I recently photographed a wedding at the beach where there were a lot of people in the background enjoying the beach. The bride's mother sent me this message.

"I know I probably don't have to mention to you to try to edit out the beach people not invited to the wedding in the background as much as possible."

Here is an edited image that I did and I am no PS guru, so it took about 5 or 10 minutes. I cannot spend a day or two just editing out people on the beach. Where do I draw the line?

Thanks for the advice.

Ron

this is part of the beach, imho - and if it was unavoidable, well, then they are in the proofs.

once the image is ordered, i'd take the time to remove the people - if it's wanted.

sometimes creative cropping can eliminate the 'stray people'. if they want all of them removed, regular PS fees apply. if you are not a guru, send it out.
sounds like a conversation is in order to come to a reasonable compromise and insure a happy client.

For this kind of thing I would tell them that you would be more than happy to edit out people in the photos that they would like in their album, but besides that... I wouldn't spend the time doing it unless they were going to pay you xx.xx per image to edit it.

Your a photographer... not God... If they didn't want people in the background they should have had the wedding on a beach with less people... But that's just me.

Ditto what Kadie said. I spent a ton of time editing out background people in the past and its just not worth it unless they choose some hige album ahead of time, LOL. I cannot believe though that those people would willingly sit there in the bg with a Wedding happening. MAN!

I will say you did a good job on your proof you showed- but yea thats a lot of work

i guess it's a little late to warn of the importance of backgrounds.


hey there is a little dude in the water, also. i just looked at your PS photo. it looks good, but what a lot of work.
crop tight.

I would say exactly as the ohers said... ordere images and images in the album get the extra ps work. Unordere proof do not. Or, if they do, charge a per image or per hour fee.

WHAT I WISH I COULD SAY IN CASES LIKE THIS:
Dear MOB,
I know I probably don't need to point this out since it's in my contract, but I figured I'd remind you that my retouching fee is $200 per hour. But because I'm such a nice guy, I'd be more than happy to do some creative cropping and/or minor retouching to remove the most obvious background people in any images chosen for the album.

When your other daughter gets married, consult with me on ideal locations before making your final decision.


WHAT I WOULD ACTUALLY SAY:
Dear MOB,
I'd be more than happy to do some creative cropping and/or minor retouching to remove the most obvious background people in any images chosen for the album.

Ron, I wouldn't go back and remove people in the background at no extra cost. The people were there. They had the wedding on a public beach. If they insist on them being removed, I would do it for a fee. Either per image or based on time. If you wanted only to remove the people in prints they order, that might work too. But I would still charge for it.

BTW, we need to do lunch again soon!

We shoot a lot of beach weddings, and I have a clause in my contract that basically says...if they are married on a public beach, then the photos might have people in them.

Wedding pictures with PEOPLE in them? How dare you!

Jeeeeeez! People don't know how to move! How rude. Yeah, I wouldn't edit them out for proofs but for albums or prints, sure.

Thanks all.

I told her that I did some edits on a few that I considered to be main images, and would do more on prints ordered and album images.

Thanks again ; )