Post Job Editing - How do YOU get it done?

[crystalgenes]

I am slowly getting more steady wedding jobs, but I still have a full time job in retail as well. I just finished three weddings... back to back to back the past 3 weekends and I want to know what are your steps for after wedding workflow?

When I finally get a day off from my full time job, I sit at my computer ALL day editing basic steps like color/levels/WB.

It's been 4 weeks and I'm still not quite finished editing the proofs from the first wedding. How can I make this faster? Already the 2nd wedding is asking me how much longer and I haven't even started theirs!

.... Here is a step by step breakdown of what I do... please critique and give me your own step by steps thanks!

1. get home immediately upload everything to my computer using downloader pro to organize by date time iso name

2. burn 2 copies of everything one for my files one to store somewhere else.

3. Choose the KEEPERS that I like and ones I think my client may like (this is usually anywhere from 1000-1800 images. I usually take 2500.)

4. Do basic editing to all the KEEPERS - this part takes forever! Even though the raw images are okay and I could show these to my clients, I want the images to all look fabulous. But what would you do?

5. Depending on the package my client purchased, they get to choose a certain amount of images to have fully edited and put onto a DVD for keeps.

Thanks for any suggestions and for sharing your own workflow!

 

[Dave Hoffmann]

You need to cut down your KEEPERS to under 400.

 

[AprilRamone]

Are you using lightroom? If not, I would highly recommend you invest in it. If you have multiple images that are similar, you can edit one, and then just copy what you did on that image and paste it to the others that are similar. It shaves a lot of time off of having to do it individually. Then you can make detailed edits in Photoshop if you want.

1000 images sounds like a high amount to me and 1800 sounds kind of ridiculous.

I have never given more than 350 from a wedding and that was an all day one, but I hear of other photographers giving between 500-1000 all of the time. It makes me wonder if they are giving shots that are nearly identical?
I imagine I'll be increasing my shots, but I doubt if I'll ever be over 500 regularly.

 

[Big Mike]

I agree.

A good 'work flow' program like Lightroom is a real time saver. Also, it's probably best to cut down on the number of images you are editing. I guess you would need to be a harder critic of your images...cut anything that isn't very well exposed, or a very special moment. If you have shots that are the same or even similar, only pick the best one...etc.

Some people do prefer quantity to quality...but not me.

 

[wildmaven]

Some people do prefer quantity to quality...but not me.

Exactly.

When you've switched to doing this full time, then you can take the time to have that many keepers. Until then, you'll just gain a reputation as one who takes too long to deliver the pictures, and you don't want that, especially as you're trying to establish yourself.

Marian

 

[Sw1tchFX]

1800 keepers? you're not being hard enough on yourself.

Aperture or Lightroom is what you need. You can get thousands of images done in minutes.

 

[bakstreet]

What does everyone do post processing of a wedding. Do you guys adjust every picture, levels, contrast and coloring? BW some? Do you just tweak a pic here and there? Does each picture get special attention or just the ones that really need it? I just did a wedding and took pictures in four different locations, each locations with a different type of lighting. Everything looked great in my lcd and on my computer, but when I printed them out all the ones taken in two of the locations were somewhat dark. I had to go back and edit all of the photos from both locations, bringing the levels or colors up. Around 115 pictures. How do I sync my computer monitor with the actual picture color...or is that even possible. Like I said, they looked great on my monitor buy way dark when I printed the proofs. So, I'm wondering if I should go back through each picture taken from a wedding and use PS auto levels to adjust them or is that a bad idea?

 

[AprilRamone]

I do edit every single photo that I deliver (not every one I take). But, I start out doing adjustments in Lightroom so that I can copy and paste for certain photographs and not have to do them all individually. Then I take them all into PS and do my other editing on them. I know that lightroom can even do the clone stamp and then you can have it do the same cloning on all other images, but I don't deliver that many images that are so similar. I only edit the very best one or two in a group of similar images. So I generally do that kind of editing individually in PS. However, as I get more comfy with lightroom I may end up doing more in there.

And, you have to calibrate your monitor to make sure that your prints will look the same as they do on your screen. I'm sure someone else here can give a better detailed explanation on how to do this.

P.S. I don't do auto levels on anything. I know that a lot of the time the auto levels do a good job, but if I'm already in there, I will do it myself to make sure it really does look how I want it.

 

[Big Mike]

What does everyone do post processing of a wedding. Do you guys adjust every picture, levels, contrast and coloring? BW some? Do you just tweak a pic here and there? Does each picture get special attention or just the ones that really need it?

The amount of processing and editing you do, depends on your style and your business plan. Personally, I like to give every photo a bit of personal attention (removing blemishes etc) plus the usual tweaks (levels, sharpening etc). However, I don't want to do this to 600 images, so I cut it down before making those edits.

Some people prefer to do less editing and then only do in-depth editing on certain images that are selected by them or by the client.

I just did a wedding and took pictures in four different locations, each locations with a different type of lighting. Everything looked great in my lcd and on my computer, but when I printed them out all the ones taken in two of the locations were somewhat dark. I had to go back and edit all of the photos from both locations, bringing the levels or colors up. Around 115 pictures. How do I sync my computer monitor with the actual picture color...or is that even possible. Like I said, they looked great on my monitor buy way dark when I printed the proofs. So, I'm wondering if I should go back through each picture taken from a wedding and use PS auto levels to adjust them or is that a bad idea?

For any serious editing, you should have your monitor calibrated. To do this properly means using a hardware device like the ColorVision Spyder II. Then, you can be assured that your images are edited correctly. Then, you need to be aware of what your lab is doing to the photos. A good lab will give you the option of printing them with no 'corrections' although, a really good lab should be able to tell what needs correcting and what doesn't. To take it one step further...you can usually find a printer profile for the lab you use. You can then use that profile to preview your images in Photoshop.

Alternatively, you can ask the lab to reprint the images that didn't turn out like you thought they should have. A good lab will do this without charging you for it.

I personally don't like the auto levels command. Sometimes it works, sometimes not and sometimes it does something crazy.

 

[jemmy]

Wow Mike! You are just a mountain of knowledge aren't you?!!! Thanks for sharing... always appreciate your posts. x

 

[Mesoam]

meh, i-tunes, beer, close the blinds and....go!

 

[crystalgenes]

Are you using lightroom? If not, I would highly recommend you invest in it. Then you can make detailed edits in Photoshop if you want.

Can I not do the same thing as lightroom using actions in photoshop to repeat a process on several images? Is there specific reasons lightroom is the way to go? I've never looked into lightroom before.

I have never given more than 350 from a wedding and that was an all day one, but I hear of other photographers giving between 500-1000 all of the time. It makes me wonder if they are giving shots that are nearly identical?
I imagine I'll be increasing my shots, but I doubt if I'll ever be over 500 regularly.

What is your pricing plan? Do you have different amounts of images with different price points? I haven't figured out the perfect plan yet and need some ideas. Do you just choose all the images to give yourself and thats that or do the clients choose?

 

[crystalgenes]

Thanks for all the replies and advice so far!

 

[AprilRamone]

Can I not do the same thing as lightroom using actions in photoshop to repeat a process on several images? Is there specific reasons lightroom is the way to go? I've never looked into lightroom before.

Well, someone else who has more than a month's experience with Lightroom might be able to give you a better answer than me, but I just like the way you can go through all of your pictures, compare them side by side with one click, flag them as good if you like and then in one click have all of the flagged ones in front of you. And then in the develop part I can just use sliders to fix exposures and colors and just hit copy and paste on any of the others.
I still don't know a ton about actions either, but I guess you could create an action based on one photo and then play it on all of the similar photos.

What is your pricing plan? Do you have different amounts of images with different price points? I haven't figured out the perfect plan yet and need some ideas. Do you just choose all the images to give yourself and thats that or do the clients choose?

All of my wedding pricing includes all day wedding photography because I want to try and not have to deal with figuring out a # of hours to be there and just cover the whole thing. Which means each package will have roughly the same amount of images. The reason packages are different is some will offer albums or parent albums or an engagement or bridal.

 

[raider]

you need to grow with your business - hire people, quit your job, i've had to get faster computers in the past which helped a lot. if you don't, all you'll do is end up upsetting some clients which won't give referrals - then you won't have to worry about being so busy! you have a second shooter? to me, that many shots doesn't seem as though you're looking for the best of the best - i carefully survey all elements of basic photography principles and how they would interact with the surroundings. it might also boil down to taking the time to frame more artistic shots than mere snapshots of everything and everyone. that's just my take.