My Last Wedding of 2007 (22 Dec) - C&C Welcome

Scott_Quier

Contracted to photograph this wedding on 22 Dec. I asked, "Why the last Saturday before Christmas?" The Groom just finished an Army school on, I think, the 19th of December and he had orders to report to his first duty station on 4 Jan 2008. So, if they were going to get married before he reported it had to be this week-end.

1. The Flower Girl and Ring Bearer - these kids were so cute. She didn't really want to hold his hand 'cause he was younger. I asked her if she was afraid that he might have cooties and she responded that she wasn't afraid that he might, she knew he did! Cute!



2. This is the first wedding group I've worked with that was interested in something other than the boring "line 'em up and shoot 'em" portraits. The bride told me during the initial interview and then again during the planning interview that she was all about the photographs (yeah) so I had a chance to be a little more creative.


3. This wasn't posed, but I caught it anyway! This is Grandmother of the Bride, Mother of the Bride (being choked), the Bride (D'oh) and the matron of ceremonies (barefooted).


4. The hotel had this stair case (not nearly as wonderful as the one the urbanaries got a while ago, but nice enough for me).


5. I'm really liking this one.


6. I was so thrilled to have captured this one - real photojournalistic style!


7. Last one - it's all about the emotion. This was just 10 or 15 seconds into the B&G's first dance. I love shots like this - just wish I could magically remove the shadow from her mouth. Oh well, it is what it is...

Swartzy

Scott
I too am digging #5...its about the light! The centered lamp (dead center of the frame) almost kills the shot for me and maybe a crop would repair it.

The others could have a whole new look should you provide some effects in Lightroom/CS3. Right now for the most part they are hugely (sp?) lit (as in no interesting light). Possibly some cropping, possibly tilting with ratio cropping and adding presets or effects would make these more interesting.

Neat shot in b&W in the hallway but again, with a little tender processing it could draw the viewer into the image. Should you want, I'd be happy to mess around a bit but will only do so with permission...just to give you an example of what's in my mind's eye (which sometimes is a bit out there..hehe).

My 2 cents

ShepsMom

Very nice Scott, i especially like 1, 4, 5, and 7.

Dave Clee

Well #5 for sure and my favourite is #6..b/c having done a few weddings myself I know that #6 took that little bit extra effort on your part to capture it. You could of easily waited for them to come back but you didnt !

Great range of photos, from formal to candid..

Good stuff..

Cheers

Dave

ian408

Scott,

Your weddings have really come a long way. Nice work!

Scott_Quier

Swartzy wrote:

I too am digging #5...its about the light! The centered lamp (dead center of the frame) almost kills the shot for me and maybe a crop would repair it.

The others could have a whole new look should you provide some effects in Lightroom/CS3. Right now for the most part they are hugely (sp?) lit (as in no interesting light). Possibly some cropping, possibly tilting with ratio cropping and adding presets or effects would make these more interesting.

Neat shot in b&W in the hallway but again, with a little tender processing it could draw the viewer into the image. Should you want, I'd be happy to mess around a bit but will only do so with permission...just to give you an example of what's in my mind's eye (which sometimes is a bit out there..hehe).

My 2 cents

Feel free to play - I'm interested!

pyrtek

The last two are really excellent, Scott.

jeffreaux2

Looks like another job well done. I think #5 is my favorite as well. I don't mind the centered lamp so much. It just doesnt really bother me, and the expressions more than make up for it if it did. I am not sure about the white balance though. It seems to have a warm look to it....which is nice ......but her arm looks mighty red. I was just curious if you used a secondary light source here. Anyway, the arm looks red, but monkeying around with the WB might detract from the feel that it has. Very nice work. Thanks for sharing them!

Scott_Quier

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Looks like another job well done. I think #5 is my favorite as well. I don't mind the centered lamp so much. It just doesnt really bother me, and the expressions more than make up for it if it did. I am not sure about the white balance though. It seems to have a warm look to it....which is nice ......but her arm looks mighty red. I was just curious if you used a secondary light source here. Anyway, the arm looks red, but monkeying around with the WB might detract from the feel that it has. Very nice work. Thanks for sharing them!

No second light source. This is the result of very dim tungsten lighting. Cooling/correcting for this, I think, would pretty much destroy the mood of the shot.

jeffreaux2

Scott_Quier wrote:

No second light source. This is the result of very dim tungsten lighting. Cooling/correcting for this, I think, would pretty much destroy the mood of the shot.

Ok. Gotcha.

I agree about destroying the mood....thats why I said it might "detract from the feel" that the photo has.

It is a very nice capture. I was just nitpicking it!!:D

SitterS

Nice photos Scott. Really like 1 and the style of number 6. 7 is great shot capturing the emotion of the day.


Shane

Cuties02q

Nice shots #5 is great!!!

Jeff_Milo

very nice work scott, as always - I am really liking #5 as well. also like #6 a lot

Scott_Quier

SitterS wrote:

Nice photos Scott. Really like 1 and the style of number 6. 7 is great shot capturing the emotion of the day.

Thanks for looking. I really appreciate the kind words.

Cuties02q wrote:

Nice shots #5 is great!!!

Glad you liked it.

FlashPhotoBoy wrote:

very nice work scott, as always - I am really liking #5 as well. also like #6 a lot

I'm not so sure about the "as always" part, but I'm gratified that people like my work.

Thanks, everybody, for stopping by and posting comments!

urbanaries

1. Adorable capture! Her expression is priceless, and your exposure is really nice. I know you didn't have anything to do with this, but she's one of the most adorable and dolled up (awesome dress and tiara!) flower girls I've seen all year!) This could be cropped tighter in a few different ways, there are a lot of good "shots" in this one frame.

2. I like the staggering, the groomsman sitting on the left has great posture. I struggle with men's hand placement a lot (as you know!) and I'm not sure I get what the two are doing with their hands on the right. I think changing your shooting perspective a bit (either from below or slightly from above) could add the next level of dynamism. But I really like the flow of head heights in this one, very nice grouping!

3. Nothing short of fantastic!!!! Gorgeous colors and exposure. I bet though this would look nice in BW, if nothing else to concentrate the exuberance and emotion. Awesome shot!

4. This is REALLY nice!!!! I like the out of the box thinking! The Christmas tree is a particularly nice touch and you worked it (and its reflection) in ver well! These are so hard to perfect on the fly. If I were you and had it to do over again I would place one couple from the top of the staircase at the bottom left to balance it. But then again I also looked at it a long time and may be overthinking it. I am curious to hear what the B&G think! I suspect they will really appreciate this one!

5. Awesome emotion, wow, what a beautiful image! The warmth doesn't bother me, and the lamp is what it is as you say. I might clone out the two sconces growing out of her head, but other than that this is a winner!

6. woohoo!!! love this one!!! Nice BW conversion, very fitting.

7. Awesome emotion, I never get such great closeups of emotion during the first dance! You seem to produce them in spades. Off camera flash shadows can sure be finicky, but it is a beautiful image nonetheless. I've had better luck when I can bounce my 2nd flash off of a white ceiling but that isn't always available.

Overall this is a great set, looks like a very much in love couple. I hope the groom stays safe overseas. My only suggestion would be to try to get them outside some even in the cold (which you may have done) to lend some variety from the dark indoor conditions. Very tough lighting though and you did masterfully! Here's to a great 2007 Scott!

evoryware

My only nit on #4 is it may have been nice if you were a little higher, maybe on a step ladder, so that the building doesn't look like it's leaning backward - perspective distortion.
That said, #3, 4, and 5 are my favorites.
Also #2 the ring bearer just sticks out.
I can just feel that after the shot, Grandma turned around and popped them both in the head.
Then in 4, if she thought he had cooties, you would never know! They played together nice. What was the other younger girls part?
And 5 just speaks for itself.

jeffreaux2

I forgot to say in my earlier comments.....

I had an opportunity to do a wedding a few months ago for an older couple. He wore a military uniform(US Army retired) as well. I have to say that the uniform is very elegant for wedding attire. There is no formalwear or tuxedo that could ever look as sharp as that dress uniform. If you were like I was, I imagine you were excited about doing this wedding with him in uniform. The uniform shows very well in photographs.

Scott_Quier

urbanaries wrote:

5. Awesome emotion, wow, what a beautiful image! The warmth doesn't bother me, and the lamp is what it is as you say. I might clone out the two sconces growing out of her head, but other than that this is a winner!

OMG - I completely missed that. And so did my wife! Well, it's fixed now! Thank you so much for catching that!

urbanaries wrote:

7. Awesome emotion, I never get such great closeups of emotion during the first dance! You seem to produce them in spades. Off camera flash shadows can sure be finicky, but it is a beautiful image nonetheless. I've had better luck when I can bounce my 2nd flash off of a white ceiling but that isn't always available.

No white ceiling (beige - ugh) and, besides, it's kinda hard to switch between PocketWizards and the 580 in the middle of a dance. You make your choice and live with it. Makes me wonder, sometimes, if I made the right choice. As for getting emotion, I expect it to happen and I look for it. Usually, I'm disappointed, but sometimes I get lucky like I did with this one.

urbanaries wrote:

Overall this is a great set, looks like a very much in love couple. I hope the groom stays safe overseas. My only suggestion would be to try to get them outside some even in the cold (which you may have done) to lend some variety from the dark indoor conditions. Very tough lighting though and you did masterfully! Here's to a great 2007 Scott!

I has been a pretty good year. I started out having serious doubts about being able to deliver the goods (I did well enough, I guess) and got better as it went along, though I've often wondered if I'll ever get as good as you (no brown nosing there, just a statement of fact!). The Shay Stephens Wedding Photography Boot Camp was a turning point for me - really hoping Shay does another one in 2008.

Scott_Quier

evoryware wrote:

My only nit on #4 is it may have been nice if you were a little higher, maybe on a step ladder, so that the building doesn't look like it's leaning backward - perspective distortion.
That said, #3, 4, and 5 are my favorites.
Also #2 the ring bearer just sticks out.
I can just feel that after the shot, Grandma turned around and popped them both in the head.
Then in 4, if she thought he had cooties, you would never know! They played together nice. What was the other younger girls part?
And 5 just speakes for itself.

Perspective Distortion - yep. Would have been nice to have had a Tilt Shift TS-E 24mm f/3.5L and the time to mount and focus it. Oh well - it is what it is.

#2 Ring Bearer - again, yep - that was kinda the plan. This wedding is the begining of a style evolution. I'm moving away from the "line 'em up and shoot 'em" style of "formal portraits". I could have had him stand out by himself but decided against it and used the other groomsman to mask him a bit.

Don't remember what the other girl's role was in the wedding. She was a sister of either the bride or the groom, don't remember which.

Thanks so much for looking and commenting. I really appreciate it.

Scott_Quier

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I forgot to say in my earlier comments.....

I had an opportunity to do a wedding a few months ago for an older couple. He wore a military uniform(US Army retired) as well. I have to say that the uniform is very elegant for wedding attire. There is no formalwear or tuxedo that could ever look as sharp as that dress uniform. If you were like I was, I imagine you were excited about doing this wedding with him in uniform. The uniform shows very well in photographs.

I agree on all counts. All five branches (for the un-informed, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard) have beautiful dress uniforms.

I'm always excited when I get an opportunity to work with Active Duty folks and the uniform has nothing to do with it . Active duty get an un-advertised discount (they will know when they order) on after event products. It's another way that I give back to the military for all they do for us (see this thread for more on that).

ChatKat

Evolution
Scott -

I am glad to see you post your stuff. I look and see how far you've come since Bootcamp. The posing you did for the formals was very well thought out. I really like it.

As far as the other images go, you really capture the story. With PJ style work, we are stuck with small things we can't control when we shoot and we just have to make choices. Under pressure of the day we learn to move things out of the frame as we do more. For the times we don't - there's always Photoshop!

Scott_Quier

ChatKat wrote:

Scott -

I am glad to see you post your stuff. I look and see how far you've come since Bootcamp. The posing you did for the formals was very well thought out. I really like it.

Thank you. The distance I've covered since the WPBC has not been easy, but it sure has been fun....

Bruce Novotney

Nice Scott, 5 and 7 are my favorites,you can really feel the emotions of the subjects.

saurora

Nice set Scott! It seems you are good at anticipating those emotional 'moments' as indicated in #1, #5 and #7. #5 is by far my favorite of the bunch for many reasons. The ambient lamp light really sets the mood. The couple are really interacting and leaning towards each other. Also, you appear to have shot this from a lower angle and it creates a much more dynamic scene. Keep this one in mind for future weddings!!!