Am I a Fauxtog ?

[Rpg Valentine]

Recently I did some wedding photos for my cousin . I only charged him $400 bucks for my time , which was around 7-8 hours of shooting.

Sadly , he only paid me $100 , because he said my photos were bad , and werent worth $400.  I felt horrible when he told me that . I have only been shooting for about 9 months , and I think I have improved a lot in that time . What do you all think of his wedding photos ?  Please give some constructive criticism.

 

[jim-e]

Did you guys agree on a price before hand? If he did, then he’s being a dick. If not, then I’m afraid to say it’s your own fault. Let me just say there’s a couple of shots that I like, and the rest are just meh – but having said that, I have seen a lot worse for a lot more money.

Then I clicked on your Flickr account and found some of your flash pics. Compared to the natural light shots, it’s like Jackal and Hyde. Dude. Seriously. There’s some great shots there. This one caught my eye.   http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8107335902_b119888f52_b.jpg.  Nicely exposed, great skin tones, and you balanced the background very well. It’s simple, clean, beautiful soft light that has direction to it. Bravo. I also like this one. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8075/8323596395_5d83e167fa_b.jpg. You underexposed the sky to really bring out the blue, and again nice exposure on the faces. There’s no doubt you have potential, you just have to clean up your natural light shots and you’d be on your way.

 

[cameraclicker]

I like the blue flowers and out of focus bride — but I’m not the bride or groom, and I like flowers.  I think that’s the fourth photo, the first three look a bit over exposed, as do the next few.

The shoes look sharp but the left shoe is out of the frame.  Is the whole shoe in the original frame?  There are spots on the shoe that suggest there was no lens hood.  The bride’s head is cut off at the neck.

The one shooting down onto the bride with her bouquet is nice.  Is the dress supposed to be white?  It looks yellow.

No clue who the guy holding the fabric is.  It would be a better photo if his hand was in focus.

The guy’s face photo is good.

I’m having trouble with the photo of the cake.  Why is it tilted?  Why is there a copper drain pipe behind the cake?  What is the white thing near the top of the pipe in the frame?

The groomsmen holding the groom photo has a few floating heads.

The bride and groom photo has good saturation but lots of black space over their heads and a bunch of white debris behind the groom.

The last photo is interesting. I hope this is a small representation of what you took and that you got all of the expected photos, bride getting ready, arriving at church, the ceremony, signing the register, leaving church, the receiving line, all the important guests, the speeches, and so on. The whole detailed list runs several pages.

I think you need a lens hood, and some work to get a bit more saturation into some shots.

Perhaps the best solution is to consider the unpaid difference a gift to the happy couple.

 

 

 

[Rpg Valentine]

yeah , we did agree on the price.I even showed him the finished images , and he said he wanted them , so then  He only paid me $100 bucks and said he pay me the rest later. So I trusted him and gave him the photos .Well later was like 3 months ago and I asked him why hasnt paid me off? He said that my pics were not worth $400, thats why he only paid $100. I do this as a hobby , and am planning on doing it as a business later.

[Rpg Valentine]

@ cameraclicker

This was my first wedding shoot . I know theres no excuse , but I really tried . But the point is , they liked the finished photos . They still took them , just didnt finish paying me off because hes an asshole . I know I need to improve , and I will . Like I said , Ive only been doing this for about 9 months ( photography).

[shriekingvioletta]

I’ve seen a LOT worse photographers charge a lot more. I thought your shots were good, if not better than a good chunk of wedding photography I’ve been privy to in my area.
For your first wedding (and I’m assuming you worked alone, right?), I think you did a great job.
Curious though – how many shots did they receive? Were they all edited?

[Rpg Valentine]

I think I gave them about 40 edits . I also gave him all the other shots as well . Total close to about 400 shots natural light and flash . Like I said , I do this as a hobby wanting to learn the art . My wife assisted me on that day. Thanks for the input .

[F-Sequence]

Your shots look great, man.  The problem isn’t that your cousin didn’t like the work – he did I’m sure – but that you gave the photos before taking payment.  Every man, woman and child on this green earth will attempt to steal the photos is you don’t get paid first!

But very nice job here!

[cameraclicker]

To quote Jim-e:  ” he’s being a dick.”  For the sake of family unity and your own sanity, consider it a wedding gift.  Also, use it as a learning experience.  This is probably the reason almost all wedding photographers collect their fee before the wedding.

I saw Jim-e was digging around in your Flickr account and liked a couple of photos.  I went there too, and found a photo of the bride that’s pretty good except her eyes are closed.  Having seen more of your work, I still have the same opinion — outdoors you need a lens hood.  You need to pay attention to the whole frame, and to exposure.  Some photos are very good, some have technical problems.  Definitely there is hope, and what I assume are studio shots due to umbrellas or soft boxes reflected in the eyes, are pretty uniformly good.

A bit more practice, a bit more care and you will be very good.  Keep going.

[stef]

Plain and simple, the guy is being a dick and owes you another $300, whether he liked the photos or not. That was the agreement, and you held up your end of the bargain. Some of your shots were sub-par, but overall you did a pretty good job for your skill level. He knew your skill level when he entered into the agreement (unless you misrepresented yourself).

 

But this also demonstrates why my contracts have a “Payment in full is required before photos will be released” clause… it clarifies that they need to pay me before they get any images. Usually I collect in advance, too. I still have one guy from about 9 months ago that hasn’t paid me, so I haven’t even fired up my computer to process the images. I haven’t even looked at them. But that’s what I deserved for doing a friend a favor. You got the same treatment, and we both should’ve collected first.

 

As far as getting better in your craft… some of your crops were really bizarre, such as the bullseye face in center and cropping off the bride’s entire head. You did a few effects to good use, but did have some issue with blown whites on at least one shot of the men. I didn’t have enough of a sample set to say if you’re a fauxtographer or not, but I think you’re just shy of being one unless the rest of the images are significantly worse than these that you showed. But you do need a lot of practice and some good critique. I would suggest you join a local camera club which has weekly challenges and critique sessions.

You are not a fauxtographer. Barely.

[OctoberMoon]

Screw that guy. Your pictures, while not flawless, are FAR from being bad. If those had been my wedding pictures, I’d have been pretty darned pleased, and let me tell you–I am a very harsh critic when it comes to photography.

He owes you $300.

[fstopper89]

Your photos are quite good. I could get picky and say the composition was maybe off on the first two in that set, but they are all in focus and have a good artistic value. I love the one of the bride from above, with her dress surrounding her. A tad yellowish, but otherwise very nice. However, and maybe people do it differently, but 40 edits really is not a lot. I think it’s about average to give the couple at least 200 edited, finished photos, but don’t release the unedited ones. I personally do not release unedited images (partly, because they’re shot in RAW anyway, so they must be exported as jpg images), because I feel they are not quite finished if they are not edited. Your editing style is very nice. You seem to know your software.

It was well worth the 300 you charged, even beyond that really. It sounds like he really took advantage of you. Got the photos for practically free. If you used any sort of written contract, he needs to be reminded of that. If it were not family you could take legal action (well, you could anyway, but most people would not for family). And yeah, like the others have already said, don’t do any work without being paid beforehand.

[Alicja]

I’ve seen worse for for dough.  I think you need to develop a bit more but you can tell some people have it and need to polish it…and others just don’t have it period.

Did you sign a contract with that douche?

[Alicja]

Oh I missed the part where you only gave 40 images.  Well, while very low for a wedding (I average 40-50 edited files per hour of work), imagine giving 40 images to a portrait client for $100.  F that!

[latkin24]

Your first clue to that your cousin would place no value on your work, was that you have only been shooting 9 months, not to mention the agreed up price. But that said, the shots are pretty decent, composition, lens flare, like what others are saying. I’ve seen way worse for more money. He’s obviously a cheapskate, I mean the bride had Steve Madden shoes for shitsaakes. So forget about the money, don’t do him any favors again be grateful you got 100$, dinner, and experience.

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