Brooke Bakken Photography

ly "soft" aesthetic is a heavily automated AI software pipeline that aggressively compresses images and permanently strips out fine pixel data. After our family photo session, Brooke delivered "final" files ranging from 800KB to 3.9MB. I initially gave her the benefit of the doubt, assuming these were just low-resolution proofs for web viewing. They were not. These files lacked the pixel detail necessary for large-scale printing and fell drastically below standard professional print resolutions. It is alarming to think of her wedding clients who are receiving these heavily compressed proxy files without realizing that enlarging them for wall display relies entirely on aggressive digital interpolation, inherently producing artifact-heavy prints. When I raised the issue, she repeatedly fell back on the same defense: she has been doing this for 15 years and her other clients have never complained. However, a lack of technical pushback from non-technical clients viewing galleries on smartphone screens and laptops does not validate file quality. What is deeply concerning is that she appears entirely uninformed about the technical reality of her own deliverables. Based on the files I reviewed, I have serious concerns that the underlying photography itself (such as missed focus and improper exposure) is fundamentally flawed, and that aggressive AI manipulation and extreme compression are being used to mask these basic technical errors. The objective digital information was simply missing and does not meet the standard of even amateur photography. Being this uneducated about file size, resolution, and data loss is egregious for a photographer claiming "15 years of experience." Instead of a prompt resolution, I spent over a month acting as her unpaid technical support—diagnosing her Lightroom plugin bottleneck, explaining "Smart Previews," and providing technical troubleshooting steps to help her fix her own workflow. Mind you, I remained patient, understanding, and kind the entire time. When she was ultimately unable to resolve her software issues, she simply stopped communicating and ghosted me for over a week. It was only after I issued a formal Notice of Breach of Contract, complete with a partial refund demand, that she finally abandoned her AI plugin and manually exported the photos natively. Unsurprisingly, the file sizes instantly increased tenfold (jumping to over 10MB) and the professional print resolution was restored. The final photos are decent, but only because I forced her to bypass her automated AI-editing pipeline and provide the actual data captured by her camera. You should not have to threaten a refund, diagnose a photographer's software issues, and fight through over 5 weeks of defensive excuses just to receive the high-resolution product you paid for. Proceed with extreme caution.