first wedding shoot...

VisualXpressions

I would like to begin this post by heaping tons of praise and admiration on those of you who have a passion for and a commitment to wedding photography... I don't make my living with photography, it is a passion and a hobby of mine... I shot this wedding for a fee but mostly as a favor to the bride and groom, who I know... The stress for me was almost unbearable... with the low light, candle light, night time, large wedding party in a small church... And in the rush of shooting portraits in between wedding and reception with no place to shoot except the church, and fighting with the guests trying to get their point and shoot snaps... I forgot to get the bride and groom alone for some shots... I did get a couple at the reception... I think it will be my last wedding shoot... Again my compliments and praise to those of you who choose to be wedding photographers... here are a few shots for any critique or comment... thanks for looking





























You can see the rest of the shots here http://vxphotography.smugmug.com/Special-Events/Elisha-and-Rico

5 galleries with an earlier in the year engagement session and of course all of the fun reception images... Thanks for looking :>) and again feel free to comment...

Winston

Qarik

the 1st thing that popped into my head was DIRECT FLASH! almost every single shot suffers from harsh light, specular high lights, and/or sharp shadows. A simple diffuser could have really changed all that.

There is always next time.:ivar

Matthew Saville

You have much to learn, young grasshopper! The images look good, but experience and practice is certainly in order.

Judging by the EXIF data from your images, you could have easily gotten much better ambient exposures without using flash, if you had simply shot with a fast lens and ISO 3200. I'd highly recommend a D700 and some f/1.4 primes and f/2.8 zooms, as opposed to using flash. At least during the ceremony... Also, practice nailing the white balance. I shoot in Kelvin 99% of the time, and just dial it up or down based on what looks good on my RGB histogram etc.

Other than those technical notes, it looks like you have a good eye in general. A full-frame sensor and a lens with shallow depth would help you separate your subjects from the background more, of course.

If all this gear is out of your price range, just ask the bride and groom to give you a budget for rental gear, say $250 or so. That's still peanuts compared to what they COULD be spending on wedding photography...


Good luck!
=Matt=

Betz

I remember saying that I'd never shoot weddings and I know where you're coming from. It wasn't until I got a call from a good friend (who happens to be a wedding photographer) telling me he was in a jam and needed a 2nd shooter since his regular had last minute life issues to deal with. Fortunately my friend trusted me to get the job done but more than that he shared his knowledge with me all day. I came home from that wedding exhausted and my mind going 100 mph. but completely hooked.

I thought everything I shot was total crap that day but that was just me being hard on myself. (normal thing) My friend actually used about 50 of my photos for their proofing gallery. Give 2nd shooting a try and just maybe you'll find that you really do like wedding photography. I do agree with you that the talent here is just mind boggling. I spend a lot of time drooling over these forums.

Kevin Kramer

Betz wrote:

I remember saying that I'd never shoot weddings and I know where you're coming from. It wasn't until I got a call from a good friend (who happens to be a wedding photographer) telling me he was in a jam and needed a 2nd shooter since his regular had last minute life issues to deal with. Fortunately my friend trusted me to get the job done but more than that he shared his knowledge with me all day. I came home from that wedding exhausted and my mind going 100 mph. but completely hooked.

I thought everything I shot was total crap that day but that was just me being hard on myself. (normal thing) My friend actually used about 50 of my photos for their proofing gallery. Give 2nd shooting a try and just maybe you'll find that you really do like wedding photography. I do agree with you that the talent here is just mind boggling. I spend a lot of time drooling over these forums.

Betz; Couldn't have said it any better myself.. I remember my first wedding was for a friend, free of charge of course, and gave them their DVD two days later.. and i'm the type of person who hated every photo I took.. they came back and loved each and every photo that they started giving my name out to everyone which is always great.. I thought i was a one and done deal.

And also, yes, after joining this forum, i'm inspired to work even harder at photography..

and if you ever need a second shooter i'm available! (philly area)

l.k.madison

If I could offer ANY advice to ANY photographer trying to "break away" from what they're normally used to shooting it would be to ALWAYS second/assist at a shoot. Even if it's holding a reflector, you're there and you're part of what's going on, but your reputation isn't at stake.

I've done one wedding as a second (been to several as guests, the most recent, I had better gear than the hired pro, I cried on the inside for the bride -a dear friend of mine- when I saw his camera/flash set up) but learned SOOO much in the process. When to use flash, when not to, when to bounce, HOW to bounce, even down to how to direct poses (Jeff, if you're reading this, I'm stealing your "fig leaf pose" line).

I have weddings booked for friends of mine (both as favors, one insisted on paying me, so she's making me baby props in exchange for her wedding pictures) but I'm SO glad I have that wedding under my belt.

I'm not fussing at you, I'm just saying that just shooting a few as a second will seriously improve your eye and technique, almost every photog has room for improvement regardless of how long they've done weddings.

VisualXpressions

Thanks all for the sound advice and critique

Winston