A number of people (including my associate photographers) have inquired recently about how I edit images and what I do to alter images after a wedding. In an ideal world I would do nothing to the images during the "post processing" session; however, we live in a world where weddings happen on the fly. Quantity of light increases, decreases or disappears, we move from outdoor to indoor (or vice-versa) and action is constantly unfolding in an environment that is anything but static. As a result, I like to tweak or make slight adjustments to my images after the big event has ended to compensate for what the camera (or photographer) didn't do perfectly the first time. This is a summary of 10 things or rules that are always bouncing around in my head during the editing process.
Martin’s 10 Rules for Editing Digital Images.
1. Tone of space (a room, for example) should be balanced and neutral, with no overall
bias;
2. Blacks (like tuxes) should be black;
3. Whites (like wedding gowns) should be white;
4. Don’t over-saturate images (my personal pet peeve)! Final edited image should be representative of what the human eye saw when photographing occurred;
5. Flesh tones should be realistic and consistent. If he looks red and she looks pale white, something’s probably wrong;
6. Image should be level or straight. Use reference points within image to determine this;
7. Fix and remove any “red-eye” issues when flash is used;
8. Sharpen all images last, and do it sparingly;
9. Save images based on their intended use; images being posted online can be as small as 500 kb. Images that will be printed should probably be 1-2 mb (minimum);
10. For easy tracking and identification, rename/save images based on the event, like – “Jane & John Wedding 1”.
These ideas may seem a little elementary, but sticking to the basics keeps our editing focused, maintains consistency from image to image and keeps our clients happy.
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