A Friend Demanded Rush Edits for Free Prom Photos—So the Photographer Left a Hidden Revenge Surprise in Every Frame
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If someone is doing a service for you for free, you can’t really dictate the timeline for when it is done.
What would you do if your friend asked you to take prom pictures of her and her friend, and even though you said that they wouldn’t be ready to distribute for a few weeks, she started demanding that they be completely edited overnight?
That is what happened to the photographer in this story, so she stayed up all night editing the pictures, but she edited a surprise into each one. When her friend noticed, she was livid.
Personally, I think she should have refused to edit them at all, but this was also a good option. Read through the full story to see if you agree.
Got used for free photography, made sure a special friend was included.
I’m not a professional photographer, but I do have decent equipment and portfolio so a lot of friends will hit me up for discounted photo shoots.
It is not right to expect people to work for free.
Most of them pay or at least buy me dinner, but others expect me to do it for free.
I’m close with my ex-boyfriend’s family, so I was thrilled when his younger sister asked me to come to her prom pictures earlier this month, until she told me to bring the camera.
At least she is setting expectations.
I did mention to her that I’m doing online school and I have an exam due that week so the pictures might not be ready for another week. She was fine with that.
Within two hours of taking pictures of half a dozen high-school students, I ended up with 300+ shots because everyone wanted the perfect Instagram shot.
No way; she should tell them that is not happening.
Whatever, I can go home, study, and slowly work on sorting through the pictures later. They’re not paying me so I wasn’t exactly motivated either.
I get a text from her and her mom that night at around 11pm, they want the pictures edited AND uploaded by the next morning so they could be shown off on social media.
This is too funny.
I tried to explain that I’m studying but they weren’t having it, they said, “We don’t care how you edit it, just make it look nice.”
Fine. I spent the next 3+ hours working on the pictures and editing them really nicely that even I was proud of… Then I hid Shrek into the background of every single picture.
You get what you pay for.
Shrek with his head poking out between the kids, Shrek posing happily, Shrek had a very nice time at prom evidently.
I uploaded the pics and sent them off, no one noticed the extra guest for weeks and I got my ear chewed out because my ex’s sister didn’t appreciate her 900 followers on Instagram seeing Shrek grinning between her and her boyfriend.
She edited the pictures exactly how she wanted.
They asked me to edit however I wanted, so I delivered.
Shrek was one of my best clients I’ve ever had.
At least she can be confident that they won’t be asking her to take photos for them again anytime soon.
Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this funny story.
Honestly, this is a great solution.
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Clients who don’t pay are the most entitled.
This commenter wants Shrek in her photos.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who can’t figure out why her babysitter quit after what she thought was a routine question.
Here is a great idea.
This commenter has a great suggestion on how to handle it.
If you are getting something for free, you can’t complain about the results. Hopefully, her friend learned her lesson.
It is kind of nice that the friend wasn’t someone close, though.
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