How Important is Your Color Scheme for Your Wedding?
Time to go back to school with a color wheel and keep your wedding colors from being compromised by an “aesthetic”.
Not too long ago on Reddit, I saw this bride’s post in the subreddit r/WeddingPhotography:
We hired a wedding photographer and upon getting our sneak peek gallery we’re quite unhappy as all of the carefully selected colours had been altered dramatically.
I have 3 different bridesmaids dress colours in an ombré effect, light pink, medium dusty mauve / pink, and a burgundy / wine colour. The fellows were all wearing blue suits (not even really navy) with brown ties and belts.
In the sneak peek gallery the burgundy coloured dress and the suits turned black. The brown shoes also showed up black.
We wrote back to her requesting that the colours be more true to tone (specifically mentioning the burgundy dress and the blue suits). Her response was essentially that she has developed an editing style that reflects the aesthetic that she wants to capture, and the way she wants her images to look. She referenced our contract, and that she would use “reasonable efforts to incorporate our suggestions and desires” but that at the end of the day she has the artistic license to edit to her personal style, which is not unique to each client.
Now, this subreddit is geared more towards actual wedding photographers, not the end consumer, so a number responded by asking “Did you see her portfolio before you booked her?” In short, caveat emptor - let the buyer beware. Responses like this seemed to imply, “Look, you saw her portfolio and her ‘style’ and that is what you got, so why are you complaining?”
Now, I am guessing that the bride’s wording - “she has developed an editing style that reflects the aesthetic that she wants to capture” - was taken from the photographer’s response. I have no doubt that the photographer’s “aesthetic” was clearly seen in her portfolio. And based upon the bride’s description of what she saw in the sneak peek, I am also going to wager that this aesthetic is one that is a popular tred right now - the “dark and moody” style in photo editing.
Let me give you a little primer in photo editing.
When a wedding photographer offloads all of the images from their memory cards, after hopefully backing up the files, is to edit them. That means they are going to make changes to exposure, contrast, and color to bring them to a point that satisfies the photographer, whether they are going for a more natural look or that “editing style” that they consider their “look.” Some photographers start the process by using what are called presets. Think of them as being very much like the filters you can apply to your photos if, say, you are posting them on Instagram. Presets are pre-packaged styles that programs like Adobe’s Lightroom can allow you to apply to a photo with the click of a button - with that one click, the various controls that change exposure, contrast, and color are modified to reflect the preset’s style. That is not a bad thing. Indeed, it can save a photographer time and give them a starting point for editing their photos. The problem though, as I see it, is that a photographer falls in love with the style of a particular style of a preset and wants all of their pictures to look that way. Everything will be dark and moody. Or everything will be light and airy. My criticism for that is that different weddings have different vibes. Personally, I got for a more natural look but . . . you do you, boo.
So let’s say the bride posting in Reddit had reviewed the photographer’s portfolio and saw a style that she liked. Now, let me suggest this: if I were to go up to the person on the street and ask, “Quick - what are the three primary colors?” what sort of answers do you think I would get? I would not be surprised if I heard an answer like, “Um, I don’t know . . . black, white, and, uh, maybe red?” The answer is red, blue, and yellow. If you remember your color wheel from grade school, you learned that mixing these three colors in various methods produced all the other colors. Red + blue = purple. Red + yellow = orange. Blue + yellow = green. In short, colors do not exist solely by themselves. They sort of carry the “DNA,” if you will, of other colors. But this means is that affecting one color may well have a noticeable effect on other colors.
Remember those presets? Unfortunately, I too often see a person apply them but not understand what controls in Lightroom have been effected. All they know is that Preset A is used to make a style called, oh, I don’t know, “Boho Glow,” or “Bryce Canyon,” or “London Vibe.” Yeah, they tend to be named like paint colors or subdivision names. And that is their style and chances are their style reflects a current trend in photography.
But going back to our hapless bride on Reddit, let’s say her photographer used a preset or even just copied the look of one because all the cool kids are doing it - right now, there is a trend where greens get very desaturated and skin tones are considerably warmed. The bride sees the portfolio and she likes the style. However, that bride has no idea what the colors looked like originally in the photos that the photographer used on her website or social media. She cannot see how the photographer’s aesthetic affects the colors. And unless the bride is clued into the world of colors and how they interact, while she sees foliage that appears desaturated she likely has no idea what that means for her bridesmaids’ dresses or the guys’ suits. And so she gets a sneak peek where “the burgundy coloured dress and the suits turned black.”
Let’s look at three examples of images (these are all purchased from Shutterstock so it is stock photos with a use license) and applying the current “trend.”
In this example, greens are desaturated and their luminance (lightness) brought down to make the folks pop against the background, but orange and yellow is tweaked to make “creamy” skin tones. The white balance has increased because warmer tones are felt to be more desirable. The changes, however, turned the bridesmaids dresses to silver and the mens’ suits are darkened.
I tend to see this look a lot where greens are again gone and skin tones made very warm, and contrast is boosted. I am not a fan of green foliage in bright sun because it empathizes the yellow; I prefer greens on an overcast day, especially after a rain when they appear more lush. But we cannot control the weather so while I might tone down the yellow a touch, I still prefer to see it as natural as possible. In this case, desaturating the greens has made it drab and the skin tones look as if the wedding party used a cheap tanning spray.
The reds have been made to appear “deeper” to pop against warm and creamy skin tones but the change in hue, saturation, and color for red has made it too dark. It is a very dramatic look, to be sure, but not one that is right for the bride.
The takeaway here is that when choosing a wedding photographer, look for good lighting and posing, of course. But while you are considering the style, look at the ambient colors and things you would expect to be a certain color, such as foliage, sunflowers, a watermelon (inside and out). If you have carefully selected colors for your decor, your flowers, or the wedding party’s clothing, talk to a prospective photographer and ask how they would render those colors as you see them.