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My first EVER wedding, please be harsh!
Ok so i just started interning with a wedding photographer and this was my very first wedding ever. I have alot of work ahead of me but i look forward to the challenge! These are just a couple from the wedding day i shot. Let me know how bad they are ha, i need criticism to get better!
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i really need to do some editing for touchups in this one later tonight.
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4. Wish i would of noticed the dress being folded up in this one =(
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i really need to do some editing for touchups in this one later tonight.
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4. Wish i would of noticed the dress being folded up in this one =(
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Comments
1. You've blown the dress and their hair/arm. Watch your hotspots. These will develop first in the red channel of your camera.
2. Fix tilt & spot repairs on wall. I would probably crop this at the pipe running horizontally at the op and just below the couple feet on the bottom. Next time don't include the door or the window. Don't tilt the bride towards the camera - she looks uncomfortable.
3. Crop off the far right side of the frame so the background is all brick wall. Be careful about chopping people at joints.
4. Bad pose. Don't overlap them, there are no faces. No eyes=no connection.
5. Bad tilt. Pipes are not used in a good way. Make sure you look all around your frame to see what you are choosing to include - why include part of the green letter?
6. Good emotion.
7. Watch the grooms right hand.
8. Choose your background wisely. The guy walking with a headset looks out of place, exit sigh needs to go, most of the couples look bored. Next time just focus on the connection between the couple.
A couple of pointers--start shooting in RAW (I'm guessing you were shooting in jpeg based on the look of the photos...but I could be wrong), at least for the outside photos. You've blown the highlights in the first photo, and that's hard to correct with jpeg.
Secondly, none of the photos wow me...they all seem like snapshots anyone with a decent SLR could take from a standing position. That's not to say the couple wouldn't like them--I'm sure they would, but they're nothing I would pay someone to take. Try moving around and changing up your position--ie, kneel, crouch, hold the camera above your head. I do not mean tilt. Tilt can look good if it's done well and if there's a good reason to use it, otherwise, I'd avoid it. Most of the time it's not called for.
Thirdly, I know you probably can't help this because you don't want to get in the way of the other photographer, but get closer. If you can't move closer, get a lens that will help you get closer. The toasting shot I think could be very interesting, but it's so far away it's hard to make out what's going on.
Lastly, watch your backgrounds--again, not much you can do if the primary is putting the couple in specific locations. But the shot with the pipes in the background is distracting...the lines are interfering with what's going on. Same with the dancing shot...background isn't complementing what's going on with the couple.
And the problem with photo #4 isn't the dress..it's that we can't see anyone's faces. Nothing like the back of people's heads to make someone loose interest in the photo. I have no idea if they're happy, if she's kissing him, if they're smiling, frowning, whatever. The photo tells me nothing except that her dress is bustled. And the way he is standing with hands down at his side tells me he's uncomfortable. I'd throw this photo out.
OK, so that was pretty harsh, I realize...but I think that's what you wanted. Again, GREAT job for it being your first wedding. I can see you are trying to capture those moments while not getting in the way of the primary... If I were second shooting, I'd try to change my position up even more. I have feeling you were standing not to far from the primary shooting at a similar angle. It would have been really neat to see a photo of the group jumping from a side angle, same with photo number 4... Don't try to get the same shots as the primary...go for different angles! That's the fun of being a second shooter!
Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer
Pittsburgh Wedding Photography Blog
(this set is unedited)
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This isn't something you had control over as the 2nd, but.... Bringing the bridal couple much closer to the camera in # 2, the jumping shot, while leaving the rest of the bridal party where they were would have really improved that image.
It is a mistake to convert to jpeg and work from there... you loose all of your flexibility that you gained by shooting raws. Get yourself LR or ACR and figure it out. There are great benefits. In fact, I would consider reverting to Raws and see what you can come up with.