What does your photographer do after your Wedding Day?

Congratulations! You're married, you did it. I hope you had the best day! You've been planning for months, or even years, and now the celebration is over your new life as a married couple can truly begin.

Now the excitement of your wedding day has been and gone you're probably looking for a way of holding on to that magic. And that's where I come in! Within one week of your wedding day you'll receive a little collection of images (your sneak peek!) to keep you going while I work on your full gallery.

I know you're excited to see all your images, though! So why do you have to wait? What am I actually doing with your photos? Let me let you in on a little behind the scenes action!

Step 1 - The big back up

At the end of your wedding day, while you're hopefully still partying away, I head home and start the first job in post processing. Backing up. While shooting, my camera is recording your images to two cards so there's already one back up in place, but I'm a belts, braces and an extra belt for good measure sort of person when it comes to your wedding photos. When I get home I upload your images to my computer and also back them up to an external hard drive. I then put the original cards in two different storage locations.

Step 2 - Sneak peek time!

It takes a while to get your full gallery perfect for you, and I know you can't wait that long! For that reason, my next step is always to find a little collection of images to edit to keep you going. I run through your wedding, picking some of my favourite images from the main parts of your day. I then do a low level edit on those photos and get them uploaded to your gallery for you to see!

Step 3 - What is culling anyway?

This is probably one of the lesser known parts of post processing, but actually one of the most time consuming! An heirloom wedding package with a second shooter can easily yield over 9000 photos, and it's my job to go through those and pick out the best. This means looking at every single image and checking it's in focus, well lit and properly composed. I also have to compare similar photos and decide which is better so you don't end with a gallery of 5000 identical photos!

Step 4 - First pass editing

This is where I go through each photo and adjust things like white balance and exposure as well as straightening and cropping. White balance is the colouring of your photo, usually dictated by the lighting as well as any clothing items or décor that are dominant. Every photo requires adjusting, even if only slightly, to make it look natural. Exposure is how light or dark the image is, usually requiring shadows and highlights to be fine tuned. There’s a little more complexity to this stage, but that’s the basic idea!

Step 5 - Second pass editing

This is where I go through every photo again to make sure I’m happy with the basic edits. Things like whether I’m editing in daylight or under artificial lights can make a difference to how the image appears on the screen, so a double check is always necessary! At this stage I may need to work some magic to fix bad lighting (churches and dark reception rooms can be a killer on skin tones!)

Step 6 - Perfecting and magic!

Many photos are done and finished after the second pass, but some need a little bit more! Maybe the removal of something distracting, localised lighting adjustments, spot removal… Maybe some of my editing magic, but that’s a trade secret!

Step 7 - Final check

Once I’ve completed all editing I’ll do one final look through every single image just in case I’ve missed something. I’m also checking that the photos are consistent and work well together which is especially important for images that are printed together or put into books. I know, this sounds repetitive, but it’s necessary to make sure I’m happy with everything before sending them off! These photos are your memory of the day to look back on for a lifetime, or even for generations. That’s worth a final check!

Step 8 - Gallery creation and delivery!

At this point I arrange your photos into their albums and upload them to your gallery, ready for you to enjoy. I’ll also create your very own landing page on my website to send to your friends and family if you’d like share the gallery with them.

I know you can't wait to see your photos. I also know that you want your photos to be perfect. It's my job to find that balance between speed and perfection, getting you the best possible images in the shortest possible time. I hope it’s been useful to get a little look behind the scenes while you’re waiting!

Any questions? Never hesitate to email me!

Stumbled across this article and looking for your perfect wedding photographer? Get in touch with me so we can start chatting about your big day!