Is It Magic Or Is It Professional Photo Editing?

So, you just completed a photo shoot with Courtney Hizey Photography and you felt like everything went well. The lighting was perfect, the weather beautiful, your families outfits were exactly as you imagined and now begins the waiting game for your edited images. Checking your email daily, waiting on Facebook for that first sneak peak and wondering, "what is Courtney doing behind the scenes to make our photographs perfect?" Great question!!

After your session with Courtney Hizey Photography, your images are backed up onto an external hard drive for safe keeping and editing. On average, it takes me about 14 business days to edit a full session and during the busy season, it can take a bit longer. A lot of clients opt for a "sneak peek" on Facebook, allowing you to see some exciting first images before I'm finished editing the whole sessions. Usually, I release these within 4-6 business days and it gives you, your family, and friends a great idea of what else is to come!

SO, what exactly are we doing during this time that takes so long? Well, we are a busy, full-time photography studio and we have a workflow for every session that we shoot. Your session could be the 6th one in line before we start editing and while I try to work as much as possible it is a lengthy process to make sure each and every session I shoot and edit are perfect! 

Between the day of your session and the day you get your full, edited gallery back we are shooting other weddings, family sessions, and mini-shoots, editing other sessions, answering emails, posting all those sneak peeks to social media (so you can show off to all your friends), meeting with clients, marketing our latest events and specials, going to the post office frequently, and uploading files! And let me tell ya, those files for each session that we upload and back up are NOT small! 

As a professional photographer, we shoot in the RAW. If you are wondering, "what the heck is RAW?" they are very large files that are considered the creme de la creme of image files. RAW files do not compress the file like traditional jpegs you are used to, they hold all the info and images for editing. When I am finished with each session I work hard to convert the RAW files to a jpeg to send them off to you! 

A lot of people wonder why a professional photographer is so much better and why we are "worth" the money we charge. Let me show you below! When I photograph a session I like to think (with my knowledge and expertise) I can get perfect shots straight out of the camera with minimal editing but, that isn't always the case when your camera has a glitch. Sometimes I am clicking the shutter button so fast that the flash can't keep up and therefore, it doesn't go off. 

This is what happened in the picture below (on the left). I was doing a bunch of test shots while this little munchkin was taking a feeding break. The flash didn't go off so to the naked eye, the shot was ruined. But, as a professional photographer using RAW, a "ruined" shot can be saved and I was able to use my professional photo editing skills that I have trained so hard to provide families with the perfect shot. 

You are probably wondering why we can't just edit a Jpeg image the same way. Simply put, no we can't because it's a different type of file. This image below is the exact same one as above left, only it is jpeg , edited the same exact way as the RAW.  See the difference that professional photo editing and the use of RAW can make?! 

Imagine that was your first kiss on your wedding day, the money shot of your one-year-old during their cake smash, or the perfect family photo with your wild and crazy kids. Utilizing the best equipment and software available, Courtney Hizey Photography is able to ensure that you get the best-edited photographs possible!