As a photographer, you may be great at processing your own images. You may even find enjoyment in the process. But if you're a business owner, your decision to own a task in your business needs better reasons than personal skill or enjoyment. 

Try something. Make a list of all the things that you do in a week, both personally and in your business (if you use a task management system, reference that system). Now, go back through that list, and label each item Reactive or Proactive. Reactive items are those that have to be accomplished to exist, to keep your business or your personal life going. Proactive items are those actions that will in some way grow your business or help you reach personal goals.

Next, do a little math. At a minimum, the ratio of proactive to reactive items or tasks on your list or in your task management system, should be 3 to 1. 

Back to post-processing. 

Based on the definitions above, we know that sitting behind your computer for anywhere from 4 to 16 hours after photographing a wedding, processing your own images, is reactive in nature. It's something that has to happen after you were paid, something your business has to get done in order to exist, to meet basic responsibilities. In no way, however, does processing images bring in new money. 

What if you replaced those 4-16 hours with proactive tasks? For example, you might split up the time between relationships with clients/potential clients, and relationships with industry vendors. You could spend time coming up with creative ways to make the experience for your clients a more unique one, and then spend time each week implemeting those ideas. The other half of what was formally your processing time would be spent connecting with wedding vendors, taking them to eat, photographing their head shots or maybe even their family - anything you can do to bring value to the relationship. 

These types of proactive actions are guaranteed to help your business grow. Clients will tell their friends and family about the amazing experience they had with you, resulting in new clients. Industry vendors will be so excited about the value that you bring to their relationship with you, that they won't be able to help but refer you new business.  And the cool thing? All of that happened because you let someone else do the processing for just one wedding, while you focused on what was important. Imagine the growth in your business if you outsourced every single wedding you photographed? 

Sure, image processing may be fun, and your images probably look great, but the question you should be asking as a business owner, is, am I growing my business by holding onto this task?