3 Reasons Accurate In-Camera Images Matter

About a year ago, we realized we had a problem. Actually we had a lot of problems! We weren’t keeping our images consistent from session to session, we were spending an absorbent amount of time editing, we weren’t proud of our images the way we wanted to be. The list goes on!

But then we had a revelation! Well, more of a discovery, really.

We stepped back to look at the bigger picture as we realized there was a bigger problem we hadn’t noticed yet. In fact, this problem was causing ALL of these other problems! If we could solve this one thing, we could solve 5 or 6 problems at once!!! What was the problem?

We weren’t getting accurate images in-camera. That’s it.

Not even close.

In a day and age where technology is so advanced it makes just about anything possible, we had gotten lazy. We knew we could rely on our software to bail us out and fix our images in post-production. We had the “You can fix anything in _______ (insert favorite editing program)” attitude. But unfortunately, we were wrong.

We learned the hard way, but after spending waaaay too long editing and waaaay too many hours wondering why we couldn’t get our images consistent, we have spent the last year finding out what we had been missing the whole time! We started using a tool called the Expodisc. It’s a $50 tool that will save you thousands of minutes of time and hours of headache. See the image below of Ryan getting his settings with the Expodisc! Although this post is not about the Expodisc specifically, you should look it up and start using it today!

Getting our images accurate in-camera has changed our life. If you’re not convinced yet, here’s 3 reasons why getting your images right in your camera is SOOO important!

1. It Gives You Your Life Back

We put this one first because it’s probably the most important reason on the list! Guys, getting our images right in-camera has saved. our. lives. That’s not even an exaggeration!!! We used to spend hours and hours editing our images, trying to get them perfect. We still spend a lot of time editing, but now it’s about 1/4 the time we used to spend. That’s 1/4!!! Can you imagine what we can do with all of that time?

Spending less time editing allows us to spend more time doing the important things in life. We spend so much more time away from the computer, taking walks, enjoying life. We also get to spend more time loving on our wonderful couples. We get to stay longer at their engagement sessions just talking and getting know them without thinking about all of the work we have waiting for us at home. Don’t get us wrong, we have tons of work to do! But, we get to spend more time doing the things we enjoy instead of sitting in front of a computer. How great is that?!

The other advantage it gives us is the ability to accept more weddings! We are able to cut the number of editing hours per wedding, which then gives us the ability to take more onto our plates!

2. It Keeps The Integrity Of Your Images

Like we said, we live in an amazing age of technology. Virtually anything is possible! The first problem with that is the time it takes to make anything possible. Yes, you can fix almost any mistake you made while shooting, but how much of your life do you have to give up to do so?

But another problem with the “technology will save me” attitude is that…well…sometimes technology can’t save you. We use an editing program called Lightroom. Lightroom is absolutely powerful! It is incredible! But when you pull an image into Lightroom, there are limitations. If you shoot an image 3 stops underexposed or 3 stops overexposed, good luck recovering that image. You can make it an acceptable image, but is it an image you will be proud of? Most likely not. If you shoot an image with the color way off, you may not be able to recover that color in Lightroom. Why take the chance? Why not just get it right when you shoot it?

3. It Helps You Stay Consistent

Just over a year ago, when we started this journey of getting our images accurate, we were all over the place! We would compare sessions that took place 3 months apart and cringe at the lack of consistency to our work.

But when we started putting the time and effort into getting images accurate as we were shooting, our work suddenly took a giant leap forward! Here’s why. When we pulled our images into Lightroom, whether it was a wedding we had just shot or an engagement session we had just gotten back from, those images were already 80% of the way to where we wanted them to be. When we shot our images in auto, they were nowhere near their final edit. Because we learned to get our images accurate in-camera, we were able to keep them much more consistent!

Take a look at this lineup of images. The first image is taken with our camera’s white balance in auto. We were controlling the exposure, but the white balance was all done by the camera itself. The second image is our image straight from the camera using the Expodisc. In other words, we didn’t edit this photo at all. This is what we pull straight into Lightroom with no edits. The third image is our final edit. The Expodisc shoots a little warm for our tastes but it gives us a really good starting point! Can you see much closer to the final edit the second image is than the first image? That, friends, is an editing lifesaver!

For us, editing has become more about correcting the tiny details than drastically editing an image to get it correct. Our goal is simple: we want people who see our work to be able to look at a series of images and know which one is ours right away. That’s not an easy task, but when we are getting images correct the first time, we are already one step closer to achieving that goal!

BONUS: It Helps Us Keep Our Couples Comfortable

We couldn’t let you go without sharing this super bonus reason!

One of the things we do to get our couples comfortable in front of the camera early on in the session is to show them a peek or two in real time of what we’re capturing. This is huge! And because we are shooting our images correctly in-camera, the images they are seeing will be very close to the final edit!

We can be confident showing our couples images because we get it right the first time. Perfect? No. But very close to what we want ultimately. You can’t put a price on that feeling, guys.

So those are our 3 reasons for getting accurate in-camera images! If this is something you struggle with, we truly suggest trying the Expodisc! You can read more about it here. And you can buy it here. If you need any advice or if we can help you in any way, let us know! Have a wonderful day!