My first wedding....

ElginetPhotos

When my daughter's friend asked me to shoot her wedding.....I was flattered but then panic set it. It was a totally outdoor event at their home. Lighting was terrible, everywhere.

This is just some of the pics I posted for the family and friends as a teaser. I shot about 800 pics total.

http://elginet.smugmug.com/gallery/5923868_dPpq6

How many shots do you normally give the family to choose from? I think I actually pulled 150 or so from the 800 that were needed or just fun.

There were some vital shots that I think I'm going to have to do after the fact, but for the most part....I think it turned out ok. ;-)

I don't think I'll be doing anymore weddings in the near future but my daughter may be interested in shooting some and this may be a great door to open on the opposite side of the media stuff I'm currently doing....

How'd I do?

ElginetPhotos

Also just FYI, I was using my new D300 (with the MB10 Power grip), an SB-800 with a Quantum pocket pack. I never had to change batteries in the camera the whole night and after using Fuji Pro's for years, and using about $700 a year in Lithium Energizers, that was quite the surprise.....

Scott_Quier

#2 is under exposed and a little muddy. Can be "fixed" in post.

#5 and #6 are under exposed as well. Compare against #12 and #13, for example.

The flash work on #7 - #9 looks pretty good. It appears you did a very good job balancing ambient with flash, though the sky in #9 is blown.

#10 is due for a cropping.

#18 - #21 Your aperture is f/8 and a relatively fast shutter speed. This combination gives them the "I shot these in a cave" look. Open up the aperture to give you flash less of a work out and slow the shutter to allow more the ambient to contribute to the shot.

27, 28 - Need to clone out or erase the dark bra(?) showing.

The blur on the last three is a bit more than a bit heavy-handed. Subtle works a lot better.

In a more general sense, if the rest of the set is of this caliber, your client is going to be quite happy with them. You got some nice shots, the important moments, etc. Job well done, indeed.

How many shots do you normally give the family to choose from?

I don't give them any to choose from. I've tried that a few times and the clients couldn't be bothered. I choose the photos that are delivered and I do the post on them before the client ever sees them.

As for the number, I inform them at contract signing that they can expect between 30 and 50 photos per hour that I'm actually shooting and I usually end up exceeding that number.

EMC

I also was recently recruited to shoot a wedding (9-5-2008)
I told them "no" four times! I prefer shooting sports - but they wore me down...so I told them not to expect anything and that way they wont be disappointed...

Scott, would you be so kind as to critique my work like you did for Bill - the orginal poster...(?)

http://digital-diva.smugmug.com/gallery/5888885_HCoKp#366644231_egzq2

Scott_Quier

EMC wrote:

I also was recently recruited to shoot a wedding (9-5-2008)
I told them "no" four times! I prefer shooting sports - but they wore me down...so I told them not to expect anything and that way they wont be disappointed...

Scott, would you be so kind as to critique my work like you did for Bill - the orginal poster...(?)

http://digital-diva.smugmug.com/gallery/5888885_HCoKp#366644231_egzq2

Rather than hi-jack this thread, I started a new one here

urbanaries

Just as a courtesy reminder (it was nice of Scott to visit the gallery and critique) but for more responses, you might want to pick the shots that YOU want feedback on and post them in the thread.