Hopefully you can never tell! Then it's definitely GREAT retouching. That's if it's been done at all. Has it? Nah doesn't look like it. Maybe... Who knows.
The wedding shoot went really well. It was 11 hours of HARD work though - from arriving at the brides house at 7:30am right through to leaving the reception at 6:30pm. Exhausting and my eyes were very, very tired at the end of it all. I think the main thing about weddings is that you just have to shoot everything, and what may look like a silly shot to onlookers could well turn into one of the best shots. Photography isn't at all about just setting up and taking the photo anymore - there's soooo much more into it post-shoot. Most professional photographers these days have fully embraced the digital world, and that includes the post-shot work - it's all just part of getting that perfect shot I think.
I'd say not a lot of people want to show the retouching performed on a photo, it's usually about presenting your finished product and everybody sighing and wowing in appreciation. Well I like that too - who doesn't?! But I just wanted to post some of the before and afters of this shoot. Some of it isn't that much, some may just be getting rid of a few distractions in the background. Some is huge which involves opening eyes that are closed, making a bride smile when she wasn't, replacing a whole face cause who knows what they were doing when I took the shot!
Oh don't get me wrong I don't retouch every photo I take, usually it's just slight colour correction. But these are probably the most important photos the couple will ever get, so wedding photography is quite a stressful thing - the bride and groom put so much into their day, they're planning it for months and the expense is huge - it's the most important day of their lives. The photos are all that's left for the rest of their lives to remember it by. And there is only one chance to get it right - that's a fuck of a lot of pressure on the photographer! There can't be a re-shoot. So I'm spending a lot of time on the photos making sure that the bride and groom will be thrilled when they seem them. Well I hope anyway! LOL Just decided to post a few - by no means am I nearly through processing the 1500 photos taken! Then it's album design and once that's gone to print there's the video editing and DVD production. GULP!
The last two photos have been extensively retouched. Can ya tell what's been done? Have a guess if you think you can see it.
