My first time shooting a wedding!

jrmyrnsm

Well two of my very good friends recently got married and since the photographer was a friend of the bride she told me I could follow the photographer around to get some experience as well as some shots for a portfolio. I was really excited about the opportunity and very happy with the shots I got. Comments and criticism is encouraged. Let me know what you think! All the shots were shot with my 30D and all but two I used my 50mm.

1: The Groom with his brother the best man.


2: The guys getting ready.


3: Bride w/ groomsmen


4: Vice Versa


5: Classic groomsmen shot...


6: The happy couple.


7: Musicians.


8: One of my favs...


9: The kiss.


10:No modern wedding would be complete without the jump pic!


11: First dance.


After this my wife (far left in pic 10) asked if I could put away the camera and join her on the dance floor so I didn't get any of them leaving or many at the reception but overall I was pretty happy with what I got. Let me know what you guys think!

Scott_Quier

#2 is under exposed and composition could have been better (cut off the top of his head)

#3 She's over-exposed and the guys under-exposed. But, it's a very nice composiiton - I like it!

#4 The lighting is a bit better here. The composition is a little strange. He's all relaxed while the ladies are much more formally posed. Hmm..

#5 - Good composition though I wonder if you could have reduced the impact of the bright background had you waited a bit?

#6 and #7 - Under-exposed

#8 - That's a keeper - love the expression. Color cast might need some work though.

#9 They are significantly over-exposed

#10 - Background is too bright

#11 - Nice perspective and good capture of the emotion (remember it's all about the emotion!!), but technically, it suffers from underexposure, color cast (red/magenta) and is a bit centered.

All in all, this was a good firt effort and shows a lot of promise for what you can get deliver in the future!

jrmyrnsm

Thank you for the comments and criticism Scott! I knew my exposure needed some work, it was one of the first times I had to try and get shots without having "ample" time to check all my settings but thats something I'm working on. My composition on a lot of them was limited because of using the prime and I was trying to stay out of the main photographers way which lead to some different angles than I would have normally used, but I knew that going in... Thanks again and I appreciate the comments!

dangin

i've got to echo scott's comments especially about exposure and lighting. i think a couple of things that you may want to play around with and see how they work for you are:

1) bounce flash. this doesn't mean just aiming your flash head straight up. 45 degrees or even off of opposing walls when indoors.
2) looking for light. shots 3 & 4 really lack this IMO. your foreground and background subjects are about 3 stops off from one another. composing it differently would have helped.
3) fill flash. would have provided less stark contrast in #10.

i know you mentioned you weren't the hired gun for the wedding so please don't take my comments as being overly critical. one of the things i tell new wedding shooters is look for good light and use it. and when there isn't any, then cheat and fill it in with flash.

jrmyrnsm

Thanks again for the comments! I'm excited about the next time I have an opportunity to shoot a wedding so I can try and improve my shots. I'll have to play with some of them on photoshop and see if I can get them looking a little better...

Scott_Quier

jrmyrnsm wrote:

Thanks again for the comments! I'm excited about the next time I have an opportunity to shoot a wedding so I can try and improve my shots. I'll have to play with some of them on photoshop and see if I can get them looking a little better...

Between now and then, practice on anyone that'll stand still for it. It's gotten so bad around my house that my just about runs every time I point a camera in her direction. The practice will hold you in good stead when it comes time to again shoot under pressure. Also, practice shooting in full manual mode - you'll get a better appreciation for the relationships between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

bham

Yeah see what you can do in pp with them. Given your conditions (behind primary, basically a guest with a cam) and what you brought to shoot (one lens, no flash) with, not bad.

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

jeffreaux2

bham wrote:

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

Oh Boy......



....:lurk

Scott_Quier

bham wrote:

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

OK - I know when I've been slammed. I have lots more hair than he does:D

bham

Scott_Quier wrote:

OK - I know when I've been slammed. I have lots more hair than he does:D

I did not mean it as a slam. But the smile and glasses are so much like him. I really wasn't looking at the hair. Yes you have much more than he. Surely I can't be the first to tell you this. Seinfeld is my favorite show.

Scott_Quier

bham wrote:

I did not mean it as a slam. But the smile and glasses are so much like him. I really wasn't looking at the hair. Yes you have much more than he. Surely I can't be the first to tell you this. Seinfeld is my favorite show.

It's all cool. And, yes, you are the first person to tell me my avitar looks like him.