Back to School - Proof Edit vs Premium Edit

So whats the difference?? I never usually show my images straight out of the camera. Raw images, as explained in the last BTS episode, are unfinished, undeveloped 'negative' files. But for the sake of education - here we go!

This is an images from one of my very first wedding sessions back in 2006 -



as you can see it looks pretty horrible! The colour is all wrong, its flat and wishywashy (very technical term there) and no one in their right mind would have that on their wall!

But with the wonders of modern science, education, and Adobe Lightroom....we get THIS!



This is what my clients see, what is in their Proof Books and what is on their printable DVD's. It has punchier contrast, correct skintones, dust spots are removed, and looks rather lovely!

This base edit takes approximately 10-30 seconds per image - so for an average wedding of 800 images, so around 4-5 hours per wedding to edit and convert all the Raw files to usable jpgs.

Then we have our Premium Edit.



This is the standard if editing that goes into every print ordered though our studio, all Album prints, and those selected for Platinum DVD's. Its far more time consuming as all areas of the image are photoshopped and can take from 5-30+ mins per image, depending on how much finishing they require. If I did this level of finishing to the entire wedding it would take around 8 days, up to 4 WEEKS of editing time - which is hugely time consuming - and would either make your Wedding Photography exorbitantly expensive, or Id be working for 12c/hr :)

The base edit can also mean converting the image into Black and White. Contrary to popular belief, Black and White conversions are not to hide any imperfections in the original capture :) It is an artistic decision, based purely on what will work best for the image at hand. Sometimes an image will simply work far better in Black and White, as when you remove colour from an image, you get down to the basic shapes and flow of the image - which brings out the raw emotion and feeling behind what is happening, without the distraction of all the colour.

I always have my more photojournalistic images in Black and White for this very reason. The exciting moments just after the ceremony when everyone is congratulating the bride and groom, the frenzied last minute preparations, and those fun times just hanging out with your bridal party. It brings the moment down to the basic principles of emotion.

It can also be super arty :)



So there you go!! the 3 levels of image.