Free Wedding Disaster!

[Scuba]

So a friend of mine had a friend shoot her wedding for free and she just got the pictures back and showed me....first off the wedding was 6 months ago. So she called me to ask what I thought and showed me the images because she thought they didn't look good. Yeah they are terrible. Her friend used a D80 with a 28-200mm 3.8-5.6 lens and she had the camera on SMALL JPG. All the images are 2.5 MP jpg (1900 x 1200) and underexposed. The files are 300k each!!!!! I feel so bad for her. She asked me to do the wedding and I declined because of the free part and she is a friend both of which spell disaster. The images are not even salvageable. I pulled a few up in LR and they were all 1.5-2 stops underexposed and that is before we talk about skill. Now she doesn't know what to do because it is a friend...

I guess this is a perfect example of why you don't do weddings for friends for free and even more so when you don't know what you are doing.

So glad I didn't do it!

I would post examples but they aren't my images.

 

[kathyt]

Well, I guess she got what she paid for.

 

[o hey tyler]

Some people don't see the value of wedding photography until they get their wedding shot for free by a newbie and it bites them in the ass.

 

[Tee]

It's ok to feel bad as a friend but what the heck was she expecting? I bet the bride told her friend "We're not looking for anything over the top, just pictures we can remember". Then the wedding day is over and things return to normal and when the pictures arrive they get all upset.

 

[rexbobcat]

Lynch mob. It is the only way.

Seriously though I don't know what to say. I mean...she could sue her friend I guess if she didn't sign a contract but since it was a free job I'm not sure how that would go over.

 

[amolitor]

She should pay someone to salvage what can be salvaged. 1900x1200 isn't the end of the world, it just won't survive going very big. If nothing else you can make some interesting collage from the results, which might well capture some of the feeling of the day.

Then she should pay someone to reshoot a couple important images. Get back into the clothes and do a couple portraits.

 

[pixmedic]

It's ok to feel bad as a friend but what the heck was she expecting? I bet the bride told her friend "We're not looking for anything over the top, just pictures we can remember". Then the wedding day is over and things return to normal and when the pictures arrive they get all upset.

well, they DID get pictures they will remember....just not in a good way.

 

[kathyt]

Lynch mob. It is the only way.

Seriously though I don't know what to say. I mean...she could sue her friend I guess if she didn't sign a contract but since it was a free job I'm not sure how that would go over.

Sue her for what? That is like you coming over to my house for dinner and I tell you I can't cook, but you eat it anyways. For FREE!

 

[Scuba]

Well, I guess she got what she paid for.

True story.

Some people don't see the value of wedding photography until they get their wedding shot for free by a newbie and it bites them in the ass.

Yep and it is their "One day." For mine we got what we paid for too....but we paid good money

Lynch mob. It is the only way.

Seems fitting...I will suggest that...

 

[Scuba]

She should pay someone to salvage what can be salvaged. 1900x1200 isn't the end of the world, it just won't survive going very big. If nothing else you can make some interesting collage from the results, which might well capture some of the feeling of the day.

Then she should pay someone to reshoot a couple important images. Get back into the clothes and do a couple portraits.

Yeah a reshoot could at least get the portraits to be nice. I am not familiar with Nikon but I would say it had to be on the small coarse setting. They look absolutely terrible. On my screen they look like a 200% zoom.

 

[pixmedic]

in all seriousness...I wouldn't rub their noses in it. since you said they weren't happy with the pictures, they obviously know they made a mistake, and given that it was their wedding day and not just some random photo shoot that they can do over, im sure they feel bad enough without the "I told you so's". hopefully it was a lesson learned. sometimes a friend with a camera works out well, if that friend is skilled. sometimes, not so much. chalk it up to a lesson learned the hard way.

 

[runnah]

Exactly why I don't do weddings. The stakes are too high. I like to take my time and go slow.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Now she doesn't know what to do because it is a friend...

She simply thanks the friend for the photos. Learns a lesson, and carries on with life.

 

[nycphotography]

She should pay someone to salvage what can be salvaged. 1900x1200 isn't the end of the world, it just won't survive going very big. If nothing else you can make some interesting collage from the results, which might well capture some of the feeling of the day.

Then she should pay someone to reshoot a couple important images. Get back into the clothes and do a couple portraits.

This.

If she really cares that is. Call it a hunch, but if she really stops to think about it, outside of a single bridal portrait she can put on the mantel (or more importantly on hubby's desk at work), most likely if she really thinks about it, she doesn't really really (really) care.

When salvaging underexposed, she may have to take the whole lot to b&w and use filters and increased contrast to make the noise look like "artsy film grain". 1900x1200 ain't a D800, but its more or less what my D1 had, I printed lots of 8x10's from it back in the dark ages.

 

[nycphotography]

Lynch mob. It is the only way.

Seriously though I don't know what to say. I mean...she could sue her friend I guess if she didn't sign a contract but since it was a free job I'm not sure how that would go over.

Sue her for what? That is like you coming over to my house for dinner and I tell you I can't cook, but you eat it anyways. For FREE!

LOL. If the bride ever makes noises about suing, send her this.