What a lot of people don’t realize is that pressing the shutter is only the first step in the process that makes the image. Many photographers have developed a signature style that incorporates not just the subjects and the moment they captured but also the “way” they process their images in Photoshop: the color pallets they prefer, the effects they employ, the textures they apply to the background, etc.. Indeed, the reality and the final image are often quite far apart. On the other side of the spectrum, even those photographers who get paid hefty sums for their “candid and stirring photojournalistic style” often labor over the post-processing of an image. The difference between the former and the latter is simply a matter of style and sometimes degree.
People sometimes seem to think that we press the shutter and out comes a piece of art. This thought process usually precedes some question about how we can justify charging $xxx for a 4×6 photo or why albums cost so much. Setting aside the artistic element (which in the end is reason enough to charge whatever your work as an artist is valued at), the simple fact of the matter is that the amount of work involved in producing a 4×6 is the same as a 30×40 canvas gallery wrap.
Here’s an example to show you what I’m talking about. This first image is basically straight out of the camera. Natalie and Ben specifically requested this picture and I obliged. As I was getting ready to take this shot I’m thinking no less than 5 things to myself: I want the big branch at the top of the frame so you feel like the couple is wrapped in the environment; I want you to see the church towering upward; I need to underexpose (darken) the shot so I preserve the details of her dress and the trees against the very bright sky; all that splotchy sunlight on the ground is NOT going to make this easy; and last, that I’m going to have to Photoshop-out the wires later. You hire me to shoot your wedding precisely because I’m thinking those 5 things (or any one of a hundred other things) when I pull the camera to my eye.
Here’s the shot. Not that great, huh? I wouldn’t even deliver that as a proof to a client.
But we’re not done. First, the image passes through Lightroom to give me the basic color, exposure and dynamic range I want. That gives me an image that I deliver to the client as a proof if you get the hi-res images on DVD with your package. But when you buy an image from us online or if this image when into your album it gets all the TLC it needs before it goes out the door.
This is what happens in Photoshop to make the image below: it gets recropped to remove the tilt, an edge vignette is added to draw the eye in, there’s a little “midnight sepia” in the foliage, a little cross-process to Natalie and Ben to make them pop, and finally, the electrical wires were removed as well as the stop sign and street signs in the bottom-left of the frame.
Which would you rather put in your album?
Ben
