I’ve just read an article on Digital Camera World about a couple in the states who complained about “irreversible distortion” in a family and engagement shoot. It reminded me of a time some years ago now when a similar thing happened to me.
The article can be read here. The gist of the customer’s complaint was that they didn’t like what they called “irreversible distortion” in the background and foreground of the images supplied by the photography company. What they were complaining about was actually the blurred backgrounds caused by a choice by the photographer to shoot with a shallow depth of field. They had contacted the photographer asking if the “distortion” could be reduced, but of course the photographer replied saying it was caused by the lens and therefore it couldn’t. The crux of the issue is that the couple wanted to be able to see more of the attractive surroundings in their images. The complaint also talks about the time it took for the photographers to reply. To be fair, an argument could be made in favour of the couple. It’s not entirely unfair to want photos without an out-of-focus background, and indeed if the photographers were taking a long time to reply then that probably would be frustrating, especially days before a wedding.
But, in reality, the images the photographers took are actually really nice photos, and supposedly most of the images in their portfolio also have out-of-focus backgrounds. If the couple had booked them based on their portfolio, which one would assume they did, then they should have known what to expect.