Retouching by Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers

Any time I can find a few hours to experiment with new concepts for wedding photography, I take it! So I called up a friend of mine while it was still warm at the end of summer and we headed to the West End Overlook in Pittsburgh to try out some ideas I’ve been kicking around. This is a great way to keep things fresh and also to work out what is actually realistic on a wedding day. Amanda is a great sport and a lovely lady so she didn’t mind if I shared her photos before and after retouching.

There are a couple of factors in this first image. I love walking shots of brides and grooms, but this shady walk has splotchy patches of light passing through the leaves. I used off-camera light at a low level because I didn’t want to blast her with light and loose the pretty light pattern from the trees, but I wanted some even light on her face. My first job is to make Amanda pop out of the scene but in a natural way. Sure it helps to have an off-camera light, but there’s only so much you can do when the subject is walking and the light is stationary. On the wedding day, this problem is resolved with a second shooter who can assist with lighting in tricky settings. So here’s the before:

Notice the tan lines. That is par for the course during summer weddings in Pittsburgh.

And here’s the after:

Her tan lines are gone and her skin-tone is even. This is a beautiful thing on a scorching hot day when it’s easy to get flushed in the heat.

Ok, so the sun has gone down, but it’s still hot and we’re both sweating at this point. Here’s the before:

And here’s the after:

Now she looks like she’s had a chance to run to the powder room and freshen up. On a wedding day, you don’t always have that opportunity.

Next up, the before:

I really love this one, but I’ll just take away some shine, bring more attention to her eyes, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

Here’s the after:

Ok, one more from this series in the test shoot. Here’s the before:

Gene Yuger of Photorise Photography joined me for this test shoot and after scouting a bit in the city, we found a great location on the rooftop of this parking garage. Thanks Gene!

And here’s the after:

This retouch is subtle and that’s really the key to retouching. It is a shame when retouching somehow changes a person’s appearance beyond recognition. Retouching is better employed to help someone look their best, despite the conditions whether they be a blemish on the wedding day, stray hairs, tan lines, or some minor adjustments to make the eyes twinkle. While Photoshop has been around for two decades now, it’s not possible to just pick up the software and get realistic results. It takes training and experience to get these types of results and that is one of the things you should consider when choosing a wedding photographer.

All of the images that go into wedding albums by Captivating Imagery are carefully retouched so that the story of your wedding day can be told in the most elegant of ways.