Editing photos is just as important as actually taking them, and some may say it’s even more so with cameras taking higher and higher resolution photos. As a Kent Wedding Photographer that approaches weddings from the “fly on the wall” documentary style, I try to keep my photos looking as natural as possible.
First of all, I do not use Photoshop unless I really have to, which is very rare. It only happened twice last year in 2018. I use software that is very similar called Lightroom – it’s actually Photoshop’s sister and works alongside so I can easily switch between the two.
Lightroom has all the function that most wedding photographers’ need plus the fact it has an incredible cataloguing system. From here I do all of my editing and to show you how much I play around with the photos I take, below are some before and after photos which are all from the same wedding.
So what do I actually do to them you may be asking? Well, 99% of the time all I do is a bit of cropping, bring out the shadows, turn down the highlights slightly, add some contrast, and if pointing towards the sun I just take the haze out of the photo so you don’t get that white wash over the top.
As you can see, the images aren’t drastically changed but enhanced. I don’t over saturate photos or create black and white images with a colour pop, that’s just not my style. After all, your wedding photos are your memories and I’m pretty sure your eyesight doesn’t include heavily saturated colours!
Now, to answer the title to this blog post. Yes I can remove your spot, but not in Photoshop. Lightroom was built with photographers in mind (which is rather useful and obvious) so has all of these functions at a click of a button. Have a look at this rather dashing gentleman below whose toddler scratched him whilst playing – and just to let you know, it really hurt! It’s not the best photo I know but it was taken with my front facing iPhone camera.
And now look at the same photo just with the spot removal tool at work.
And voila! It’s gone and it’s very quick.
Now going back to the natural look. Getting rid of a spot isn’t natural, I know that but I haven’t covered any wedding so far (bearing in mind couples book me as a natural documentary style wedding photographer) and someone has asked to keep a spot in. By all means, I am happy to remove it or leave it, it takes a matter of seconds and you will probably forget that it was even there when you receive your wedding photos from me.
Hopefully by now you can see that I do not “play around” with the photos I take too much and I really aim for that natural look when taking them and also whilst editing them.
If you want to see personally how much I edit photos, come along for a ‘Try Before You Buy’ pre-wedding photo session and I will edit photos of you both! Get in contact if you are interested or would like any more information.
Christopher Bell Photography is a wedding photographer based in Kent - serving Kent and surrounding Canterbury and Ashford. Find out more about his wedding photography packages and pricing. Kent Wedding Photography Awards Finalist 2019.
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