Saturday's Wedding

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 18, 2008

well it isn't much, but I am posting a couple. I have been non stop busy and am so tired right now, so haven't done much with the pictures. I didn't have much to go with... We had no brides maids, no groomsmen, no first dance.... la ti da....

ONE MAJOR thing to add to the contract I will be making is.... NO ONE other than me can be taking my pictures! I had a girl literally follow me EVERYWHERE and take the same EXACT pictures as me. She and a couple other people ruined some bc of either a flash going off, or they were standing across from me... I was sooo mad after Saturdays wedding! BUT anyways....

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6.

cj99si · August 18, 2008

I hear you! I have to move people all the time! What makes a guest at a wedding think its cool to sit in the isle for 3 mins

I can slightly understand a few seconds....

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 19, 2008

Also, I have done minor editing to these. lol

ChatKat · August 19, 2008

Learn to live with it!
You have to learn to live with it !

Unless the guests are walking around with professional gear, you have to learn to live with it. Digital has changed the face of photography and the professionals at weddings have to learn to manage it. I don't allow them to go where I set up formals. No snapping in the bride's chambers either.

Everything else you have to live with. I told other photographer's at Saturday's wedding that if htye flashed, it would affect my shots. I tell them that the other cameras cause the subjects to look the wrong way when there are more than one camera.

When the bride was getting ready on Sat, Mom had a disposable camera and was taking pix next to me. I told her to wait between my shots so we wouldn't compete and the bride told her to put her camera away because she'd be eligible to buy the best shots from me! WTG Bride.

Travis · August 19, 2008

Scott Kelby addressed the issue of "other photographers" in one of his Digital Photography books (vol1 or 2, can't remember) but he said that he talks to the other photogs and asked them to politely wait until he is done and then provide them time to snap a few photos. Of course this only works with posed shots.

I was talking to friend at work the other day and while catching up on some mutual friends weddings, he referred to one as the paparazzi wedding. He said that he pulled his camera out during the service to take a pic and quickly returned it because everyone in the church had their camera/phone/blackberry extended firing away. Welcome to the digital age....

btw, I think you did a great job considering. 1, 2, and the gown photo are great. I'm not crazy about the slanted table because it makes me think the cake is about to take a ride.

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 19, 2008

Thank you. I have 2 angles of the cake... The problem with me is I can't so no, so that means I am not good at telling ppl what to do. Like don't use your camera until I am done, or so on. I am going to have to learn to be in charge though. My wedding on Sunday was better when it came to ppl being in my way.

Scott_Quier · August 19, 2008

NICE JOB!! (yes, I shouted, get over it)
First things first - wow, you did a wonderful first wedding. You got the shots! It appears you didn't blow out the bride's gown in that hot sun - that's very difficult to do sometimes.

Second thing - like others have already said, you can't do much about Uncle Bob at the reception. As for the formals, I let the bride know that it's up to them. They have only so much time, each shot takes time, and the more people in the room trying to copy my shots the longer it will take. So they have a choice to make: (1) Take longer for the formals, (2) Reduce the number of formals, or (3) tell all the Uncle Bobs to put their cameras down. It is, after all, their choice.

Once the B&G have laid down the law, I will almost always delay bringing up my camera until ALL cameras have been put down (or at least not raised). This helps to get all the eyes on me.

At the reception, I talk to Uncle Bob and come to some sort of agreement - if possible. If it's not possible or he/she defaults on that agreement, well ... I have once or twice [ahem] accidently stepped on Uncle Bob's toes; sometimes so hard that it hurts. But, I always end up with some working space. As for them being in the background of one (or more) of my shots, well that's just the nature of PJ shooting. You shoot what's there and try to make sure your backgrounds are right. In the last wedding, I ended up with a couple of shots where my assistant was in the background - I was shooting towards him and he at me. I took the best of these (mine of course) and edited him out of the frame (clone tools works wonders!).

Now for the wonderful photos:

I like #1 - the light is very nice. A little editing of the sky to bring it out would be nice.
On-camera flash, so the light is a little flat. But, you did a good job of mixing ambient with the flash - there's still some detail in the background trees! Well done, indeed!
Of the shots you've shared this is probably the most difficult to get right. You've got strong side lighting, you didn't blow out the gown (or at least not much), the arbor stuff is a little blown, but you got good exposure on the shadowed faces! Wow is all I can say - a very good turnout for a first attempt!
OK, as others have said, not crazy about the very strong tilt - but at least we know it's on purpose
Nice gown shot. Moving all the way into the window will get a better glow through the fabric.
Nice had shot - one of the best I've seen (and one that I intend to steal from you!) - very graceful. To improve, shoot this manual with the same settings you used here, but also add in some flash bounced off the ceiling to get more light on the hands. I would also have cloned out the corner of his sleeve.

In all, I think you can be very proud of the results of your efforts. These are good and I know the clients will be quite pleased!

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 19, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

First things first - wow, you did a wonderful first wedding. You got the shots! It appears you didn't blow out the bride's gown in that hot sun - that's very difficult to do sometimes.

Second thing - like others have already said, you can't do much about Uncle Bob at the reception. As for the formals, I let the bride know that it's up to them. They have only so much time, each shot takes time, and the more people in the room trying to copy my shots the longer it will take. So they have a choice to make: (1) Take longer for the formals, (2) Reduce the number of formals, or (3) tell all the Uncle Bobs to put their cameras down. It is, after all, their choice.

Once the B&G have laid down the law, I will almost always delay bringing up my camera until ALL cameras have been put down (or at least not raised). This helps to get all the eyes on me.

At the reception, I talk to Uncle Bob and come to some sort of agreement - if possible. If it's not possible or he/she defaults on that agreement, well ... I have once or twice [ahem] accidently stepped on Uncle Bob's toes; sometimes so hard that it hurts. But, I always end up with some working space. As for them being in the background of one (or more) of my shots, well that's just the nature of PJ shooting. You shoot what's there and try to make sure your backgrounds are right. In the last wedding, I ended up with a couple of shots where my assistant was in the background - I was shooting towards him and he at me. I took the best of these (mine of course) and edited him out of the frame (clone tools works wonders!).

Now for the wonderful photos:
I like #1 - the light is very nice. A little editing of the sky to bring it out would be nice.

On-camera flash, so the light is a little flat. But, you did a good job of mixing ambient with the flash - there's still some detail in the background trees! Well done, indeed!

Of the shots you've shared this is probably the most difficult to get right. You've got strong side lighting, you didn't blow out the gown (or at least not much), the arbor stuff is a little blown, but you got good exposure on the shadowed faces! Wow is all I can say - a very good turnout for a first attempt!

OK, as others have said, not crazy about the very strong tilt - but at least we know it's on purpose

Nice gown shot. Moving all the way into the window will get a better glow through the fabric.

Nice had shot - one of the best I've seen (and one that I intend to steal from you!) - very graceful. To improve, shoot this manual with the same settings you used here, but also add in some flash bounced off the ceiling to get more light on the hands. I would also have cloned out the corner of his sleeve.

In all, I think you can be very proud of the results of your efforts. These are good and I know the clients will be quite pleased!

Wow, that means a lot. I was so upset with myself after the wedding, but then Sunday after having a good night sleep, I realized We did not do that bad. I was upset b/c I didn't do very many creative shots. But this was my first ever, so I had a MILLION things going through my head let alone trying to be creative. It takes a lot of effort to keep up with everything that goes on at Weddings, and I was exhausted. Then to go to another wedding the next day after the first.... :whew it was a lot to handle. I would have to say I don't know how others do it by themselves. I was lucky to have help on both those days. I will post some more later... Right now I have to get back to my REAL job... lol

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 19, 2008

Here is on where the blue sky showed really good, but her facial expression is bad. :cry

Montec · August 19, 2008

Good job, I am sure they will be happy. I hear you loud and clear on the Uncle Bob problems. I had a similar issue to deal with on Saturday...one of the Brides Uncles...(go figure)...had a dslr with an enormous bounce card on it and he stood up several times in the aisle and just stood in front of me, he was seated in front row on the aisle! He even did it during the kiss and I had to literally move up right beside him to get the shot. I constantly had to work around him all day. I asked him a couple times to please move out of the shot ... he would reluctantly do so and then started with comments that all could hear about how he was just trying to stay out of the way...but he wasn't!

His wife was the MC and during the reception she actually introduced him as the photographer!! I discussed it later with the MOB and explained that she paid a lot of money for me to take the photos and this fellow was making it difficult. He did not show up anywhere near the formals so I guess he was told.

Here is a cropped shot of him kneeling with his bounce machine...I could have had some great shots of him in the direct path but I never took any...this is just a complete downer when working hard to get the beautiful shots the B&G deserve, angle are limited, POV obstructed.....ok rant over.

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 19, 2008

I had a lot of shots that ppl with p&s's ruined... AND I did have someone have a DSLR. She was the one that followed me everywhere and copied everything. Here is a shot of one picture ruined that we had to redo.

Montec · August 19, 2008

OMG! What was he doing there

!

Scott_Quier · August 20, 2008

I really don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm going to anyway:D I had one similar to that, but maybe worse. I had a videographer that didn't know her place. The bad thing about is that we talked about it before the ceremony and I thought we had an agreement about where she would be so that my shots were not ruined. But ....

1. There she is during the ring exchange

2. And, again ... during the first kiss

Make no mistake - these two photos are not the only ones. She was back there during the entire ceremony! Oh well, that's why my contract reads as it does - basically, "It is what it is...".

Back on topic - You'll have an "Uncle Bob" at just about every wedding. The trick is recognize who it is early, determine how they are going to behave and where they will be (sound much easier than it is, on both counts) and then to see what you can do to mitigate the problem (usually not much except to move to keep "Bob" out of the frame.

I think you did a good job on the first two of these - you recognized the problem child and you found a way to deliver the product promised anyway. Well done!

InsuredDisaster · August 20, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

1. There she is during the ring exchange

2. And, again ... during the first kiss

!

Look on the bright side. You got a double dose of UGLY to make the bride look really good, if I could look away from the UGLY!

KTBoom2006-E510 · August 20, 2008

Even looks like you are getting a dirty look from her.... Geez

InsuredDisaster · August 20, 2008

Hey Katie, I think the photos are very good. I once saw a forum topic where some guy did a first wedding, and not only did he compose some horrible shots that he thought were good, he took it one step further and disabled the camera's auto features which ruined the few shots that would have been ok. It was the perfect example of what not to do for your first wedding. But your shots are so good! Perhaps you are a model of what you should do at a wedding! Good job!

urbanaries · August 20, 2008

re: The P&S behind the Kiss shot

Katie, I seriously can't believe he was BEHIND the "altar"....even the hired pros should get special approval/permission from the B&G *and* the officiant to be there. That's just NUTS! I take back what I said before!!!

On the (very) bright side, most of my kiss shots have an officiant between them. GRRR! Only one or two have been thoughtful enough to step aside during the kiss. the other great thing is that you have PLENTY of photo to crop. A vertical crop would be perfect for this shot.

All in all I think you did VERY well for your first time, and as I'm sure you can understand now, experience is a great teacher and you'll be even better the next time.

Congrats on getting these under your belt!

-Lynne

jeffreaux2 · August 20, 2008

KT,

I think, all things considered you did pretty well. I wouldn't be overly concerned about not being able to be super creative just yet. Getting the "must have" shots are an important first step in wedding photography. Once you are comforatable enough getting those, you will relax enough, and find the time for artsy fluff!

FWIW I think that you did fairly well with the conditions, and from what I see avoided most of what you were worried about in the weeks leading up to this wedding. I am glad for you that you finally figured out that your camera wasn't performing properly and got yourself a new system. This would probably have been a failure otherwise.

As far as having other photographers snapping shots.....

My approach is somewhat similar to Scott's.

I usually lay all my gear down and pull any lighting gear out of the way and tell them to "go ahead..." Once they are center stage they usually just blush and sit down. The formally posed shots I usually take between wedding and reception is usually when this happens...if at all. It is important at this time to do what needs to be done so the party can get to the reception. There is not time...usually ...to allow "uncle bob" and others to take turns shooting the poses. Letting them know...by whatever means...that you are on an extremely tight schedule at that point in the day will go a long way.

BUT...they are also responsible for not trying to cram in too many groupings in that time period. A recent bride had a list on an 8 1/2x 11 sheet of paper...typed...and the list ran the length of the page...but we only had about 30 minutes. This is NOT enough time for portraits of each family member and every possible combination of groupings. You cannot fit 20lbs of potatoes in a 5ib sack!

Scott_Quier · August 20, 2008

jeffreaux2 wrote:

BUT...they are also responsible for not trying to cram in too many groupings in that time period. A recent bride had a list on an 8 1/2x 11 sheet of paper...typed...and the list ran the length of the page...but we only had about 30 minutes. This is NOT enough time for portraits of each family member and every possible combination of groupings. You cannot fit 20lbs of potatoes in a 5ib sack!

Which is why I council the client to expect to take between 3 and 5 minutes for each pose. OK, it really (usually) doesn't take that long, but that budgets in time for persistent Uncle Bob and also tends to keep the list more reasonable. Managing expectations - that's one key to success.

Saturday's Wedding

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