That girl on Tiktok & Photography Style

Have you guys seen that lady on TikTok who was disappointed in her wedding photos because of the way they were edited? She’s using her experience as a teaching moment for other brides… and I love it.
She has a series of videos explaining that one of the main things you should ask a potential wedding photographer is what their edits look like in different light. She’s 100% right.

Photographers are taught to curate our social media and aim for consistency. After all, when you hire a photographer, you want to know what you’re getting. Some edit bright and colorful, some are dark and moody, some use more earthy and muted tones. Some have a lot of contrast, some don’t use very much at all. Some photogs specialize in light and airy photos. Some edit with warmer tones, some edit with cooler tones. There’s so much that goes into it, but the end goal is to have a style that is defined — so that when people see your work, even if it’s not labeled with your name, they think “that’s a Sarah Goodwin photo.”

So that’s what we do. We post the photos that blend well so that when you look at our instagram, it’s cohesive. Color tones match, lighting usually matches, shooting style matches… it all should deliver a single, cohesive message.

But what about alllll the other photos that are taken on a wedding day? Is it realistic to assume that every single other photo in a full wedding gallery looks exactly the same as what’s curated on social media?

Not even a little.
Here’s why.

Let’s say you find a photographer who shoots with a light and airy style. Everything is whimsical, and bright, almost dreamlike. Soft, pastel, glowy sunshine. It’s your dream and you want exactly that for your wedding photos.

However, your venue is a dark church -no windows, brown pews, yellow carpet.

No matter how hard that light and airy photographer tries, those final photos from the ceremony in the church will not be the dreamlike pastel cloud glowy images you saw on instagram. Sure, the photographer can do things like raise their ISO and shoot in kelvin to control the temperature (warmth of the photo) to make it cooler to try to match a light and airy style, but at the end of the day, the carpet is still yellow, the pews are still brown, and there is absolutely no natural light coming into the room.

But maybe outside of the church there’s some shade and light pink flowers and a little pond and a cute walkway. The photographer takes you out there in late afternoon and suddenly she’s able to get those glowy, pastel, dreamlike images. What’s different? Mostly the light (natural), but also the environment. When you go back inside for the reception and kill the lights, that photographer’s final edits are going to be darker.

Some photographers (myself included) use what we call “presets” (in lightroom) or “actions” (in photoshop). In a nutshell, these are settings that we can apply to every single photo we take. They help us maintain consistency. I like to think that the ones I use, for example, are really apparent with my greens– my trees and grass are almost always the same shade in every photo. I use presets and actions to hit this consistently with every shoot.

And while I do use these presets and actions on every photo that I take, they do still look different from situation to situation.

And that’s why it’s important to ask a potential photographer what their edits look like in different light.

If you love someone’s style, that is wonderful and you should absolutely follow that to get what you want, but it’s important to be realistic and realize that the style you love does require a specific recipe in order to happen. So if you’re after light and airy photos, look into those photographers but ask them what their work looks like when they shoot in a dark church or reception venue. You should absolutely still hire someone for their overall style, but seeing what their edits look like in different environments and lighting will help set expectations for when you receive your final gallery back.

This bride on tiktok is pretty open about that, saying if she had known that her photographer’s edits would have looked different in a different setting and light she may not have been as surprised when she received her final gallery back.

It’s a lot to consider but every established photographer with a defined style knows what they need in order to maintain that style. My style, for example, is what I’d describe as bright, crisp, colorful images. The key ingredients: sunshine and color.

If you put me in a dark venue with no lights and brown walls, I’m not going to be able to deliver you colorful sun pop images. If it’s overcast outside I can deliver colorful images but they’re going to lack the sun pop. If it’s hazy right before sunset, my edits are going to be a little darker and a little warmer. But if you put me in out in the sunshine in the middle of the day with a couple trees? BOOM. Color pop signature style images.

A few of my different edits are below just for kicks! Hopefully you can tell my tones and colors are somewhat consistent, but there’s no denying that the photos all look slightly different based on the time of day and environment.

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to figure out what style you love, find a few photographers who seem to have that style curated on social media, then ask them to see a few full galleries and edits in different situations – inside, in a dark barn, in a yellow church, in a venue with no lights, in open sun, in hazy sunset, at night. This way you’ll have an idea of what to expect with your final images and there won’t be any surprises…. making a happy couple and a happy photog 🥰

Below left: mid day, open sun

Below right: Hazy sunset