Watch video: Create Amazing Wedding Photos
Start with a Camera RAW
This tutorial will be conducted using a RAW image. If you’re shooting a wedding you just have to shoot in RAW. Well, you do if you wish to deliver the utmost in quality. Drag your RAW image into Photoshop and the Camera RAW editor will automatically open. NOTE: Everything I do in this tutorial is specific to this image. To learn more about why I’m doing what I’m doing, check out the video tutorial where I talk about the “why” of what I’m doing, as well as the “how”.
Setting the White Balance
I want to start by adjusting the color temperature. This photo is a little warm so I want to cool it down and give a bit of the dramatic dance floor scene that was at this wedding. I set the Temperature to: “3500K” and the Tint to: “+5”.
Bumping Exposure, Contrast, and more
Next bump the exposure by adjusting the Exposure to: +1.80, the Contrast to: +20, the Highlights to: +10, the Shadows to: +25, the Whites to +10, and the Blacks to +25. This is all based on how I’m feeling about the photo as I begin dragging sliders and readjusting.
Vibrance, vibrance, vibrance
The next step is to kick some vibrance in there by increasing the Vibrance to: +15.
Learning the Tone Curve
Jump over to the Tone Curve tab and choose the “Point” tab so you can work with the actual curve line as I am. Click to add points and simple drag and tear away to get rid of a point. Add points and drag your curve as I have in my screenshot. I explain more in the video.
The Red Channel
Next, choose “Red” from the channel drop down menu. Adjust the curve as I have in the screenshot.
The Green Channel
Then choose “Green” from the channel drop down menu. Again, adjust the curve as I have in my screenshot.
The Blue Channel
After that, choose “Blue” from the channel drop down menu. Adjust your curve as I have in the screenshot.
Cleaning up the Color
Next, go to the HSL/Grayscale tab and we’ll work in the “Hue” tab to begin with. Shift the hue of individual colors as I have in my screenshot. My settings are: Reds: +25, Oranges: +15, Yellows: -15, Greens: 0, Aquas: 0, Blues: +30, Purples: -15, Magentas: +30.
Tweaking the Saturation
There is a ton of blue and purple in this photo so let’s back off those colors in the Saturation tab. Adjust your settings as I have. Reds-Greens: 0, Aquas: -30, Blues: -45, Purples: -45, Magentas: -30.
Colorize the Highlights and Shadows
Now, with the Split Toning tab, we can introduce some colors that we like back to the highlights and shadows of our photo. For the highlights, I chose a tone of “210” at a saturation of “15” and then for the shadows, I chose a tone of “330” and a saturation of “10”.
Add “Bigness” With Lens Correction
Go over to the Lens Correction tab and tick on the “Enable Lens Profile Corrections” and Camera RAW should automatically figure out which lens you used to shoot the photo and give a nice auto adjustment. Feel free to tinker with the settings until you get something you love.
Sharpening is a MUST
Last, but not least, we’ll head over to the sharpening tab and add some sharpening until the image looks pleasing. Choose “Open Image” to bring the photo into Photoshop and perform a few final adjustments, or just save the photo and that’s it. Boom!
Final Image
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