Wow! I would never have thought that you would have had a problem with a person. I know you do great work so I was surprised at this video but comforted by it too. I know the issue was with the person you did the shoot and not with you. It is comforting to know we may encounter problems with persons we do head shots for when even the pro's like you encounter problems. It is also scary. Thanks for your honesty and for the video. And you handled it beautifully!
I'm glad you made this video to remind us to keep our emotions out of it when we receive negative feedback from a client. I shoot many corporate headshots and recently one of the oldest women I photographed complained about her retouched photos. But she also didn't like any of the photos I shot of her and I shot the most of her during the photoshoot, so many that it made the entire photoshoot extremely backed up and everyone was waiting for their turn for their headshot. The woman looks to me to be in her early 60s. At the photoshoot the owner of the company could tell that this one woman wasn't happy with any of her photos and she asked if I could make the woman's lip not look crooked. The woman has Bell's Palsey. I am very sympathetic to her situation because my Dad has Bell's Palsey (he also is a professional photographer). I did the retouch and I made her smile look so beautiful and straighten her lip and you would not even know I did anything, it looks very natural. My contact has asked if I could cut back on the filter, regarding the retouching? I did have to use a filter to smooth her skin but I was careful to not over smooth her skin. I just know that if I send another version of the photo with less retouching that this woman will not like the photo no matter what. And my contact at the company asked if I could start sending two versions of the photo, 1 unretouched and 1 retouched. At this point I don't know whether I should retouch it again or just send the unretouched version. My Dad said I should send the unretouched version and just say "less retouching" lol. But I don't know if I should do that because the unretouched version looks so bad. Maybe I should do another with less retouching, but also send one completely unretouched?
Great post. I guess I have to wonder how she could not be happy. I say this because you have a distinct look in your images. And this is why people book you. So I feel like she didn't do her homework. It just throws me off that someone could see your work, love it, reach out to you and then bam, doesn't like them.
I think in this case the problem was not the photos but self-esteem ... a lot of people these days have a lot of issues with accepting the way they look. I deeply believe that the problem is on the rise... we get bombarded daily by commercials, television and social media which creates that perfect world/look which simply doesn't exist and everyone who has any insecurities will certainly get affected by it. Photoshop and retouching I think make this even worse especially every year we get better and better on fixing everything and we push the boundaries to the limit...and unfortunately retouching is a mandatory thing today...if You don't retouch your images people will say that you are a bad photographer and You have no idea what You are doing...really sad but the world we are living it.
I came to this same conclusion quickly, but I listened for a long time afterwards just to confirm if my first impression was correct. I agree I think it was herself she didn't like. Unfortunately Some people have "faults" about themselves and think a photographer can do "magic" to make it go away. Some people even think you can "photoshop" away everything. And especially for a headshot shoot, there is not much "photo-shopping" . This experience is very unfortunate. I think I shot a wedding like that once. The husband, friends, relatives loved the shots but the bride didn't and couldn't explain why. I think she had a bit of a double chin issue that she was not proud of. It was not bad but maybe she was disappointed that it showed in some of the images. As a photographer, as good as we may be we can't work "self esteem" magic.
It is still not clear to me from your story whether she changed her mind about the original shoot or whether you did a second shoot. One question I have is, do you show the back of the camera to the client while shooting?
Thank You for watching... yes she changed her mind and she likes the photos from the original shoot... so I didn't have to do the second shoot...As far showing the images on the back of the screen that depends....sometimes I do but not on every shoot...as I think those shots don't really show the final product... and in this particular case I did show her some shots and she liked them but the story took a different twist after words so You just never know what is in the client mind during the shoot.
The poor thing she just did not know that a camera captures what it see's poor thing she will never take another pic as long as she lives. Rafal you are the man.
Thank You for watching .... When it comes to clients ...its hard to say all those things in less than ten minutes :( I am glad You could find this video valuable ...thats all what its matter. THANK YOU!
Wow! I would never have thought that you would have had a problem with a person. I know you do great work so I was surprised at this video but comforted by it too. I know the issue was with the person you did the shoot and not with you. It is comforting to know we may encounter problems with persons we do head shots for when even the pro's like you encounter problems. It is also scary. Thanks for your honesty and for the video. And you handled it beautifully!
I know so comforting
I'm glad you made this video to remind us to keep our emotions out of it when we receive negative feedback from a client. I shoot many corporate headshots and recently one of the oldest women I photographed complained about her retouched photos. But she also didn't like any of the photos I shot of her and I shot the most of her during the photoshoot, so many that it made the entire photoshoot extremely backed up and everyone was waiting for their turn for their headshot. The woman looks to me to be in her early 60s. At the photoshoot the owner of the company could tell that this one woman wasn't happy with any of her photos and she asked if I could make the woman's lip not look crooked. The woman has Bell's Palsey. I am very sympathetic to her situation because my Dad has Bell's Palsey (he also is a professional photographer). I did the retouch and I made her smile look so beautiful and straighten her lip and you would not even know I did anything, it looks very natural. My contact has asked if I could cut back on the filter, regarding the retouching? I did have to use a filter to smooth her skin but I was careful to not over smooth her skin. I just know that if I send another version of the photo with less retouching that this woman will not like the photo no matter what. And my contact at the company asked if I could start sending two versions of the photo, 1 unretouched and 1 retouched. At this point I don't know whether I should retouch it again or just send the unretouched version. My Dad said I should send the unretouched version and just say "less retouching" lol. But I don't know if I should do that because the unretouched version looks so bad. Maybe I should do another with less retouching, but also send one completely unretouched?
Great post. I guess I have to wonder how she could not be happy. I say this because you have a distinct look in your images. And this is why people book you. So I feel like she didn't do her homework. It just throws me off that someone could see your work, love it, reach out to you and then bam, doesn't like them.
I think in this case the problem was not the photos but self-esteem ... a lot of people these days have a lot of issues with accepting the way they look. I deeply believe that the problem is on the rise... we get bombarded daily by commercials, television and social media which creates that perfect world/look which simply doesn't exist and everyone who has any insecurities will certainly get affected by it. Photoshop and retouching I think make this even worse especially every year we get better and better on fixing everything and we push the boundaries to the limit...and unfortunately retouching is a mandatory thing today...if You don't retouch your images people will say that you are a bad photographer and You have no idea what You are doing...really sad but the world we are living it.
Absolutely correct!!!
I came to this same conclusion quickly, but I listened for a long time afterwards just to confirm if my first impression was correct. I agree I think it was herself she didn't like. Unfortunately Some people have "faults" about themselves and think a photographer can do "magic" to make it go away. Some people even think you can "photoshop" away everything. And especially for a headshot shoot, there is not much "photo-shopping" . This experience is very unfortunate. I think I shot a wedding like that once. The husband, friends, relatives loved the shots but the bride didn't and couldn't explain why. I think she had a bit of a double chin issue that she was not proud of. It was not bad but maybe she was disappointed that it showed in some of the images. As a photographer, as good as we may be we can't work "self esteem" magic.
It is still not clear to me from your story whether she changed her mind about the original shoot or whether you did a second shoot. One question I have is, do you show the back of the camera to the client while shooting?
Thank You for watching... yes she changed her mind and she likes the photos from the original shoot... so I didn't have to do the second shoot...As far showing the images on the back of the screen that depends....sometimes I do but not on every shoot...as I think those shots don't really show the final product... and in this particular case I did show her some shots and she liked them but the story took a different twist after words so You just never know what is in the client mind during the shoot.
Would shooting tethered and showing the client in real time, have alleviated the problem?
The poor thing she just did not know that a camera captures what it see's poor thing she will never take another pic as long as she lives. Rafal you are the man.
I thought you said it would be a short video. Anyway good advice.
Thank You for watching .... When it comes to clients ...its hard to say all those things in less than ten minutes :( I am glad You could find this video valuable ...thats all what its matter. THANK YOU!
Sounds like she wanted to keep retouched copies and not pay.