b&w love

When it comes to editing photos, I'm definitely not an expert. My editing knowledge comes from a combination of (1) a basic knowledge of photoshop, (2) tutorials, tips, and tricks that I've learned from other photographers, and (3) what I think looks good, based on my personal style preferences. It's a tricky business, this photo editing stuff, mostly because I don't really want my pictures to look very "edited" at all. (Over-editing was a mistake I used to make, and sometimes still do -- yikes.) I learn as I go, and tweak things along the way.

All that to say, I wanted to show you a few behind the scenes edits that I did recently to Matt and Liz's wedding -- and in the case of these photos, I want to show you the power of black and white to capture a moment. Let me preface all of this by saying {again} that I don't consider myself an expert in any way -- I'm just showing you what works for me :)

Also, nearly every picture that I'm highlighting below was taken by my second shooter at Matt and Liz's wedding -- my sister, Anna. {She takes rockin' pictures, doncha think?!} Since a second shooter often captures the more "photojournalistic" moments of a wedding day, I think they often lend themselves well to black and white conversion. Ok, here we go:

First up: a picture of Liz and her dad, walking down the aisle. Here's the straight-out-of-camera {SOOC} shot...

...and here's the B&W conversion. I chose B&W for this because your eyes are now first drawn to the facial expressions of Liz and her dad {which are priceless, don't you think?}, rather than to the peach-colored wall in the background. No offense, peach colored wall...

Next up: a sweet expression on the maid-of-honor's face during the ceremony. Here's the SOOC shot.

...and here's the B&W conversion.

This next one is my shot -- I took two versions of it, and did one in color and one in B&W. Here's the one I chose for the B&W conversion, SOOC:


...and here's the B&W. I like how all of the sudden, Liz's dress is like BAM! the first thing that catches your eye.

And lastly, here's a shot Anna took at the reception, right after the father-daughter dance. {Side note: at the reception, there were these beautiful pink spotlights illuminating the walls. They made for some awesome pictures, and some awfully-color-balanced shots. B&W conversion helped a bit to beat the system!}

SOOC:

...and B&W:

Many times, I've converted a shot to B&W, only to convert it right back to color -- if a photo is too "busy," with too many patterns or distracting elements, B&W will lend more confusion than clarity to a shot. But, when it's used correctly, B&W can be pretty rockin' awesome ;)

P.S. One technique I learned from this incredible photographer duo is that, once you convert your photo to B&W, adding a small touch of sepia tone to the photo makes it a softer, gentler B&W. And, you know, we're all about soft and gentle B&W's around here...

;)