Photographer's Pet Peeves "UNCENSORED"

I’m a Photography Business Coach, and I recently surveyed 600 professional photographers to ask what their biggest pet peeves are and I found lots of overlap / similarities! 

READ WITH CAUTION- THIS IS 100% UNCENSORED AND NOT TARGETED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR! 

The idea is to educate you about what you don’t realize is causing major headaches or additional stress to your hard working Photographer!!

Here are 8 things that really irritate Photographers, so keep this in mind when you hire one! 

1. When clients arrive LATE to a session and don’t think anything of it. We respect your time, so we ask that you would respect our time. There is nothing more frustrating then when you have carefully planned out your schedule, and everything gets thrown off because a client arrives late to their session, and this can cause for us to look unprofessional when arriving to another session late (if we have booked one afterwards)
2. “Just send me the RAWS” Butttttt WHY do Photographers hate when being asked for RAW / unedited files?! Simply because it does NOT represent our work / style! Shooting the image is a tiny part of the process. We want to give our clients a finished cake, not a crumb with no icing!
3. When Instagram filters are placed over top of our edited photos! This one is brutal!!! I seriously cringe every time I see a photo that I can tell has been professionally edited, but there is an Instagram filter placed over top of it. For my clients, I put in my contract that they are not to put any sort of filters, or cropping or further editing on my photos. I think every photographer should have this as part of their contract / clause! 
4. Clients who try to run the show and tell you how to do your job! TRUST YO PHOTOGRAPHER!!! It is very demeaning when we are being told how to do our job, which lighting to use, which poses we need to do. If you have something specific in mind- please tell your photographer BEFORE the shoot! You should be hiring a photographer because you love their work, so if you truly love their work….LET THEM DO THEIR THANGGGG! 
5. Family + Friends who invite you to a party…..and then add on “Bring your camera.” There’s a part of me that sinks every time this happens, and I know I’m not alone because I had so many Photographers answer this when being surveyed about pet peeves in our photography industry! Invite us to a party / get together because you want us there OR ask to hire us for event coverage. Don’t take advantage of us because of our career! It’s like going to a restaurant and expecting a free meal because you know the person who works there.
6. Having your prices bartered with. There is nothing more insulting then when someone claims to value your work and say you do such an amazing job. Then the next sentence that comes out of their mouth is “So would you take $400?” Well actually no, I know my value and I know how much time, money and effort I put into this. I know that some Photographers will wiggle their price around for you, but to be honest- the majority of us find it insulting and feel devalued. 
7. CELL PHONES AT CEREMONIES! I can’t stress this enough! I had soooo many replies saying how much people hate cell phones at ceremonies! This looks so bad when taking ceremony photos and there is cell phone everywhere, not to mention when the Bride is walking down the aisle and there is a huge phone in my shot….I am not kidding when i say this has happened to me personally countless amounts of time. Speaking on behalf of all Wedding Photographers- this is a HUGE stresser! 
8. “Can we have our gallery tomorrow!” Editing is so time consuming, and I hate to say it but we have many other clients to juggle! So the expectation of getting an entire gallery the day after is just not realistic, and not fair to your artist that you’ve hired! Check with your photographer before you hire them and ask what their turnaround time is like! Most Photographers have it in their contract or mention it during your booking process!