What is the difference between editing, enhancing and retouching?

Editing

Over the course of an event, we photograph a lot of images! For example, a wedding may have 3,000 images, including many amazing photos. There will also be different exposures, angles, lighting, etc. This is because we are being creative, and making adjustments while thinking on our feet. We are also working to provide lots of coverage.

Although there will be definite standouts, we do very little removal of photos (editing), as we feel you should have everything. This is because there may be images that resonate with you for any number of reasons. For example, there may be a friend or relative included in a specific photo that is especially meaningful to you. Even if there are other images in the series with better composition or smiles, we will still include that photo in our deliverables. That way, you have the photo for life. You can always select out your favorites, and return to those most often, but we believe you should at least have all the moments captured. You never know which image will have impact years down the road.

Enhancement

Enhancement of a picture is basically the stylizing of the image. Our package include basic enhancement to all images, which involves adjustments to color and contrast. We also hand-select our most favorite images to undergo premium enhancement. This involves meticulous fine-tuning, such as boosting the colors of the image, to create the mood and feel of the photo. This premium enhancement to our favorites is included as part of our process and included in the packages. You will also have the opportunity to select your own favorites for premium enhancement. That way, we are able to devote extra effort and attention to the images you will enjoy most!

Retouching

Retouching is adding or taking away something from the image that didn't exist. It is included in many cases, such as in our Photographers Favorites, premium digital files, fine art prints, and wedding albums. All retouching is done at the discretion our studio. When retouching is included, we focus on a few small improvements that will benefit the image, while preserving the original composition. For example, taking a blemish away, cleaning up flyaway hairs, eliminating distractions, or slightly thinning out arms or legs. These are the types of retouching that may be done as part of our normal retouch process.

Custom Retouching

When the work involves creating a composition that didn't exist in real life, it becomes much more labor intensive. So for specific post-production requests, or retouching beyond our normal process, there is an extra fee. For example, removing people, adding a smile from one photo to another, or taking away large objects. These kinds of requests involve rebuilding or drawing in parts of the image by the digital artist. It is a very meticulous process.

The approach taken with the retouch completely depends on the complexity of the image. Most clients typically ask for very little retouching because so much of the feel gets accomplished within the included enhancement. When there is a custom request, our studio is very efficient, and can typically get a lot of retouching done to images within a smaller amount of time.