Unhappy with wedding photos :(

Do you have a sample picture to show?

First, I’m so sorry this happened!! This is one of my nightmares.

Review your contact. The contract with my photographer actually states about skin tones appearing natural and colors appearing close to what they were pre-editing. Hopefully yours has specific wording like that too.

Let your photographer know that, while you loved the pictures, the editing style took away from the colors of the day. Be specific about what colors exactly you’re talking about.

Editing is what takes up most of the time (and money) for a photographer. Many photographers won’t release unedited images as they aren’t considered complete and they don’t want their name on unedited work.

Hopefully you can either get your photographer to readjust the colors or maybe you could get the raw images and have another photographer edit them.

So sorry and good luck!

View Quoted Comment Sorry! Should have originally included these for reference. First three photos were taken by guests. Second two are the first set provided by photographer. Last photo is them trying to adjust according to my feedback and side by side comparison of real colors vs edited colors.

View Quoted Comment The contract doesn’t mention anything about skin tones. Only thing relating to the quality of work is below:

“ NON‐GUARANTEE: Although every possible care will be taken to produce photographs of all important and special moments during the wedding, XXX cannot place an unconditional guarantee on the above. XXX Photography will not be held responsible for any ruined photographs due to guests’ (or any other) flashes; or any other ruined photographs due to any other cause in or outside of XXX”

View Quoted Comment This seems to be talking to the quality of the photos while being taken, not edited. But the pics you posted definitely looked better! I guess you still don’t like how they look?

View Quoted Comment Yeah. It just feels like a completely different wedding based on the floral colors in the pics. 1) It was a small, intimate wedding with no bridal party 2) I am a plant lady....so the flowers were a BIG deal for me. It’s not the end of the world and there are certainly worse things— like not liking how you look in any pictures which was not the case here appreciate your thoughts!

View Quoted Comment If it matters to you than express that to the photographer. Colors should appear realistic as they were on the day and if they don’t then that’s an issue. It’s not like someone else’s flash ruined the photos, your person just edited them in a style that you don’t like and you’re allowed to speak up.

As a photographer myself, you need to consider the overall look. To make the color of the flowers look real, you skin color might look weird. If you had to choose between a tan glow of your skin and actual color flowers, which would you choose? You often can't have both without extra editing..

The photos guests took are much darker so the style is completely different. And you have to consider lighting. Your guests don't have the same flash and lighting as the photographer. More light = sharper images. You can take a picture of something at morning, noon, and night and they will all be different colors because of light.

Also, most photographers edit all of their photos the same style. So, you should have been able to tell how photos would have been edited based on their portfolio. It sounds like you would have preferred a more gloomy style rather than the traditional bright style. If the contract says you can't have raw files, you can't just have someone else edit them. And the photographer is used to their own style, so you can ask them to decrease the overall exposure but you may need to pay more for re-editing. I'm sorry I don't have a more reassuring answer, but this is why thoroughly reviewing portfolios before hiring is so important.

I understand the colors aren't exactly what you were expecting, but the photos still look gorgeous!

Can you ask for all the raw photos yourself and edit em yourself

I think everyone on here has some great advise, so I won't be a mocking bird. However, I do want to ask what your bouquet consisted of? It's one of the most beautiful bouquets I've ever seen, and I'm sure your flowers wouldn't be in season for my Spring wedding - But I just have to know. I love those flowers so much!

I hope you get your issue resolved btw, the unedited photos probably would help you a lot. That's still a bummer you have to go through that, but never the less, her shots look nice.