First Wedding Shoot

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

A bit of an intro as this is my 'first':
I attended a very good friend's wedding on Sunday and, as the wife was home with the kids, figured I would bring the camera along to keep me busy. Coincidentally, we attended a wedding the night before and I had brought along the camera but rarely used it as the wife was with me. I did learn one valuable lesson though, the Canon 350D with Sigma 30 really likes the center point focus/recompose technique to bring out the sharpest images...
Anyway, got to the wedding a bit early to take part in a Jewish ceremony that preceded the public one. Met the pro who was sporting three D3s!! Seemed like a good guy who just asked me not to use flash and stay to the periphery. Seemed like very sound and reasonable advice.
Shot a few frames during the Ketubah signing. Love this one of the groom's nephew:

Onto the public ceremony. Circling the groom. Wish I had composed this differently...

A very curious thing happened during the cocktail hour. The photographer's assistant was doing group shots. Didn't see the pro anywhere. I was a bit bored and minding my own business when the groom motioned for me. He told me that the pro wasn't doing any of the PJ type stuff and asked if I would mind shooting them. Needless to say, I was honored.

Bride and her Maid of Honor

Off to the cocktails:

Groom and his brother

Next we went to the bridal suite as the bride got her hair done.
Groom with a nephew/ring bearer

Finally some 'real' light

Prior to entering the reception...reading the guestbook

First dance

Mmmmm...cake

Tired out

Let them eat cake

A dance

Night was ending and I was packed up and saying goodbye. Bride told me she would be right back as she was going to toss the bouqette(sp?). I had noticed that the pro had left 30 minutes earlier and so I grabbed the camera again and set up quickly. The videographer's light helped with this one

Sorry for the long post. The groom is a very good friend and I was thrilled to be able to take some of these more candid/PJ-type shots for them.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the Finishing School thread about WB:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=90817

I would greatly appreciate any and all comments/critiques/suggestions for these. The couple hasn't seen them yet so I can still clean them up a bit.
Thanks a lot!
Eyal

qsjewl · April 15, 2008

I love the one of the bride and groom in black and white. It looks like she is already taking care of him....making sure he looks his best!

I also like the one of the little girl looking longingly at the cake!

all in all, very nice pics.

Scott_Quier · April 15, 2008

In large part, these are great and well done. There are a couple about which I question you choice of WB: "Off to the cocktails" and "Groom and his brother". You have a very heavy blue cast on the people while maintaining a more or less accurate WB for the background. I think these would be better if you corrected for the peoples' skin tones and let the background go warm - just my $.02

Agnieszka · April 15, 2008

You got some excellent shots. Congrats

I agree with Scott about the WB on those two "blue-ish photos", but that's an easy fix in PS.

- "Finally some 'real' light". Grrr, is he holding his blackberry in his hands??

- I think "First dance" could use some more contrast ... but it's a great shot!
- "Mmmmm...cake": Haha, what a picture!

... so is "Tired out"
- and the bouquest throw, that's a tough one. Especially if it's dark by the time she trows the bouquest and it's hard to get light at her as well as at her girls. You did an excelletn job, love her expression too

I am sure they'll be thrilled with the photos

VisualXpressions · April 15, 2008

So this is what you left the DGrinners in DC for...

Looks like you nailed it Man:D I think your friends will be very pleased with your work!

I do agree with Scott concerning the blue hue on the 2 shots... other than that, nice job!

Winston

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

Thanks Scott. Those two were tough - tungsen lighting with large windows to the left bringing in 4pm natural light. I'll head back into LR and see if I can adjust the tint a bit.
Appreciate the comments.
E

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

Agnieszka wrote:

You got some excellent shots. Congrats

I agree with Scott about the WB on those two "blue-ish photos", but that's an easy fix in PS.

- "Finally some 'real' light". Grrr, is he holding his blackberry in his hands??
- I think "First dance" could use some more contrast ... but it's a great shot!
- "Mmmmm...cake": Haha, what a picture! ... so is "Tired out"
- and the bouquest throw, that's a tough one. Especially if it's dark by the time she trows the bouquest and it's hard to get light at her as well as at her girls. You did an excelletn job, love her expression too

I am sure they'll be thrilled with the photos

Thanks for the great comments!
I have to admit I didn't even notice the phone and was concentrating on getting the ring in frame. It was only at home that I saw him holding it.
This is the rest of the bouquet series by the way - couldn't quite keep that bouquet in frame...

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

VisualXpressions wrote:

So this is what you left the DGrinners in DC for... Looks like you nailed it Man:D I think your friends will be very pleased with your work!

I do agree with Scott concerning the blue hue on the 2 shots... other than that, nice job!

Winston

Thanks a lot Winston!

joshhuntnm · April 15, 2008

Nice shots.

let me ask you about just one--the one with the groom by the window. I like how the shadows are not too dark. Did you use a reflector or something?

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

Nice shots.

let me ask you about just one--the one with the groom by the window. I like how the shadows are not too dark. Did you use a reflector or something?

Hi Josh,
No reflectors or flash on any of the shots.
Just the Canon 350D and Sigma 30/1.4 for almost all. Center focus and recompose. Aperture priority. Iso 400-1600.
All post-processing done in Lightroom.
E

Agnieszka · April 15, 2008

eoren1 wrote:

Thanks for the great comments!
I have to admit I didn't even notice the phone and was concentrating on getting the ring in frame. It was only at home that I saw him holding it.
This is the rest of the bouquet series by the way - couldn't quite keep that bouquet in frame...

Oh, those shots are great!! No worries about the missing bouquet. Her expressions are just wonderful!!

Swartzy · April 15, 2008

These are real nice PJ and candid stylish photos. Well done. Weddings are so much fun! Way to stretch out!

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

A bit less blue
Thanks for pointing this out.
Here's the new WB:

socialcrawl · April 15, 2008

Thankyou for putting a smile on my face

eoren1 · April 15, 2008

Thank you for the very kind words...and welcome to Dgrin.
E

Scott_Quier · April 15, 2008

eoren1 wrote:

Thanks for pointing this out.
Here's the new WB:

These are much better:D The mixed light is really causing you some problems here, but your treatment takes care of it quite nicely.

Ann McRae · April 15, 2008

Congrats, Eyal. They are lovely. And good for you for being up to the job.

ann

First Wedding Shoot

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