I need some help in dealing with a difficult client

[private]

When you replace the photos, make sure she gives you back the ones she has complained about and please do not order them until you have the old ones in hand.

And not only should you put that clause in your contract, it should be on your website and mentioned during the sales process...

[Ensleygirl]

Originally Posted by FormElement

Save yourself some money and get a reduced size proof made first. Don't do a second enlargement until she actually signs the proof!! Then she has nothing to say about the enlargement. This is why a lot of good printers will give you hard proofs for free, or practically so, if they know you are a long term customer.

That is a great idea.

Originally Posted by RLucas

If you are a newb, you seem to light years ahead of the norm! I really liked them. #25 may be a little oversaturated for my taste, and # 33 does have a little noise in the shadow area aound her eye. I viewed the original size you have posted, and I would be VERY happy with what you have done here. I think thesse are perfectly acceptable. Don't give up the rights!

Good luck!
Luke

Yes, I am a newb. I just started this a month ago. I have taken a lot of pics of my kids, but this past month is the first time I have been paid to do this. I've never had a website or anything before. Thanks for your comments!!

Originally Posted by private

When you replace the photos, make sure she gives you back the ones she has complained about and please do not order them until you have the old ones in hand.

And not only should you put that clause in your contract, it should be on your website and mentioned during the sales process...

Thanks! I am working on my contract today to get these clauses in there.

[Mr Guy]

Two things.

First and foremost, you need to turn off full size images in smugmug. There's absolutely nothing preventing them from saving those pictures and getting them printed themselves. There's a setting in Customize Gallery to set the largest size to anything from Medium to Original. Anything above Medium is asking for trouble. The right click prevention does nothing.

Secondly, what exactly did they purchase from you? You keep mentioning prints and enlargements, but then talk about the color calibration. Do you mean the color calibration for the gallery themselves? I can see where she may be coming from regarding the lips, but that's pretty obvious in the online gallery itself. The one complaint I'd have with your entire gallery is strictly a matter of taste and preference: I think they are all on the side of over saturation. Not so severe as to be unpleasant, but I think you could take it down a notch and not lose anything. However, the fact that she's complaining about that in ONLY THAT PICTURE screams to me she's full of crap. The saturation and color skews appear to be extremely close in all the pictures, if she didn't like that style, she should be noticing that in every single picture. Since she's not, my money is on either deciding later she preferred a different picture or she's trying to get free stuff. Neither of which is your problem.

In the interest of your reputation, I'm inclined to think you are best off standing firm on offering reprints (after the original is returned) or selling (not giving!) digital copies.

[Gobae]

Originally Posted by Ensleygirl

.....I could not be responsible for the color calibration of his computer.

I think you hit the nail right on the head with that. On my laptop #25 it looks like girl's lips a beautiful full red you'd expect on a cold fall day. However, on my work desktop monitors (both Dell), her lips are very close to a fuchsia.

[Ensleygirl]

Originally Posted by Mr Guy

Two things.

First and foremost, you need to turn off full size images in smugmug. There's absolutely nothing preventing them from saving those pictures and getting them printed themselves. There's a setting in Customize Gallery to set the largest size to anything from Medium to Original. Anything above Medium is asking for trouble. The right click prevention does nothing.

Secondly, what exactly did they purchase from you? You keep mentioning prints and enlargements, but then talk about the color calibration. Do you mean the color calibration for the gallery themselves? I can see where she may be coming from regarding the lips, but that's pretty obvious in the online gallery itself. The one complaint I'd have with your entire gallery is strictly a matter of taste and preference: I think they are all on the side of over saturation. Not so severe as to be unpleasant, but I think you could take it down a notch and not lose anything. However, the fact that she's complaining about that in ONLY THAT PICTURE screams to me she's full of crap. The saturation and color skews appear to be extremely close in all the pictures, if she didn't like that style, she should be noticing that in every single picture. Since she's not, my money is on either deciding later she preferred a different picture or she's trying to get free stuff. Neither of which is your problem.

In the interest of your reputation, I'm inclined to think you are best off standing firm on offering reprints (after the original is returned) or selling (not giving!) digital copies.

Ok, let me clarify. They purchased the largest collection posted on my website plus a few more pics. They spent $360 total for a whole lot of prints. I have my monitor calibrated with the lab. She said on her computer the lips did not look bright pink. And yes, she is only complaining about that one pic as far as the lips go. And it was 35 degrees so their noses, lips and cheeks were pick. These are little freckle faced, fair skinned girls. The ONLY processing I did was attempt to correct some white balance issues (that has been a challenge for me) and to lighten some shadows. That's all I did. These pictures are not overprocessed.

[Mr Guy]

Originally Posted by Ensleygirl

Ok, let me clarify. They purchased the largest collection posted on my website plus a few more pics. They spent $360 total for a whole lot of prints. I have my monitor calibrated with the lab. She said on her computer the lips did not look bright pink. And yes, she is only complaining about that one pic as far as the lips go. And it was 35 degrees so their noses, lips and cheeks were pick. These are little freckle faced, fair skinned girls. The ONLY processing I did was attempt to correct some white balance issues (that has been a challenge for me) and to lighten some shadows. That's all I did. These pictures are not overprocessed.

I'm sorry, I really don't mean to offend, I'm saying that I think your camera's saturation settings for jpeg (I'm making the assumption you are shooting in jpeg) are set higher than I'd prefer. From JUST looking at the pictures, without any exif info, I'd say it looks like Canon Vivid settings, which in my very personal taste, are too strong. I see from your sig it's actually Nikon, so what do I know!

*Edit, to emphasize* What I again want to reiterate though is that it's constant for all pictures. If she doesn't like them, she shouldn't like any. Being selective means her opinion is motivated by something other than the color of the lips.

[Ensleygirl]

Originally Posted by Mr Guy

I'm sorry, I really don't mean to offend, I'm saying that I think your camera's saturation settings for jpeg (I'm making the assumption you are shooting in jpeg) are set higher than I'd prefer. From JUST looking at the pictures, without any exif info, I'd say it looks like Canon Vivid settings, which in my very personal taste, are too strong. I see from your sig it's actually Nikon, so what do I know!

*Edit, to emphasize* What I again want to reiterate though is that it's constant for all pictures. If she doesn't like them, she shouldn't like any. Being selective means her opinion is motivated by something other than the color of the lips.

Oh you didn't offend me at all. I'm sorry if I sounded offended. It's hard to communicate moods on the internet. I am shooting in jpeg, but I am going to change to RAW as soon as I get some of my confidence back. Thank you!!

[jdepould]

My advice? Give them this round of revisions, then run. Run far, far away.

[Jim Poor]

I'm going to take a different approach and say that on my monitor (calibrated with WHCC's ICC profile) the girls look cherry-tomato red in several of the photos. The first two I looked at (18 & 19) are very very red. #25 is also very red - beyond a nice rosey cold day red.

I don't see a problem with pixelization in #33. Is that the full original frame or did you crop it significantly?

All that said, not knowing what your color management workflow is like, we have no way of knowing how what we see on the internet matches what you get back from WHCC.

[Ensleygirl]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

I'm going to take a different approach and say that on my monitor (calibrated with WHCC's ICC profile) the girls look cherry-tomato red in several of the photos. The first two I looked at (18 & 19) are very very red. #25 is also very red - beyond a nice rosey cold day red.

I don't see a problem with pixelization in #33. Is that the full original frame or did you crop it significantly?

All that said, not knowing what your color management workflow is like, we have no way of knowing how what we see on the internet matches what you get back from WHCC.

I did not crop #33.