Photography

You didn’t pay for two hours. You paid for many years of experience, which led to two hours of a professional doing their job for you. Additionally, you’re paying for expensive equipment to take the photos, to light the photos to process the photos, and to print the photos. In order to keep doing this and be able to feed their family they need to be able to charge the fees you were quoted.

My in-laws got us a donut shop gift card which costed $18 for 15 premium donuts. Everything was great the donuts were delicious. The shop had about 300 donuts on display and we were able to choose 15 to take home. All the donuts were in a glass display case so we could look at them but not grab them from the customer side. We asked about this she stated it's common. Because people try to steal donuts if they're just left out in the open. We asked about adding a few extra. She wants $1 per 1 additional donut, $3 for 5, and $8 for 20 I was so confused. And asked what happens to the donuts we don't buy she said they will be thrown away because it was the end of the day and they would be expired when the store opens tomorrow. To which I said but why couldn't we have all the donuts if you're going to throw them out, there's a lot of really good donuts we like. She paused and said that's just how things are done and this is standard. Idk it's really making me want to never deal with a donut shop again. Cause it seems like a money grab to me. Am I wrong?

They are a business, trying to make a profit. You want something for free. How is this a money grab?

First off congratulations on the pregnancy!

I say this with love, because I know you just want the great photos and are excited about it.

If I’m taking photos and delivering a service based on a contract, the client shouldn’t get to change the terms of the contract without it being mutually beneficial. If they want more photos than stated in the contract, they’d either pay or negotiate a new amount.

You wouldn’t go to the grocery story and say “can I have the rest of those bananas for free, I see you’re about to throw them out.” You could say, “hey I have this amount to give, money is tight, how much can I get for that?” Some grocery stores may just be like “here ya go, all this for free!” Some may be like “get out of here you damned banana loving human!” They’re all different. They may not want to devalue their brand. They may not want people to expect free shots.

All that being said, photographers charge premium prices, especially those that are in high demand. They can and usually do charge whatever the market allows. But they also generally disclose it all ahead of time so there’s no surprises for either side.

I hope the photos all works out. Again congrats on the baby!!

Am I wrong?

Yes.

The way this photographer is conducting their business is standard in the photography industry. Here's a list of reasons why most photographers won't give you the RAW files

• In the US and many other countries, the person who takes the photo owns the photo. It's literally something they created and are not obligated to give it to anyone.
• RAW files are huge, and if you do a photoshoot with hundreds of photos, sending those files to the client can be a huge pain
• Many RAW codecs require special drivers to preview on your operating system, and special software to edit. I do send clients RAW photos for an additional fee, and even though I always send them with explicit instructions on how to handle the files I always get an e-mail saying they can't open them. Literally. Every. Single. Time.
• Photography, particular in the modern era, isn't just about knowing how to operate a camera and some lights. The editing process is a large part of the skill that goes into being a photographer. With the RAW photos, you could very easily make some wacky edits to them, post them someone where online or in public, and potentially damage the photographer's reputation since they took the photo.

Yeah mate. That’s what I charge.

But just to put things in perspective. All of the editing, the retouching, not to mention the gear and the dresses, all takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

I offer a buy out for the extra photos. You can ask her about that if you want them, though many photographers don’t.

It’s sounds like you got a premium photographer, there will be cheaper ones. But seriously, you will be getting some wonderful shots that will be leagues above your average shot.

I don’t get it. You bought (was gifted) a picture package of 15 photos. You want more photos and the photographer asks more money for them to get them to you. And now you’re expecting that they’d just dump all the RAW files your way? I find the pricing pretty steep btw but that’s not in question.

Do you go by the bakeries in the evening, expecting they gift you all bread that hasn’t sold? Because you already bought one loaf earlier that day?

This is not the only business model used by photographers but it is a standard one. If her package includes fifteen photos that is what you get. Why would they give you the rest? Also watermarking and low res is done because many people don’t think there is anything wrong with taking photographers photos without paying for them. For some reason people don’t see this as stealing.

I wouldn't say it's standard but it's how it used to be done.

if the package was 15, choose your 15 and move on, ask yourself do you really need 20 more pics of the same shoot?

Question for you: did this come up before the shoot? Did you sign a contract? Was it mentioned at all that you'd get 15 photos for your $1800 price?

To add to what others have said: the photographer is also conscious of their brand. They want to provide photos that they feel represent them as a photographer, which includes their editing style.

I understand why you ask "why not just just give us the unedited photos if you've already taken them and are just going to delete them anyway". I mean, from your perspective it looks like you're not asking for any more work from the photographer. But think of it from their perspective: when you show off those photos and tell people they were taken by Photographer X, then Photographer X feels like there are images out there attached to their name which are not representative of their work. Even worse, you could edit them in a way the photographer doesn't like at all and then they feel like their name is attached to images they wouldn't have distributed willingly.

Seems extreme, this is what publications/companies would pay, a lot of these “premium” photographers can’t get commercial work so they up charge those who do render their services.

In my opinion the 1800$ could have been spent on something more worth while for your wife and child, at least someone who would give you all the photos even if they were unedited.

The photographer is rendering a service for you. If you want to benefit from her service, you must pay for it.

If you hired a professional, you signed a contract for their services. What does the contract say about it?

Why don’t you ask them for the unedited photos. Of course you have to pay for it but ask and see if they sell it

This sounds like a higher end, IPS model photographer. In person sales. Her average sale per session is probably 3$k, 1800 for the shoot (minus costs to wardrobe, studio, make up) and then sales of extra digital images or products afterwards. Good for her - she's probalby one of the few photographers out there making good money. In your mind imagine she pockets 20% as pure, pure profit cash in the bank. The rest goes to running a business, gear, employees, marketing, studio costs, workshops and learning, monthly fees, insurance, make up artists, etc. So if you have paid 1800, she might keep 600 as pure profit for x hours put into prepping you, shooting your session, editing and uploading the images, and doing detailed skin and hair work on the final chosen images.

She cannot just give you the unedit photos 1) photographers HATE doing that for so so so so many reasons 2) she'd never make an extra sale again if she did 3) it's her ART so unedited is unfinished. You would never ask a carpenter to just dump wood on your doorstep and let you finish it, nor would you ask a painter to just get most of a portrait done but then give it to you and let you finish it. It's not how art works.

You could ask her to not delete the extras in case you change your mind.

Meanwhile your chosen images will not be pixilated or blurry or logo'd once you have paid.

You're working with a professional and not a hobby tog. it comes with a price tag. The big question is: do you love the photos?

If you go to a pizza parlor, and order a pizza, do you get the uncooked toppings left over from making the pizza?

No.

You paid for a particular service, in a particular quantity. You don’t get the extra raw ingredients to cook/edit yourself.

I will say I’ve seen photographers go this route a lot. But for future projects I would recommend negotiating with photographer ahead of time. Sometimes you can get everything you got plus a flash drive with all unedited pics. But you wanna make sure you ask ahead of time when they are still willing to “sweeten the deal” Also get it in writing.

As a photographer, I don't think I would EVER give a client 300 shots to choose 15! Ouch...BUT... think what she is asking for is reasonable.

The short and blunt answer: you are wrong.

You say your wife is an artist so you understand the value of her experience and equipment all had to be considered in pricing her work. Well let's assume shes a painter and she is commissioned to do a painting for someone. She is paid a fixed fee for 1 finished painting. She goes through 3 canvases trying different approaches to the commission before she presented the finished piece to the client. They then insist that they are entitled to all of the other canvases too and act outraged when your wife insists that they would have to pay for her to finish them if they wanted them. Sound reasonable?

This photographer was paid $1800 for make-up and wardrobe, 2 hours of studio time with a skilled professional, post processing time to "finish" the images and 15 finished images. The images taken in the studio don't belong to you. The 15 you paid for belong to you (with certain rights retained by the photographer). It's standard practice to be given a proof sheet of low res watermarked images for you to choose your preferred images (personally I wouldn't provide 300, thats choice paralysis territory for a lot of people, but I digress). If you want more, that's got to be paid for. That's stock off the photographers shelf and further time and effort to finish the additional images.

No self-employed photographer who wants to stay in business will ever give or sell unfinished images to anyone. Asking for unfinished images is like getting your bathroom remodelled but asking the contractor not to fit any faucets or fixings. You'll have to do that yourself or get somebody else to finish it and the work likely won't be up to that contractors standard. If anybody else saw the finished bathroom, they will likely conclude that the whole of the remodel was done by the contractor, including the shoddy finishing, and their reputation and business will be negatively impacted as a result.

In short, you get what you pay for. If you want more, you pay for it.

very fair and very reasonable from the photographer. you can offer to buy the raw files but they will be much more.

we provide a service with a end product that has our name attached to it. thats why you can't have the unedited photos. its the same for weddings and any other commercial work done for big brands. some brands do pay for the ability of having the raws so they can edit it themselves and that premium is hundreds to thousands PER raw.

you are also choosing the 15 BEST from 300. why do you need another 20-30 photos that most likely look almost the same? you want to hang up the BEST photo of yourself in your house not 1 best and 20 mediocre ones.

Moral of the story is read the fine print before booking a photographer. Where I live a lot of great photographers would give you a lot more photos for a lot less money.

If you're worried about the photos themselves being blurry, meet with the photographer and have them run through the photos quick. Otherwise, trust the photos are rendered correctly for purchase and pay them for their service.

My services are little different. I charge per 15 minutes, and that includes the full album at no extra cost. I give roughly about 30 pictures per 15 minutes, so 2 hours would give around 240 pictures. Everyone is different though and I respect other photographers’ packages. It’s just a matter of picking a package and style that works for you. Congrats on the baby! 😊

If you buy a hamburger at McDonalds do you get all the burgers they threw away during training and prep? All the burgers other people didn’t want? No of course not, you paid for one burger you get one burger. The fact that she blurred out and watermarked her photos so they don’t get stolen should tell you everything you want to know about how this works.

This is a standard model - I think it feels gross to you because the pricing model wasn't explained to you up front. For maternity and similar shoots there is often quite a lot of post-production which means that only selected images get fully edited, and the extra price is paying for that editing work. Lots of family or wedding photographers use a different model because there is less high-touch editing involved on the final images (though this varies by photographer of course).

For me the bigger issue is that the previews are blurry? Watermarking is quite standard but you should be able to get a good sense of the images you are selecting by the previews.

i charge almost the same 75 per pictures 275 x5 et 700 for the entire roll ( i shoot film so 24 image for 700 usd )

it is all here you can check

www.gilbertcarosin.com/booking

these do not include the booking fee ( 150 usd )

Photographer here, in the business for 10 years, done at least 50 photoshoots, 20 weddings, and hundreds of events. Even thinking about giving out unedited photos makes me feel physically nauseous.

You have an expensive photographer. I am a lower price photographer and have never been able to make a complete living out of it because I don't charge enough. I do too much work for too little pay because I don't charge enough. And I barely even do photography any more because I wasn't charging enough. Your photographer is charging enough, but it's hard to say whether they are charging too much.

Photography pricing is so precarious. And every photographer has different quality levels, standards, client budgets, etc. I've never charged anywhere near what your photographer is charging, but I've also never successfully made a living off of photography.

My recommendation is to get another shoot with a cheaper photographer if you want more photos for low prices. There are many photographers who operate like her and there are many who don't. If that doesn't suit you, you can go with something that suits you better. She's not in the wrong, but she might be wrong for you.

Unfortunately it's normal practice in newborn photography. Shoot then charge a ton per printed product. By the time client realises, kid's too big to reshoot

Sorry to hear that. As a photographer I let my clients have all the original photos and then have them send me a certain amount of photos for me to edit. Every photographer is different.

You can get the photo equipment and a professional camera for the amount the photographer is charging you.

100$ for one photo is a scam

Please don't pay..she's cheating you

Yes this is a very common scam and its pretty digusting. $1800 is very steep for the actual shoot, usual studios market these "expensive" photoshoots for cheap or free but then will charge an insane markup on prints, usually refusing to provide high resolution / digital copies at all.

This is more typical in the "studio" model, as a general rule you want to ask what you will be delivered, $2k+ would generally get you a relatively good freelance photographer who would aim to give you around 10-15 image full size for you to print as is.

Photographers are almost never going to give you unedited photos or a huge batches of photos, between 5 and 20 is about usual.