If you know me well, or heck, if you know me a little, you've probably heard me whine and complain about our horrible wedding photographer. A year and a month after our wedding, I may have finally been appeased as far as my wedding pictures go.
The one picture I wanted more than anything was our sword arch picture. I didn't care about anything else in the wedding. I just wanted the sword arch (and yellow daises). So of course, we ended up with the world's worst wedding photographer who scoffed at Mr. V when Mr. V made a suggestion. The photographer was trying to set up the sword arch looking INTO the sun. I'm far from being a professional photographer, but even I could have told you that the sun should be behind the camera, not in front of it. However, when Mr. V pointed this out, the photographer made some obnoxious comment like "I KNOW what I'm doing." Well...no she didn't. Our picture came out horrible. (and it should be noted that the picture was taken in a courtyard with 4 identical sides, so turning us around in the other direction should not have been an issue.)The one picture I wanted more than anything was the worst looking picture of them all. The entire sword arch is in a giant shadow (which shouldn't have surprised me, but it was still upsetting to see). I tried lightening the picture on my own. I tried going to a professional camera store to see if they could lighten the shadow. But nothing worked. All that lightening it did was lighten the entire picture. So the front of the picture and the sword arch looked a little better, but in contrast to the background, it still looked bad. The entire picture was lighter, but the shadow was still there.
I finally spent some time googling photo restoration companies and I came acorss Yesteryear Memories. I have been emailing back and forth with "Bob" from the company and he may have just solved what I consider to be a problem, with my picture. I wanted to know if there was a way to basically repaint the picture to remove the shadow. There is, but that would make the picture look weird, according to Bob, because the sunlight is already in the background and removing the shadow completely would take away the natural feel and the natural shadows of the picture. He told me he could remove the shadow 90% from the people, to make the people look normal, while leaving the shadow on the ground (removing it slightly though).
I had 2 pictures that I have been having a problem deciding between and Bob solved that problem too. Picture #1 is the better one in general, in my opinion, because all of the sword bearers are facing in the same direction. Picture #2 looks better because Mr. V and me are closer to the front of the arch and its slightly lighter than the first one, but the guy in the front has his head turned towards the camera.
Meanwhile, both pictures look horrible because of the awful shadow. Bob has been very patient with me as I repeatedly ask questions about how the completed photo will turn out. Today he sent me an example to look at it. Its half of the picture (I guess so I can't steal the whole thing) but I think you can see the difference. Bob even went above and beyond what I originally asked him to do, which now makes me love this company! I sent him both of these pictures. In his opinion, the second picture is better, because Mr. V and I are closer to the front of the arch. However, he pointed out the guy facing the camera, which I hadn't noticed at first. Once he pointed it out, I noticed it and didn't like it. So I asked him if he could just focus on the first picture.
This is the result. Bob took the second picture, and replaced the head of the guy with his head from the first picture...so I get the picture of us closer to the front of the arch, and every guy is still looking in the same direction. It never even occurred to me to ask if that could be done, so I was pretty happy that he suggested it! This is what he sent me to look at.
I can still see the shadow, but I do think that the people look much brighter and whiter and clearer. He suggested enlarging it to a 16x24 and no larger, but possibly smaller.
So...now I need opinions. Should I shell out the money to have him fix my picture? The biggest reason I'm asking for opinions is because I'm not convinced that I have the color set on my computer properly. The original picture was already printed darker than I thought it was, so I feel like I need a few more eyes to tell me if this is going to be worth it. And please give me your honest opinions.
I should also note, that I would love to contact my photographer and point out that the price of this picture is going to equal the price of a photo needing "severe restoration". (They do minor, moderate and severe.) I'm fine with that, because at this point, any price is worth it for me to have my dream wedding picture. It just irks me to no end that this woman insisted she knew what she was doing. Yet to make her picture look good enough to frame, I have to pay for severe restoration. To me that doesn't equal knowing what she is doing. Rest assured though, that I already left her a very unhappy review on a few different wedding websites :-).
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