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July Wedding
Although I am mostly a "sports photographer" for a few area newspapers I will do a couple of weddings each summer to help polish my my skills (and bring in some extra cash). While weddings are a lot more stressful, they also force me to keep honing my knowledge of my equipment.
Like a lot of photographers, I have yet to shoot a wedding where ALL the conditions were ideal. The 2nd wedding I agreed to do this summer was in mid-July. The venue was just a couple of blocks from a beautiful park right next to a lake. I was planning to do at least an hour of shooting in the park . . . I had a lot of creative pictures in mind. But again, it was mid-July in NE South Dakota which usually brings 2 things . . . heat and humidity. This weekend was no exception. At noon when we were to start shooting in the park the temp was 90 degrees and the humidity was 85%. 12 hours later at midnight the temp was still 90 degrees and the humidity was still 85%. It was just too miserable to be outside.
So I went with plan "B" and shot more pictures at the church. Here are a few :
And the last image (which is my favorite) brings into focus 2 more issues about phtography (1) Sometimes its hard to get children to do what you want (2) Always be ready with the camera.
(1) Sometimes its hard to get children to do what you want - one of the 2 flower girls was VERY shy. During the formal group shots, no matter what I tried I just could not get her to break a smile. Other times she would grin just a little, but it was just barely a grin (in picture 5). The other flower girl was no problem, she was always ready for her picture to be taken with a huge smile.
(2) Always be ready with the camera (whether shooting weddings or sports) - we were taking a break during the formal group shots and the bride was sitting down with the two flower girls. I noticed that when there weren't a lot of people looking at her the shy flower girl "opened up" just a little. My 2nd camera was sitting in the pew next to me so I asked the bride to tell her something about her flowers. As I pulled my camera up into position the bride told her that if she looked closely at the flowers she might just see the little "flower fairy". It was that instant and only that one instant that the flower girl actually broke into a big smile. As you can see, she was even shy at that point . . . but it was a smile none the less.
BTW . . . the bride told me that this was one of her favorites too :
Thanks for looking :thumb
Like a lot of photographers, I have yet to shoot a wedding where ALL the conditions were ideal. The 2nd wedding I agreed to do this summer was in mid-July. The venue was just a couple of blocks from a beautiful park right next to a lake. I was planning to do at least an hour of shooting in the park . . . I had a lot of creative pictures in mind. But again, it was mid-July in NE South Dakota which usually brings 2 things . . . heat and humidity. This weekend was no exception. At noon when we were to start shooting in the park the temp was 90 degrees and the humidity was 85%. 12 hours later at midnight the temp was still 90 degrees and the humidity was still 85%. It was just too miserable to be outside.
So I went with plan "B" and shot more pictures at the church. Here are a few :
And the last image (which is my favorite) brings into focus 2 more issues about phtography (1) Sometimes its hard to get children to do what you want (2) Always be ready with the camera.
(1) Sometimes its hard to get children to do what you want - one of the 2 flower girls was VERY shy. During the formal group shots, no matter what I tried I just could not get her to break a smile. Other times she would grin just a little, but it was just barely a grin (in picture 5). The other flower girl was no problem, she was always ready for her picture to be taken with a huge smile.
(2) Always be ready with the camera (whether shooting weddings or sports) - we were taking a break during the formal group shots and the bride was sitting down with the two flower girls. I noticed that when there weren't a lot of people looking at her the shy flower girl "opened up" just a little. My 2nd camera was sitting in the pew next to me so I asked the bride to tell her something about her flowers. As I pulled my camera up into position the bride told her that if she looked closely at the flowers she might just see the little "flower fairy". It was that instant and only that one instant that the flower girl actually broke into a big smile. As you can see, she was even shy at that point . . . but it was a smile none the less.
BTW . . . the bride told me that this was one of her favorites too :
Thanks for looking :thumb
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My Canon Gear:
5DMII | 24-105mm f/4L | 45mm TS/E | 135mm f/2.0L | 70-200mm f/2.8L IS | 50mm f/1.4 | 580EX II & 430EX
Thanks - I appreciate the postive feedback.
Thanks! I always carry a 6' fiberglass step-ladder with me in case I don't have access to a balcony. I took this one from the top of the ladder using my 18 - 55mm lens. I then added a little vignette around the edges.
Like I said, I wished I could have gotten some shots down by the lake but it was just to hot. Overall I was happy with the results and more importantly so were the bride and groom.
Thanks.
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
D800
16/2.8, f1.4G primes, f2.8 trio, 105/200 macro, SB900.
It never gets easier, you just get better.
I can see a lot of direct flash which kills shots off the bat. For example in shot #1 the light is completely flat due the flash and specular highlights show up on their foreheads as well as harsh shadows along the jaw line. In the last shot you get the same flat light, shadows on her dress and the large distracting specular highlight on the back wood paneling. You need to bounce your flash or shoot natural light or just flash at very low power to add a bit of fill.
wrt to exposure #2 is overexposed, #3 is underexposed, #4 is both under and overexposed!
Lastly the processing in shot #6 is..not good. The big diamond vignette thingy really detracts.
I think some more processing could help the exposure issues but you reallt need to work on your flash technique imo.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
However, I agree with Qarik, on all he pointed out. Mainly, your flash work needs quite a bit more practice. Just to explain why #4 is both under and over exposed: your flash is way way way too hot, and you likely had your camera on auto, so it underexposed the image to try and compensate for the hot flash. Get ahold of your flash work and you'll go a long way to improving your photos. Its a simple photography newbie mistake, and I am sure we all have images like this hidden back in the old hard drives.
Try to make your processing more minimalistic. Dump crazy vignettes. I remember when star shaped apertures were the cool thing... I bet those photos are in someone's trash can somewhere.
Great instinct on getting that little shy flower girl to open up! That photo is natural and has really great content. Content and expressions often trump technique, which is certainly the case in the last photo.