I received an unusual request yesterday from a bride. She was asking me what post processing do I offer as part of my wedding and engagement packages. Trying to answer her email I got a server error reply, so I decided to post the answer here for her in case she comes back, and the rest of the brides who would visit my website.

Post processing is a must for any photographer. Applying different styles depends not only on trends, like everything else, but on the clients taste and expectations. Not all photographers would go the extra length in providing their clients with that “unique” looking image which is more art than just a plain photograph. Of course the lower the prices the photographer charges the higher the chances you won’t get that extra editing, but basic color/contrast editing and maybe some vignette at the most.

In my case I provide my clients with quite a few options. In the end I’m not only a photographer, I’m also an artist and I love to try new things that I know would look really good. So whether you are a young bride or a not so young one I think you will find what you are looking for here, for your wedding or engagement pictures.

To show more precisely what services I provide I took a picture of a simple cactus (I love cactus and collect them) that is sitting in my kitchen window, and I’ll show some of the different editing process my images go through and that can be applied to your album.

The image below is the basic image straight from the camera taken with a 50mm canon lens. This image has not being edited, nor the colors have being corrected, it just a natural good looking picture. The better the image comes out of the camera (which I always aim for) the better the editing process.

From the image above here I’m showing some of the editing process my pictures might go through. These below are simple color/contrast/hue/saturation levels correction in the form of “actions” that I apply to some of the images depending on the effect my client wants. Each one gives a different “vibe” if you will, from extremely classical, to contemporary all the way down to vintage looking, all based on the basic image above. A good looking b&w picture never goes out of style, and it’s one of my favorites! I like subtle and sensual looking b&w pictures, don’t they look great?

One style that came back which is very popular among young brides is the vintage look, where the colors are fading away and the image has a purple/orange tint in it, just like the one below.

Among many others the ones below are also very much in style. Grainy pictures both in subtle color and b&w along with more washed out looking pictures are also trendy these days.

The two first pictures are strong color editing, but the ones below them are edited based on the plain basic image using something called textures. Textures are unique images superposed on top of the original picture to make it look more modern or vintage looking (depending on the texture) while adding some uniqueness to it. Some of the textures I use come from close up pictures taken from my own paintings, therefore not found or available anywhere else. Some others are pictures I have taken or I have purchased from respected venues.

There are many, many other post processing techniques used in the creation of the perfect picture, along with skin retouching which should be part of another post.

I hope I have answered some of the questions you might have about post processing, if not just drop me a line.