Hard Editing on Wedding Images

Lately I have been shown a lot of images taken by photographers from all over the world by a few of my students. I was asked about why are these images "overly edited"? Today, a camera manufacturer would launch at least 3 to 9 newdigital camera models (compact, prosumer & DSLR) that comes with added features so that a non-professional able to capture great images.

But when it comes to wedding photography, why "overly edited"? Some clients would say "this is their style of photography", some would say "it creates the mood" and some would say "its just to make the photo looks better".

So which do you prefer? Hard editing or less editing? "Hard editing" images are usually images taken with color but converted to black & white or the color changed to "sepia" mode. Some would look like the poster from "Lord of the Rings". Some will look old and grainy but today, I saw a few images taken by a self-proclaimed professional who have taken wedding photos that were "overly edited". A red color dress became "neon" red colored dress and pink color dress became "neon" colored pink dress. It gives me the creeps as I wonder how can you print these types of photo?

I came from an old school of thought. We use color films like Kodak, Mitsubishi, Agfa or Fujifilm and when I was attached my university newspaper department in the United States, I used Ilford B&W films. We are trained to developed the photo ourselves in the darkroom and during that time, there is no such thing as Photoshop CS3 or CS4, no even Adobe Lightroom to manipulate the images. Today, everything is done with just a "click"! It shows the convenience and many professionals today do not know the basic about photography and has shifted their daily activities into technology-based images whereby "images are cropped" or even "images are manipulated". It defeats the purpose of the "true" photography skills.

What is photography, really? According to Chestofbooks.com, Photography is the art of producing images of objects by the agency of lights. Such images may be made on many different materials by direct contact of the object to be imaged with a sensitive surface; or the image may be projected on the sensitive surface, by the aid of a lens. Of course it touches on the topic about composition, lighting and many other areas to create a great image without computer manipulation.

So, what is the meaning of "digital photography" today? According to www.webopedia.com, once a photograph is in digital format, you can apply a wide variety of special effects to it with image enhancing software. Isn't that simple? Any Tom, Dick & Harry can do that...

There is a new term used by photographer who edits their images. They call it photo "montage". Still, it comes to the same meaning "overly edited" images.

So, what do you call a photographer who capture great images without the aid of computer manipulation? :- professional photographer.

What about a photographer who uses computer to manipulate the colors and making the images from ordinary to extraordinary? :- photo editor.

So, who are you engaging? Professional Photographer or Photo Editor?

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

First and foremost, I would like to give Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Singapore a 7-Star rating instead of 5++ Star. Last weekend during Jerome & Gloria's wedding gave me an eye opening how successful this hotel in Singapore really is and I would highly recommend to anyone who wished to have their wedding reception held in Singapore to make this hotel the highest priority in your list as the wedding reception venue.

I have never compliment a hotel before in my entire wedding photography career and I may say a big thumbs up to them and if I were to go back to Singapore again for weddings, I would love to shoot wedding reception in Mandarin Oriental Hotel again.

Bookings for 2010

Its the Year 2010 and in Chinese Zodiac, this year is THE Year of the Tiger. Many says its not a good year to get married but still, many couples got married every year but being a professional wedding photographer, the only trend I could see is that this year's "good dates" are very few.

I had many wedding date clashes especially on May 29, Sept 18, Nov 13 & 14 and Dec 18. I would advised to all couples to book my services earlier to avoid disappointment. Kindly check my schedule at this LINK and do check my schedule first. Thank you!

Singapore, here I come!

I will be in Singapore end of this week for Jereme & Gloria's wedding at the church followed by luncheon at a 5-star hotel. I will also be using additional camera which I loan from Fujifilm Malaysia to test out their latest Finepix S200EXR camera - the award winning Super CCD EXR sensor. This will also be the 1st Singapore wedding that I will be taking after a lapse of over 10 years since I last shoot a wedding in Singapore.

This wedding will also be the new beginning of a new photography from my work as I will be capturing some interesting portrait shots and my Year 2010 New Year's resolution is getting another 10 international awards to compliment to the already achieved 15 international wedding photography awards in 2009.

For those who wished to book my services, feel free to e-mail me at fotomalaysia@gmail.com or william@mwpstudio.com.

Best of 2009

Another new year, another new challenges. Every year I have a New Year Resolution and with all my heart, all my resolution can be achieved. Sometimes its the faith that we have in God and ourselves and at the same time, it is also the greatest gift given so that I am able to capture wonderful shots for all couples who engages my services.

The Year 2009 has been hectic as usual, as compared to Year 2008. I gone through many challenges, especially taking photo at extremely low light conditions, cramp rooms, unplanned activities and of course, little boys that were trying to grab everyone's attention. I cracked my lens filter due to this and hey, no pain, no gain! Hehe...

Everyone can do wedding photography, including my 5-year old cousin who held a digital compact camera but have you figured out whether your actual wedding day is as important (or more important occasion) as compared to your pre-wedding photography?

Again, Year 2009 is where I build a more solid photography skills. Right now in any condition (wedding ballroom, cramp rooms, badly lit locations that I haven't taken before), I am able to capture consistent images without any problems. Wedding gowns will remain white as it used to be instead of "red" or "orange" colors. Some may call it "mood shots" but in photography terms, we call it "white balance" problems. So if anyone mention about "mood shots", it will be a term that refers to "white balance" problem.

I try to use less "photo editing" in Black & White or Sepia or even any funny colors as I believes that any final products or work given back to client must be in original state. B&W or Sepia can be changed using Photoshop. That is why all my clients get clean copies of the original shots with minor editing.

Once again, thank you all for support My Wedding Photographer Studio / FOTOMALAYSIA and it will be another challenging year ahead for me again in 2010. Below are the selected images which i haven't shown to anyone yet which I took in 2009. I hope all of you enjoyed all the shots I took and wish everyone the best in everything they do. Thank you and God bless...