I have had a few clients express confusion and one client express anger at the fact that they have to wait 12 weeks for their wedding gallery. I want my clients to be fully informed and not be frustrated with the process so I’ve decided to write this blog post so that current and future clients have a place to go to be informed. The last thing that I want is unhappy clients!
If you plan your wedding in the off season or beginning of the busy season you usually get your images within 2-3 weeks. Once the busy season hits I A. can’t edit as much because I’m shooting Friday, Saturday and Sunday weddings so at times I take 1 weekday off to get things done around the house, pay bills…..you know things people do on days off 😀 Usually I am working 7 days a week from July-October.
This year in 2014 wedding season my team and I will have shot 75 weddings. So while it doesn’t actually take 60-90 days to edit your images there are potentially 25-30 weddings ahead of you that haven’t been edited yet. It takes me approximately 8 hours to edit a full wedding, upload to the gallery and get the usb prepared. So if I have an entire day with no sessions the most I can get done is 1 wedding.
Many photographers do things differently. I am the type that “touches” every image that you receive so that varies from 300-1500 images or more depending on the wedding. I shoot RAW which means that the camera doesn’t enhance the image at all it is completely up to me to create what it will look like. The color balance, the contrast, sharpness, exposure and more. Some photographers give you the images straight out of the camera…….I am sure they can give galleries the next day or the next week because all it requires is uploading. That is their business and how they operate. This is mine, so when you hire me I want you to know what you are paying for and why it takes time.
Here are some before and after editing examples.
The first image is beautiful but once I enhance it she just glows more and I have cropped the distracting elements out of the image.
Grass tends to look blue in images before it’s been enhanced. By enhancing the green is green and the light just glows more.
Family formals are so important. Life is short and changes in an instant and capturing current photos of the ones you love is very important. The first image is pretty but the second just has more life.
Churches can be terrible to photograph in. During the ceremony we aren’t allowed to use our flash 99% of the time. We generally get an orange or green glow on people. Without further enhancing the images do not represent what our eyes were seeing that day.
I hope that this visual representation helps all of my current and future couples understand the long wait time. I greatly appreciate your patience and I want you to know I put a great deal of time and heart into your pictures.
