Light, composition and camera technique are essential ingredients in making a great photo. But in today's digital age there's another crucial element that happens after the photo is taken - post production.
This is the digital equivalent of developing a negative. Instead of choosing a film type to render the desired colour, tone and contrast the digital photographer now has to make these decisions in post production.
Most pro photographers shoot in RAW because this format contains a huge amount of data which provides a blank canvas for the photographer to develop the digital negative to their taste.
The typical digital production workflow goes something like this: after importing the RAW files into LightRoom go through the process of selecting keepers and trashing the duds, then onto the post production phase. Make basic edits which include tweaking white balance, exposure and contrast. Hopefully there's not too much to do here as you should try as hard as you can to get the settings right in camera. Having the correct white balance preset and exposure saves SO much time in post production.
After these adjustments are done, export the files as jpgs and take them into Photoshop for further refinements and batch processing. This includes retouching, which should be kept to a minimum. There's a big difference between the way the picture looks straight out of the camera and when you finished processing it. However always be very careful to keep everything looking natural and make sure that retouching is subtle. Over-processed pictures can look fake, especially if skin is softened too much or the colour of eyes is enhanced beyond what looks normal. Pick up any glossy magazine and you'll find examples of models whose skin has been airbrushed so much that it looks unnatural and almost plastic. Teeth are pearly white and eyes pop with colour. This look works well for glamorous fashion photography but looks ridiculous in wedding photography.
The final process before delivering the images to the client is to sharpen the picture for output. The amount of sharpening depends on end media. Printing a large canvas will require more sharpening than a small print. Reducing a file in size for use on the web also has the effect of softening it considerably so these files need quite a bit of sharpening.
Wedding photographers have a huge number of files to manage and process over the course of a year, so anything that reduces the amount of time sat in front of the computer is very welcome. That's why so many professional photographers use LightRoom. It makes cataloguing and organising pictures a breeze. You should always be looking to improve your workflow so trying some new software to see if speeds up the process.
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