How many photos did you end up with for engagement shoot? *updated response from photographer in thr

jessj336

Ok, don't get me wrong I love our photographer but we got the rest our pictures back last night and there are only 89 of them total. I have friends here in the city who ended up with hundreds of e-shoot pics and they only had their photographer for 1-2 hrs.

Am I right to think that we didn't end up with enough?? On top of that there are quite a few where either FI or I look odd and the individual ones of me aren't good at all.

I'm starting to stress out because we paid quite a bit for the photos and the wedding costs for the photographer aren't cheap and now I'm concerned we will pay a lot and not end up with many wedding photos.

The only good news is we had already planned to also do an engagement shoot here in NYC  also (2wks from now) so I am hoping we end up with more pictures and the ones of just me turn out better.

Sorry Ladies...just had to vent my stress & frustration a bit :-)

tiggy5555

Hi Jess, sorry to hear you are a bit frustrated. I ended up with just under 300 pics. We spent about 1.5 hours with our photographer but that included drive time because we started in lahaina and ended in Kapalua. FI and I are a bit camera shy and there are a few photos where we don't really like our expressions or pose. I totally understand not liking certain pictures. 89 does seem like a small number, did you get both edited and non-edited pics? I am curious how many others got and how long they shot with their photographer.

jessj336

Tiggy,

89 photos were posted to the online gallery so I am not sure if we got both edited and non-edited...some of these to me look like they still need editing or should have been edited out. We haven't received the dvd yet so maybe there will be more on it.

Like I said, I am definitely glad we will have the NYC shoot also.

starlite7378

Oh, no!!

89 does seem very limited, but since they were posted to an online gallery, maybe they were the cream of the crop (from the photographer's POV)!  Is this a public gallery or one of those password protected ones?  Don't forget that we, ourselves, are our own worst critics, so I'm willing to bet that the pictures you aren't so enthusiastic about are actually REALLY REALLY great!!!  

My photographer was with us for 2 hours (2 locations, 2 outfit changes, 30 minute commute time) and took about 500 pictures.  There were some that I thought were pretty unflattering, and they were posted on her blog so the optimist in me believes she found some beauty in those pics even if I didn't.  Her online gallery (password protected) showed only about 200 pictures, but the CD I received had all 500.

Good luck with the NYC pics!!  That sounds so exciting   But remember to enjoy the experience and not stress yourself out to "compensate" for the previous shoot.  Confidence is key, so WORK IT, GIRL!

kaesha

I didn't do an e-shoot, but the anniversary shoot we did this summer was about an hour long and there were just shy of 200 photos... So... 89 to me sounds really little too. I'm all for being upfront with vendors (you ARE the client, after all), and tell them if you're not satisfied with something and why. At the very least, you could ask if those 89 photos represent everything, right?

Tanq&Tonic

Our TTD resulted in 184 photos edited and delivered to us.  Our full day wedding was 914 (venue setup, bridal prep, ceremony, and entire reception to the exit).  I would definitely chat with your photographer and do it in phases:

1) inquire if there are more photos that are coming, or at least available.

2) if there are, share specific feedback on what you'd like to see -- more of the two of us, more where my eyes are open, etc.

3) have a frank conversation about whether this is what you can expect for the wedding in terms of output per hour.  It's possible they had a camera malfunction, or forgot about one entire memory card, or just had a really bad shooting day.

Sorry you're going through this!

jessj336

So I took Kaesha & Tanq's advice and inquired with our photographer if the 89 shots are all of the photos or if there are more on the DVD and this is the response I received

"There are 134 images on the dvd and I just posted my favorites on the online gallery. I remember us being really pressed for daylight due to hair & makeuup going over by 30 minutes and I remember staying an extra 1/2 hours  so we could get as many photos as possible but once the sun set we were obviously limited by the shots we could get. "

Ok this response frustrates me in a few ways....

1) she recommended the hair & makeup person to me and the lady took 3 hrs because she was super chatty which made us late for the shoot and when I sent a txt to our photog that we were going to be late due to H/M taking her own sweet time she responded "No worries" and when we arrived she didn't seem surprised it the appt took as long as it did

Don't recommend someone for me to work with that you know is going to run late and make us late to meet you.

2) If she knew what time the sunsets then maybe she should have buffered in some extra time just in case something like H/M running late happened that way we weren't pressed for daylight

3) Because it was getting dark, we ended up at the Fairmont Hotel and the shooting there seemed a bit rushed like she had somewhere else to be and then clearly in the email it is like well i stayed a 1/2 hour longer.... so she probably did have somewhere else to go

Maybe it would have been a good idea to have planned inside shots at the end (just in case the sun sets) and from a professional business perspective tell YOUR clients that there won't be as many photos and even ask if there any shots that she may have missed that they would like taken.

Another thing that concerns me is if some of these gallery shots are her favorite and FI & I think they aren't good shots then what to the non-favorites look like :-/

Thanks Ladies for letting me vent again and for all of your support!!!

breaness

I'm very interested to hear these responses because photographers in Maryland work very differently. We don't give out every single photo. I got about 35 from our engagement shoot, and about 250 from the wedding. When I work with clients I normally give between 30 and 80 for an hour long family session depending on how well the kids cooperate. I don't give any photos that are in the same pose or anything that I consider a less than satisfactory demonstration of my skills (bad focus, light, etc). The wedding I did in September got 500 photos and many of them I would not have included if they weren't dear friends but I wanted them to see the entire day. She ended up picking her 90 favorites and posting them on Facebook and making them available to family.

Tanq&Tonic

Brea, your numbers and mine actually are about the same if you normalize for time.  Our TTD was almost 3 hours long.  Our wedding day, the photos shot for 14 hours.  Both days were dual shooters, so an average of 30-40 photos per hour, per photographer.  I guess I should have clarified that in my post.

I do think 134 on the DVD is definitely fair -- honestly what would even do with more?  Just wait for the DVD and see what's there.  Maybe what she thinks are good of you are different than how you view yourselves, and the remainder are just different.  Our photog loved all of the photos where my eyes were closed -- he thought they were full of emotion.  I hated them because my eyes are so much of my identity.  So I suggest waiting until you see the product and then deciding how you want to proceed.  At the very least, you have the opportunity to have a really open discussion with the photographer so you avoid this disappointment after the wedding.  Show specific photos of yourself that you loved, and clarify your hopes around timeline and # of total pictures delivered.

tiggy5555

I specifically asked that we get all the non-edited pics along with their edited counter parts. So if she made one black/white I still wanted the color version. For the most part our images are not retouched. We did not get the "bloopers" or mistakes at all. My photog also scheduled in a 15min buffer along with about 30min drive time which allowed us to maximize the daylight. She was very conscious of time and kept us moving so we could get a variety of shots. I'm sorry you had a poor response from your photog and if she had worded her response differently you may not still be frustrated. Have you already committed for your wedding day? Do you think that maybe her style and your vision don't quite match? Her favs don't seem to be yours...

kaesha

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_many-photos-did-end-up-engagement-shoot?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:73Discussion:7dcd9db3-b7f9-4667-8f25-f12fb8182bb6Post:33d0c168-390c-4586-996b-176a90811710">Re: How many photos did you end up with for engagement shoot? **UPDATE**</a>:
[QUOTE]So I took Kaesha & Tanq's advice and inquired with our photographer if the 89 shots are all of the photos or if there are more on the DVD and this is the response I received "There are 134 images on the dvd and I just posted my favorites on the online gallery. I remember us being really pressed for daylight due to hair & makeuup going over by 30 minutes and I remember staying an extra 1/2 hours  so we could get as many photos as possible but once the sun set we were obviously limited by the shots we could get. " Ok this response frustrates me in a few ways.... 1) she recommended the hair & makeup person to me and the lady took 3 hrs because she was super chatty which made us late for the shoot and when I sent a txt to our photog that we were going to be late due to H/M taking her own sweet time she responded "No worries" and when we arrived she didn't seem surprised it the appt took as long as it did Don't recommend someone for me to work with that you know is going to run late and make us late to meet you. 2) If she knew what time the sunsets then maybe she should have buffered in some extra time just in case something like H/M running late happened that way we weren't pressed for daylight 3) Because it was getting dark, we ended up at the Fairmont Hotel and the shooting there seemed a bit rushed like she had somewhere else to be and then clearly in the email it is like well i stayed a 1/2 hour longer.... so she probably did have somewhere else to go Maybe it would have been a good idea to have planned inside shots at the end (just in case the sun sets) and from a professional business perspective tell YOUR clients that there won't be as many photos and even ask if there any shots that she may have missed that they would like taken. Another thing that concerns me is if some of these gallery shots are her favorite and FI & I think they aren't good shots then what to the non-favorites look like :-/ Thanks Ladies for letting me vent again and for all of your support!!!
Posted by jessj336[/QUOTE]

I agree with Tanq that it's worthwhile waiting for the DVD of pics before you do anything rash, but I also think that it's really important to go with your gut. If you don't feel like you a) like the product; b) have a good rapport; c) think that she's unprofessional, then it's time to cut your losses and cut her loose.

And maybe recommend to her that she starts recommending a MU person who can keep to a schedule a bit better. =)

breaness

To add: The family session I did last weekend ended up with 383 exposures. There were dozens in some pose and the small child made hilarious faces but they didn't need all of them. I ended up giving them 80 photos and I still feel like that's a lot considering there isn't a ton of variation. Do you see a representation of all of the poses and locations that you shot at? If so she probably used her judgement and left out ones where you guys didn't look your best.

breaness

Tanq-- Good! I felt (for a second) that I wasn't giving my clients enough, but honestly I've never had anyone complain about quality or quantity of my photos do I must be doing something right. Jess-- I thought you liked the photos?

kimmykupcakes

Oh, I'm sorry to hear this! What I saw of them the other day, I liked. This is really too bad. I really hope you are happier with the ones you haven't seen, yet. We did our photos on 2 different days. The first day was for 6 hours. This included a lot of driving. The second day was 3 hours, with no driving. We got 598 photos. Even these weren't all of the photos. She took all of the test ones out and a few others. However, our photographer is a friend of ours. I think that makes a huge difference. She wouldn't have taken that many for a client.

breaness

And Kimmy, I love you a lot, and I would consider you a friend, but if you asked me to do a 6 hour engagement shoot I'd call you freaking nuts.

jessj336

Brea,

We loved the preview pictures! But when we received the rest or most of the rest via the online galllery there were lots of the same pose, the individual ones of me I either look hunched over (as she had me crouched down in heels so I was balancing on one foot most of the time in heels in the middle of thorny bushes) or my eyes are closed. Also there are lots of poses that we did that are left out and then lots where either I look great & FI isn't paying attention/looking goofy or vice versa.

Knowing the quality & professionalism of our photographer from recommendations and reviews we just expected more and we slightly disappointed especially when you consider that the shoot in Maui will cost us more than double the shoot in NYC.

breaness

Do you mind sharing them with me? I'm curious to see them. If you don't want to post the link publicly you can PM it or something.

I'm honestly really surprised to hear that you aren't happy with her.

On that topic though, I just got back our TTD pics and we shot for about an hour and a half and we got 31 photos. I love pretty much every single one, but I know that she gave us only one of each pose. 

I guess because I don't expect more than that I'm not bummed, but I do wish that I had gotten a little more adventurous so there was more variety.

kimmykupcakes

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_many-photos-did-end-up-engagement-shoot?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:73Discussion:7dcd9db3-b7f9-4667-8f25-f12fb8182bb6Post:3506a4af-d32d-493a-b347-df6636059493">Re: How many photos did you end up with for engagement shoot? *updated response from photographer in thread*</a>:
[QUOTE]And Kimmy, I love you a lot, and I would consider you a friend, but if you asked me to do a 6 hour engagement shoot I'd call you freaking nuts. <3
Posted by breaness[/QUOTE]

Haha! The first day we had to drive into the city, drive around it, find stupid city parking and stopped to have lunch. The end of it was during happy hour, so we were hanging out, having drinks and visiting. It wasn't like we only took pictures for 6 hours.

FSForever

We ended up with 45, but I helped our Photographer pic those 45 and there was over 400 to choose from.  It was nice that I was able to pick.  I would be very concerned that you are not happy right now.  You need to feel comfortable that she is going to be able to cover your wedding the way that you invision.  

Our WC who is also our Photographer, I just talked to her and she actually asked me to send me any ideas for our TTD shoot she is going to do.  She hasn't done may and at least she is honest and wants us to get what we are looking for. 

@Kimmy, I am not sure I could even have my pic taken for 6 hours. 

dianalynm

We had a very long e-session day last month (from 11am-6pm) and our photographer posted 65 edited photos on the online gallery, but took so much more! When he did post them, I was so happy and wasn't left with feeling like there was something missing. I felt like he captured the day perfectly, which I think is key. He didn't provide me with the other photos, but I didn't ask, either. I will later, but I'm in no rush...