European wedding (56K warning!!)

Chrissiebeez_NL · November 10, 2007

Hi fellow Dgrin'ers!

I'm curious how this differs from a American wedding (since most Dgrin'ers are American).

I recently shot my very first wedding and i would like to know how i did. Any C&C are much appreciated because of the learning oportunities!! This is a selection of photos of which i think are nice. The remaining photos have about the same quality but i like the expressions one these.

#1 the groom waits for the bride beneeth the stairs and the present themselves to the guests.

#2 (male) guest marvel at the bride

#3 the bride looking lovely

#4 the ceremony

#5 the kiss

#6 the legal part: signing the papers

#7 taking off

#8 the rings

#9 lunch

#10 petit guests

#11 harressed animals

#12 and lots of reunions

#13 the brides father dances with the bride at the party

#14 the wedding planner joins the party

#15 one of the informal portraits

Again, C&C much appreciated.
more photos can be found at http://chris-en-hils.smugmug.com/gallery/3805827/2/219718290#P-1-15

Travis · November 10, 2007

Very nice. I especially like the shot of the bride and groom with the groom laughing (signing the papers). What a beautiful capture. They should cherish these for years to come.

ShepsMom · November 10, 2007

Very nice shots!!! The only complain i have is about very first shot, everything perfect except is has a strong yellow cast to it.
The rest of the pictures are very well captured. It doesn't look much different then an American wedding to me

. It's the after party that counts

You captured very nice facial expressions in all of the shots, and should be proud of your work.
Nicely done!

Scott_Quier · November 11, 2007

First thing I want to say is that you should be very proud of your work. If these are representative of the rest of the photos you took, then you did very well and your clients should be very happy. That having been said, well, you asked for it so I'll be simple and up-front with my comments:

#1 - Assuming his color is white, your WB is off quite a bit. On the good side, you got some amazing expressions here.

#2 (male) guest marvel at the bride - OK, but it's her back that is in focus. Might also be a little under-exposed.

#3 is a lovely snapshot of the bride. It's the people in the background; they distract attention from her. Again, maybe a bit under-exposed, but not so much that it couldn't easily be fixed. I love her pose and her expression. Next, try getting all of her hands in the shot; you cut her off at the wrists.

#4 - Looks like you had mixed lighting. The light on her is quite a bit warmer than the lighting on him. If you were using flash here, it sometimes works to gel your flash to match the ambient.

#5 - The Kiss - Nice one. It's wonderful to see the people in the background here, applauding the union and sharing the joy of the moement. I can see where traditional U.S. ceremonies could be improved in this manner.

#6 - WB and exposure issues. You were hampered, in part, by the bright light growing out of the grooms head. Might have been better had you paid a bit more attention to the background and moved your vantage point a bit more to camera right, thus avoiding the light above and the backlighting from the window to the extreme right of this photo.

#7 - They're looking the wrong way! He's under-exposed. The exposure issue can be fixed in post.

#10 - Where possible, it's usually better to take pictures of those shorter then yourself from a vantage point on their level.

#15 - This looks like it might have been illuminated with on-camera flash (though probably not the on-board flash). If so, I would recommend you slow the shutter another stop or so to pull in more of the ambient so you have a better idea of the context of the image. Also, lower the angle of the camera just a touch, they are a bit centered in the image. Maybe back up or zoom out a bit, and flip the camera to portrait orientation?

OK, after having hammered on you so ruthlessly, I must say that these are sooooo much better then my first several wedding! As a first time - WOW. I hope yo find my comments helpful; it was in that spirit I intended them.

Chrissiebeez_NL · November 11, 2007

hi and thanks for all the comments (especially scott

) and suggestions! they mean a lot to me!

The wedding shoot was extremely stressfull for me because i didn't want to mess it up. The bride and groom didnt want to have a formal shoot so all photos were spontanious portraits on my decision. most of the reception were in the parents home were it was quite crowded. this resulted in not being able to (optimally) arrange the composition. i've been reading into Brian Petersons 'learning to see creatively' about simple, clean compositions and i will try to isolate the subject from the clutter/noise.

i see the yellow cast and exposure problems and i will try to correct it in post.

the flash for the party was a 580ex and i used M mode with F4 1/15 sec. exposure and let the flash calculate the exposure. it was my first time using a flash (rented it the evening before and it didnt have a manual with it

) so i was pretty pleased.

Scott_Quier · November 11, 2007

It's amazing then that you succeeded at all. Most people take quite a long time to get the hang of decent flash photography. It took me forever - not that I'm much of a standard by which to measure - and I still screw it up on a regular basis.

Anyway, good on you for getting these shots.

A word of unsolicited advice - if you plan to photograph more weddings, I would seriously consider investing in some pro grade glass, another camera body, and two flashes. You really, really, need to assume that at least one of everything will fail you during an event. What happens if the shutter on your only camera fails to actuate half way through the ceremony? Something to think about.

Chrissiebeez_NL · November 11, 2007

Scott_Quier wrote:

It's amazing then that you succeeded at all. Most people take quite a long time to get the hang of decent flash photography. It took me forever - not that I'm much of a standard by which to measure - and I still screw it up on a regular basis.

Anyway, good on you for getting these shots.

A word of unsolicited advice - if you plan to photograph more weddings, I would seriously consider investing in some pro grade glass, another camera body, and two flashes. You really, really, need to assume that at least one of everything will fail you during an event. What happens if the shutter on your only camera fails to actuate half way through the ceremony? Something to think about.

Thanks scott!

i was pretty prepared fot this shoot. i had a backup body (used a Xti and had a 20D as back up) and rented a 24-70 2.8 L and a 70-200 2.8 L for the shoot but brought my own lenses as well just in case. but thanks for the advice! i would love to invest in more equipment but with hardly any income as a student it's a drag to save up for some of that stuff...

European wedding (56K warning!!)

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