Sometimes it is hard to see what is involved exactly in the work of the photographer when doing a wedding. Often it seems as though he or she is there for a few hours on the day itself but there is much more involved.
There are meetings beforehand, investigation required on the venue (good areas for photos on the day), a pre-wedding portrait session if wanted, coverage on the day and hours spent at the PC afterwards, taking care of the post processing on the wedding photos. Then the couple come round to view their photos and time is spent on designing the album.
Here are some examples of the way I have post processed some wedding photos at Taplow House - a 'before and after' situation. The first photo in each example is the standard, colour corrected image and the second photo (underneath) is where time has been spent creating more of an art image.
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Can you see that the first 'BEFORE' confetti shot above is just normal colour but the second further enhanced shot has a more vibrant feel, with colours brought out a lot more and a slight vignetting around the edge, bringing the eye into the image a little more?
The abvove rather fun shot shows the BEFORE in full colour, which looks good anyway. When enhanced to show a bit of black and white with spot colour in the further edited 'AFTER' shot it gives the impression of the bridesmaids holding up an actual picture of the Bride and Groom!
Here are some other shots that have been enhanced with different effects, like sepia, black and white and a kind of golden glow. I am also able to use my Photoshop skills to move eyes across from one photo to another if one person in a group, for instance, is OK with eyes open on one shot but not another. This is normally feasible if there is another shot with that person looking towards a similar direction. That is why I tend to take a couple of shots when I can since people can't help blinking occasionally!
I must stress that not all photos are specifically enhanced like this and, on most of them, I just make sure they look correct exposure-wise etc. if the light suddenly changed when having to grab a quicker photo for instance. If you tend to prefer no particular added enhancements, with just some in colour and others black and white then I am happy to do that. Some people like the brighter green look of the grass and general brightness in the photos and others maybe a bit less saturated as that gives a different feel again. Let me know your preferences at an appointment when looking throught the examples from countless weddings I have photographed.
