Your wedding day has just come to a close. You lived your “Best Day Ever” to the fullest! Now you are getting ready to go on that dream honeymoon you’ve been planning for months. What is your wedding photographer doing during that time? So glad you asked! As a Huntsville wedding photographer, it is my priority and responsibility to handle your wedding photos with excellence. Bride, you should feel 100% confident knowing that your priceless images are safe and handled with complete care. That is why I am sharing my entire step-by-step wedding photography editing workflow process.
Being a wedding photographer is so much more that simply clicking a button and taking photos on your wedding day. It goes beyond that! Most of the work your photographer does is actually done behind the scenes or should I say “behind the computer.” Editing is a huge part of photography! So, enjoy a look at the behind the scenes of creating your final photo magic!
My Wedding Photography Editing Workflow:
The first five steps are all done within 24 hours 🙂
1. Upload + Backup Images
When I get home from a wedding, (after I’ve driven through the Bojangles drive-thru to get my “Bo-Berry Biscuit”)I immediately upload all of your wedding images from my SD cards to my external hard drives. I back up all images to not just one but two external hard drives! This is double protection in case anything happens to one hard drive. I keep one hard drive as my “working hard drive” and one as my back up safely locked away. I also keep all of your RAW photos on my SD cards until after the final gallery is delivered.
2. Import Images into Editing Software
After images are backed up, I import your photos into my photo editing software: Lightroom Classic. This usually takes a hot minute to load due to the size files. A lot of time is spent just waiting for everything to import and load lol.
3. Cull Through Images
“Culling” is a term in the photography world for selecting the best photos of your entire gallery. This is where I go through or “cull” your photos and select all the keepers. Depending on the shoot and how many hours of coverage, depends on the final number of images kept.
4. Select and Edit Sneak Peeks
After I select the final set of images, I then select which ones I will send as a sneak peek. For a wedding day, I typically deliver at least 50 preview images. Images chosen as sneak peeks include the bride walking down the aisle, the first kiss, the bridal party, immediate family, and a few bride and groom portraits. Once selected, I crop and edit these set of images.
5. Send Sneak Peeks
This step is one of my favorites! This is where I get to send you your sneak peek previews! My promise is that 24 hours after your wedding, you will receive your sneak peeks. I upload all images into my gallery software and send you the gallery. You can download all the images and share them with the world!
6. Crop Entire Gallery
After sneak peeks are sent, I get to work cropping all of your images. This means that I adjust the images to make sure the composition is good and to crop out unwanted edges of the image. Cropping all of my images in one setting makes my editing workflow quicker and more productive.
7. Adjust lighting and coloring
The next step is where the magic happens. I color-correct your images with my warm, true-to-color style. I love for my images to be authentic in color with a hint of warmth and grain. No crazy Instagram filters here. I go through each individual photo and adjust settings to make the colors where I like them. This is also the step in that I choose my black and white images.
(Pro tip: I usually choose images with strong emotion to put into black and white. I feel that it makes the image more nostalgic and sentimental.)
8. One Final Look Through
After all images are cropped and edited, I go through the gallery one more time. I will typically get all of the above steps completed and then take a break. This is to allow my eyes time to readjust so that when I look through the final set of images, I am looking at it with fresh eyes.
9. Export
Once all the images meet my approval, it’s time to export them from my editing software to my external hard drive. (I export your final set of images to 2 external just to be safe.)
10. Photoshop to remove any distractions
After images are exported, I go in through photoshop to remove any unwanted items or distractions. Goodbye exit signs and grass stains. 👋🏼
11. Upload to Gallery Service
Now it is time to uploaded all images to my cloud based gallery service: Pic-Time. Pic-Time is user friendly and allows you access to view your gallery, download all images at high resolution, and even access the print shop. I love using this service because it keeps your gallery active and in the Cloud for a year+. You have the peace of mind knowing that your wedding photos are backed up on 2 external hard drives and in the Cloud!
12. Pop the confetti and CELEBRATE! 🥳
It’s the best day ever (again) because it’s gallery delivery day!! 🥳🥳 I am literally dancing in my seat when I email you with a link to your wedding photo gallery. My promised turnaround time for a wedding is one month! I get so excited with the anticipation of you seeing your entire wedding gallery for the first time!
(Pro tip for the bride: Download ALL images at high resolution immediately and save them to an external hard drive! You can never be too careful with protecting your wedding images 😉)
And that’s my wedding photography editing workflow from start to finish!
The editing process is truly so much fun! Seeing the final image set come together is the most rewarding feeling as a wedding photographer. Knowing the joy that the gallery will bring to my sweet couples, makes my hear soar!
Are you ready to begin your wedding experience? Let’s connect today!
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