What would you do?

saltface · Dec 22, 2008

Hey everybody, it's been awhile since I've been active on here.

Last Saturday, we managed to get my whole family together and took pictures. My sister-in-law hired a local photographer for the job and when she showed up all she had was her SLR and what looked like a 75-200mm-ish lens.

The sun was setting and obscured by a neighbor's house. To the east was a line of houses with broke down trucks and rusty farm equipment (two must-haves in rural Arizona). Since we were just beginning to assemble, I asked the photographer if she was going to have our backs to the west and use a fill-in flash for face lighting. She told me she never uses flash and I just left it at that.

Naturally, the pictures came out looking flat and everyone had a nice dark tan. Since we only paid $50 (I'd have been more upset had we shelled out real photography prices), I don't feel robbed or anything. The thing that irked me was how hard it is to get everyone together at the same time and now it was somewhat tarnished.

As soon as she was done, I wanted to rush inside to grab one of my cameras and re-shoot everything but she stuck around for a while and the light was pretty much gone by the time she left.

Had both my brother-in-laws and my wife not stopped me, I would have started to shoot before she was gone. (I guess I was a little hot under the collar at the moment). So my question is, what would you have done in that situation?

(As a side note, she did give us all the pictures on CD. I asked her for the RAW files, but she only shoots in JPEG).

benhasajeep · Dec 22, 2008

saltface said:
Hey everybody, it's been awhile since I've been active on here.

Last Saturday, we managed to get my whole family together and took pictures. My sister-in-law hired a local photographer for the job and when she showed up all she had was her SLR and what looked like a 75-200mm-ish lens.

The sun was setting and obscured by a neighbor's house. To the east was a line of houses with broke down trucks and rusty farm equipment (two must-haves in rural Arizona). Since we were just beginning to assemble, I asked the photographer if she was going to have our backs to the west and use a fill-in flash for face lighting. She told me she never uses flash and I just left it at that.

Naturally, the pictures came out looking flat and everyone had a nice dark tan. Since we only paid $50 (I'd have been more upset had we shelled out real photography prices), I don't feel robbed or anything. The thing that irked me was how hard it is to get everyone together at the same time and now it was somewhat tarnished.

As soon as she was done, I wanted to rush inside to grab one of my cameras and re-shoot everything but she stuck around for a while and the light was pretty much gone by the time she left.

Had both my brother-in-laws and my wife not stopped me, I would have started to shoot before she was gone. (I guess I was a little hot under the collar at the moment). So my question is, what would you have done in that situation?

(As a side note, she did give us all the pictures on CD. I asked her for the RAW files, but she only shoots in JPEG).

I would have politely gone to the photographer and asked are you finished. I would like to get a couple of my own shots since its so hard to get this many people together. And then went and got my camera. She was being paid to do a job. Who cares what she thought once she was done what she was paid for!!

lockwood81 · Dec 22, 2008

benhasajeep said:
I would have politely gone to the photographer and asked are you finished. I would like to get a couple of my own shots since its so hard to get this many people together. And then went and got my camera. She was being paid to do a job. Who cares what she thought once she was done what she was paid for!!

That sounds like the perfect way to handle it. :thumbs up:

saltface · Dec 22, 2008

benhasajeep said:
I would have politely gone to the photographer and asked are you finished. I would like to get a couple of my own shots since its so hard to get this many people together. And then went and got my camera. She was being paid to do a job. Who cares what she thought once she was done what she was paid for!!

Wow. Why didn't I think to say that. I guess I was just so aggravated.

Battou · Dec 22, 2008

benhasajeep said:
I would have politely gone to the photographer and asked are you finished. I would like to get a couple of my own shots since its so hard to get this many people together. And then went and got my camera. She was being paid to do a job. Who cares what she thought once she was done what she was paid for!!

ROTFM, I'da done the vary same thing with out hesitation, with out fail.

I anticipate needing to do this at my own friggen wedding as I am seriously not likeing the things I have heard about the nearest wedding photographers over the past few years.

saltface · Dec 22, 2008

Battou said:
ROTFM, I'da done the vary same thing with out hesitation, with out fail.

I anticipate needing to do this at my own friggen wedding as I am seriously not likeing the things I have heard about the nearest wedding photographers over the past few years.

Wow, that sucks. I'm glad my photographer was better than I am. I'd rather not have one more thing to worry about on that day.

Battou · Dec 22, 2008

saltface said:
Wow, that sucks. I'm glad my photographer was better than I am. I'd rather not have one more thing to worry about on that day.

I was hearing a lot of a radio comercial during the summer about one....Damn near made me hurl every time.

saltface · Dec 22, 2008

Battou said:
I was hearing a lot of a radio comercial during the summer about one....Damn near made me hurl every time.

A radio commercial? Is it some large company or chain?

Battou · Dec 22, 2008

saltface said:
A radio commercial? Is it some large company or chain?

...Just one guy with a digital camera.

ksmattfish · Dec 22, 2008

It's a good excuse to get the family back together so you can do it right.

Why did your sis-in-law hire the photog in the first place? She had to know $50 is pretty cheap; possibly it was a friend of hers or something? And why doesn't she know that you can do a better job? Sounds like you need to be getting your camera out more.

rubbertree · Dec 22, 2008

I don't get that either. If you were better, why didn't you just do it in the first place?

abraxas · Dec 22, 2008

$50??? Why complain? That's nothing.

saltface · Dec 22, 2008

ksmattfish said:
It's a good excuse to get the family back together so you can do it right.

Why did your sis-in-law hire the photog in the first place? She had to know $50 is pretty cheap; possibly it was a friend of hers or something? And why doesn't she know that you can do a better job? Sounds like you need to be getting your camera out more.

rubbertree said:
I don't get that either. If you were better, why didn't you just do it in the first place?

abraxas said:
$50??? Why complain? That's nothing.

She said she had forgotten that I do photography. I guess she never noticed that every time I was at her house, I was either outside doing astro pics or going to bed early to beat the sunrise. (That or I just suck and don't realize it).

I'm not complaining about the money as much as I am the wasted opportunity. I think $50 is her normal fee. I don't know if she's really friends with my sister-in-law, but they definitely know each other.

JerryPH · Dec 22, 2008

Its not the amount of the money... its what they got for that amount... they got what they paid for, but man, it would have been SO EASY to do better for free.

I would have asked if she was finished, and honestly, finished or not, I would have grabbed a tripod set it up, put up 2 lightstands, taken 3-4 test shots to dial things in and proceeded to get into the picture and trigger off 10-20 pics via wireless remote, that way I could be in the pics as well.

If time was an issue, I would be using CLS and popping them away without a care. If I had 30 min to play, I would be totally manual and the last 10 shots would be better than anyone's who was clueless about off camera flash.

I certainly do NOT mind photographers who are low on experience taking pics... but I *do* mind ignorant photographers who are accepting money and are of so low quality that they don't deserve 10 cents to even stand there with a camera... much less are getting paid anything to take pictures of an important family event.

Your sister-in-law gets kudos for thinking of hiring a "pro" but there were alternatives available to the family that would have resulted in superior results... THAT is what is most important, not the feelings of the "hired pro".

abraxas · Dec 22, 2008

saltface said:
She said she had forgotten that I do photography. I guess she never noticed that every time I was at her house, I was either outside doing astro pics or going to bed early to beat the sunrise. (That or I just suck and don't realize it).

I'm not complaining about the money as much as I am the wasted opportunity. I think $50 is her normal fee. I don't know if she's really friends with my sister-in-law, but they definitely know each other.

You came away pretty clean IMO. I keep the following three things in mind in situations like this;

1) Don't do business with family
2) Don't do business with friends
3) Don't interfere with family that is doing business with friends.