Editing Photos in Lightroom to achieve this look

[mcosta91]

Hi all,

Ive been in the photography industry for a little under 4 years now. I'm always trying to improve, and looking for a little post production help. I fell upon a great dynamic duo of sorts, Troy Grover and his wife, and their wedding photos are in my eyes perfect. I cant seem to replicate what they do in post production to get a brighter photo, yet kee the contrast and saturation at the same time. Is there anyone who could help me out to achieve this look?

Here is a link to their page, you should check it out. Troy Grover Photographers - Husband and Wife Fine Art Photographers - Serving Orange County, Palm Springs, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Sonoma and Worldwide

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

We see this type of question on a regular basis. Usually it is (at least partially) a case of barking up the wrong tree. I think that may apply here as well.

I had a look at the wedding section on that website...and while the photos looked great, I really don't think they are doing anything special in terms of editing/post processing. But I can easily see that if someone is not able to replicate those photos, that they might be looking to their processing to bridge the gap....but I think that would be the wrong thing to look at.

What I see, when I look at those images, are photos that are very well exposed. The photographer(s) look to be very proficient in getting really good exposures. That isn't rocket science, but it does require that you have a good understanding of metering and that you know that how to overcome the inadequacies of your camera's 'reflected' light meter.

In conjunction with getting good/proper exposures...is knowing & using good quality ambient lighting. I didn't really see any obvious use of flash, most of the shots looked to be lit with natural ambient light only...but a big part of doing that well, is knowing when & where the light will be ideal. Shooting weddings doesn't always give you the opportunity for perfect lighting in every scenario....but you have to remember that they certainly aren't putting all their photos on their website. You are only seeing the best 1%.

Of course, post processing does play a part, but I don't think they are doing anything special. It's the combination of great lighting and proper exposure that really make them stand out.

 

[Robin_Usagani]

Just nail your exposure of the subject. If you look at the sunny photos, they know exactly where to put the subject and what background to use (sun from the back, pick dark background). For the overcast photos, no brainer.

As far as processing goes, go to split toning slider and mess with highlight and shadow tone. You will figure it out.