3 Reasons Why Your Wedding Photos Should be Edited

In the social media day and age we live in, photography has become an important part of our everyday lives. Most people have a great camera in their pockets and the ability to capture images just using their cell phone. Due to the popularity of apps like Instagram that feature filters for images, the average person understands the importance of editing. A photo, after all, is just a depiction of how you see the world and reality at that moment. Editing apps and software help enhance the colors, exposure, and contrast in a scene to yield a more polished image. In this article, we’re discussing three reasons why you’ll want edited photos of your wedding or engagement session. Before we talk about the importance of editing, let’s touch on some of our favorite apps and software for photo editing. Recognizing these app names will help you determine how experienced your photographer is. When shopping around for a wedding photographer keep an eye out for the post-production or photo editing section in their contract or in their bio. This will help you determine whether or not the photographer is going to edit your final images or not. 

Popular Photo Editing Software

• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop
• Capture One Pro

Popular Photo Editing Apps for Mobile Phones

• Lightroom Mobile
• VSCO
• Canva

1. Color Correction and Accurate Skin Tones

When searching for your wedding photographer one of the most important things to look for in their bio or website is whether or not they shoot in RAW. In lamens terms, this means that each file has full flexibility and maximum ability to be edited and manipulated in post-production. The color, exposure, and detail of each photo can be altered depending on your taste. This is important for several reasons:

• to make each scene look as color accurate as possible to depict reality
• to ensure skin tones are accurate and represent the true hue of the individual
• to adjust exposure for darker/brighter scenes, color temperature to depict accurate skin tones, brighten exposure for darker scenes

Pay attention to the differences you can see in the following images. They are before/after edits that showcase just how powerful editing can be. 

2. Quick and Easy Object & Spot Removal

Another important reason why it’s important to ensure that your photographer edits their images is to remove unwanted objects from your photos. Sometimes locations feature bits of trash or distracting elements in the background that you don’t want in your photos. This is a quick edit for a skilled photographer. It can also be beneficial to find an experienced photographer for retouching purposes as well.

Image by Darien Chui.

3. Final Tweaks Made to Finish the Photo

Photography is an art form. Each image is carefully composed, executed, and edited to deliver a final product. Having a photographer that understands the importance of cropping, rotating, and fine-tuning images will make a world of a difference. In addition, photographers can deliver different versions/edits of the photos such as black and white, Photoshopped elements, etc.

You’ll see in the example below that a rather boring sky can be edited into a beautiful sunset. It takes an experienced photographer with years of practice and knowledge to create edits like that.

We hope this article helped enlighten you on the importance of post-production and photo editing. Edited wedding and engagement photos make a huge difference and it’s important to be aware of what to look for when reading through your photographers’ website or shopping around for the right photographer.