Would you give your customers such photo?

[JacePhoto]

Usually these photos are taken FREE by anyone who has a camera, or a nominal amount.

For those really demanding top quality group photo, one has to pay for a decent team of a photographer and assistants with decent gears ....

Timing (if outdoor) is very important as well as the background.

In your case above, i dont think anyone can shoot a "top class" photo because of the sunlight, shadow, shades, and most important the layout (inverted U) .... the background is also CMI la.

usually if company asking for group photo, the cost of shooting group photo will be charge separately, the photographer will set up a few studio lightings, camera mounted on tripod, bring a tall ladder, set up everything nicely, than inform the person in charge summon all the people to come for group photo.

from the photo you show, is more like impromptu arrangement, without any additional photography service charges except prints.

result are not fantastic but acceptable.

I second the comments above. Frankly, i dont think the TS own picture is of any better quality. Anyway, this is not a CnC part and hence i will reserve my comments on it.

I would say that the photographer, has done a proper arrangement of the people, seeing that its such a huge grp. Colors may be a bit off, but like what Canonised and Catchlights has said, provide the budget, i am sure they will bring their profotos down to do a gd pic for you.

 

[xylestesins]

I'm not that good a photographer but i would really print out an exact A4 copy of that first picture you showed just so i have a physical copy of the photo to throw into the photographer's face instead of mailing a digital along with a complaint.

Skin tone is horribly unacceptable for most cameras of today, much less a dslr with a paid photographer coupled. They're all burnt, and it looks like many loaves of burnt bread with white shirts on.

If he shot on film without the use of any PP program, yes acceptable.


Are you sure he wasn't using a Lomo on this? :bigeyes:

 

[catchlights]

before go on comment about the color, wb or contrast of the photo show by TS, please note that the photo is scan from a hardcopy print. how good and accurate of the result from a scanned copy? I think everybody should already aware about that.

........

We also took a group photo and the print out we received looked like this (i scan it at 75dpi)............................................

 

[eow]

Jill, the picture looks exactly the same as what you see here in A4. The picture contrast is way off, all of the faces looks shiny. The picture looks like it was shot with -2EV and PP to retrieve the detail and saturation and level inreased too high.

The photographer set up the whole thing - it was sunny but not that sunny that would cause glare on your eyes but enough to create unpleasant shadows. The whole team was there, even the bosses, no delay in setting up at all anad everyone were cooperative.

As for the camera, yes it's definitely not the camera - I was quoting it to show that they do have a decent system. In fact from the angle, I think this one was not taken by the main photog who likes to take photo from a low angle

This is another photo straight from camera from the same location but at the back (near the building) - one of their photog took it using my cam.

Photoprozero : I didn't offer because I was teh participants and we paid them a ton for the services. There were one main photog for the event that were with us for the three days, at least 5 of them during the group shots, dinner and outside activities. So far, our other events, had always had good experience with photographers. Now waiting to see the gala dinner photos to see how those turned out.

The only thing was most of us have been seeing good photos for the events from our various cams - dslr, pns, even some from phone cams that when we received the print out, was quite dissapointed not that easy to gather three countries in one place

looking at yr 2nd pic, it seem so much better, as the area is well sheltered from direct sunlight. it seem to be a much easier shooting position than the 1st pic

 

[eow]

For this is the sensor which is off colour, sony DSLR colour is always off unless he/she use flash over come the colour or correct the colours by using photoshop...... If I'm the event organiser, I will demand a explaination from the photographer why is the colours is like that..... and also demand a compensation...... :angry:

i do agreed with u that the Sony dslr colour is off usually in direct sunlight under the abv lighting condition...so does the Canon 30D i had shoot with before....
so far of all the dslr with the most accurate colour tone i would said be the one from the olympus 4/3 system

 

[ortega]

actually, if there more than one photographer shooting at the same time, then i would suppose
I could put the blame on inexperience photographers

 

[ellery]

I suppose you do get what you pay for. A well run outfit would not be having mulitple shooters shooting at the same time for a group shot.Nor would there be multiple photographers being sent to cover an event - why because photographers with decent skills charge a decent rate- having many of them at the same location either means a very large budget which I doubt is actually the case here although the TS has said they paid a ton but what is that in S$ terms. Most events are not simultaneous running from multiple sites and even if they were most clients are not willing to pay for complete cover in such circumstances.

Large group photos are standard must have pictures for such events - if you have done them you know if not now you know.

Picture could have been better - should done home work on the issue to get best possible location and arrangement of people. But this is something for the client & photographer to sort out given that only they know what was happening that day.

 

[synapseman]

Actually, when it comes to photographers, paying "tons of money" (which is itself relative - my experience tells me events organisers pay very little in general) is no indication of the quality of results. Best way is to see portfolio, and ensure that you do get the same PG who shot those photos. Sad to say, there are many companies that provide photographic services hire mostly so-so photographers. Need to keep overheads low, the photographers themselves are paid peanuts, and so...

And same goes for people who are thinking of taking up events photography. When there are major sponsors involved, the person hiring you also has a lot to answer for if the shots don't turn out good. Everyone's under pressure, so the demands for good shots become especially high. Too many would-be pg's underestimate the demands of events photography.

One of the main issues I've encountered is there's always a lack of information for the photographer. Oftentimes, the event organiser assumes that the photographer will know exactly what they want (or what they don't want), and leave the pg to do his/her job. I've done a few, but each time, there has never been any pre-event briefing or meet-up. If I were to miss some shots which I didn't know was required, I get shelled big time.

I'm not saying that this happened for this incident. I don't have any other info, so I wouldn't really know. But it's one of the major issues in general when it comes to major events photography.

Back to the main topic: What will this photo be used for? Company newsletter? If it's something as informal as that (it looks quite informal, judging from the way the participants are dressed), then it's still acceptable, although barely just. The pic is still too small for me to decide if it's truly horrible or not, but my main issue has to be the shadows on the left hand side. Was the pg informed beforehand that he would need to shoot a large group photo? Strobes are definitely needed for a shot like this, if the end result is something to be framed and put up on the company wall.

 

[Shen siung]

before go on comment about the color, wb or contrast of the photo show by TS, please note that the photo is scan from a hardcopy print. how good and accurate of the result from a scanned copy? I think everybody should already aware about that.

I agreed
IMHO, usually scanning should be done at least 300 dpi to imitate the real copy... 600 dpi is better. Also depends on the scanner.

 

[lightning]

In the first place, I think the Palm leaves is in the way....why they did not notice? If the lighting is bad, just shot in backeting of 3 - 5 shots and you can definitely piece together a decent photo. May be the "hired" photographers are "free". It is quite easy to get "free" wannabes photographers these days....almost everyone has a DSLR and a whatever top quality lens. I have seen a sec 2 boy having a 300 F2.8 lens walking around.

 

[mattlock]

It really depends on how much you paid the person to shoot the group shot.

Group shots are a niche speciality in itself, and I can attest that it's not simple at all.
If you paid enough specifically for a group shot, then of course the photographer should get his act together.

That being said, I don't necessarily think the group shot is bad.

If you need a group shot done specifically and it's something important, hire someone who specialises in group shots specifically.
Same for any other aspect of photography, if you need product shots done specifically, get a photographer who specialises in product shots.

 

[Y100M50]

is a decent shot. is the photographer paid decent?

 

[vince123123]

Scanning at higher resolution doesn't really give a different result as far as the complaints the TS is making, namely high contrast, bad exposure, PP rescued look.

Notice that he did not complain that the faces cannot be seen.

I agreed
IMHO, usually scanning should be done at least 300 dpi to imitate the real copy... 600 dpi is better. Also depends on the scanner.

 

[s2s1]

looking at yr 2nd pic, it seem so much better, as the area is well sheltered from direct sunlight. it seem to be a much easier shooting position than the 1st pic

I agree with eow. Compare both picture, first one is either the sun on head or back lighting. The second picture sun direction is behind photographer, so easier to get better picture.

I guess the picture is position as requested by customers. Normally, we want building or banner as background to show it is event. :bsmilie:

 

[Rashkae]

For this is the sensor which is off colour, sony DSLR colour is always off unless he/she use flash over come the colour or correct the colours by using photoshop......

Do you even know what you're talking about? Color accuracy is a strength of the Sony systems. Don't anyhow go around trying to start a brand flame war.

 

[Harry Potter]

Can normal consumers detect this?

 

[newtoforums]

Will not comment on the Group photo/s and TS point of view but would like to share some info here pertaining to the Group photo/s.

Having done a lots of groups anything from a few to 500pax under the sun before n as someone mentioned earlier hire a Group specialist as not just about anyone can handle large groups of people who are distracted/dazzled by so many photogs(izzit 3 or 4?).

Being organised and experienced is also very important to taking Group photos which pleases almost everyone.

The Photographer also has to take Charge and Command the Group. Not every photogs cup of tea! especially if you are the timid sort!!

just my tots

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

We had a South East Asia Company conference and the event organizer hired a group of photographers to take pictures of the three days event.

We also took a group photo and the print out we received looked like this (i scan it at 75dpi)

Is it me or am I to demanding to find the picture totally unacceptable. So far everybody on my team is complaining about the pic. The photog used a song alpha I think but the fact is even any PnS could take good photo in that morning light. Also, there were at least three of them taking at least a total of 30 photos and this is what we got.

Any feedback is appreciated, is it me or is this supposed to be some sort of digital art that I failed to see?

Thank you

song alpha? song liao lor...

so you mean there is 3 photographers taking this same shot and all they gave is this? hmm...

what i can say is, they did their best, most likely he rely too much on the metering and it got fooled. the image seem to be PSed already. it depends on how much is paid, imagine if you really want a nice shot in that 11am to 2pm shot, with strong sun cos not really cloudy, and direct overhead sun, see the shadow. he need to have at least 3 strobes to get a proper even illumination. if he is holding a cam thinking of using natural light, good luck to him and his pop up flash buddy.

 

[third3rdwheel]

Huh? we still talking about this? Oh dear, time to let go..........it's been days since I saw this thread.....

 

[JayKay]

It's only 2 days. I only saw this thread but it seems that TS is unable to answer several questions. My guess is that he is only one of the participants and not involved in any dealing with the photographer, probably just trying to show off to his colleagues his knowledge of photography. I do have a question for him myself. Since he was present and is a photographer, why didn't he point out the bad location and conditions to his colleagues before the photograph was taken instead of complaining here later? Which also brings to mind, how long ago was the photograph shot?