First Wedding of '09

Shudderz · March 1, 2009

Yesterday I shot my first wedding of the year. While driving to the ceremony location a week prior to the ceremony, I passed this amazing walnut orchard. The trees were very mature and for lack of a better word, pretty "gnarly"

The ceremony took place in a little country church, with not much to offer for outside shots. Some things are starting to bloom around here, but we weren't going to find any lush green landscape anywhere close.

I made plans with the bride and groom to kidnap the wedding party from the ceremony site to head to this orchard before sunset.

Most of the wedding party thought I was nuts......but I'm pretty happy with the results!

My one struggle was dealing with a couple (and some of the bridal party) that was pretty stiff and quite difficult to pose. The bride is recently in the US from the Philippines, and pretty self conscious when others are around. They loosened up a bit after the rest of the bridal party left....I'll have to post some of those after I get them processed.

Darren Troy C · March 1, 2009

Dreaded "Red X" Syndrome

Shima · March 1, 2009

Hi, I'm not seeing any photos... thanks.

Shudderz · March 1, 2009

Hopefully the photo shows now, the same link worked in my blog and other places, not sure why it didn't work here.

Shima · March 1, 2009

Shudderz wrote:

Hopefully the photo shows now, the same link worked in my blog and other places, not sure why it didn't work here.

Yup it's working now.

I like the contrast of the background to the bridal party

joshhuntnm · March 1, 2009

I really like this shot. I'd like it even better if the guy farthest back was facing 1/4 turn sideways instead of straight. Really like the colors. don't know exactly what you did in post (high vibrance?) but I really like it.

Shudderz · March 1, 2009

joshhuntnm wrote:

I really like this shot. I'd like it even better if the guy farthest back was facing 1/4 turn sideways instead of straight. Really like the colors. don't know exactly what you did in post (high vibrance?) but I really like it.

I agree on the guy in the back....

First off, I ran it through Noiseware from Imagenomic. Go figure, the night before this shot, beautiful light and colors in the sunset......the late afternoon/evening of the wedding it was overcast, and got darker earlier than we'd planned.

I use a set of actions by Doug Boutwell called Totally Rad Actions. I love them. Most actions put the effect on a separate layer so you can either put a mask on the layer or adjust it's opacity all together.

I ran a mixture of the actions on this shot......Here's the abridged version of what I did....

-Boutwell Magic Glasses (I love the extra POP this action gives images.....ESPECIALLY the details in the trees on this image)
-Lights On....only on bride and groom and only 25% opacity or so
-Technicolor Dream World (removed it from the people, adjusted opacity)
-Merged layers.
-Duplicated the layer.....used lasso tool to select around the bridal party, feather of 200, invert selection and then used levels to create a vignette.

joshhuntnm · March 1, 2009

Shudderz wrote:

I agree on the guy in the back....

First off, I ran it through Noiseware from Imagenomic. Go figure, the night before this shot, beautiful light and colors in the sunset......the late afternoon/evening of the wedding it was overcast, and got darker earlier than we'd planned.

I use a set of actions by Doug Boutwell called Totally Rad Actions. I love them. Most actions put the effect on a separate layer so you can either put a mask on the layer or adjust it's opacity all together.

I ran a mixture of the actions on this shot......Here's the abridged version of what I did....

-Boutwell Magic Glasses (I love the extra POP this action gives images.....ESPECIALLY the details in the trees on this image)
-Lights On....only on bride and groom and only 25% opacity or so
-Technicolor Dream World (removed it from the people, adjusted opacity)
-Merged layers.
-Duplicated the layer.....used lasso tool to select around the bridal party, feather of 200, invert selection and then used levels to create a vignette.

I was hoping it was easy!

samc · March 1, 2009

like it
Maybe a bit too much PP, but overall the shot is great. It reminds me of the movie "The Village"!

FedererPhoto · March 1, 2009

Why is she holding her dress instead of her boquet?

(don't get me wrong, I like the image a lot, I'm just looking for your thought process here)

Shudderz · March 1, 2009

joshhuntnm wrote:

I was hoping it was easy!

Really, with the photoshop actions it's pretty simple. It's just a matter of adjusting to taste.

Scott_Quier · March 2, 2009

Nice shot! I like the processing. I think I would bring up the levels a touch - but that's just personal taste.

As for the guy in the back - yup, just a little stiff. Either a 1/4 turn or just a weight shift would have made all the difference.

marikris · March 2, 2009

Shudderz wrote:

-Boutwell Magic Glasses (I love the extra POP this action gives images.....ESPECIALLY the details in the trees on this image)
-Lights On....only on bride and groom and only 25% opacity or so
-Technicolor Dream World (removed it from the people, adjusted opacity)
-Merged layers.
-Duplicated the layer.....used lasso tool to select around the bridal party, feather of 200, invert selection and then used levels to create a vignette.

I love actions lol. Does having them slow down your photshop? If you don't mind, how many do you have?

heatherfeather · March 2, 2009

Shudderz wrote:

I use a set of actions by Doug Boutwell called Totally Rad Actions. I love them. Most actions put the effect on a separate layer so you can either put a mask on the layer or adjust it's opacity all together.

That is beautiful, Heather.

I was thinking of getting the TR Actions, and was a little cautious since they are a bit pricey, and I already have a bunch already that I rarely use. I have the itty bitty actions set and some from Nichole Vaughn.

How often do you use them? Do you think they are better than other action sets you have tried?

bmoreshooter · March 2, 2009

I love the overall shot. The red dresses in the trees really come alive. While the guy in the back is a bit stiff it does'nt ruin the shot. Most men don't know what to do with their hands and this makes them look stiff. What you did with the guy front right really helped. Put one or both hands in pocket and turn a bit. The only thing that bothers me is not in relation to a wedding shot but to a photo in general. The brides flowers on the ground and so far away from her, keeps pulling my eyes away from the people. This is really knitpicky I know but thats what happens when you have a shot that works, people have to start looking for small problems to point out.

Shudderz · March 2, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

That is beautiful, Heather.

I was thinking of getting the TR Actions, and was a little cautious since they are a bit pricey, and I already have a bunch already that I rarely use. I have the itty bitty actions set and some from Nichole Vaughn.

How often do you use them? Do you think they are better than other action sets you have tried?

I love the actions and use them all the time. When I process my images, I start with an action I wrote to make eyes nice and sharp.....then I start with the TRA set. I use Pro Retouch for skin. I know many use Portraiture, but I like that I "paint" this effect on.

You can download a sample of some of their action on their website. HERE

Shudderz · March 2, 2009

marikris wrote:

I love actions lol. Does having them slow down your photshop? If you don't mind, how many do you have?

I haven't found they slow down my photoshop........they are basically scripts that just tell photoshop what to do, not an additional plug in.

I haven't counted how many I have. Some were free downloads, some I've written...and then both of the Totally Rad Action sets.

Shudderz · March 2, 2009

bmoreshooter wrote:

I love the overall shot. The red dresses in the trees really come alive. While the guy in the back is a bit stiff it does'nt ruin the shot. Most men don't know what to do with their hands and this makes them look stiff. What you did with the guy front right really helped. Put one or both hands in pocket and turn a bit. The only thing that bothers me is not in relation to a wedding shot but to a photo in general. The brides flowers on the ground and so far away from her, keeps pulling my eyes away from the people. This is really knitpicky I know but thats what happens when you have a shot that works, people have to start looking for small problems to point out.

I like Scott's term...personal taste. I found without the flowers there it looked too symmetrical for my taste. Thankfully one's eye is generally drawn to the brightest object in a piece, so that will keep eyes going back to the bride. If after looking at it a while I change my mind.....photoshop is a wonderful thing! (wish I could use it to fix the stiff guy's pose)

Plus....I mentioned the bride/groom being a bit stiff (and she's very new in the country with english NOT being her first language....it made directing a pose very difficult) By having her reach back and hold her dress, I got her out of that "prom" pose, got her weight all on the back leg.....it's not quite the "S" curve I would have liked, but it was better than the stiff straight up and down stance.

Thank you, and everyone else I haven't responded to yet for the compliment. All day while shooting the wedding I couldn't wait to get the bridal party out to that orchard. I saw the image in my head and had to have it!

grimace · March 2, 2009

A beautiful and creative shot!!

Ed911 · March 4, 2009

I'm all about it...the white wedding dress is really nice...a standout against the rest of the post processing. And the stiff guy...hmmm...well...you could change him...or just leave him as a curiosity. I actually don't mind him that much...or at all.

Very nice post processing...great eye for the special setting.

First Wedding of '09

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