# Question for fellow photographers....



## ljenningsphotog (Dec 16, 2011)

Hi all!
I am a fairly new photographer, have my own business and have been this professionally for about a year.  
I reently did a family session that turned out great, they love the photos....
But are now asking for all of the originals and everything I didn't edit.....
I am VERY reluctant to hand these over as this is a representation of my work, unfinished work.

What would you all do?  Do I give them up?  How can I decline politely?  What is the right thing to do her?
(The package she purchase came with a set number of edited photos)

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

ljenningsphotography.com


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## tirediron (Dec 16, 2011)

This is something that should be addressed in your contract (I'm guessing if it isn't now, it will be shortly?), however regardless, I would NEVER hand over anything but finished work to a client (FWIW, when I shot my brother's wedding a couple of years ago, even he got nothing but final edits).  

The way I would address this is by explaining to them that they paid for 'X' number of finished images, and they received that.  Explain that even though the images are of them, you own the images and all the rights to them (I find a LOT of people tend to think that since they're in a photograph, they have some claim over it), and that you do not release un-edited images because you will have no control over them.  If that doesn't work, politely hand them your lawyer's contact information and show them the door.


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## Robin Usagani (Dec 16, 2011)

What did you promise them?  How many did you give them?


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## ljenningsphotog (Dec 16, 2011)

I promised 20 and gave 34....


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## Robin Usagani (Dec 16, 2011)

there you go.. tell them that you promised them 20, you gave them 34.


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## Big Mike (Dec 16, 2011)

Welcome to the forum.

This question gets asked around here...probably a few times a year.  See if the search function can turn up some old threads.

The bottom line is that it's your business and it's completely up to you.  If you don't want to give or show them the 'out takes', then you don't have to.  

I'd suggest telling them that the photos they didn't see, were essentially duplicates of the ones they did see...or that, in your professional opinion, they didn't meet your high standards of quality etc.  

You could tell them that you deleted everything but the keepers (and/or actually do that).  

The biggest thing (going forward) is that you should probably mention this beforehand.  Let your clients know that your workflow is to shoot "a bunch" of images and only pick the best ones to edit & give/show to them.


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## mwcfarms (Dec 16, 2011)

Do a photo proof session and show her all the images and let her pick which ones she wants. So much per digi file etc. Prices go down as image number goes up is another method I have seen.


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## Big Mike (Dec 16, 2011)

Or you could pick one or two of the ones where she (or her kids etc.) are making a terrible face, have their eyes closed etc.....and tell them that all the out takes look like that.


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## iresq (Dec 16, 2011)

As Mike said your business, your decision.  You should not, IMO, lie to a client.  While it is sometimes easier to tell the white lie, it's just not the right thing to do.  You can't expect honesty and integrity unless your willing to give it. I know this might sound a little corny to some and I will admit that I don't always live my personal life like this, but I do own my own company and this is how I operate, always.  Most people can smell a BS excuse.  I don't do repeat business with anyone I feel has not been honest with me.  I have been in situations were I did not like the truth, but appreciated receiving it. 

The photos are your property.  You fulfilled your end of the deal plus some.  

Perhaps you could sell them the rest?


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## xposurepro (Dec 18, 2011)

Here's what I say and I never have a problem with the issue ... 

The selection that you were given is everything that was edited. We shoot so many clients and with the extremely large size of all the RAW data, it just not possible for us to archive every single blink or goofy outtake because somebody started talking or looked away when I fired off the shot. This would require a massive amount of storage and we would need to literally spend tens of thousands of dollars for servers just to hold onto bad images. Which naturally that makes no sense to do. So, we help you by narrowing the initial selection down to the absolute best of the best and during that process all outtakes are permanently removed from the system.


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