only have complaints. Third of all your mashal doens't really make sense. In a restaurant you pay for what you eat, and I charge for what you keep, so not getting what you are saying? And lastly you don't know what I charge, all I said was its a separate sitting fee. And other than the new cheap photographers the way I "collect" it is the standard way.