Shutters - blurry photos, over exposed photos, crooked photos, cut off photos

[anricat]

The first two cruises we took we were very happy with our Shutters experience (with the exception of some really annoying borders) and so I bought the full CD this time around (again) and I'm really disappointed. Many of the photos are crooked, a bunch of the character photos are blurry, and some of the photos are cut off in weird ways. The borders don't help and, in a lot of cases, I could fix the crookedness in the digital print if it weren't for the backgrounds.

I know others hasn't been happy, who do you contact, Disney or My Cruise Photos? I really feel like I didn't get my money's worth for the mess I got this time and I really didn't check them carefully on board or I probably would have down graded. I mean, I basically have a prosumer camera and many of my photos are better than theirs. For example, look at my photo of Mickey at embarkation vs. theirs. "Disney Cruise Line" is cut off and looks weird. Mickey's face isn't as weird and white looking in this one as some others (our photos of him in his Alaska outfit are awful, which is really sad because I didn't use my own camera for that one and I should have).

 

[cheermom2four]

I'll need to make a note to really check mine before the last full day of cruise as I pre-purchased the all digital photos too and I'm bringing my dslr and was hoping I could rely on Shutters most of the time but may rethink that. Especially for the cost, you'd think they would look professional.

 

[YayDisney]

Same thing just happened to me. Major shadows and many shots with eyes closed - I am pretty disappointed

 

[phinz]

hoping I could rely on Shutters most of the time.

This is the worst thing you could do. There are so many nightmare stories about Shutters that I wouldn't rely on them to get a decent shot (or the shot at all) even if they had three hours to set it up.

 

[belac]

First let me say I hate Shutters, here is my simple amateur take on the photos.
The 2 photos above tells me Shutters (top) used flash lighting and has a enhanced whitening than yours, they adjusted their white balance for that particular setting. Your white isn't really white therefore the rest of the colors a muted. Shutters looks sharper. But that's about all I will give them.

If they are able to adjust the camera settings, that now most will need a computer degree for, they should reasonably see that bright lights in front will cause horrible shadows - Lighting 101
They don't care about composition, take the pic as fast as then can and move on. Don't get me started with the boarders..... They have to stop that nonsense. I don't like boarders, they are silly and yes they do cut a lot away from the scene.

We don't bother with them anymore. I take my little camera and armature self and take photos. I would rather put that $ into a Massage.

We did Shutters once and done. Besides with your own, someone will always lend a hand to get a group shot and if your camera shoots quickly you can get several shots at the same time, in case anyone blinks.

 

[anricat]

First let me say I hate Shutters, here is my simple amateur take on the photos.
The 2 photos above tells me Shutters (top) used flash lighting and has a enhanced whitening than yours, they adjusted their white balance for that particular setting. Your white isn't really white therefore the rest of the colors a muted. Shutters looks sharper. But that's about all I will give them.

Mine is pretty much straight off the camera. I don't actually know a lot about what I'm doing. I don't know why I assume that they should!

They were using a flash everywhere, even out on deck on Endicott Arm day and it was a mess. All the photos look horrible. I gave my camera to a random stranger and got a better shot of us at the glacier than the one they took.

Mine may not look quite as sharp, but the colors are better. We look way weird with that flash. There was plenty of light out there. I don't know why a flash was needed.

And the character photos aren't sharp. In fact, I don't have a decent shot of my daughter with Ariel. Literally all three they took are completely blurry.

 

[belac]

I believe I read somewhere they are Professional Photographers but who knows. The Flash also washes away subtle shading, making things look flat. That may be why it looks so weird, flat looking faces. They need to stop doing that, especially when there is plenty of light. I don't wast my $ with them anymore.

 

[phinz]

They were trying to use fill flash, which lights the foreground while still picking up the background. Used incorrectly, fill flash can be horrible. Used correctly it fixes a lot of issues with dark foreground. They should be using a diffuser like a Fong on their hot shoe flash at least. That makes the light much less harsh. Any camera operator hired to do a pro job should know how to dial in flash compensation, how to use fill flash, when to use fill flash and should have the equipment necessary to keep it from looking like garbage.

 

[phinz]

I believe I read somewhere they are Professional Photographers but who knows..

They're pro photographers in that they're hired to take pictures for a living. That doesn't mean they're pro in the sense of having any idea what they are doing. I would imagine they get a crash course in using whatever equipment they are given and then they are pressed to crank out as many pictures as they can in a short amount of time so as to maximize profits.

 

[MomoMama]

Contact My Cruise Photos, open issue ticket online. They can remove the border, but I am not sure if they would refund for the bad photos. I hope I will never have to deal with them again...their email responses are slow and kind of rude.

 

[Jessirip]

Ooh, I'm glad I read this thread. I pre purchased the all digital package for our October cruise thinking I could not worry too much about my own camera, but now know better. Definitely plan to double check everything the last night and if they are bad cancel or only get a few. Just double checked to be sure I could do that. I'm so sorry you didn't get the magical photos you were hoping for, thank you for sharing this knowledge!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm just going to toss in - while we've only once purchased a package, I've been completely happy with photos we have bought from Shutters. Of course, we don't buy ALL the photos any longer, only the few that we feel are "good".

 

[belac]

Thanks for the videos Phinz

 

[anricat]

I'm just going to toss in - while we've only once purchased a package, I've been completely happy with photos we have bought from Shutters. Of course, we don't buy ALL the photos any longer, only the few that we feel are "good".

Normally, whenever people here ask, I always talk up the photos on board. Our first two cruises our photos were fantastic. So much so that I didn't take nearly as many duplicates as I normally do. The photo with Mickey in his Alaska gear is particularly bad and I didn't take my own photo for that one. It's really disappointing.

 

[phinz]

Thanks for the videos Phinz

Not a problem. You are quite welcome. I have a Fong and love it. I use it at conventions when I'm using flash and it makes a big difference because there oftentimes is not a ceiling low enough to bounce light. I try to be conscious of shadows and lighting, trying to reduce the amount of flash I have to use at any given time. I much prefer natural lighting, to be honest, but sometimes you don't have a choice.

I honestly don't believe most of the Shutters employees are taught how to use their cameras to their full potential when it comes down to it. I think they are under pressure to do so much in so little time. If they can point a camera and push a button then they're hired.

 

[RACHEL_GB]

That photo they took is appalling! I would definitely raise it with them if this isn't the only one.

I pre-bought 10 for my first cruise - I really like about 9 so it was worth it for me, but I definitely wouldn't have felt the value of purchasing the full lot and won't be pre-buying next year