My wife and I are expecting our first child. My in-laws got us a maternity photo shoot which costed $1800 for 2 hours. It included make up for my wife and access to a wardrobe. Everything was great the pictures were beautiful when shown. But now she sent us a proofing of about 300 photos to choose 15 for further editing and touch up. All photos she sent have watermarks and are blurry and don’t have the sharpness like when she was taking them and showing us. We asked about this she stated it’s common. Because people try to steal extra pictures by screenshot. We asked about adding a few extra. She wants $100 per 1 photo $300 for 5 and $800 for 20 I was so confused. And asked what happens to the photos we don’t get she said they will be deleted. To which I said but why couldn’t we have the unedited photos if you’re going to delete them, there’s a lot of really good pictures we like. She paused and said that just how things are done and this is standard. Idk it’s really making me want to never deal with a professional photographer again. Cause it seems like a money grab to me. Am I wrong?
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!!
Thank you very much. I feel I’ve been educated on the subject. We were gifted the package. So we never saw a contract. I just didn’t know it was common to delete unedited photos. I am however still mixed about it. Cause I’m a carpenter and when I work for someone I usually go above and beyond if it’s not more work for me I don’t mind something’s. But it’s okay. We’re totally happy with the 15 we choose. Thanks again