Chris

I would just say I didn't save original.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

Right on! Few folks realize how many photos are "throw aways" to get a few good ones. Our local newspaper advertised for those interested to come to their Photographic Department to choose a pic for an 8x10 enlargement (if desired) of a sailboat race their photographer covered. I did that and was amazed to find that there might only be 1 in a 36 exp. roll that was acceptable! This seemed to speak to his unlimited film supply versus my limited supply. Also I once read an article in Nat. Geo. that pointed out they typically take 25-30K photos and edit them to 20-30 photos for an article! Only send em your best!

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Yes and no! If the photos get edited by someone other than the photographer and "credited" to you and do a shitty job, your reputation is goes in the crapper. That's one of the main reasons you do NOT give out the source files.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

You shouldn't be offended... the unedited file is the 'best' copy of data... it may not be the most attractive, but is the best source.

Dik

Traveller_Jeff

Did you shoot in RAW or JPG? If you shot in RAW, then any editing you did left the original RAW images alone. You could just send them those, if you chose to. However, if you shot in JPG only, and didn't save them out of the camera into a protected file, but just edited them, whatever you cut out of the frame is gone. Whatever the original color temperature was there is gone. Those changes cannot be undone. Tell them that. Just tell them that you're very sorry, but the originals no longer exist.

If you're really good friends with them you could offer to invite them to look at them on your monitor and make suggestions for reframing or re-editing what you have. By suggesting that, you put the ball back into their court and it's their decision whether or not to invest the time to do that. You will have acted in exceptionally good faith and perhaps heal any hurt remaining. I hope that's helpful.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Well you get what you pay for.

Hey! You can charge them for the unedited images! Most photographers do it the other way but you might be on to a better method!

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Feeling offended is your ego preventing you from learning.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

To the OP:

Your situation is not unique! Stories like your own appear frequently on this and other online photo forums. These posts usually contain a variety of complaints similar to your own and the respondents usually post what I call their own "wedding horror stories". There are always remarks from the disgruntled ex-wedding shooters who purport that wedding photography amounts to photo-hell! Well- it does if you don't know what you are doing and getting yourself into.

If you want honest advice, post a few of the images and show what your "editing" entailed. Perhaps all your friends wanted are all the outtakes. If they were dissatisfied with the retouching, softening, sharpening, saturation or whatever- get to the bottom of it and find out waht's up for your own education and experience.

If this first wedding shoot was a one-off venture and you have no intention of doing this professionally- just give them the un-edited files and forget about it. If you are serious about pursuing wedding and event photography on a professional basis, you do have a reputation to safeguard so find out what the problem is and correct it. If the unadulterated images are so bad that they required radical correction, of course, you don't want you to name attached to them but whether you got paid or not, you need to serve the "client" properly, own up and make sure they are pleased. Approach the issue like a business person, can the wounded ego and take care of business.

Remember, no one forced you to take on the job for free, but once you did that, you still have an obligation to satisfy the couple.

An important part of professional wedding photography is PLANNING and sitting down with the couple, well in advance, to find out their expectations and explaining how and what you intend to do as far as scheduling, what and how you cover the event, and all about editing and retouching. Of course, in the future- your PRICE!

I can understand your taking on the job gratis, for experience and creating a portfolio but you have to explain this to the couple and that anyone that they recommend your services to will be expected to pay. Sometimes even good things that come cheaply or for free are disrespected- folks have to know the value of your services.

I am not scolding you or talking down to you. I am offering advice based on over 50 years of professional wedding photography. It's a good and lucrative business but it ain't for the impatient, lazy or faint of heart photographer. Even top experienced pros can have issues with dissatisfied clients. Some have ended up on the receiving end of nasty and costly lawsuits.

I hope you are good at multitasking. If you want to set up a photography business, you need to hone your skills, get the education and experience, and create a solid business plan as to expenses, costs, prices, contracts, legalities and promotion.

I hope this helps and good luck.

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

Back in the days of film no photographer gave away his or her negatives That is where we made our money on enlargements for bride and groom with Entourage ....Contracts , contracts , contracts...batch process all images through ACR with minor adj. to white balance Brightness contrast and export to small JPEGs ...and give them to them if they ask for raw images draw the line in the sand..P.S. Some photographers did do flat rate wedding promising 300 or more images with all negatives some still do...

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Giving unedited files is not the same as giving the negatives as you still have the unedited files, they just have copies. The wedding was shot for free, so there's no consideration of losing money.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I am assuming that you gave them files and not prints. What you saw on your monitor may not be what they are seeing. The skin tones or other important colors may be way different on their screen. Pink skin tones, wedding dress not white. Cousin Sally’s blond hair shows brown to them. And the list goes on a on And on.

If it were me I would want to know the reason they want the originals.

Chuck

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

I would guess that if you were pleased to offer the photos as requested you would not have posted this situation. If you don't want to just send them all over I would explain that as a matter of practice you never give out photos that you are not proud of. Some of the edited photos would be something you don't want to give out for reputation sake. However, if there is a specific shot or two they want to edit differently if they tell you which ones they want you could send them. Outside of this, I would just say no or I would send them and forget it. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in your work and saying no if the result could impact your reputation even if just among friends or family.

JOHNERIKSSON Loc: CENTRAL WISCONSIN

tough situation, but if you are a beginner photographer perhaps they didn't like what you did to correct the photos. It took me ten years to learn about photography. I have now made a living for 25 years, using that experience. I watched a 'starting photographer' so impressed with her new images she produced a book. They were terrible, most shot at 45degree angle. Spend hundreds of hours looking at photos of good photographers. See what they look like and what you have to do to make yours like them. Attend workshops in person and online.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Possible should also be your last. Not because you could be an excellent photographer but due to poor judgement for the business part of wedding photography. Why free unless they are close friends or relatives and in those cases you should say no to begin with, no, no, no, run, run, run. A fantastic way to ruin a friendship.

How bad could your processing or editing have been? You likely should feel insulted. What do they plan to do with the original shots (raw, jpg?)? Have someone else work with them, do it themselves? You probably should not consider what I might do to the image files! But take the advice of a few other reasonable suggestions by other UHH members.

As you might guess I am not big on shooting weddings at all. Not my thing at all. I like photographing flowers, sea shells, landscapes, mountains, and the occasional animal such as a dog, cat, or bird. Candid theatrical or music performances are enjoyable and I have some pretty nice playing pics of famous and not famous musicians. I a couple times got suckered into taking wedding, and anniversary photos. Luckily I was not the primary shooter or I was one of many hobbyist shooting friends so between everyone they got some nice images. I never will do these for a fee or really want to.

I once got paid to shoot a conference / meeting / talk. This was years ago. Crazy situation. They only wanted me to shoot it then give them then exposed film for processing. Fine with me as I had no connection as to interest in my shot there. I made pretty good money on it though, $200 for 2 hours of work and 3 or 4 cassettes of film.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

You took on the responsibility to photograph the wedding, a major point in their life. If it was not of GREAT quality you have damaged a major event ti their life. Let them have what you did to create the best they cn of what you have.