It is something that will happen to every photographer at some point or another: you are in the middle of a shoot, and your client simply hates the photos you are producing. So, what do you do at that point? This excellent video essay discusses how to handle this potentially sticky situation and leave both yourself and your client happy.
Coming to you from Daniel Norton Photographer, this great video essay discusses how to handle the situation when a client is not happy with the photos you are creating during a shoot. Above anything, it is crucial to not take it personally if a client is unhappy during a shoot. Certainly, it can be easy to feel personally offended when this happens; after all, most of us are personally invested in the creative process, and it can seem like a personal attack when someone does not like what we are doing. But taking it this way or showing annoyance or anger to your client is nothing but a quick road to a soured business relationship. Instead, being more open to working with your client and adjusting the shoot will pay off when all is said and done. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Norton.
Very good advice in a short video. Never let tension arise between you and your customer, an universal law. How you could handle it. Thanks.
I have a moment with one sitter that was hell. I was photographing a competition and was doing all of the PR and winners shots prior to the day of the competition, standard stuff, fast turn around, a selection is sent over to my client and images are agreed with them and they agree them with agents. Then final images are edited up and handed over to the client. The client was very happy with the images and thanked me for my work. A few days later the competition takes place and the winner is selected, at this moment the winners images are emailed out to 26 publications. The following morning all hell breaks loose, the winner is really not happy with the image selected and i had to send over to my client a full set of images, so a "better" one could be selected. I have a good relationship with this client and understood they were in an awkward position, so we sorted it out. I was forwarded an email from the sitter by my client with a lot of crap in it and my client said this wont happen again and thanked my again for my work. I just think there are crazy people out there and sometimes you can be unlucky. Photography is a subjective art, some people will love what you do, some wont
In particular, portrait subjects who are not professional models come to a shoot with a ton of preconceptions about what they "should" look like. Sometimes, it's simply impossible to satisfy them, especially if they aren't communicative during the shoot and there isn't an unlimited budget for retouching. There's no pleasing some folks. The trick is to make them feel you've done the best you possibly could under the circumstances. It helps if one talks with them, however briefly, before the shoot about what they're looking for. That's why, no matter how high-volume and hectic a mass-portrait event might be, I always insist the client allows at least two minutes per subject, so I can have at least 30 seconds to talk with the subject and then enough time to get at least three "looks". Even my "step and repeat" jobs are actually "step, talk, play, repeat". Subjects appreciate this, even the few who are not delighted with the results.