What Happens When a Photo or Video Client Keeps Asking for Revisions?

You do the shoot, you get to the end of the edits, you send the client the exports, and they ask for revisions. Then they ask for more. And more. What do you do when your client keeps asking you to change things over and over?

Coming to you from Scott McKenna, this great video talks about the issue of client revisions. Similarly to McKenna, I once went through a situation that caused me to put a revisions clause in my contract and be very upfront with clients about what was allowed and what would incur extra charges. A client asked for eight rounds of revisions, and it got to the point where it was clear her requests were nothing more than her taking advantage of my patience to experiment. It really underscored the importance of setting clear expectations with the client beforehand. As McKenna mentions, it's also important not to take revision requests as an insult to your vision. Often, a client's revision request stems not from an issue with your vision, but simply from what they're trying to accomplish with the final product. This is particularly true with commercial clients. Check out the video above for McKenna's full thoughts. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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3 Comments

Factored into offers from the start to avoid confrontation.
A set of adjustments included, any more, hourly rate billed.

Good and long standing clients, I'm more flexible as it's usually 'Can you tweak the X a bit or adjust the Y' So I'll do that as a service. They know where the line is though.

Could ask yourself another question too. 1 year later the client calls to say, 'we can't find the images you shot last year, can you send them again' Part of the service, or billable? If 10 clients did that in a day you'd be spending a little fishing in archives and transferring. Would an accountant or lawyer hit the billable clock for that? Is it expected that we don't?

Time and Money. From my old Graphic Designer days I would simply tell them the project will take longer or cost more. That usually brought them back to reality and let me finally finish.

This why I have these issues covered in a contract.