Another example of PROOF3 retouching.
This was an exciting day for my best friends from my hometown. It was their wedding day, since I was asked to be in the wedding I wasn't the photographer which was kinda weird for me. Long before the wedding day I sat with the bride to offer some suggestions on how to interview a photographer and what to ask, after interviewing a few she finally found one that was a fit. I know they paid a pretty penny for their photos as they hired a seasoned wedding photographer and also purchased full rights and Raw files of their wedding. Needless to say
that was a smart move most wouldn't even consider, what surprised me a few months after the wedding day the bride was a little disappointed with what she received. I knew something was up when I asked to see them and they took me to Hooters to get my favorite hot wings. Their treat!Turns our the bride was unhappy with the pictures and asked if I could fix them for her- after all she had the RAW files on disks and showed me a few 16x20 reprints of the pictures they ordered. After I promised to take a look and see what was going on I could see her frustrations. Well, it just goes to show that anything can happen- even pros aren't perfect and that includes me too, sometimes. But there were a lot of photos that really needed some help with just the basics in editing and none were taken care of to begin with.
So here's a few examples of what I did to the photos to my standards and also addressed the brides concerns. So of course I wanted to make the bride happy again and I wanted to share my insight with everyone.
Wedding Example#1 (Again the photos were taken by another photog and I did these retouches. )
This wasn't to bad- the main concern from the bride was that the photo was crooked. Notice how the stairs and alter are at a slant. Actually all the photos at the alter were crooked and it did look pretty bad. This was because the photog didn't use a tripod which would have been the easiest cure. So for the most part about 70 photos were crooked and needed to be re-cropped. I also did a quick white balance, brighten, and warmed up the scene, added some light airbrushing on the complexions, and toned up the brides arm a bit. perfect!
Wedding Example #2
No doubt an Amazing picture below, but brides can sometimes use a little help on the close ups- especially with all the stress of the wedding and maybe a little partying the night before. A few subtle remedies can make this photo rock and make the bride super sensational.
What "most" do and I say that lightly- this photog did, hit that magic surface blurr & diffuse glow button in photoshop and that was it, on every photo. THAT'S a no-no! I wish I could post it but wont. I can already hear professional re-touchers Cringe!! I like subtle fixes that doesn't ruin the skin or information of the photo. I use plenty of layers and build on up, sure it takes more time but I like the results best- What do you think!