Poor Onboard Photography Quality

[taffy12]

Has anyone else noticed the quality of onboard photography going downhill recently? On our first handful of cruises, the pictures were always fantastic, but the photographers lately seem too rushed to take the time for nice photos. We're just off Dream and were shocked by the poor quality of so many of the pictures, both ours and otherwise. Gangway pictures in the ports were frequently over- and underexposed, candids were off-center, and even our nice backdrop photos on formal nights were poor. We had one set of pictures that was too softly-focused, with poor lighting and exposure, and took another set in front of one of the backdrops that would have been beautiful...had the composition been decent. We used one of those backdrops with a picture of the ship in the background, near the top of the screen. The ship was cut off, partially out of the frame, whereas far too much of the floor was shown. All the photographer had to do was angle the camera up a bit more to center us in the picture and show the full backdrop, but she didn't take the time or attention to do that.

[Snorkel2Much]

Yes

[vols159]

one of my rules of cruising is I dont buy ships pictures.. we take our own.. They charge way to dang much for a simple photo.. they could bring down the price and sell 10x as many

[Ksea1961]

I was less than thrilled with most of our pictures, but I managed to buy about 6 of them. I won't do that again unless I love the picture.

[bunchesofun]

Didn't buy many of the photos, but what we did buy were fine.

[CruzCrazy]

We bought several very good photos on the Miracle this past March, but I did notice that there were several pics with poor lighting/composition that we disposed of. We pose for pictures almost every evening, so there are always plenty to choose from, but almost every cruise prior to this one we had a really tough time deciding what to throw away because they were all so good. They made it easier this time to throw some away. We never do portraits any other time, so we (well, I, LOL) enjoy having them made on the cruise. I also noticed that they seemed to rush a bit and didn't spend as much time with special poses as they have before--just the standard point your toe, bend your knee, hold hands, look this way, snap. We did find one photographer who was still doing good work, so we bought most of his. I guess they figure the more they take, the more they'll sell, but I don't think it helps to take tons of questionable-quality photos. I think the times they have the photo stations open is not good--we would go down before dinner to have pictures taken, and the stations would be closed--probably because we were doing Your Time Dining and would typically be there during off times, but if they expanded the time frame, maybe they wouldn't have to rush so much.

[Havingfun2010]

Never buy them and if possible, never let them take a picture. Also, I never look at the ones on display. Rather use my camara and take the pictures myself.

[Texarribean Chick]

Yes. When we first began cruising we bought a lot of photos and in recent years we don't buy anything (with the exception of the embarkation photo with ship, date, etc. on it). At first I thought it was because we had so many photos; but in recent years the photographers are way too rushed. They do not even take the time to fix your collar, or let you know that you have a wild hair sticking up. And to top it off, there have been several photos of us that were off center or out of focus. It's really a shame because I would buy the photos (and spend a lot of mula) whether we needed another or not. I also remember a time when we would do more of a "fun" silly type of pose and now-a-days - the photographers won't even hear of it. No time.

[JDsafeman]

Just got back from Alaska on the Spirit. Ended up only buying one photo.

The rest were just not very good and a couple were very bad.

I am glad that I am not the only one to notice this.

[cruise_girl2002]

nope. the one i bought on my last cruise was great.

[Rosefloater]

Has anyone else noticed the quality of onboard photography going downhill recently?

 

It isn't just recent. A few years ago, we had a group picture taken on Formal Night. The photographer took 2 pictures and both were blurry. :mad:

[Tutankhamen]

, candids were off-center,

 

I am guessing the photographer understood the basics, but was unsuccessful in the execution of a good photo.

 

A great tip for the beginner photographer is to not center candid shots. Break the shot into 3rds and place the subject in one of the 3rds. Hard to explain, but it works. Just a tip for all those that are not photographers but enjoy taking pictures.

 

"New photographers are taught the 'rule of thirds' as one of the first guidelines toward making exciting pictures. This is a technique in which a hypothetical grid (similar to a noughts and crosses board) is utilized to frame subjects. The grid separates an image into nine equal portions with four junction points and four lines. These points of intersection - and the lines which create them - serve as focus points. They accommodate a viewer's natural tendency to focus on them. In doing so, the rule of thirds helps you to make pictures that are concurrently balanced and engaging."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3519326

[girlscruise2011]

I bought the formal night picture of me & my husband from my Destiny cruise only because I had a picture coupon and it only cost me $6. We don't have many pictures of us together. My husbands face and the sunset background are almost the same color :)

 

Other then that, it wasn't a bad picture.

[treasure4two]

Never buy them and if possible, never let them take a picture. Also, I never look at the ones on display. Rather use my camara and take the pictures myself.

 

We are professional photograhers but never mention it when on ships, just politely as possible(after a while we stop being polite as they get so pushy)tell them 'no pictures please'. There are people that still love buying pictures and pay the price, so I do not see them changing prices or how they work. We agree with the first poster on this thread.

What I do not like is that, especially on formal nights, they take over certain locations like beautiful stairways into the lobby and do not let guests take their own personal pictures plus when they interupt you dinner to take pictures, many people are afraid to say 'no pictures'

but really do not want them.

[golfadj]

They have become very pushy. Hate that they stop everyone getting off the ship to take pictures.

[Out to sea!]

They have become very pushy. Hate that they stop everyone getting off the ship to take pictures.

 

We just walk around them and say no thanks. No point wasting their time or mine with something DW and I won't even think about buying anyway.

[golfadj]

We just walk around them and say no thanks. No point wasting their time or mine with something DW and I won't even think about buying anyway.

 

So do we but when they stop people on the gangway going off the ship the whole line comes to a stop.

[MomofBoyz]

We always buy two photos - embarkation and formal night. This last cruise we talked about this concern exactly - the prints were "hazy"...kind of had that vaseline lens look but not in a good way. Also, the composition has been bad with way too close or the photographer having one person lean in and down, etc. Yes, I agree with the OP.

 

I'm the wierd person who actually likes all the photo ops so that we can get a good shot or two by a professional but the last 3 sets have gotten worse each time. We also buy copies so we usually spend around $100 each cruise on photos.

 

My husband said on this last cruise that we might not do that anymore and just get candids to enlarge at home. In the past, we didn't do that because they weren't as good but I'm thinking that will no longer be the case.

 

Glad to hear it's not just us!

[RWolver672]

I think it would help grately if they'd use a tripod. That way they would always be in the same spot and not have too much floor or not have the subjects centered in the photo. It would also make the lighting more consistant because the camera would always be the same distance from the lighting and the subjects.

[ccruisequeen]

All my photos show me as too fat or too old:eek:

 

The MDR pics show every line and wrinkle and are way too close!

[Mumsykat]

We had a perfectly charming young man do our formal portraits and they came out beautifully. He took his time, took several different poses, even made sure our glasses were adjusted so that they didn't reflect. We liked them so much we got smaller sizes to give to our kids for Christmas.

[nbsjcruiser]

I'm no professional photographer but I typically take around 500 pictures on a 7 day cruise and based on the pics I've seen in the gallery, I could do a better job than most of the hacks they have on board. Its all about mass production and sell, sell, sell.

 

We don't even let them take our pictures. I find it cheesy and disruptive when I'm trying to eat to be disturbed by these idiots. One of these days I'm going to give the waiter $20 with a request to keep them away from me when I'm eating.

[uvakat]

We bought 3 on our October cruise cause the photographers did a great job with the dining room pics and one speciality pic. We actually had to go through the pictures to slim down the selection. They were a bunch of decent ones. This last cruise in May had horrible pictures. We only had one decent picture that wasn't badly framed, poor lighting, etc and it wasn't even good enough to buy.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

We had our picture taken on elegant night but the guy was such an ameuter the pictures taken on our camera came out much better. No problem, we just didn't buy any. I suspect most of the pictures are purchased by infrequent or first time cruisers.

[Peddler&Tass]

Picture quality has declined in the past 2 or three years.