Colour Correcting
Setting the tone and colour is one of the first things I do when reviewing my images from a shoot.
Anyone that has shot a wedding will tell you there are so many things that effect our shooting conditions and it is not a controlled environment (top tip don’t hire someone to shoot your wedding if they have only ever shot in a studio) or “test shoots” that are controlled this does not represent shooting a real wedding. Wedding photographers are often having to think on their feet because a wedding is a moving ball of madness that no matter how much you plan for so many anomalies throughout the day can change your plans. British weather is one of this anomalies….we never know what the weather will be like and this can effect lighting and colour.
Often skin can come up as having a lot of red/purple tones when it is cold for example and while a little red is good (taking too much away will drain your subject) too much red can not look great or can show as patchy on the skin.
Fake tans can sometimes appear quite orange on camera (even if they look perfectly lovely in real life) I always like to address the tones of my images first and edit the day
I will adjust the exposure settings to ensure that the image is properly exposed for the environment in which it was taken, I always want the image to reflect what the mood was at the time and look most like how it looked at the time. I may adjusting contrast and will adjust the contrast settings to bring out the details in the image. Fine-tuning I will make any additional adjustments to ensure that the image looks its best.
Of course there are thousands of ways to edit an image and some of it is down to personal preference too. I always try and go towards neutral tones as in not too warm or too cool depending on the theme /feel of the day/time of day and perhaps the couple have expressed to me they might want light bright images or moody earthy tones I take all this into account when editing.
Below I thought the skin was looking a little too warmed on the right as it was nearly dark so I neutralised the skin tone a little and brought up the exposure.
It's worth noting that different photographers may have different approaches to color correction, and the specific settings used will depend on the style and aesthetic preferences of the photographer and the client.
You can check out more of my work on my portfolio here
