So I am a new photographer and love photographing weddings. I like being in the middle of the moment and documenting events, but processing is my biggest weakness. I read on here many times that consistency of processing is important, but how consistent are we talking about? Lately I tend to process wedding photos with a somewhat desaturated look, similar to just dialing in -10 or -20 vibrance in lightroom. However, for detail shots or shots where color is the main subject, that obviously is not a good idea. When you process your photos, how do you define consistency? Are you going as far as importing every photo with a develop preset and only slightly varying individuals depending on the mood?
Or do you start from scratch with each photo, with some getting the 'treatment', and other types (i.e. detail shots) getting another treatment?
Thanks for the help - this forum has been an inspiration, and I look forward to learning from you!
The reason it's important to be consistent is for couples to know what you're selling and what the'll get. If they see a mish-mash of heavy skin processing, no skin processing, dark B&W, light B&W, saturated and desaturated they won't know what they're buying.
Think of it this way: one of the reasons McDonalds does well is you know what you're buying and it's always the same.
I have a preset that I use as a starting point. I will add more contrast & clarity to detail shots, but I don't do a lot more than that. Obviously each photo is WBed if necessary, and exposure / highlights / shadows are balanced.
However, you can clearly see what I'm selling and it's consistent across my photos.
The one difference I do offer is I also offer a vintage style to people who want it, but I'm very clear when it's used and it's just there for people who want that instead of natural colours. It's got me some wedding bookings too.. but again I'm very clear what someone is buying.
Consistency is important. If you want to do creative edits, then also be consistent with them. For instance your desaturated look, apply it to a bunch of photos you think would look good with it.
I personally process everything to look "normal". Mostly correct exposure, white balance, contrast ect. Those will get their own folder. From there I will select what I think will look good in black or white and they will get a folder of their own. If I decide to go with a VSCO or vintage look, they will also get their own folder.
Thank you phil, that is exactly what I was wondering. I am still searching for my style though, which is creating problems. I want to be consistent, but I don't have a consistent style!
mbpautz762 wrote:
Thank you phil, that is exactly what I was wondering. I am still searching for my style though, which is creating problems. I want to be consistent, but I don't have a consistent style!
I hear you... grappling with the same thing... and just doing whatever everyone else is doing will not differentiate your work. One thing I'd ask you to remember is that style starts with the way you expose and compose. PP must support what you do in camera, not do whatever hits your fancy.
Consistency is another tough one: I used to be a "every image needs its own treatment" kind of photographer. That worked well for fine art photography, where I was selecting at most 2 shots out of 100-500 from a shoot to create a fine print. But this approach causes havoc with wedding photography, where you're expected to produce sets of photos. The best approach I found is to select two PP approaches: one for color, one for B&W. Then stick to those for the entire set. Allow for lighting differences (outdoor sunny vs. indoor ambient incandescent vs. indoor mixed flash) and how their effect on WB requires slightly different treatment. That's the part that is hardest for me now.
mbpautz762 wrote:
nathan - when you do this, do you also provide the original 'normal' photos to the client?
I did this... photos that had a treatment of some kind were included with original color. I thought this was great until the bride emailed asking whether they could see additionsl photos with same treatment... ughhh more work! That taught me to manage expectations upfront (ie. state in contract that delivered images are processed in optimal way according to photographer's vision).
It depends on your style....desaturated isn't my style.....sepia isn't my style.....either color, or black and white, that's my style....accurate skin tones, colors that pop, contrasty, dont mind the occasional blown highlights or crushed blacks, etc...yes i try my hardest to be consistent....it's all based on your style....i may have desaturated something once....but i feel everyone goes for that look, and ACCURACY is becoming more and more rare, so i try and not do what everyone else is doing...
PhilDWedding wrote:
P.S Don't feel bad about this - it took me nearly 2 years of doing weddings to develop a PP style I was happy with
Would you say that delivering photos with mild/minimum processing is the best approach before you settle on style? I suppose in the meantime you could tinker with style on photos you display on your site?
This is something we're still figuring out. I've got an idealized vision of how I'd like our work to look, and my wife has another. We've at least agreed that one of us in a given wedding will handle the color conversions while the other (or the same) does the B/W work, so we're not mixing styles within a wedding. However, this is one of those areas where having two strong-willed partners can make things difficult.
eNoBlog wrote:
Would you say that delivering photos with mild/minimum processing is the best approach before you settle on style? I suppose in the meantime you could tinker with style on photos you display on your site?
Not necessarily..... why.... this will help dictate what clients will be attacked to you.
So if you are a heavy handed pp .... going very clean look is counter to the type of clients you want to attract.
We see Chuck delivery a particular style of B&W pp. It is different than say Gabe or Doug.
and this is just b&w.
It is all right to evolve as an artist/shooter. just make sure your display medium is fairly up to date with your current style of shooting.
eNoBlog wrote:
Would you say that delivering photos with mild/minimum processing is the best approach before you settle on style? I suppose in the meantime you could tinker with style on photos you display on your site?
Hmm.. I guess it's neither one way or the other. If that's a style people want, you will be able to sell it regardless of whether it's where you end up.
Just make sure you know what people have bought - keep that product available and give them what they bought if you do move on.
I would say one thing - minimal processing is better than poor processing
