First wedding - Second shooting

Jet · December 16, 2008

Hi,
Recently shot my first wedding as a second shooter 2 weeks ago - the pace is intense!

Let me know how I went.. I need to upgrade my glass and flash for better indoor stuff but all feedback and CC is appreciated.

The reception venue (where we shot the pics) was a cool old castle-style reception place.

After the wedding we started at a room underneath, the 'dungeon'/wine cellar. This made for some cool surroundings but being inexperienced, lighting and WB was difficult to control :scratch

#1

#2

#3

#4

We then made our way up to the outside balcony section..

#5

#6

#7

#8 - The groom is quite a character and pulled some great facial expressions :rofl

#9

#10

#11 -We then used a large room with large windows... loads of natural light. Once again keeping WB consistent I found hard:scratch

#12

#13

#14 -oh and one from the service.. annoyed about the pastor growing out of the couples head. was very restricted in where I could shoot from in the service.

Thanks for looking and I appreciate any feedback

mmmatt · December 16, 2008

These are great Jethro!!! Love #9... "EEE Gads! My new super gorgeous wife is kissing me!!!"

Nice work!!! I thought WB looked pretty good! It is hard to mix heavy, multi-source ambient with flash... only so much you can do! Was the train not white? Looks grey-ish, but my guess is that is how it is. Gorgeous dress!

Matt

sherijohnson · December 16, 2008

I think you did a great job on these.

Scott_Quier · December 17, 2008

In sum, as a first time attempt, I think you did quite well. To better control WB, think about investing is some sort of WB target, shooting RAW, and then correcting the WB in post - this process/technique will make processing significantly easier to accomplish.

As you note, WB was an issue here as was aiming your light. Think about investigating gelling your flash to better match the ambient and then correct the WB in post. But, that being said, this one is easily fixed in post. What's important here though is the emotion/fun you captured - that's what makes this photo!
Again mixed lighting. And you have significant light fall off, though that's not so much an issue as the focus of the shot is the bride and you have her pretty well exposed and you were still able to capture the expressions/reactions of the ladies.
This is fun. It's not classic romantic but goes beyond that and shows some of their personality. And that's not the easiest thing to do sometimes.
Same here - B&G interacting in a very comfortable manner. Nice.
You need some fill flash here to balance the brightness of the ambient. Much of her gown and some aspects of the guys are blown. Also, maybe, too much context, not enough focus on the people?
The B&W conversion looks a little muddy to me. Taking a look at the guys' shirts - aren't they supposed to be white?
This is a very nice, intimate moment. I think your choice of B&W works well. I wonder what this would look like warmed up just a bit. Also, think about cloning/cropping out that distraction in the lower left corner of the frame.
Fun - but who could make that kind of a face with that beauty kissing him?
Same comment. The conversion here is well done - got lots of tonal range, though her gown seems to be blown a bit. Is that a result of the conversion or is that also in the original?
The B&G are a little too centered here. If they had been in the upper left corner of the shot, you would have gotten all the background context (the people) and all of her train as well. I'm thinking that would have improved the shot a bit.
WB/mixed lighting is an issue here. Also, I think her gown may be a bit blown. And, you cut off some of her train. Pay attention to the background - the attention should be ALL on her, the background is somewhat distracting.
The shot seems a bit over-exposed and I'm not getting any feeling from it - maybe because I'm not seeing enough of his face to allow me to guess what he's thinking/feeling? Had you moved a bit further to your right, you might have been able to eliminate the window from the shot without involving other distracting background elements.
Nice one of him, not so flattering of her. A touch over-exposed - you might be able to dial that down a bit in post and recover some of the highlights of her gown.
Officiants growing out of heads, showing up between the couple, etc are a fact of life (unless you do re-creations). Here, I think he actually adds something to the shot - he expression is cleary one of joy/happiness.

This is a good first attempt and I'm sure your prime and the client will be pleased. As noted, there are some finer details that need attention, but that comes with time and practice. And, I suggest you practice a bit on these before your next gig. With an increased confidence in your technique, you'll be so much more comfortable and less rushed. And that just adds to the fun quotent!

divamum · December 17, 2008

Question from the sidelines: are there places where the "perfect" wb doesn't matter so much? I see what y'all are saying about the mixed lighting in 1 and 2, but to me that emphasizes the "cellar" feeling of the location. Is this just one of those subjective-different-tastes kind of things, or is it a more necessary element that needs to be within the numerical bounds to to be considered technically sound and my (novice) eye just isn't calibrated enough to see it yet?

Just wondering. The last week has been my first real excursion into raw and custom white balancing, so I'm brand new to it all and intrigued by what constitutes the boundaries of "acceptable" technically - just trying to learn....!

Scott_Quier · December 17, 2008

divamum wrote:

Question from the sidelines: are there places where the "perfect" wb doesn't matter so much? I see what y'all are saying about the mixed lighting in 1 and 2, but to me that emphasizes the "cellar" feeling of the location. Is this just one of those subjective-different-tastes kind of things, or is it a more necessary element that needs to be within the numerical bounds to to be considered technically sound and my (novice) eye just isn't calibrated enough to see it yet?

Just wondering. The last week has been my first real excursion into raw and custom white balancing, so I'm brand new to it all and intrigued by what constitutes the boundaries of "acceptable" technically - just trying to learn....!

Disclaimer: The following is MY opinion. I make NO claim that it is right or correct for any person and/or situation. YMMV

There are lots of shots where the "perfect" WB doesn't matter - where the emotion in the photo trumps all other considerations. Same applies to sharp/soft focus. But, where possible to get the emotion, focus, and WB. When you have all three, you can change/edit the focus and/or the WB to fit your vision. But if your vision/need is for a sharp and well-lit photo ... you can't create that in post - you have to get it right in camera.

The bottom line is that you need to decide for yourself and for each of your photos what is required to portray the feeling/emotion/content/message/etc. Sometimes that will mean you need a very grainy, B&W, soft-focus image with a strong vignette. Other times .... well, you get the idea.

sherijohnson · December 17, 2008

Great answer Scott. I was going to say that sometimes it is very true that the color gives the feel or mood you are looking for and in that instance, I wouldn't mess with it. You can always toy around with it and see what you prefer........and you can also give the client the option of choosing what they like better too. If I wasn't sure, that is probably how I would handle it.

Agnieszka · December 17, 2008

You got some really great shots here!! I especially like the first couple of photos in the red room .... wow .. and that dressssssss ... breathtaking

... I guess he didn't like being kissed

rofl

Jet · December 17, 2008

mmmatt wrote:

These are great Jethro!!! Love #9... "EEE Gads! My new super gorgeous wife is kissing me!!!"

Nice work!!! I thought WB looked pretty good! It is hard to mix heavy, multi-source ambient with flash... only so much you can do! Was the train not white? Looks grey-ish, but my guess is that is how it is. Gorgeous dress!

Matt

Thanks Matt,
Yep overall I was pretty happy, and the B&G were a great pair. The train was not white no, more of an off-white kind of browney peach looking affair.
Thanks for your comments!

Jet · December 17, 2008

sherijohnson wrote:

I think you did a great job on these.

Thanks Sheri!

Jet · December 17, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

In sum, as a first time attempt, I think you did quite well. To better control WB, think about investing is some sort of WB target, shooting RAW, and then correcting the WB in post - this process/technique will make processing significantly easier to accomplish.

Thanks for your detailed feedback Scott.. its appreciated. What kind of WB target do you suggest?
At the moment I've only been able to afford a SB400, which leaves much to be desired in terms of control and power, although any lighting problems are probably more my fault than its

I hope to pick up more gigs as a second shooter with local photogs to gain more experience.. it is quite fun

Thanks again for your comments

Jet · December 17, 2008

Agnieszka wrote:

You got some really great shots here!! I especially like the first couple of photos in the red room .... wow .. and that dressssssss ... breathtaking ... I guess he didn't like being kissed rofl

Thanks Angie! haha in that second 'pulling a face' shot she was smothering his entire face with kisses.. quite a moment

divamum · December 17, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

Disclaimer: The following is MY opinion. I make NO claim that it is right or correct for any person and/or situation. YMMV

There are lots of shots where the "perfect" WB doesn't matter - where the emotion in the photo trumps all other considerations. Same applies to sharp/soft focus. But, where possible to get the emotion, focus, and WB. When you have all three, you can change/edit the focus and/or the WB to fit your vision. But if your vision/need is for a sharp and well-lit photo ... you can't create that in post - you have to get it right in camera.

The bottom line is that you need to decide for yourself and for each of your photos what is required to portray the feeling/emotion/content/message/etc. Sometimes that will mean you need a very grainy, B&W, soft-focus image with a strong vignette. Other times .... well, you get the idea.

Thanks Scott and Sheri. Yeah, that makes sense - in a perfect world if it's "right" in the can, then you can do whatever you want with it rather than damage limitation, but the world is seldom perfect and sometimes catching the moment trumps technical perfection (pretty much the same as singing - I'm familiar with the paradox!!)

Anyway, thanks for responding.

Oh, and OP, please do forgive me: I was writing in haste this morning before I left for a lonnngg day on the road, and neglected to mention that i think your shots are GREAT! Looks like it was a beautiful wedding and you captured some nice moments.

First wedding - Second shooting

Comments