Someone talked me into a wedding....

kygarden

Short story is I was asked to shoot someone's wedding and I've never done it before. I wasn't really all that interested, but I agreed to do it anyway.

I doubt I'll ever do it again - at least not as the primary photographer - but I think the bride will be happy with the $100 she spent. I figured I may as well get something for it. $100 isn't much, but it's better than nothing. I've spent maybe 8 hours post processing so far. If for no other reason, that's a good reason for me not to do weddings as a side job. I just don't have the time to sit at my PC afterwards! LOL

I was lucky to find someone that let me use his Alien Bee lights and a backdrop. Yes I know there's a wrinkle in the backdrop...but hey I'm a rookie. He came over and acted as the second shooter to try to get things I couldn't get since it's hard to be in two places at once. The photos in this post are some of the ones I took. I won't have a look at his until he sends me a CD. He was using a Nikon D2h.

Anyway, I know I made some mistakes but overall...I think I did pretty good and I'm pretty sure the bride will be happy with what I have for her.
Here's a few samples. I'm still working on the post processing...lots more pictures to go It was an African-American wedding. There's a broom jump involved so that's why there's a close-up of a small decorated broom.
Some waiting around shots, a few ceremony and a few reception.

Nikon D200, SB-600, Tamron 28-75, Nikon 24-120VR, Nikon 50 f/1.8.

Let me know what you think. Again, I'm no pro and won't claim to be one...I know I made mistakes. I even missed a few shots I needed

bsvirginian

From the images you've posted I'd say you did a pretty good job. And you say the bride got her money's worth. What are you giving them as a finished product?
BS

kygarden

bsvirginian wrote:

From the images you've posted I'd say you did a pretty good job. And you say the bride got her money's worth. What are you giving them as a finished product?
BS

Thanks

I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so I'm giving her the full resolution JPG's on CD(s) and she can do her own prints. I'm doing minor post processing but spending more time on certain photos if it helps to make a big improvement. Mostly I'm just sharpening and adjusting levels. Oh and a quick conversion to black and white. So she'll get color and B&W of all photos.

JimM

They look really good to me. Nice job!

kres

IMHO Your really selling yourself short. While there are a few mistakes, your stuff is at least on par with quite a few Wedding Photog's that I've seen. Like anything else, there is satisfactory, good, excellent and exceptional strata's - I'd say that what you've shown is firmly entrenched in the "good" ranking. One has to wonder what the product would look like if you kept trying it.

kygarden

kres wrote:

IMHO Your really selling yourself short. While there are a few mistakes, your stuff is at least on par with quite a few Wedding Photog's that I've seen. Like anything else, there is satisfactory, good, excellent and exceptional strata's - I'd say that what you've shown is firmly entrenched in the "good" ranking. One has to wonder what the product would look like if you kept trying it.

Thanks for the compliment I guess it's like anything...if you practice enough, you can't help but get better at it. I'd say most of my problems were due to inexpereince in being able to figure out where to be and when to be there to get the shot. Then I'd say I could use faster lenses and a second body to keep an extra lens on so I don' t have to switch when I have no time to switch. I'm pretty hard on myself, so hopefully the bride will not be as picky as I am and be very happy with the photos. I'm pretty sure she'll be satisfied if nothing else.

Thanks again.

SitterS

I as well think you did a good job on your first go around. I am sure the bride/groom will be pleased. I did a small wedding last year as a favor and boy is it hard work. On the move continously for 4 hours. I left the place with much more admiration for those that do weddings all the time.

Shane

dancinkate

I'm going to agree with everyone else, you did a fantastic job for your first time. I love the laughing reception shot, nice catch. Wow, $100....worth much much more!

saurora

I think you sell yourself short! These are excellent first-time images, so nicely exposed. The bride and groom should be delighted!

bsvirginian

I think Kygarden is experiencing the FLIP side of doing weddings. Post processing, realizing what cudda happened if your equipment had a malfunction, if the wedding party was noncompliant, etc. I would say that my wife and I spend about 2 hours prior to a wedding (first contact, first meeting, explaining the obvious, accepting the contract, dealing with a B&G that is just looking for loopholes, etc) show up an hour prior to the ceremony, the cermony, after ceremony, reception, etc. Then the real work begins. Post production, dealing with photo finishers, album companies, getting approval for album from the bride and groom (who's he?) and critiquing the finshed products. I'd say with the average 5 - 6 hour wedding we invest about 15 - 20 hours give or take. Not complaining, just stating what we do. BS:ivar

kygarden

bsvirginian wrote:

I think Kygarden is experiencing the FLIP side of doing weddings. Post processing, realizing what cudda happened if your equipment had a malfunction, if the wedding party was noncompliant, etc. I would say that my wife and I spend about 2 hours prior to a wedding (first contact, first meeting, explaining the obvious, accepting the contract, dealing with a B&G that is just looking for loopholes, etc) show up an hour prior to the ceremony, the cermony, after ceremony, reception, etc. Then the real work begins. Post production, dealing with photo finishers, album companies, getting approval for album from the bride and groom (who's he?) and critiquing the finshed products. I'd say with the average 5 - 6 hour wedding we invest about 15 - 20 hours give or take. Not complaining, just stating what we do. BS:ivar

Based on what I've experienced so far for the post processing, you're absolutely right! I'll easily have that much time in this and then some. First I looked at each of the approximately 1,100 photos to see if they were worth a second look. If they weren't, I deleted them. Then I started again looking at each one and deciding what I'd like to do to improve it. EVerything must be sharpened since I have the in-camera sharpening turned off (PC does a better job). Some photos didn't make the second pass. Then there are some that look a little artsy, but aren't technically correct photos...so I'm dealing with those too. I don't like head on in your face flash if I can avoid it.....so some of my photos may have been ruined due to being afraid to use the flash at a higher setting. I'll need to work on that.

Thanks everyone. I'll post some more pictures in a little bit

kygarden

OK...here are a few more. I'm starting to amaze myself. I love these



My absolute favorite....I love the mood here...

bsvirginian

Just from your' recent experiences do you now believe that wedding photographers are OVER PAID? Ha, ha. BS

Scott_Quier

Efficient post processing is something that comes with practice. You go through the shots once to grade them. I use a scale of 1 to 5 (hmm, that's how many stars are availabe in ACR), 1 being toss it, 5 being portfolio quality.

Delivering just JPGs - ACR to the rescue. A couple of pre-sets for the saturation, contrast, sharpening. Apply them as appropriate. Bang - Proofs are done and you can, if you wish, deliver them to the client.

Real post processing - only those that will go in the album - the number will depend on the number of pages requested. Deliver a couple or 6 more sides than requested so they have something to toss. If you have your actions lined up, this should take you another couple or 4 hours.

Total time: 4 to 8 hours on the 1,000 shots.

On to the photos, the ones I really like and why...

Excellent B&W conversion and it really captures sometime for me. I think I would have made it a touch lighter, but this is good stuff.


You captured the emotion of the moment - and that's what it's all about!


Same thing here!


This one is just awesome, the little girl is just too cute!


Again, with emotion! Very nice. To improve next time, the focus coulda/shoulda been a little futher away from the camera, close to the lady in the middle.


Weddings are all about people celebrating love and family. This one shows it so well!


You have an amazing set of photographs here. I'm looking forward to the next installment!

And, and for the record, the B&G got a steal on this deal!

Shima

Awesome job Great capture of emotions and wonderful colors!

evoryware

nice job.

evoryware

question. did you shoot this wedding RAW or jpg?

kygarden

Wow...I'm humbled Thanks everyone. I tend to be really hard on myself when it comes to photography and maybe I don't give myself enough credit. Thanks for the encouragement!

To answer the last post, I shot this RAW. I've pretty much switched to RAW for everything now. Capture NX 1.1 runs pretty quick on my PC now so for the little extra time it takes to process a raw file, it's worth it to me. I love being able to dial in exposure compensation after the fact for one thing. It really saved me on some of these.

I could do without the noise in the reception photos, but honestly...I doubt the bride will notice any noise. To me, it's the content that matters...not the techincal details (within reason of course).