A Coupler of Pathfinder's Wedding Pictures :):

pathfinder · September 5, 2005

Mostly I shoot bugs and landscapes and this and that:): - So, this weekend I spent three full days shooting my niece's wedding and a family get together. So we'll all get to find out if I really know anything at all about shooting humans and other wildlife....

The wedding shots will dribble out as I get them processed, but my first picture is a a young child completely OOF. But I think this belongs here rather than in wildlife ( Harry hates pets shots - don't tell anyone though - that's a secret !!)

Here is the young cat tormenter in person...

Ya just gotta love high ISO and window light :thumb

Here is a B&W of the bride on the right, her sister, the made of honor on your left, and their step mother in the background. Shot at ISO 800 with a 20D and my beloved Tamron 28-75f2.8 Di and on camera flash with a LS II.

I am always grateful for criticisms and suggestions for improvement or comments.

DavidTO · September 6, 2005

Beautiful shots, pathfinder.

Nitpicks: Comp on the first is a little off, since I'd like more of a sense of the boy. The cat on it's own is awesome.

The DOF on the boy in the second shot is very narrow, but also awfully nice. Actually, no nitpicks there. I love the shot.

In the third, the step-mom seems a little soft. Also, I guess because of their coloring, the MOH pops more than the bride. Both lovely, but I wonder how you could help the bride be more of the center of attention, or at least not get lost on the side like she does. She blends into the blouse of the step-mom, while the MOH just pops right out. Three lovely ladies and a very nice shot, though, I gotta say. You did fine.

DavidTO · September 6, 2005

Oh, and I might smoothe out the Step-Mom's chest just a touch. Not for any reason other than it's a tad distracting with the lighter patches, from the lights, perhaps.

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

Beautiful shots, pathfinder.

Nitpicks: Comp on the first is a little off, since I'd like more of a sense of the boy. The cat on it's own is awesome.

The DOF on the boy in the second shot is very narrow, but also awfully nice. Actually, no nitpicks there. I love the shot.

In the third, the step-mom seems a little soft. Also, I guess because of their coloring, the MOH pops more than the bride. Both lovely, but I wonder how you could help the bride be more of the center of attention, or at least not get lost on the side like she does. She blends into the blouse of the step-mom, while the MOH just pops right out. Three lovely ladies and a very nice shot, though, I gotta say. You did fine.

I love these comments - Thanks for responding. The first shot is virtually full frame - exactly as I saw it in my mind - I like the fact that the child is not obvious, but requires a second look to verify that the cat IS looking at a child. I see your viewpoint, but perhaps don't competely share it. Lets see what other viewers see in it - if anything. The DOF was shallow for both color shots - f2.0 - but I like that also. I just love window light and shallow DOF

The B&W was converted from color because the wall used for a background was a greenish-tan and quite unattractive - not so noticeable in the dim tungsten lighting of the evening, but more obvious at the time of PShopping.

The bride is slightly shorter and more olive complected than the MOH and does not recede as much in the color images as in the B&W. Not sure how to correct that in PS in a B&W image. I would have to place her more forward or higher when shooting maybe. The step mother IS slightly soft - I agree - and that was an artistic decision of mine at the time I shot it - The AF point was on the left eye of the MOH. Thanks again for responding David!

System · September 6, 2005

Great shots and great discussion!! I am going to have to give the higher ISO's a try. 2 years with this thing and I've never used either the 800 or 1600; with mine (Finepix S602Z) it automatically reduces the resolution to 1MP for those ISO's and so I just never used them. And have ended up with a ton of very grainy low light images that I am beginning to think may have been saved; at least looked better than they did! This is what I love about this site.

Like the shot with the cat and child; the cat really pops out at you and then you look to see what he is looking at. Don't have any wisdom for the others; like em both.

Caleb

Angelo · September 6, 2005

very nice

I think David has some valid points about the BW portrait but it's still a very nice picture.

rutt · September 6, 2005

Love that narrow DOF cat shot. Really love it.

How much burning and dodging did you do on the two other shots, especially around the eyes? I suspect a lot. I'd ease back on the accelerator a bit to get a more natural look.

ginger_55 · September 6, 2005

Hi, PF, I am w Rutt on the cat shot, I love it. You caught something very good there.

The other shots are nice, too. They do get the people.

ginger

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

rutt wrote:

Love that narrow DOF cat shot. Really love it.

How much burning and dodging did you do on the two other shots, especially around the eyes? I suspect a lot. I'd ease back on the accelerator a bit to get a more natural look.

Thanksfor commenting John.

I actually did not do any significant dodging or burning around the face of the cat tormenter or the wedding party. The cat tormenter is pretty much straight from the camera, he has really blue eyes - that was not PS'd.
The wedding party was fashioned using Greg Gorhams B&W conversion technique. I did no real treatment to the eyes of the ladies at all either.

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

ginger_55 wrote:

Hi, PF, I am w Rutt on the cat shot, I love it. You caught something very good there.

The other shots are nice, too. They do get the people.

ginger

Thanks Ginger. I appreciate your impression. I liked the cat shot as soon as I shot it too.

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

Angelo wrote:

very nice

I think David has some valid points about the BW portrait but it's still a very nice picture.

Thank you. I absolutely agree that Dave's comments are accurate and valid. And I even agree with some of them also

: Sometimes though, hopefully, we can even agree, but prefer different degrees of focus or emphasis in our images also. Thanks again, Angelo.

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

Caleb wrote:

Great shots and great discussion!! I am going to have to give the higher ISO's a try. 2 years with this thing and I've never used either the 800 or 1600; with mine (Finepix S602Z) it automatically reduces the resolution to 1MP for those ISO's and so I just never used them. And have ended up with a ton of very grainy low light images that I am beginning to think may have been saved; at least looked better than they did! This is what I love about this site.

Like the shot with the cat and child; the cat really pops out at you and then you look to see what he is looking at. Don't have any wisdom for the others; like em both.

Caleb

Caleb - welcome and thank you for jumping in. Higher ISOs are less noisy with larger sensors. Some P&S cameras have very high noise with ISOs of 800 or above, so don't be disappointed if your bokeh does not match that of the 1DsMkII... Just don't let that stop you from shooting. Sometimes the noise can be an assett in the picture - so try to anticipate that and use it to your advantage. Or converting to a grainy B&W is another route. That is why people shot grainy 3200 ASA B&W years ago - There was no color film of that speed then.

Sandy · September 6, 2005

Very nice shot of the cat and boy. Also of the three women. I have been converting to black and white on many of my shots.

DavidTO · September 6, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

hopefully, we can even agree, but prefer different degrees of focus or emphasis in our images also.

Well said.

pathfinder · September 6, 2005

Sandy wrote:

Very nice shot of the cat and boy. Also of the three women. I have been converting to black and white on many of my shots.

Thanks Sandy. I am of rutt's school of thought about B&W - I love it, but I try to have a specific reason why I ditch the color - some shots in color would fail badly if they were converted to B&W as the color is SO integral to the image. In others, the color may actually be a strong disadvantage. For example, last night, I printed an image of an eagle that my brother, mereimage shot, and found the grey flat sky no advantage, and the strong graphic outline of the bird crying to be converted to B&W. Maybe we can get him to post it here or on the Cool Shots thread.

lynnma · September 6, 2005

Love em all Pathfinder. The cat is fabulous! I like that the boy is almost out of the picture.. it gives reason for the cat's look.

GREAPER · September 6, 2005

I also like the cat shot as is.

mereimage · September 6, 2005

Hey- those belong to me/Ya'll can pick and nit but I love the picture and them

My babies and my Squeeze-Who dares to find anything wrong with it

Thiago Sigrist · September 8, 2005

Hey pathfinder!
Lovely shots you got there! Especially the first three!

I'd be thrilled if I had taken any of them. Really nice work!

Thanks so much for sharing!
Take care!

-- thiago

pathfinder · September 11, 2005

I finally am nearing the end of my wedding photo processing. Whew!! I have posted about 130+ images in the gallery here http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/gallery/784862/1 Please. please - if you take the time to examine them, feel free to leave comments - rants or raves!

I have learned quite bit about shooting weddings, and there is a LOT more I need to know to do this well. some things I did learn - There is a LOT of green light on a golf course. Fill flash is great, but I think Partial metering will work better than Evaluative metering with strongly backit images like on a golf course. I had a number of under exposures ( Shoot in RAW + jpgs - it WILL save your bacon ) Take care of the Best Man and the Maid of Honor - they can marshall folks around and save you a lot of headaches. And have fun - because it really is FUN. Everyone is there to have a great day.

Just a few of the images I kinda like - maybe you will too.
The background setting is good to capture -

Detail shots are always important

Romantic shots are always nice...and a veil makes a great diffuser

The married couple of course

Funny shots can work for some folks

Candids of the wedding party racing around in golf cars ....

Guests at the reception dinner offer lots of opportunities for candids

And requested pictures can turn out well also - the groom wanted this picture of the wedding rings of his grandfather, his father, and himself - I think it works better in B&W

It always helps to have a highly photogenic couple of course!! Jared and Jamie were great hosts and I truly enjoyed spending the day with them and their extended families. Thanks go to mereimage for pressing me into this experience. It was great. Thanks bro!!

Andy · September 11, 2005

hey, these are good! the b&g, and family, are lucky to have you to shoot these for them

pathfinder · September 11, 2005

andy wrote:

hey, these are good! the b&g, and family, are lucky to have you to shoot these for them

Thanks Andy. And I didn't use a telephoto or a macro lens all day long either - just a 24-70 L.

mereimage · September 11, 2005

It always helps to have a highly photogenic couple of course!! Jared and Jamie were great hosts and I truly enjoyed spending the day with them and their extended families. Thanks go to mereimage for pressing me into this experience. It was great. Thanks bro!![/QUOTE]

NO PROBLEMO...........................perhaps a second family business

Mereimage

mereimage · September 11, 2005

andy wrote:

hey, these are good! the b&g, and family, are lucky to have you to shoot these for them

Yes we were.....................Mereimage

A Coupler of Pathfinder's Wedding Pictures :):

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