From the photographer’s point of view, we’ve all had that client from hell that demands endless changes and revisions. But we’ve also had times where we’ve just had an off day, or we’ve mis-read what the client asked for, or the printers made an error. It happens.
I usually have a ‘3 edits’ clause in a contract. If you’re not happy with the images and want changes made, I’ll do that for you, twice. After that, there is an additional cost for further edits.
I have that in my contract because the photographer I was assisting for when I started had the same clause in her contracts, and she was way better at the business side than I.
I’ve noticed something similar, but from a different angle.
I’ve been sorting though and tagging 15 years worth of photography ever since getting my NAS, and I’m noticing so many instances when I first started where I was so excited that I got something tricky in-focus, I didn’t notice the composition was awful, the lighting was bland, the image told no stories, etc. I was just happy to have a picture of a thing.
I also had cheaper gear, but I wanted sharper, clearer pictures so I over-sharpened the crap out of everything and abused that clarity slider.
At the time, I honestly didn’t see it and thought I was doing good work, but now it’s all I can notice when I see those old images.