SOUND ORIGINALS
Brightness, Colors and Grain
Every single photo from your gallery is edited the same way. In fact, every single photo from our entire portfolio on our website and Instagram is edited the same way. The only difference would be the color style the couple selected, such as Emerald, Rustic or Timeless Collection.
So, why do some photos look different from each other?
It has absolutely nothing to do with the editing. It's all about the lighting conditions and the environment at the exact moment the picture was taken.
Photography is all about light. Many factors influence the way a picture looks, and they all relate to the sun. You can take a picture from the exact same location and it will look different depending on the weather, time of day, sun or shade, partly sunny or completely sunny, sun is starting to set or it's high noon, and on and on. This has nothing to do with the photographer, or the editing, and everything to do with the specific lighting conditions!
Why is the background so bright?
Our editing styles are based on real film-camera techniques. We only adjust the overall brightness of the image. In some cases, that means the people in the photo will be brighter/darker than the background. We will edit the photo so the people look well-exposed and equally bright. That sometimes means the background will be much brighter, based on the lighting conditions present at the moment the picture was taken.
Can't this be Photoshopped?
Well, yes, anything can be Photoshopped. Just like Hollywood can create amazing special effects, photo editors can completely change the way a picture looks. However, this is a very specialized skill, and it's not something that wedding photographers typically do. We don't use Photoshop. Most wedding photographers don't! Photoshop is an extremely sophisticated editing software that requires specialized skills. Yes, it is possible to edit each photo individually to match the brightness between the people and the background. This requires about 30 minutes to 1 hour of hand-editing for every single image performed by a Photoshop expert.
Why does my iPhone photo look "better"?
iPhones can sometimes do a nice job of taking pictures in lighting environments with a significant contrast between the background and the foreground. iPhones use a digital processing technique called HDR. Your iPhone is taking multiple pictures at once and combining them into a single image. The HDR processing technique merges the images into a single photo. This new photo matches the brightness of the background and foreground. Part of the reason your iPhone does this so quickly and easily is because it's using a much lower quality lens than our professional cameras. The file resolution from iPhone images is much lower. You wouldn't be able to print albums or wall art with the same resolution and quality as a professional camera and lens. That's why your iPhone can't take photos with a blurry background on its own lens: you need to use a digital manipulation mode called 'Portrait Mode,' which is artificial. This is sometimes a nice effect. But it's also not the way film photography works.
This photo's brightness is adjusted so the mountain looks well-exposed. However, the people look very dark. That's because in real life, the mountain was much brighter than the people. The light was not equal, which is normal in settings like this in the middle of the day.
This photo's brightness is adjusted so the people look well-exposed. That's our normal process. After all, most people want to look flattering in their pictures! In order to make the people look well-exposed, the overall brightness needs to be adjusted. This means the mountain looks much brighter.
A Photoshop specialist can merge the images to create more balance between the people and the background. This is a specialized process and requires an advanced editing technique and skilled editor. This is not included in wedding photography packages and must be ordered separately.
Here is the same image with the Rustic Collection style.
A Photoshop specialist can merge the images to create more balance between the people and the background. This is a specialized process and requires an advanced editing technique and skilled editor. This is not included in wedding photography packages and must be ordered separately.
Here is the RAW version of this image. This is straight out of the camera without any editing styles applied. It would require advanced editing to match the brightness between the people and the background.
Noise, also sometimes referred to as grain, can be a normal part of photos taken in low-light situations. Noise generally happens when the camera is trying to take photos in a room that's too dark. In general, it's difficult to remove noise during the editing process. Removing noise will end up leaving the image much less sharp. That's why we don't remove noise: it makes images look blurry and fake.
Your pictures during the reception might have noise because the room was dark. After all, many couples design their reception areas to be dark! There are two solutions that you can plan ahead for. First, keep the lights brighter during your reception. Second, you can ask your photographer (in advance, through your Client Portal) to use a strong flash for every picture. We generally prefer to avoid flash, because it disrupts the environment and distracts your guests. Flash also creates an unnatural white light and can interfere with video. However, flash is sometimes used to counteract noise.
Noise is a result of the camera sensor trying to take pictures of dark areas without enough light to properly capture the actual details of the environment. That's why the camera instead displays grain, noise or "artifacts," because the camera can't "see" what's actually there. If you're concerned about noise in your photos, you should definitely make an effort to keep the lights turned on and as bright as possible.
We will still give you photos that are very noisy, because we want you to see as many pictures as possible. Many other wedding photographers would simply delete the photos and never tell you about them. That's not our approach. Our clients tell us they prefer to see outtakes when possible. Wouldn't you rather know the photo existed (even if it's noisy, or not entirely "perfect"), rather than never know it existed at all?
Noise & Grain
You can see the "noise" in the darker areas of the photo. This is normal.
