Why Does it Take So Long to Get My Pictures?
Your wedding or event was three weeks ago but besides a couple of teaser pics the photographer posted on Facebook and Instagram, you haven’t heard anything about when you’re going to get your photos. You’ve even started an email, but then deleted it because you don’t want to come off as impatient or a warty customer. But this is starting to be a point of anxiety in your life. Is this going to turn into one of those horror stories where you paid the photographer thousands of dollars in advance and then didn't ever get your images? “Why is it taking so long to get my pictures?!?!?!?!”
Well, we get asked this question a lot. Everyone is anxious to get their photos and it wasn’t until I was on the other side of this issue that I really understood how stressful waiting for your photos can be. When my wife and I got married, we had to hire a photographer (not something I’m used to doing lol). We laid out over $3000 and put our faith and trust in this woman to capture the most important day of our lives. She was nice, very easy to work with and as a photographer myself, I appreciated her talent and photography expertise. We felt great about her and the day of our wedding, she was a huge help for us in making sure we got every photo we were wanting.
But then… two months went by.
Then three months.
Then four. And the anxiety was killing me so I called. She didn’t answer. That didn’t make me feel any better, so I left a message. Then I called the next day and left another message. Then another week went by…
I feared the worst!
But finally, after almost 5 months she called. Our photos were ready. I was so relieved that I didn't even yell at her for being so late and not communicating. But my wife picked up the phone and had a frank discussion with her about the issue.
Turns out, she had been really busy over the summer and was behind on editing. Then she decided to take a one-month-vacation (must be nice) and travel. Then she had to get back and get her kids ready for school. And like somewhere in there, she finally found time to work on our photos and get them to us. The images that she produced for us were beautiful and we loved them. But every time I look at them I have this little flare-up of anxiety remembering all of the stress associated with getting them.
Here’s a look inside the process of the photographer, so you can at least understand what’s going on. And also, so you can know when its time to call and start asking some very pressing questions!
1. RAW PHOTOS TAKE TIME TO PROCESS
People raise their camera phone, click the button, hit the share icon and BAM! your picture is done and available online. You can even "edit" your photo to a degree and get it online in just a few minutes. So why does it take professional photographers so long to post or send you your photos?
Many professional photographers, myself included, like to use our camera in what is call RAW mode. It captures so much more data than the way your camera captures images and it enables me to push and pull the colors and lighting and edit the image much more easily that it would if I had just shot the easy way, using .jpg format (which is a very compressed and ‘lossy” format for images).
Think of the RAW process as something similar to shooting on film, where the film has to be developed and then scanned and then manipulated. RAW images a very similar, except in digital format.
After I take your photos, they get downloaded to a computer and processed in an editing software like Adobe’s Lightroom (like the opposite of a darkroom) or Capture One. Lightroom and Capture One make working with each photo fast and easy. They allow me to examine each image and make adjustments to individual aspects of the image, like the highlights or shadows or specific colors. The software also gives me the ability to create custom looks and manage image storage. The are both amazing tools, but processing the large amount of images that are taken at weddings or special events often takes a lot of time. My goal is to produce a consistent look and feel across all of your images but the RAW images often are so widely varied it color, lighting styles, and feels that it take a lot of work to get those images to a uniform style.
Processing is just the first step. After the initial process, it is necessary for me to re-evaluate the images and make some up for editing and throw some away. Which moves us to our next point…
There's an easily visible difference between these two images...
The image on the left is the "Digital Negative", raw image. The image on the right has been processed and slightly edited.
2. PHOTOS TAKE TIME TO EDIT
Processing the images is the first step, editing them is an entirely different process. For photographers, the step is often accomplished in Adobe’s Photoshop and is much more labor intensive that the initial process.
Most of us forget about that pimple we had pop up the day before the wedding. Sure, your make-up artist worked hard to cover it up, but she isn’t a miracle working. It is actually your photographer that carefully examines your images and removes the little annoying blemishes and problems that none of us want to be reminded about.
I once had a bride with food stuck in between her front teeth for the entire reception. I didn’t notice during that night, but it was very visible in EVERY photo. All of those images had to be edit.
At one wedding, the groom and groomsmen started drinking very very early and by the time the wedding ceremony was supposed to start at 5pm, they were beyond drunk. They were so drunk the wedding had to start 30 minutes late. And to make things worse, when the groom and the pastor walked down the aisle to start the wedding, I noticed that he had peed himself. Yes, that’s right, there was an obvious urine wet spot/stain on the front of his pants. And even as it dried, it left a stain that was visible in photos. It took me weeks to edit all of the urine spots of of the images from that wedding.
If your photographer is working on event photos, usually this process does not take long. But if your photographer is working on wedding photos, it is going to be a while because most of us comb through every image to clean up those little embarrassing things you don’t want to have to explain to your kids in 20 years.
The amount of time it takes to edit also varies. If you haven’t pissed yourself on your wedding day, your images may only take a short amount of time to edit. But if you have… you’re gonna have to be patient.
3. PHOTOGRAPHERS USUALLY HAVE A VERY BUSY WORKLOAD DURING WEDDING SEASON
I am almost always booked up from May until August. I personally do not book a wedding for every weekend during that time period, because I know how backed-up you can get. It is not uncommon to take 2,000 images at a wedding. If your photographer has booked a wedding for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each week for 3 months, there’s gonna be a back log. I process the weddings in the order they happen. Most photographers do. Which means that if you have a late July wedding with a very busy photographer, you may not get your images for a few months.
Just so you know, photographers really have a tough time in today’s market. Most photographers have to book weddings every weekend to be able to survive financially. So I’m not trying to blame them for being greedy or irresponsible. They are just trying to make a living in a really tough market.
I do not book back-to-back weddings and that does hurt me financially. I have to work other jobs to make up for the money I’m not earning. I can get your images to you a little faster because there isn’t a back log, but I pay the price financially.
4. GALLERY SET-UP AND UPLOADS
So this may only affect me because of our slower internet speeds, but uploading the 600 to 1,000 high-resolution images to your private online gallery takes a little bit of time. Not to mention that every gallery has to be set-up with permissions and pricing, and emails and blah, blah, blah, all of which adds to the time it takes you to get your images. This doesn’t add a whole lot of time to the process, but it does add some, so just be aware!
How to Avoid Issues with Getting Your Pictures
Now that we’ve talked a little about why it take so long, let’s take a quick look at how you can avoid some of anxiety and issues that might pop up.
1. ASK YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER UP FRONT WHAT THEIR TURN-AROUND TIME NORMALLY IS
This is a really simple thing to do and if you’re in the process of shopping around might help you make your decision. If you want to do some investigation on your own, more photographers post images from weddings to their Facebook pages or instagrams. Check the post dates and then go back and see if you can figure out when the wedding was to verify the turn-around time the photographer gave you. But asking up front is a great way to start, especially if getting your images quickly is a priority for you.
2. CHECK THE CONTRACT OR SERVICE AGREEMENT YOU SIGN FOR A DELIVERY TIME-FRAME
Almost all photographers have you sign a contact or service agreement and almost all of them include an estimated delivery window. If they do not and getting your images fast is a priority, communicate with your photographer and see if you can work out something to get your images faster (possible pay an expedite fee or forego some of the editing or fine details).
3. CHECK THE PHOTOGRAPHERS REVIEWS AND LOOK FOR PRAISE OR ISSUES WITH COMMUNICATION
A photographer that communicates well will always keep you informed of their process and let you know where they are, even if its taking them awhile. For me, I would not have been upset at all if our wedding photographer had emailed us and said, “hey, I’m going on vacation for a month, I’ll get back on your photos when I get back.” Knowing where your images are helps a whole lot!
4. DON’T HESITATE TO REACH OUT IF YOU’RE WORRIED
Photographers mostly understand and will be happy to answer your questions and put your mind at ease!
Bonus - Productive Things You can Do While You Wait!
If you need something to do while you wait, why not browse some things to go with all those photos you’re going to be receiving shortly! Here’s a list of great items to browse and buy on Amazon or just give you a few ideas of what to be thinking about once your photos are actually done!