As a photographer, I get a lot of the same questions asked in terms of what the differences are between my three levels of editing. My photography style stems back to having evolved as an old school photographer when the photography trends were very different. Back when film was used, the instant gratification of knowing whether your shot worked immediately was not an option. This way of thinking is instilled in my work today and I still try to set up each shot as perfectly as I can to create a great base to work from.

Wedding photography is very different from an engagement or family photoshoot, due to the number of images I am capturing. My average wedding collection will include around 500 images, so you can imagine the man hours involved if I were to have to heavily edit each one, only to have half of them discarded by my couple.

Working as an experienced professional photographer, my view on editing is that if you have a great base you shouldn’t need to mask your work. I would rather spend an extra minute setting up the perfect lighting and composition so the editing merely accentuates what I have produced.

After the big day, I present my clients with access to an online gallery of their wedding photo collection. I then ask them to break them into three groups;
30% will get my signature editing, 40% master editing and the remaining 30%, studio editing level.

An important guide to the differences between editing levels and my photography style

Due to the sheer volume of wedding photos, this breakdown of my editing levels only applies to my wedding photography collections. Less is sometimes more which keeps my creativity flowing. All engagement and family photo collections receive my signature editing level.

My studio editing level and photography style includes colour correction, lighten and darken, white balance correction, sharpening, straightening of the horizon, cropping if needed and making sure there are all ready for printing. This is perfect for my journalistic photography style as it’s capturing the moment, therefore there is only minor adjustments and little fixes.

The master editing level includes everything featured in the studio level and extends the work on local adjustments. By hiding and showing details of the image I control the focal point where I want the viewer to look. Then when we have the viewer’s attention, I work on the colours to pop and add dimension to the viewing experience. We use many sources of artificial lighting, as a result, sometimes some of the equipment (or our lighting assistant) may pop up in some unexpected places. These distractions will be cloned out from your final image in the level as if they never existed. However the things that cannot be controlled such a car passing, people walking, street signs and on and on …. are not removed in this level.

What is the difference between DA Photo Studio editing levels and photography style?

My signature editing level and photography style is a little piece of me! This is my favourite time to get creative. This level includes everything that studio and master levels have and lots more. Here I go into the extreme attention to details which includes; local sharpening, local smoothing and skin softening. In addition to this I make sure all unwanted objects and things are removed, no questions asked (as long as it’s possible within photo software editing limitation). At the end of this level I offer many other variations of the same image to give you more options and I pick up the tab. These options may be a trendy looking style or version of black and white finish. Your choice!

These extra edited photos will be added on top of your selected gallery of clean finished images. These images are meant to WOW you and your family, which you will need to print and show off in a large wall portraits on in a beautifully bound album!

Trend vs Photography Style

Here are some step by step examples for you to see the difference of what a single shot might look like with each of the different editing levels applied.

(1)   This is straight from the camera and as you can see, very flat.

(2)   Here is the same image with my studio editing level and photography style.  I have corrected the exposure, adjusted the tones of the sky and cleaned up the image.  If the client hadn’t chosen my master/signature levels of editing, this is what they would be presented with.

(3)   My client chose my signature editing level for this image and as you can see, I removed the people from the background. Everything has been cleaned up and corrected, yet it doesn’t look too far off the original image due to diligent set up.

(4)   Once I have done my signature editing level, I will often give variations based on preference or trend i.e. a vintage look.

Check the entire wedding day and their engagement session of this couple featured on this blog.

Who says Tradition can’t be Fashionable?

This image of the bride walking down the steps towards the groom had special meaning to the bride.  By taking a moment to set up my shot, it meant every texture and line in the frame was intentional and for effect.

(1)   This is straight from the camera and a very clean image.

(2)   As you can see with the master editing level, I brought back all of the details by recovering the colours in the sky and highlighting the intricacies in the dress.

(3)   In the signature edited level, you can see on top of the master editing touch ups I also smoothed out the brides dress so it didn’t look as bulky. I don’t intentionally try to make people look thinner, but sometimes something cannot be flattering on camera due to the wind or angle of the shot.  My goal here was to offer a true representation of what the bride looked like in person.

(4)   These next three versions showcase different variations of the my photography style with signature edited level. The first is an old fashioned look in black and white.  The second, a saturated black and white version which highlights the contrasts, and the third is a smoother and dreamier look. Have created, step by step each option in photoshop which is exclusively my edit style.

My mantra is to under promise and over deliver by being upfront and open with my clients for my photography style

As you can see, this is from the same photoshoot as we were waiting for a sunset shot.  Due to the lighting being time sensitive, I had my lighting assistant Jacquie positioned close to the couple to expose for the subject.

(1)   Deliberately left Jacquie in my composition to improve the lighting.  I knew the way I positioned her, meant the cloning of the background would still look realistic. Also deliberately overexposed the image so it would be easier to bring back the details.

(2)   In the studio edit, I didn’t remove any flaws.  Although Jacquie is still in this particular photo, this is for illustrative purposes only to demonstrate what the studio edit would look like colour wise.  I would never deliver completed images with equipment or an assistant in it.

(3)   My signature editing level shows how I removed Jacquie, brought back the sharpness and eliminated any unwanted sun glares. My couple actually chose this for the front cover of their wedding album.

Engagement Photography Style

When photographing either an engagement session or family portrait, all of my images will be edited in my signature style as they’re typically only 50-100 images.

(1)   In this sunset image, we were rushed for time as my couple had their toddler with them and we were working in their backyard shop. Once the lighting was perfect I just had to photograph them, but as you can see from this original version, there was a huge trailer in the background.

(2)   It is extremely challenging to remove large objects without it looking like a fake backdrop. By cloning the background and replicating some on the other side details, I think it turned out really natural looking.  I decided to leave the trailer in between them as the red added an interesting element behind their two faces.

All my three editing levels into one photography style

For this wedding, we were not only restricted by access and time, but it was raining too so our preparation time was limited. I invested the extra minute placing my couple in the correct positions and set up my lighting so it was perfect, rather than having to work with something I wasn’t happy with later on.

(1)   This straight from the camera image showcases my wedding couple sheltering from the wind and rain. I didn’t have time to remove the ashtray or cables and here you can see the camera is titled.

(2)   Once I did a studio edit, I worked on colours and contrasts and removed Jacquie, my lighting assistant from the image.

(3)   In the signature edit, I removed everything else and straightened the image.  I softened the skin and produced an amazing image that was ready to print.

(4)   My last two versions were variations of my signature edited image. One is black and white and the other is a dreamy look and was more of a trendy style.

These images with my photography style and editing level are meant to WOW you and your family

It is very important to me that my clients understand the difference between my editing options as well as my photography style. This allows them to get a better understanding as to what they can expect from their session. My mantra is to under promise and over achieve and by being upfront and open with my clients, the foundations of a lasting relationship are built.

Thank you for taking the time to read this detailed breakdown of my editing levels and photography style and I look forward to working with you.