Wedding Photo Editing Tips

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Alexander Lozitsky CEO and co-Founder RetouchMe, Ukraine

• Do not overdo
• Process and enjoy
• Stay creative
• Filter everything
• Brightness always matters for brides
• Be nice with couples and use all lens options
• Raw images are full images
• Editing process
• Image editing

Here you go with a full disk of images to choose and process, deciding which are the best for printing and promotion of your service.

Making pictures in color you might expect the same burst of colors in a final result. But it does not always happen, due to some details. Modern cameras work mixing green, blue and red elements together to reflect the original image. The lens plays an important role in this process, because it may be set too heavy toward one of the colors, which may change the whole perception of the camera. Such conditions will definitely impact the photo and you can easily get trapped not remembering colors of the event. Though many applications can work nice and easy in adjustment of color balance, it is always better to avoid possible headaches and time waste.

Do not overdo

 Every professional has a right to make a mistake, especially if he needs to work for hours. Some poses and ideas can cause some problems with focusing. Going to capture flying bouquets or dancing couples, some pictures might seem blurry or ruined. Someone can consider it a good reason to delete the file. But there is a chance that contrast features can significantly improve the general look. Attention! Do not oversharpen faces and figures, not to create cartoons and unnatural people.

Practise with various effects to choose the best option

Process and enjoy

Photo editing process is not that simple if you are not a pro. Without specific skills and knowledge of general rules and tricks you might finish depressed and disappointed. Every hardworking modern photographer knows that photo processing is 50% of success. A few decades ago, in the era of film pictures, a successful frame required considerable preliminary preparation. Nowadays digital world and specialized programs and applications can ease your life, but still there is much to do with every image.

Concentrate on a plot, but keep in mind light and weather conditions

Stay creative

Creating a plot, adjusting automatic exposure settings (aperture and shutter speed), checking level of horizon – all this was difficult to fix before printing about 20 years ago. Despite the fact that basic rules have not changed and plot, correct lighting and color settings are still very important, graphic editors provide many tools for correcting and retouching the result. So, it is a great occasion to pay more attention to natural looks and creativity of poses.

Filter images to choose only the most popping pictures

Filter everything

It is important to consider filtering all ‘garbage’. The ratio of total number of pictures and final ones is on average 7:1. If you want to get 500 high-quality images, you should make not less than 3500 pictures. It is normal that someone may blink, get a strange facial expression, or you will surprisingly discover superfluous elements in the background.

Brightness always matters for brides

Camera setting in wedding photography.You will never believe that such a simple item of the moment as white dress may not be that white on a photo, because of the automatic settings of each camera. If you want it to be white, not gray, then you will have to get more acquainted with positive exposure compensation. Because seeing white area of a dress, your device decides that this part of the image is simply too bright, not white. As a result, the photo will be darker to compensate for this bright point.

Be nice with couples and use all lens options

Change lenses depending on the mood of the bride and groom.If you notice that the bride and groom are not relaxed enough and interact poorly in front of the camera, the best thing you can do is to change the lens to a longer one (for example, 200mm) and move away from the couple. This will give an opportunity to relax a little bit, their interaction will become natural, and you will get good pictures. Later, when everyone will get used to the presence of a camera, get closer and change the lens. This trick will probably save your time trying to hide nervous looks and monumental poses, while editing.

Give a chance to raw files and get the best of it

Raw images are full images

Professional technology captures the moment not in a well-known JPG format, but in absolute values ​​of brightness and color tone of each pixel. That is why your picture on monitor will depend on settings of a chosen processing program or application. Raw files usually look unattractive. Cloudy day in this version will look gray and sad. Therefore, processing is an important stage and takes a lot of time. Because it includes color and light correction, perspective distortions, framing etc. The latest versions of graphical editors provide both manual and automatic tools ‘to make everything horizontal or vertical’.

Pay attention to each detail

Editing process

Editing means correction of numerous mistakes, removing defects. For example, you get a very good moment, but in the background, you did not notice an unattractive element of a city's landscape. This is a mistake – and it should be corrected. Sometimes brides are not very satisfied with their makeup or hair. It is obvious that light correction is obvious, but it happens that some additional manipulations are required. There is no doubt that such a significant event can be a good reason to try artistic processing, adding some special effects: black and white tones, frames, tinting, vignette, etc.

Keep calm and go on with your editing skills

Image editing

Retouching a photo, it is especially important to pay attention to small details, working with all elements of a frame. All changes of an image should be based on common sense. For example, retouching a wedding couple, consider anatomical features (removing facial wrinkles can change the meaning, birthmarks are important for additional charm). The main struggle comes with traditional defects (inflammations, trauma consequences, wrinkles and hair problems, skin pigmentation disorders, unhealthy skin tone or its excessive shine). It is important to do your best to maintain a healthy skin texture, avoiding age effects.

Do your best in post-processing and do not forget to use all possible advice, otherwise photo - editing applications are always at your disposal.

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Author

Alexander Lozitsky CEO and co-Founder RetouchMe, Ukraine

Co-founder of RetouchMe. In addition to business, he is passionate about travel photography and videography. His photos can be viewed on Instagram (over 1 million followers), and his films can be found on his YouTube channel.
Moreover, his profile is featured on the most popular and authoritative resource in the film industry — IMDb. He has received 51 international awards and 18 nominations at film festivals worldwide.