Finishing up a Wedding

I just finished up the wedding photos from Jen + Steve, and finished with this version of the sparkler exit. It’s kind of how I feel too finishing up a wedding… if that makes sense :]  Previously I posted a different photo of the exit in black and white, but I’m really liking how this color version came out.  I’m not sure what kind of sparklers were used because they ended up being really smokey, but I love the variation of color in the smoke – now that’s an exit!

So, as I’m posting this final image you may be wondering… now how long did it take to finish everything? I started out writing this before I saw a great post by my own wedding photographer, Anne Ruthmann (she is a great blogger and I encourage you to get lost in it), and she goes in depth about production time and pretty much sums the reasons behind why wedding photos take a long time – so I thought I’d include it. I have experience on both sides as a photographer and also a recent bride who is waiting for her wedding photos… so perhaps I am a bit more understanding of the process, even though I can’t wait to have them!

This wedding, however was about 2.5 months from wedding day to dvd in the mail. Generally, though, I estimate 3-4 months for the photos to be finished to allow time for them to be completed, as several factors effect editing such as: time of year & length of wedding/shoot. After an event I always pre-release some photos everyone can get a taste of what’s to come, and include some more when I post on my blog. It’s an accomplishment to get everything finished, and some of you may understand that, others of you may be wondering what in the world I’m doing during all that time… so here’s a breif outline of what happens:

• shoot wedding
• download images
• backup images (we don’t want to lose anything!)
• photo sorting : includes picking out favorites for now, throwing out bad ones, and grouping into manageable sets for editing
• edit the selected few for something quick to send out!
• blog photos & give a fun wedding recap
• group editing : correct color, contrast, and little things that are apparent in groups of photos
• artistic editing : this involves spending more time with the image and adding some edits so it meets my standard (this is where the perfectionist kicks in and I can loose some time)
• final proof : I look over the photos once more to be sure everything is included + looks good
• burn dvd!

A few steps that encompase quite a bit of time – but it’s so worth it. That’s not to say that fast turn-around isn’t appreciated, but great images can be worth the wait.