Will my wedding photographs come edited? If so, how much editing will you be doing?
When I deliver the final set of wedding photographs to a client, they have been through my editing workflow and are considered “edited” and “high-resolution.” There are many different editing styles, and you can tell just by looking at a photographers portfolio work. Some are light and airy, others are dark and moody, some seem to have a golden or faded look to their work, and many look crisp, clear and totally natural. The crisp, clear and totally natural is what I strive for!
High-resolution means that the printing quality of your pictures is very high. This is important in case you want to print them larger than 8×10″ or when printing a canvas.
My North Island College teacher Boomer Jerritt drilled into me that I can reduce most of the editing at the time of capture, in camera. This means that before I click my shutter button to take the photograph, I have the composition exactly as I want it, the focus is spot-on, and the exposure is great too. In other words, the photo is pretty much bang on and ready to deliver! The less time I spend on my computer, the better! I do put my photographs through Photoshop however, and may do a few minor tweaks to them to enhance the qualities they already have. Things such as clarity, contrast, exposure and most importantly black and white filters are the things I do. I am a total sucker for black and white pictures, especially when it comes to wedding photography. I find it simplifies the image and magnifies the focus on the emotion of the subject, I usually deliver a good 20% of my images in black and white, often including the color copy too. ;)
So yes, my images are edited, but I just enhance what’s already there rather than put in any additional lighting or other elements. 