Clients often ask what the difference is between our “proof” images, and our finished images.  And I find it very hard to explain in words, so I’ve decided to post a series of before and after to show the difference.  And we all know a picture is worth a thousand words – so I won’t write too much.

Have a look at this photo – in 3 states: “raw”, “proof” and “finished”.

 

This is what a raw image looks like (“raw” is the camera file format, without any adjustments to the exposure.) The images lack some of the “pop” you get with a typical jpg. When shooting jpg format, the camera makes decisions about how the image should look  – we prefer to control every aspect of the image, so we shoot raw.

 

This is a proof image – as you can see it’s brighter than the raw image, and has a bit more contrast.  I’ve applied some auto-adjustments (in the case of a wedding, I might apply similar adjustments to dozens of images).  Obviously, this image still has a long way to go.

 

And this is a finished image – I’ve enhanced skin tones, balanced the light on the dress, removed stray hairs (and that big bit of grass sticking up), and adjusted overall contrast and clarity.