When is a wedding not a wedding?

NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
edited March 22, 2011 in Weddings
When there's no groom, of course!:D Here's a few out of a promo shoot for a friend's restaurant which has double role as a wedding reception hall from time to time (she's hoping it will be more often!). Comments welcome.:thumb




1
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2
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3
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4
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Neil
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Comments

  • smurfysmurfy Registered Users Posts: 343 Major grins
    edited March 11, 2011
    Not to be mean, but these do nothing to promote a venue. The last one looks like a boudoir shot (your best of the group), and the first two like old fashioned, at home day-of bridal portraits. Three needs a big bump in exposure, and the pose looks quite unnatural and uncomfortable.

    You might consider trying to find some that look a bit more natural and joyful for a venue promotion, and show the bride in the room setting that your friend is trying to promote.
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 11, 2011
    smurfy wrote: »
    Not to be mean, but these do nothing to promote a venue. The last one looks like a boudoir shot (your best of the group), and the first two like old fashioned, at home day-of bridal portraits. Three needs a big bump in exposure, and the pose looks quite unnatural and uncomfortable.

    You might consider trying to find some that look a bit more natural and joyful for a venue promotion, and show the bride in the room setting that your friend is trying to promote.

    Thanks for your comments!thumb.gif

    Neil
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  • metmet Registered Users Posts: 405 Major grins
    edited March 11, 2011
    #4 is the best of the bunch, but I agree that it seems more boudoir than wedding. I would do some wide angle shots to show the venue more.

    Is it just me or does she look like a younger thinner Ricki Lake?
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 12, 2011
    met wrote: »
    #4 is the best of the bunch, but I agree that it seems more boudoir than wedding. I would do some wide angle shots to show the venue more.

    Is it just me or does she look like a younger thinner Ricki Lake?

    Appreciate the feedback met, thanks!

    We are getting together material promoting the restaurant for a bridal expo here in Hobart at the end of May, and for a website and printed media. My friend is shifting the focus of the venue from restaurant to events, including meetings, conferences, parties, etc... and weddings. The venue is quite moderate in size and resources, and is priced moderately (~3 star). We are planning shoots to show the venue in its various role-configurations. The pics I posted here were some we are considering for advertising the venue for weddings. We took our clues from the venue ads in the premier bridal magazine in Tasmania, most of which include some romantic bride (usually with groom!) shots. I thought these particular shots might be fun to put here in the Weddings forum. I also wanted help to judge how well they illustrate the idea of "bridal". #4 was done to convey the idea that this venue is not about pokerbacked strutting of status, but having relaxed fun, at an inexpensive cost. It's quite ok for the bride to kick off her shoes. We are in the process of working out the image we will project in the market. The shots are trials of ideas.

    Tasmania, the whole state of 62,409 square kilometres (24,096 sq mi), has a population of just 503,000 (2.3% of the national total) and 7.4 people/sqkm (12/sqmi)! Its economy is the lowest performing of Australian states. The majority of people are moderate to low income earners. Unemployment is about 2% above the national average of 5%. That's our demography, and the restaurant is pitched at the average citizen. The facilities and food are very good quality nevertheless.

    More shots are planned of the venue, and of the venue in use, at different times of the day and night, and for different kinds of events. #3 was shot with a Canon EF 14mm f2.8L.

    I had to Google Ricky Lake, and yes, I can see the resemblance.:D

    Neil
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  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2011
    As far as showing off the Venue, #3 is a really good idea, but you needed to flash your bride so she wasn't lost in here. I'd try this again with better lighting on her so you could have an over all good lighting to the whole image. And yeah in general you need more wide angle shots to show off this venue properly. I like #1 though, I'd try that again but just a teeny bit zoomed out so you could see more of the room.
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2011
    Shima wrote: »
    As far as showing off the Venue, #3 is a really good idea, but you needed to flash your bride so she wasn't lost in here. I'd try this again with better lighting on her so you could have an over all good lighting to the whole image. And yeah in general you need more wide angle shots to show off this venue properly. I like #1 though, I'd try that again but just a teeny bit zoomed out so you could see more of the room.

    Thanks for your helpful comments Shima!

    Neil
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  • JamesCroftPhotographyJamesCroftPhotography Registered Users Posts: 30 Big grins
    edited March 15, 2011
    I would have to agree with the rest of the posters (not that my wedding port is exactly up-to-date with my best work.) A quick question though: why the square crop on #3? I feel like the composition would be stronger with a greater sense of flow and direction to the image, but without seeing the rest I couldn't really judge. I also agree with the need for some sort of fill light on the bride to help her pop, or even subdue for a silhouette, but as it stands it feels like there are one too many competing elements in the frame (and sorry for the critique, but I'm in the middle of a Photoshop class for whom the instructor is also a graphic designer of many, many years. I've learned a LOT, but I digress.)
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2011
    JamesCroftPhotography wrote: »
    I would have to agree with the rest of the posters (not that my wedding port is exactly up-to-date with my best work.) A quick question though: why the square crop on #3? I feel like the composition would be stronger with a greater sense of flow and direction to the image, but without seeing the rest I couldn't really judge. I also agree with the need for some sort of fill light on the bride to help her pop, or even subdue for a silhouette, but as it stands it feels like there are one too many competing elements in the frame (and sorry for the critique, but I'm in the middle of a Photoshop class for whom the instructor is also a graphic designer of many, many years. I've learned a LOT, but I digress.)

    Many thanks James. Interesting comments about the compo of #3. I'm mulling those.

    Neil
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  • Mark DickinsonMark Dickinson Registered Users Posts: 337 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2011
    When there's not a picture of the groom, or bride and groom together :)
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  • DreadnoteDreadnote Registered Users Posts: 634 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2011
    Though I have never shot a wedding and can therefore offer nothing in the way of experience on this matter, I can say that when my wife and I picked the photographer who shot our wedding we based it on what we saw of his previous work. Consequently, if I was considering having a wedding at your location, I would be interested in seeing what a wedding held there looked like, or might look like. Is there anything wrong with staging a wedding on site? Perhaps you might find a guy with a tux (or a suit or other suitable attire) who can stand next to your lady there and take some of the pictures that you might actually take for the real thing. Seems to me this might go a long way in "seeing" that venue in terms of having weddings there. At the lest it will help you to establish your own opinion of how well suited the venue might be for a variety of events.
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2011
    Dreadnote wrote: »
    Though I have never shot a wedding and can therefore offer nothing in the way of experience on this matter, I can say that when my wife and I picked the photographer who shot our wedding we based it on what we saw of his previous work. Consequently, if I was considering having a wedding at your location, I would be interested in seeing what a wedding held there looked like, or might look like. Is there anything wrong with staging a wedding on site? Perhaps you might find a guy with a tux (or a suit or other suitable attire) who can stand next to your lady there and take some of the pictures that you might actually take for the real thing. Seems to me this might go a long way in "seeing" that venue in terms of having weddings there. At the lest it will help you to establish your own opinion of how well suited the venue might be for a variety of events.

    Thanks Dreadnote, excellent comment.

    Working on it!:D

    Neil
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  • OverfocusedOverfocused Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    Since it's promotional you could even try something creative with the bride facing away...
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    Overfocused wrote: »
    Since it's promotional you could even try something creative with the bride facing away...

    eek7.gif

    Neil
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  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    Overfocused wrote: »
    Since it's promotional you could even try something creative with the bride facing away...

    Such as have a photo of her looking off towards the venue or something.
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    Shima wrote: »
    Such as have a photo of her looking off towards the venue or something.

    Yep!thumb.gif

    Neil
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