Looking for post processing master

Canonfan

Howdy,

I did a wedding for a friend last saturday. I shot everything in Raw. I heard that wedding photography is 33% on the day and 67% post processing(correct me if I'm wrong).

My photoshop skill is very basic so I'd love to get a few professional lessons, ideally from those who did weddings before.

Please show me your work and the price, please.

I'm based in Dublin city centre.

Thanks.

Canonfan

Nobody...:o

smelltheglove

I'd recommend attending a Guy Gowan seminar, you learn loads very quickly. His techniques cut out half the processing time at least. In the meantime if you nneed help getting the images processed send me a pm.

Ballyman

This should get you started. You ain't going to learn this overnight though!!

Whats wrong with the photos you have anyway? You don't have to go over the top processing them. Why not just fix colour balances etc and present the couple with those and maybe change a few to B&W that you feel suit. Some people despise the over the top processed wedding stuff.

Anouilh

This shows, with a bit of exaggeration, how to make the colour a bit warmer using Irfanview. It's freeware and incredibly fast.


Also, if you have the Canon software, you could batch process photos yourself. The time spent bringing work to another person and explaining what you need could then be spent learning a new skill.

One idea might be to find out your customers favourite colour schemes and work with those guidelines.

It's a very lively photo.

Ettna

I have been enjoying lurking around here but never posted anything, but what about a little bit of straightening of the horizon, I used Picasa.

artyeva

i couldn't sleep so... that horizon needed straightening but it cut off the last inch or two of her dress, plus it screamed b+w to me although i don't know why. could be the uni-flu and hot whiskey combo i'm currently buzzing on?? anyhoo this was with lightroom and took me about 3 mins...

Canonfan

Thanks for all the replies guys, really appreciate.

I don't need anything fancy, my friend is very happy with the photos. But i want to go the extra mile and bring her WoW.

squareballoon

there's one thing that I like to do with wedding pics and that's to do a slight teeth whitening. my personal method is to select the teeth with a lasso with a feather of 2, go to hue/saturation and lower the saturation a little bit and up the lightness a little bit. It's been the most natural way I've found. I made an action out of it so that I can run it twice if the teeth are very stained.

Heebie

The type of processing you want to do after an event like a wedding is actually better handled in Lightroom than in Photoshop. (It can do most of the things you'll want to do very quickly.. such as organising the photos, choosing which ones you like best etc..) then you can do an "export" once you have the final ones chosen, and *POOF* there's your finished product.
You can also do minor edits like dust removal, and you can do a lot with color. cropping, and several other manipulations.
It's still a good idea to have Photoshop in case you find some of the pictures need serious editing or compositing etc.. but Lightroom does most of the "workflow" work for you. (There are free & open source products that are similar as well.)

Canonfan wrote: »

Howdy,

I did a wedding for a friend last saturday. I shot everything in Raw. I heard that wedding photography is 33% on the day and 67% post processing(correct me if I'm wrong).

My photoshop skill is very basic so I'd love to get a few professional lessons, ideally from those who did weddings before.

Please show me your work and the price, please.

I'm based in Dublin city centre.

Thanks.

Heebie

There's an easier way to do this.. using a paintbrush.

Change the "mode" on the brush from "normal" to "saturation" and choose a shade of grey, then just paint the teeth. You want to set your foregrown color to a dark shade a grey, but not to black. (the darker the shade of grey, the more it desaturates the color where you stroke the brush... go to far and it just looks bizarre.)

squareballoon wrote: »

there's one thing that I like to do with wedding pics and that's to do a slight teeth whitening. my personal method is to select the teeth with a lasso with a feather of 2, go to hue/saturation and lower the saturation a little bit and up the lightness a little bit. It's been the most natural way I've found. I made an action out of it so that I can run it twice if the teeth are very stained.

Heebie

If I were presenting this to a client, professionally , I'd want to tame the specular highlights in her dress and tone-down the oil/sweat generated bright spots in their faces (especially his.) I might also either darken the sky.. or make it a bit less blue.. or maybe a warmer blue.. move it a bit more towards red & yellow.

There are some things that you can do in post-processing in something like Adobe Lightroom (there are free open-source products that do essentially the same thing... I think one of them could even be called a "clone" so don't think you have to spend hundreds with Adobe.) in a minute or two per image, that will take an image from being just a snapshot, to being something you can hand a client who's paying you €5,000. (and.. if you're getting paid.. you can spend a couple of hours doing this bit. or you need a good kick up the arse.)

Ballyman wrote: »

This should get you started. You ain't going to learn this overnight though!!

Whats wrong with the photos you have anyway? You don't have to go over the top processing them. Why not just fix colour balances etc and present the couple with those and maybe change a few to B&W that you feel suit. Some people despise the over the top processed wedding stuff.

Bosshogg

Howdy,:D

Judging only by what's posted - the attached photo - which I suppose is your flagship shot that you're proud of... I wouldn't touch this with a 10 foot stick

Canonfan wrote: »

Howdy,

I did a wedding for a friend last saturday. I shot everything in Raw. I heard that wedding photography is 33% on the day and 67% post processing(correct me if I'm wrong).

Aren't you the experienced pro! Still though you went out and did a wedding without having 67% of the required knowledge (as you understand it) Aren't you the main man to have at a wedding?!

So you thought "I have 1/3 of the skills required to do this job and a big camera to look like I know the rest" and off you went.

33% on the day and 67% wishful thinking and making excuses is where you're at. (That's my correction while thinking you're wrong). When I shoot it's 200% on the day (+ assistant @200%) and Photoshop is for enhancing my photos NOT making them. Rarely it's my Hail Mary when sods law kicks me in the nuts and applies itself to a live shoot. Because sure... when I forget to take an actual picture of the B&G I can always copy and paste later right?!

Canonfan wrote: »

My photoshop skill is very basic so I'd love to get a few professional lessons, ideally from those who did weddings before.

Surely you mean CAMERA LESSONS from those who did weddings before.

Canonfan wrote: »

Please show me your work and the price, please.

You want a pro to clean up your dirty mess presumably for less than you were paid so you can still be in profit and all the while the bride is at a loss. How much did you charge for the job? Come on tell the people...

Canonfan wrote: »

I'm based in Dublin city centre.

Dubliner's be warned.

Canonfan wrote: »

i want to go the extra mile and bring her WoW.

You want "us" to go the extra mile because you don't know where you're at - not you because you're not capable.

If you gave a sausage about this lady's wedding you would have told her to get a photographer to do the shoot.

I'm disgusted at the photo you've posted. (Because it's an actual wedding photo - but sent out as a leader and not a blooper or a learner shot)
G looks tense and uncomfortable and almost like he wishes he wasn't with this woman. The bride is made 2nd to the groom and you have emasculated G. B looks enthusiastic (as is usual (freebie)) but it's not enough recover from bad arrangement.
Dress is blown out and lighting is flat and uncreative.

I've certainly no intention of educating the likes of canonfan but if there's questions for others that I can't return to answer...
G 180 to face and receive, love and adore the bride (not show his back to her) various poses and demeanor required.
ISO up to about 800, less flash more natural light
G suit looks like blocks of black. (might be web quality?)
her hair looks like she's touching an electrostatic globe
Dress not drapped properly
Crooked sky line
background is featureless (wooo it's the sea)

what's right? pfft??? the freebies... happy trusting bride (but again uncomfortable G)


2 thumbs down - it's a crash and burn and everyone's dead scenario.

I mean ffs the horizon isn't a tincy bit off, it's way off like the cam was held up over a crowd.

jpb1974

Is it just me or does anyone else find themselves reading BossHog threads and thinking to themself "what a spanner"?

mrboswell

jpb1974 wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else find themselves reading BossHog threads and thinking to themself "what a spanner"?

Spanner? I would have chosen a different word beginning with "w" but also ending with "er".

@ Canonfan - Fair play for having a go - if thats what the couple want then job well done. First time taking on a job can be nerve racking!!
Only take heed of helpful comments and ignore other eejets who like the sound of the own voice (or rants in this case above!!)

jpb1974

Let me think... there are many that could apply...

Whiner?
Weeper?
Waster?

Ah... I think I have it now

mrboswell

Bosshogg wrote: »

Howdy,:D

I've certainly no intention of educating the likes of canonfan but if there's questions for others that I can't return to answer...
G 180 to face and receive, love and adore the bride (not show his back to her) various poses and demeanor required.
ISO up to about 800, less flash more natural light
G suit looks like blocks of black. (might be web quality?)
her hair looks like she's touching an electrostatic globe
Dress not drapped properly
Crooked sky line
background is featureless (wooo it's the sea)

I suspect most people would tell you to shove your advice where the sun don't shine.

mrboswell

jpb1974 wrote: »

Let me think... there are many that could apply...

Whiner?
Weeper?
Waster?

Ah... I think I have it now

You're getting the idea...

Heebie

He could have simply made a critique without nearing the area of personal attacks like, "Dubliners beware!" It was truly uncalled-for, and truly non-constructive.

jpb1974 wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else find themselves reading BossHog threads and thinking to themself "what a spanner"?

woytek_tzn

1 minute play.

Peggypeg

Hey Canonfan,

I have a degree in photography and I've done weddings and I thought the image you posted was great, granted it could be retouched with photoshop but you definately didn't deserve the blasting you got from Bosshog, he's just an arrogant tw*t by the sounds of it. Photography is a tricky disipline to master so don't be put off by people like that. I always find that people that go on like that can't take an interesting image to save their life. If you have photoshop you'll find literally thousands of tutorials on the internet. They're really good usually and if you spend the time you should be able to find the right tutorial, type something like "straightening horizons photoshop tutorial" and you should have loads of options. Best of luck with it and remember don't let ignorant tw*ts put you off, photography takes time.

Best of luck.

gman2k

To summarize what Bosshogg said - owning a camera does not make you a photographer.
I was approached by a couple friends of mine a few years ago, because I had a camera and saw a couple of my nicer photos I had taken previously.
I kindly told them that getting a professional to do their wedding would be the only choice, that way they should be guaranteed good results. I stood by on the day and took some candid photos which they liked also.
Then, when I got married myself, I went to a professional, and they results were rubbish! Could have done better myself!
So there's knowledge for you!