HELP: What would cause these shadows?
 

Hi everyone. What would cause the shadows that are showing up in these photos? These were taken in a ballroom, no additional flash other than what was on the camera (some Canon SLR, not sure). Our photographer gave us her reason why they showed up like this, but I don't believe her, and want to get some other opinions as to what would cause these shadows. I know there isn't a lot of info to go on, but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. If you need any more info or have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks in advance.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/8999/shadowg.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8417/shadow2v.jpg

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4273/shadow3f.jpg

Looks like the lens is blocking part of the flash. Did she not notice this? What was her reason?

Which lens are you using? Your photos don't have any exif data...

On a wider lens - especially one that is bigger than the kit lenses - and WITH a lens hood, the on-camera flash will not reach the entire picture. It's basically just the lens itself causing a shadow.

Grab a cheap external flash. If you are on Canon, I think it's EX270. Around $100 and 100x better than in-cam flash.

Thanks for the responses, as I expected - something blocking the flash. These are just a few of the images that have the exact same shadow in it from our wedding. Her explanation was that she was having a tough time with the lighting in the room and that it was crappy, and sometimes you just can't avoid it. Funny, because not one guest image we've seen so far has these shadows in it. We are in the process of attempting to get a partial refund, and wanted to make sure that it was most likely something blocking the flash. If you think these are bad, you should see some of the other images.

Definitely demand a refund. How can a wedding photographer not have or know about using an external flash?

You PAID for those? wtf, I'd be pretty choked if I hired someone to take photos and they couldn't even figure out what was going wrong in that situation. Anyone worth paying wouldn't be using the on camera flash that's for sure.

Those shadows can be caused by:
1) the lens used was physically too long and got in the way of the light from an on-camera flash.

2) a large lens hood.

I'm really sorry your wedding photos came out bad...those images are absolutely inexcuseable. As a "pro," she should have known that and remedied the situation accordingly. Do you remember the gear she was using by any chance? Also, it looks like she used DIRECT flash...what a fool.

Most of my clients are pro wedding photographers, and needless to say I have NEVER seen such a n00b mistake (I do see many pros who still haven't figured out white balance issues) even with someone who was just getting into the business. Was this person a friend who did it for you as a favour or similar situation, or someone who billed herself as a professional photographer?

Was she using the on-camera flash, or an external flash mounted on the camera?

I think you should demand a full refund or at least a partial refund. Have you paid her out 100% already? If not, I would short pay her at the very least. Is there anything in the contract you signed that pertains to work that you as the client finds unacceptable?

She was not having trouble with the lighting in the room! She was having trouble WITH HER OWN LIGHTING, and what looks like a crappy lens. Someone who is serious and knew what they were doing would have used a wide aperture prime lens with different lighting.

This really upsets me that someone could be so callous at an event that cannot be re-shot and is one of the most important and happy days of a client's life. Someone so apathetic about their work does not deserve to be in the wedding photography business. :flamemad: She should not even have her own business - she should be cleaning toilets at a local community centre or something...she's probably fuck that up too.

Does your photographer look like this?


Seriously the problem in the pictures is general knowledge even with a kit lens I believe you'd get that shadow and anyone who has had any experience with the built in flash on SLRs should know

is it me or even without the shadow, the rest of the image quality isn't even close to being good, especially considering it's supposedly a pro? good grief, that second pic is horrible. the rest, tones are way off. isn't white supposed to be white?

Would you be willing to post the photographer's (if she can be called that) info so others know not to use her?
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If we don't get a satisfactory resolution, I will be plastering our story with her name and website all over the internet to make sure it'll be very tough for her to get another job again.

That Judge Joe clip is eerily similar to our story. You don't want to see photos of the ceremony...oh wait, neither can we because the shadows are so bad we can't see our faces in 80% of them (and I'm not exaggerating).

Senna, thanks for your opinion. We feel the exact same way. Through this whole process, from it taking close to 2 months to see a single image from the wedding, hard copy or digital, to now when we are still missing some images (like photos with my wife's grandfather) 6+ months later, we have been more than patient and giving her every benefit of the doubt. Hopefully we get what we want, and feel we rightfully deserve. If not, like I said above, our story will be on every photography/wedding forum from here to Timbuctoo!

Wow, judge handed it to the defendants. :thumbsup:

i always wondered y it's so hard for some photographers to show you some examples of what they took before post-processing. if anything, some photographers engage their clients and show them right after - it's one of the advantages of going digital. sorry to hear about this ordeal.

it would be nice though to see her portfolio. if they suck too, or are just "ok", maybe someone else has to take some heat too. but, we can't really tell.

Funny how people keep saying on camera flash when they mean built-in flash. When u mount a 580 on your horseshoe is still a "on camera flash" and when u mount ur flash away from ur camera then it is external flash. get it clear people......

It's official, we just received an email from her saying she isn't refunding us any money, because she feels "...like I have done my part...".

Unfortunately, I'm leaving to Cuba for a week in a couple of hours, but when I get back I'll be creating a website telling the whole story. If she loses even one job, she should have just given us the money we were requesting because it would have been cheaper.

Post her contact!

wow...this chick should take a business 101 class. Oh yeah, photography as well

One last post before we leave. Here's her website. Her portfolio isn't amazing, but good enough (or so we thought) based on our budget.

www.eternityphotography.ca

Want to see us walking down the aisle after our ceremony? So would we.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/7646/blackholeu.jpg

Dude the photos on her website are BRUTAL!

Wow, I could take better pictures with a point and shoot. Absolute garbage.

OP, how did you find this fool?

as terrible as the OP's pics are, i'm not feeling as bad as i was before i saw the photographers site.

obviously the bride and groom's faces should be visible..(duh), but did i ever see a lot of bad shots on her site. even the best ones were just "ok". i stand by my #16 post.. ^^^^

Wow.. The stuff on her site is terrible. I kind of agree with N.V.M. though. But there's no excuse with providing those pics that the OP posted.