When it comes to our wedding business, Lola put me in charge of “QA” (Quality Assurance) before images are delivered to our clients. After she is done with all post-processing work, we sit down together and review all images. She is naturally good at working on images and her creative and artistic side really comes into play when she photographs and then edits images. I have a very different approach to photography and I often pay lots of attention to such things as image sharpness, detail, framing and angles. It is surprising to see how well our different perspectives merge into a productive environment – while we sometimes do disagree, we both understand that our ultimate goal is to provide the best results to our clients.
On average, Lola and I come back with approximately 1,000-1,500 images per wedding, all shot in 14-bit NEF (RAW) format. Once we sort everything out and pick our favorites, we leave approximately 500-600 images that will be delivered to our clients, with only about 1/10th that are retouched in Photoshop. I was once talking to a photographer based out of Florida, who told me that he only takes between 100-250 images per wedding. When I told him how many images Lola and I take, he laughed, arguing that most images are probably duplicates of each other and that we should learn how to take fewer, but higher quality images. Being in business for over 30 years as a successful full-time pro, he definitely knew what he was talking about. But I also realized that his habit of taking fewer pictures definitely has to do with film days, where more photos meant more photo lab work. With digital SLRs that have a shutter lifespan of at least 150 thousand clicks, we no longer need to worry about the cost or working with chemicals in a lab. So, what is better – take fewer, but higher quality images right on the set, or take as many pictures as possible at different angles, perspectives and settings? As far as I’m concerned, I am somewhere in between. I think that taking very few pictures is risky, as you might think you got everything right on camera, but you might have missed some details – eyes closed, focus not 100% accurate, etc. The last thing you want is a frustrated customer that asks for another picture you do not have. On the other hand, walking with a DSLR and shooting non-stop is also counter-productive, since then you have to deal with too many images and the process of choosing the best ones and working on them later might take hours of precious post-processing time. Wedding photography is a tough business to be in mainly because of a photographer’s time, especially if complex Photoshop retouching is involved. Details can take away too much time and the question that I have been asking myself lately is “how much is too much”, when we work on images.
Take a look at the below image, as it came out of the camera:
Yes, very minute problems that are often ignored by many. The scratch on the surface is not a big deal, the little dark spot on the left shoe can also be ignored. But is it distracting? Certainly yes, to me. Is this too much attention to detail? Here is the final image that was delivered to our client:
The scratch, the dark spot and a small red dot in the middle of the right shoe were fixed with the spot-healing brush in Photoshop and it took Lola 30 seconds to do it. Was this change worth the extra 30 seconds? Let’s take a look at another image:
I caught the problem in the image right away – look at the right shoe of the groom. That white label looks distracting to me not just because it is a label, but because it is white on dark sole. Right before burning the images on a DVD, I quickly removed the white label and re-extracted the image from Lightroom:
Now the big question is – am I crazy? Would you pay attention to such details, or would you ignore them? Am I being too picky about this kind of stuff? Would love to hear your opinion, our dear readers!
Shooting less but more quality pictures back in the ‘film days’ wasn’t necessarily due to a budget restriction at all. Back in those days, photography was critiqued much more seriously, and everything took longer to accomplish, and was more painful than a click on a computer screen, and the stakes were way higher. It made for more skilled photographers who would be visually more apt. It boggles my mind that one wedding could produce thousands of images to choose from. The selection process happens backwards with digitally trained photographers. The art of ‘pre visualization’ is what the writer of this article needs to learn about.
I married in summer 2015 and we hired a pro wedding photographer. All in all we are pleased with the results, but I have to admit that I was also a bit disappointed that he sometimes did not pay enough attention to details. In addition there were only few photos from the party and our guests.
To sum it up, I expect a pro wedding photographer to work the way you do.
Hello Nasir,
I am a great fan of yours.. I am an amateur photograph and your website is what the the greatest tool I have, to learn different things abt photography.. Be it a about cameras, lenses, post processing and what not!!! Thanks a ton for the wonderful write up..
And coming to your question – I definitely did not notice the tag on the Shoe.. But after staring some time I was able to notice it.. Well, to answer “How much is too much” – It definitely depends on what the photo is all about and who is taking it.. :) As you are a pro, every single step you take to make the photo counts.. and keeps your client happy.. It is never to be commented as “too much” :)
Finally,,, I really like the font that you use in the entire site!!! Special Thumbs up :D
Keep the good work up and continue to educate us… :)
Oops!!! My First post.. address you wrong… :( Sorry Nasim.. ;)
I don’t know any of the details of this wedding other than seeing this picture. To me, I get the impression these portraits were probably taken mid-late in the day, and they never realized it was there. I could see them seeing the sooc picture and saying “Omg, how did I leave that there?!”. I would have definitely gotten rid of it, and I’m sure it took 5seconds. To me, those edits are fairly painless and prove you can pay attention to details, but I do know EXACTLY where you are coming from! I wonder if we do unnecessary things to our wedding photos just to say we edited them. I guess it’s more of a self satisfaction that just by adding a little finesse, it’s going to be something they could never produce on their own. Can I ask, when you say you don’t edit them all, do you literally do nothing to some photos? Or you mean photoshop editing? This thread is from almost a year ago, how are you managing now with your final numbers? We’ve been doing weddings for a little over a year now, and I just can’t see us showing 300 pictures from a 10hr day! We show about 7-900 from a 10hr day, and with the enhancements we make it could bring it up to 1,000-1,200 photos. I have never sat down with a wedding photographer to know what’s the norm, as I am not married. We have more experience with child and family sessions and that’s a whole different ball game. Soooo….yeah, I feel ya!
I had a groom once tape “help ” on the bottom of one shoe and “Me ” on the bottom of the other ! let me just say that the kneeling pictures at the alter were quite hilarious ! They had a great sense of humor ,i gave them the option of which one the liked better , clean , or sooc , guess which they chose ? lolol (as i remember )
I think the attention to detail is magnificent. And Wedding photography is a super tough business. I used to shoot with a Canon Rebel 35 mm SLR and would be frustrated because I would shoot an overload of pictures with film and wouldn’t be happy with the results. I just recently got a Nikon D3100 and began shooting once again, mostly with my children. I wouldn’t try to become a wedding photographer until I knew what I was doing and YES, good lenses do make a difference. I am about to spend a significant amount of money on a 50 mm prime lens that was suggested for portrait photography because I do see the relevance of having good lens.
Like the pictures. Very beautiful.
Ha ha, you can never pay too much attention to detail! Our wedding potographer drove us mental at the time, pulling wayward leaves off the lawn. In retrospect, I am glad he did – almost 20 years on, we have photos we are proud of.
its worth cause it was our satisfaction
Are you guys OK?
It depends. The clean up with the first shoe photo was a good idea. Makes it look clean and nice. For the label on the shoe (2nd photo), I personally don’t think removing it was good. Reality has its tiny imperfections and the label is part of the tiny imperfection and part of the occasion. The photo tells a story and the tiny label is part of the story. When you remove it, the story is artificial (cleaned up). But if you are hired to provide photos that make the customer feel good by cleaning up every tiny imperfection, then by all means make em happy.