1600iso on a beautiful day?... However, you hired her, she shot the wedding, she deserves payment. Weddings are also typically a once-in-a-lifetime event therefore it cannot be re-shot, at least not in the next few years... At the end of the day, she did the job, not a good job, but still did the job. All I can really recommend now is that you've learnt not to hire her again? :meh: It does suck to have the money spent like that though if you are not happy with it. Actually mind showing us a few of the pictures if you have any?
I notice you say you hired a girl, not that you hired a wedding photographer. How did you decide she was well qualified? Did you check and make sure she had E&O, liability, and equipment insurance? Did she have backup gear? You need to carefully read the contract to see what, if any recourse you have. At this point she should be paid in full, and if you desire you would then seek damages in court.
Or at least you THOUGHT that she was well qualified. Wonder if the photos in her portfolio were really hers?
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm curious as to the quality of the photos otherwise - composition, posing, angle, etc.? Did she just forget to do her camera settings, or did her photos from the wedding look nothing like what was in her portfolio? She might have just made a really bad mistake due to nerves, though the last time I shot a wedding, the changing light conditions throughout the day demanded attention to the settings often.
Are you sure she didn't give you low res .jpg copies so you CAN'T print them yourself? Obviously she could have just messed up and forgot she changed her setting last time she used her camera. Have you talked to her about the quality of the pictures? Maybe she feels bad they are such low quality? In a situation like this, it's best to get the information straight from them first, before going to extremes of not paying or going a legal route. Have a heart to heart with her and see what happened first. Then go from there if these are the best shots she took.
Again let's here some specific details about contract finished prints etc. I would say that she deserves full payment. Love & Bass
I don't think the girl deserves full payment. She sounds like she's either an amateur or forgetful. She clearly messed up.
Well are you supposed to pay her based on the keepers that the customer will keep and, have printed? Or did you agree to a flat fee? I would have contracted based on keepers so that she makes moeny for performance. To me it motivates people to do their best. Giving them a flat rate means they get paid reguardless and, that doesnt motivate them to do their best work. If you agreed to flat rate then it is a matter of keeping your word. IMO
How does the wedding party feel about the pics. And what can be done to make them happy with their wedding pics. Isn't that the biggest concern here?
Maybe she usually shoot fully automatic and it got bumped into AV mode or something. Anyways, if you agreed to pay her an amount of money for an amount of work, and the work was done, you need to pay her. There's no ground for wasting time in any kind of court try to get out of that, unless there was a clause in the contract/agreement saying that the work had to be up to a certain quality in order to receive payment. If I go get a job at McDonalds, and they agree to pay me $$/hr, and I show up and work my first full day, they can't just not pay if they think the work was unsatisfactory. They can fire me, they can never work with me again, they can give me bad recommendations, but they can't just not pay for the work that was completed (poorly or not) under the prior agreement. If she were a good business person, she wouldn't want to get payed full price for work that is poor quality. But that's not your decision to make. Does she know you're unhappy withe the results? That's a good place to start.
