Post Wedding Photo Question

peach5757

We recently got our wedding photos back from the photographer.  They posted the online gallery to their website and said they would mail us the high res. disc once we approve the images. We were very happy with the photos, but still  had a number of changes/comments on the editing, etc.  Is it out of line to request a number of changes/re-edits from your professional photographer? one example is...I can see a bug (gnat) on my face in 3 close up pictures and I feel that they should have edited that out?

Also -- I know they took A LOT of pictures at our wedding.  1000 are posted to the gallery, but I know there are a lot of other that "didn't make the cut" so to speak...would it be unusual for us to request a separate disc of all of these unedited images?  My Husband works in film and so we have an editing bay at our house and would love to have ALL our photos to play around with.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

fallbride1109

I wouldn't worry about getting the ones they didn't include.  They didn't include them for a reason (bad lighting,you blinked, unflattering, etc.).

I do however think you can ask for a select few to be edited--that's not a problem at all as long as it's not dozens of them. 

ceeceed80

I don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to edit the bug on your ace and anything that is also unsightly. 

i also agree with PP that there is a reason that they didn't give you those photos. photographers have a right to control what images people see. they want the images in the general population to reflect their best work. 

just because you paid them to the photos doesn't mean that they have to give you what they don't deem quality work. my brother is a photographer and never even keeps the photos that don't make the cut. they take up a lot of room. 

i'd be happy with the 1000+ photos they posted for you and just ask to have the few edited. again, as long as it isn't a ton that you want touched up. 

some of this stuff might be outlined in your contract too. 

drphoto

In regard to editing, you have to check your contract first to see what it provides for.  The a photographers workflow will usually rate all the photos that were taken and cull out all the photos that don't achieve a certain rank.  The culled photos would include the dozens of test shots, triplicates, blinks, blurs, out of focus images, etc.  Many photographers will permanately delete these photos as they don't match the product level the photographer is willing to distribute.  The only potential downside is that they may have caught a photo that is technically deficient for any number of reasons, but, does have some sentimental value.

After culling, most photographers will do cursory adjustments of all the images: white balance, white point, black point, cropping, density, sharpness, clarity, saturation, etc.  Except for the 5-star photos that would go on their blog or in your album, they rarely look at each photo individually.  If I spotted a fly on someone's face, unless the photo was stunning otherwise, it would have been culled out.  There's no need to retouch the fly from 3 similar photos, just pick the best one and ask for that.  Recognize that retouching is usually a charged for service if the image is not going into an album.  It's one of the many reasons that album prints are more expensive than walmart.

All the best,
Corey Schwartz
www.DesertRidgePhotography.com

Peacefield

I do photoshop for my own pictures.  Some things are hard.  A gnat on your face is VERY easy; they should gladly offer to do this.

I don't think any photographer will release the images they didn't originally share.  It's not inconceivable that they've already deleted the files.  You can always ask, but expect to be told no.