First "Pro" Wedding

Foochar

I shot my first wedding as a "Pro" about a week ago, thought I would share a few pics and see what sort of constructive criticism I can get from the more accomplished shooters I see, and whose talent I envy, here on dgrin. Before anyone goes after me too hard for not being "ready" to shoot a wedding I was very upfront with the couple about my experience, and the lack there of and I priced myself accordingly. Photographically the venue left a lot to be desired, no good backgrounds (and none outside either) and once I started processing I noticed a very yellow cast to the ambient light.

I think that technically I'm at least competent (not saying I can't improve, but most of the time I manage to get an picture with acceptable focus and exposure), I think my biggest challenges are with posing and to a slightly lesser extent with general composition. I'm interested to see if the group consenus agrees with my self evaluation. Okay, enough with the explanation I guess I should actually post some pictures:

1. Bride and Father


2. You May Kiss the Bride


3. Flower Girl and Jr. Groomsman


4. One family


5. Wedding Party


6. The Kiss



7. The Dress



8. The Knife



9. The Cake



10. The Dance

nicoleshilliday

Welcome to the wedding world! For your first pro shoot i think you did a great job. As you said, the location was not great, but you still seemed to capture some great emotion in many of your shots.

I am not one to comment on color/color cast as i am still working on improving my own technique. But, I can let you know what i like and dislike and maybe make a few suggestions...

#1: i love that moment when the bride first walks into the room and sees her groom for the first time, but the look of the groom is usually even better. I always try to shoot the groom first and then the bride with her father. As for the shot, looks like you were at a low angle when taking the shot. Don't be afraid to get in the way for a few moments! People understand that you are trying to get "the shot".

#4: cropping between the knees and the ankles, imo, looks kinda funny. If you have room, i would try to recrop and maybe take away a little of the top, which is distracting.

#6: I think would be great in b&w. Would bring a different look among the rest of the photos.

#8: Fantastic look on the grooms face! Great shot!

#9: Great composition. Love it!

Again, great job. You have to start some where and I am sure next time will be even better.

Foochar

nicoleshilliday wrote:

Welcome to the wedding world! For your first pro shoot i think you did a great job. As you said, the location was not great, but you still seemed to capture some great emotion in many of your shots.

I am not one to comment on color/color cast as i am still working on improving my own technique. But, I can let you know what i like and dislike and maybe make a few suggestions...

#1: i love that moment when the bride first walks into the room and sees her groom for the first time, but the look of the groom is usually even better. I always try to shoot the groom first and then the bride with her father. As for the shot, looks like you were at a low angle when taking the shot. Don't be afraid to get in the way for a few moments! People understand that you are trying to get "the shot".

#4: cropping between the knees and the ankles, imo, looks kinda funny. If you have room, i would try to recrop and maybe take away a little of the top, which is distracting.

#6: I think would be great in b&w. Would bring a different look among the rest of the photos.

#8: Fantastic look on the grooms face! Great shot!

#9: Great composition. Love it!

Again, great job. You have to start some where and I am sure next time will be even better.

Nicole,
Thanks for your comments, and especially for your encouragement.

#1 - Very good point about the groom, something I'm going to try to keep in mind in the future... This was one of the smallest venues for a wedding I think I've ever been at, I think there was something like 5 rows of chairs from the back to the front, and I was I had a bit of "tunnel vision" with respect to trying to get entrance shots under the arch at the back of seating area.

#4 - Unfortunately I don't have room on this one, this is another thing I'm going to try and be more aware of moving forward.

#6 - I actually did very little "extra" processing on this entire set, based on the rates I charged and the way I set the contract up it just doesn't make sense to do a lot of processing other than basic exposure/contrast/cropping for this shoot. That being said, this is one of only two images where I did something extra, and I really like the way it turned out:



#8 - One of the guests had just mentioned an infamous Lorena and I managed to catch the grooms reaction.

#9 - At first it looked like they were going to play "nice" and then she decided to make it interesting, I was glad I kept the camera up and was able to capture it.

bham

The expression on the groom in #8 is priceless. Perfect timing. #9 is a great moment as well.

Nice job.

PhilCollum

Foochar wrote:

8. The Knife

The expression is fantastic!!! Great capture!

Aside from the color cast, all your images look great. I think you did a really good job! There's no doubt that your processed b&w image is the best of the bunch.

Keep them coming!