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First wedding as head photographer (13 images) 56k beware
So this is my first wedding as the head photographer for a wedding. I did have trouble during the ceremony with an amateur photographer walking around, getting in shots, firing his flash when he was supposed to. I repeatedly spoke with him to no avail. Anyways, he only messed up some shots and still I think I made due well(but let me know what you think). There is some PS to be done before I print them. C&C is welcomed. Be brutal:thumb:D
1- Groomsmen
2-Ceremony
3-ring
4-wide church
5 -exit
6- exit2
7 - First Dance
8- First Dance2
9 - Money Dance
10- Cake cut
11- Photo Mosaic(Cake cutting)
12- dance
13- Dance the night away
1- Groomsmen
2-Ceremony
3-ring
4-wide church
5 -exit
6- exit2
7 - First Dance
8- First Dance2
9 - Money Dance
10- Cake cut
11- Photo Mosaic(Cake cutting)
12- dance
13- Dance the night away
0
Comments
www.adamdaley.com
www.fdphotos.net
#1. I like #1, but there is a blur on the church and the sun is making some of the dust flecks stand out by the car on the right. You can clone or crop some of them out.
#2. is gorgeous! There is a magenta tint that could be fixed.
#3. is underexposed, and there's plenty of details disappearing in the shadows that you could pull out with a little PS
#4.
#5. I like #5
#6. Another nice image
#8. I think he'll like that image
#9 did they drop any bills on you?
#10 My mind knows they are cutting the cake, but the photo doesn't really show it. Do you have another picture of the cake or them cutting it?
#11. WoW! I was going to ask if it was a camera glitch and then I thought I saw a dress. How long did that take?
12 and 13.
3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 all slightly underexposed IMO. Plenty of white points to pick from to fix them all.
There's other wedding photographers that may have more technical opinions here than I but I figured I'd throw in my .02 & see if it holds any weight.
Sucks about the other photog getting in the way. I wonder if this is a universal symbol... :nono
dak.smugmug.com
I like the perspective of the first shot, that is such a lucky man the bride is beautiful
Canon eos Mark II N
Tamron 28-70 2.8
Canon 70-200 2.8
Canon speedlite 580 EX flash
You should have called the guy a (mod edit) - let's be careful of the words we use. Angelo
In my opinion all photos look dark. Maybe that's you're style. But wedding photography is supposed to be more light and heavenly, flowery and girly. Looks dark like a funeral.
I do have to say I like your lighting though. You had flashes set up everywhere or what? Jeez!
Don't take this as bad. I think the shots your taking have TONS of potential!
Be careful what stance you take. It's rare that you'll get a person that won't listen to the pro and if you do, (like your situation) talk to the best man and let him be the bad guy. If you let him know this person is possibly ruining shots, I guarantee he'll squash that. You never know what potential customers are attending the wedding. It's doubtful you'll get that phone call for a booking if your a crabby photographer. Not to mention you may miss that perfect shot if your busy being the almighty photographer.
JMO.
Regarding the photos. I think your shots need to be thought out a bit more. Out of the few shots I see, the composition still needs work. There are body's that are cut in half lots of negative space. Maybe focus on the rule of thirds for awhile while shooting until you develop your own taste/style? You also should consider spending more time in post. The overall brightness of the shots vary and WB varies from shot to shot as well. Get that camera off auto and go to full manual. It will make your job so much easier in post. I think you'd also gain allot from investing in some monitor calibrating hardware so you can see the colors I'm seeing.
Don't take this as a slam. It's genuine feedback intended to help you take your next wedding to the next level
Cheers,
-Jon
I constantly fight the urge to yell at patrons. But you really have to hold your tongue and be polite.
Not only could you potentially yell at a future customer but an important family member!!
"Old lady get out of the way!!"
"That's the brides grandmother you ahole!!!"
Look at the guests for reference. See lady in red shirt and guy with black short sleeved shirt with his arm down in shot number 5.
Look at photo number 6 and you will see these same 2 guests right beside the bride and groom still!!!!!!!!
As a matter of a fact the lady with the red shirt is reaching out for the bride and groom. Guy with short sleeved shirt still has his arm down.
4 senerios..
- Remote camera
- Assistant / second shooter
- You commanded the bride and groom to stop mid way at exit
- You have super ninja flying skills
In Photo #6
I was thinking that the guy standing at the altar with the yellow tie has something in his hands, thought it might be photographer but not enough gear.
The groomsmen definitely had my back on this one and the interupting photographer was finally out of the way when it came to the reception (not sure if you guys can tell that the distraction was gone). Photos done better in ps is defintely something I can improve on (I think ps will be a forever learning process). As far as the photos being dark--I guess you could call that my 'style' and I know that many of my photos are more contrasty or darker than most people would have them. I often err on the darker side rather than light. When it comes down to it--the couple took a look at my portfolio before the wedding and they chose to go with me, having seen my previous work. Thanks for all the comments folks---I'm always looking to learn from other photographers. ONe question--have any of you guys dealt with wedding planners? Do they make the day go any smoother for a photographer?
Let me add one more thing that was a little confusing and caught me off guard. Check out the groom and his best man...
yep---twins...now I definitely didn't see that one comming...ha
Edit:
The guy to the top left wearing yellow in #6 is the offender. If you look close you can see the shadow of a flash. As far as #5 and #6...the entire entrances and exits were a little hecktic. Since I was using my crazy ninja skills to fly around. ok not really...
Gorillapod
Wireless Radio Remote Release for Canon
2 - This is almost good. Composition and lack of DOF is killing it as the groom is cut and OOF.
3 - Under-exposed and I fear, when you bring up the exposure that you are going to introduce a serious amount of noise.
4 - Nice. Would be even better if you had taken two at different exposures so you could do an over-lay, thus getting some detail in the pews. Something like an HDR, but without the 5 or 7 exposures, just two.
5 - Exit is very nice! Is that your flash of that of the amateur photog?
6 - Exit2 - Looks like you have some strange light fall off - she's well exposed, but he's a little dark
7 - First Dance - good, but you could have done with some more light. Looks like it was lighted by over-head lighting, thus casting some vicious shadows on faces. The composition is pretty good. I think I would re-crop it to remove the corner of the table in the lower right corner.
8 - Dance 2 - same thing again. Love the
9 - Dark and red
10 - Cake cut - need some fill flash! Also, need more of the cake and more of the hands/knife in the shot
11 - Photo Mosaic - nice idea. Again, I think if there had been more light on his face in the original, this would have turned out qu ite a bit better. And, I want to second Vycor's quetion - how'd you do that?
12 - Dance - light on face missing
13 - Pretty dark.
In general, I think you are having some problems with white-balance. As pointed out above, you have plenty of neutrals in all the shots to get this corrected.
My Photos
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GIVING BACK - How will you give?
Personally I used
ArcSoft Photo Montage
But I'm sure there are a bunch of programs that would work just fine. Just google photo mosaic or photo montage and stuff will come up. Thanks again for the critiques folks.
Haha that's sweet that you got a shot that nice remotely! It's level and framed really well!
Yeah I figured you might have used a remote camera but not many people in these forums are that tech savy.
Sorry I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt.
haha--I duno if i'd call it being tech savy...maybe more like using all my gear to take any picture possible. If the picture turned out to be crap...then no harm done. I went to the church early to plan out the shots. I was as nervous as I've been on a job. Other events don't compare.
Well planning and being there early and going the extra mile will get you far. Most pros show up right on time and just do the minimum to get the job done. They don't try new things they just do what they have done for years because they know it works.
Keep doing what you are doing and always strive to do better and you will go far. Don't worry about being nervous, even the top pros are always nervous on wedding days, after all... There is alot going on at weddings and alot of responsibility!!
Congrats on the nice pics and good luck with your future!