Wedding phot edits

I'll attempt to be make this as brief as I can. Our son got married to his wife at the height of Covid 19, there were eight of their closest relatives at ceremony and the dinner afterwards. I shot about one hundred photos with my equipment so we had some memories of the day (thank god for my tripod and the minister/friend of the family). About a dozen photos came out pretty well that I would rate an 8 out of ten. I shot in raw and did some very minor tweaking on DPP to the raw images, as this is all I know how to use (barely).

Last summer they had a "traditional" wedding ceremony with about a hundred guests. They hired to a professional photographer to capture the event. I was happy as I was able to spend time with the friends and relatives I rarely get to see. Only because I was asked, I took videos with my R5 of the "significant" dances with the bride and groom, bride and her father, etc. Otherwise, my camera sat in my bag.

The professional was shooting a R6 and used no flash for the outdoor (beach) photo sand used bounce flash for the indoor photos (mostly at night). Before and during the party the photographer did not sit down for a minute. She shot the bride and groom, wedding party, families, dance floor, tables, food, you name it. I'm guessing she shot at least two thousand photos, maybe more. As the parents of the groom we got to pick about thirty photos months after the wedding that were to be put in our "parents album" that was already paid for by the bride and groom. We had no problem finding the thirty photos we were allotted, but none of them were cropped, sharpened, or toughed for that matter. All the photos appeared to be downsized JPEGs of the originals. We assumed the car tire would be cropped out of the background from a photo shot too wide, the insignificant apartment next to the bride in groom, etc. If I was the photographer, it would have taken about two minutes per photo in reality to make these crops. Keep in mind that I have never shot a wedding and I only touch my camera about one day a month these days.

The photographer asked us for to mention any changes that we wanted to the photos we picked for our album. We made suggestions on cropping and it appears they do not want to alter the images.

I'm am well aware that many on this site do wedding photos for friends and family. I am also aware that many of you are professionals that make a living or at least part of your income taking professional photos. Am I correct in assuming your would customarily crop out car tires on a photo that was certainly going be in a "parent album?" I am not talking about fixing closed eyes (which I cannot do), or changing the color tones, or even sharpening an image.

Please share your thoughts,
Scott

I avoid shooting weddings, for the most part I find them depressing.

However here are my thoughts:

The minimum requirements to be a professional wedding photographer are as follows:
1. Own or have access to a camera.
2. Have a client willing to pay you money.

Since you were not the one who hired the photographer, and it sounds like your advice wasn't asked, it sounds like you might be out of luck. There is still hope.

I think it is reasonable that they would provide a full size jpg of the file. If you get the jpg's you can still crop, and a few other things and get it the way you want it.

Maybe they have some kind of stipulation in their contract that would require you to pay more for a high res photo. I could see someone doing this to make a few extra dollars.

I know what I would have asked of the photographer if I were hiring him. He may have been reluctant to comply and I would understand my request would probably be at a premium cost. Your son may have negotiated something very basic and inexpensive.

See if your son will let you contact the photographer directly and ask for what you want. If it is a real professional photographer I am sure he / she would help you.....for money.

I suppose I'm dating myself and perhaps assuming too much. Although, I've been to a few other weddings recently and always find myself speaking to the photographers. Every one of them openly shared information and actually have taught me a thing or two. I suppose they knew what they were doing and were not intimidated by me or my curiosity.

Scott,
My wife & I ran a wedding photo business on the side for 18 years. I would always work on the images before running them as proofs for the customer to see. For most images I would just do the basics. For a few I would make several different enhancements to show examples of what we could do to any of the images. Usually took 2,000 to 3,000 images during a wedding. I would delete the really bad, missed focus, etc..
I did this on the side while working a 50hr a week job. If I can do it, I would expect any professional to do it.
You are not off base at all. :)
Mark