For the record I've dealt with this issue more than once in my photography career and if you google topic you will find not one but HUNDREDS of posts devoted to the topic of why the photographer OWNS the images. We do. The cops can't search our cameras without a warrant and the client does not have any right to all the images. I've dealt with this in the last month and every person I've known who DOES photography has dealt with difficult people who demand everything. One point I'd like to make is if you don't think you're going to like the finished product of your images why did you hire the photographer in the first place when you can see their work.
I think this is the problem every photographer of any skill level runs into. That client who asks "So, do I get all the images." - Your answer should be no. Why? Because those images are your images, not the clients, unless you promise all the images and you shouldn't. Sunday I did a session for one of my favorite clients and I am using some of her images for my examples in this post.
A lovely moment at USAO in Chickasha.
Or was it so lovely? This image is a victim of camera shake (it was cold). So when you over deliver or try to give the client what they think they want, you just look like a bad, horrible, awful photographer. If you gurantee twenty photos a session give them that and not one more. In fact I'm thinking there is usually one signature image in a session that stands out and blows you away. But, I'm sure there isn't much of a market for promising one image.
But I loved this image.
This is perfect (although I don't like the gas station that I can see in the background) there are pitfalls in not shooting in the middle of nowhere.
The following frame was not as great. So, when you give all the images you are really selling yourself short. Don't do this!
This shoot was one that we had talked about since August!
We made it to the lights just as they opened.
I read a blog that said if you label yourself a "natural light" photographer that you do not understand lighting. I'm finding truth in this statement because lighting is an area I'm working on for portraiture. It is amazing that when you feel like you know a lot, you finally realize that you have so much to learn. This is the true in anything that you do. I used a flash in the image above - because afterall photography is about light.
Same place, almost the same moment. No flash, this image has qualities that I like despite not being as clear. So, if you're new to the portrait industry just remember you own the copyright of your images; not your subjects. No, they can't have all the images because you want your images to represent your best possible work and by giving away all the images you are not representing the best possible side of your work.
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