So excited to share some Culling and Organizing Tips with you all! I so wish this adorable little girl could cull, organize and edit our photos but until then, I’ll do the hard work while she watches Mickey next to me! We have come up with some awesome ways to cut down on our time of culling but I can still remember when we shot jpeg and we put all the photos into folder and sorted each photo one by one and edited each photo ONE BY ONE in photoshop. All my photographer friends and design friends are cringing because you know how much time was put into those photos! So for those weddings we shot the first few years, you’re welcome. When I took this photo of Molly she said to me “Look, I’m working like Mommy!”. I have to be honest, I was a little heartbroken. I argued with my heart that I was a photographer not a slave to the desk! Well, that was brutal honesty from my kid right there. Thankfully in the last year things have changed drastically and that is because our process changed! We take every wedding so seriously and we’re just so honored that couples has trusted us to shoot their wedding and deliver their memories. Sometimes saying something like that sounds cheesy but its so true. So here is our exclusive process of what we do right after a wedding!!

1. Download our Cards. Obviously.

2. Organize Photos. We love organizing our photos into folders labeled- Pre-Ceremony, Ceremony, Family, Wedding Party, Bride & Groom, Details & Reception. I feel that its overwhelming if a couple was to just open up a folder of almost a thousand photos so I like them to be organized. Before each wedding Coty makes sure our cameras are synced which will make organizing even faster. Everything is sorted by capture time and put into their designated folder. While doing this, you’ll get a feel for how many photos you have and what kind of time you’re going to be putting into editing. We take care of each individual photo so this process means a lot to us. If we don’t start the culling the day we download the cards, we will back up the originals on an external drive. If everything is done in one day we won’t back up the originals until after they are culled!

3. CULL. In my own personal world I say sort not cull. I don’t like the word cull because it makes me sound like a seagull…am I right?! We discovered Photo Mechanic a while back and I kid you not, this has saved us HOURS of sorting time! If you want to take your life back and maybe actually spend time with friends or family once in a while… get Photo Mechanic. I had seen some photographers suggest this and since we were shooting raw, we thought we would try it out. I swear I heard angels singing the first time we used it to sort through photos… it was glorious! I have had several photographers suggest to start with the reception and work you way back but we prefer to start at the beginning. I like to see how the day unfolded and its a great time to look at each photo, pick our favorites for the blog and get excited to edit! 

4. Back up. After we’ve sorted the photos we back up the original files. We always keep our original files on an external drive. We back up several times but this is when we back up originals.  If we don’t start the culling the day we download the cards, we will back up the originals on an external drive. If everything is done in one day we won’t back up the originals until after they are culled! We prefer to keep the original files of just the images that will be edited rather than EVERY photo we took. No need to keep a photo of peoples eyes closed.

5. Let the magic of editing begin. Coty does all our editing but I obviously have my creative eye involved as much as I want. Since we have been shooting film & digital we sometimes wait until our film is in to get editing. There is not one photo that goes untouched but we do not over edit. We love that we have a classic yet romantic style to our photographs so we want to edit to perfection but keeping the essence of the photo in tact. We don’t use crazy filters, lens enhancements or anything like that, I feel like our clients can look back in 10 years and still love their photographs. They are relevant yet time-honored.

7. Back Up Again! After editing is finished we then back up the finished images in two external drives. One for me one for Coty.

I feel like we are constantly trying to find a balance in our busy life. We haven’t quite figured that out yet so if anyone has it figured out, they need to share it now. To be honest, we love our life. We love spending time with our kids, hanging out with friends, going on dates and just living life. We can’t really do much of that if we’re stuck behind a computer all day. I’d love to think its just shooting beautiful photos and that is it but its not. There is so much more to this business and little tips like this has helped us tremendously!

Stay tuned for a look into our new packaging. I’m obsessed with how its turned out and I cannot wait to rave over the amazing creatives we went through to achieve our look!