My first time shooting a wedding!

jrmyrnsm · August 8, 2008

Well two of my very good friends recently got married and since the photographer was a friend of the bride she told me I could follow the photographer around to get some experience as well as some shots for a portfolio. I was really excited about the opportunity and very happy with the shots I got. Comments and criticism is encouraged. Let me know what you think! All the shots were shot with my 30D and all but two I used my 50mm.

1: The Groom with his brother the best man.
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2: The guys getting ready.
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3: Bride w/ groomsmen
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4: Vice Versa
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5: Classic groomsmen shot...
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6: The happy couple.
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7: Musicians.
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8: One of my favs...
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9: The kiss.
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10:No modern wedding would be complete without the jump pic!
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11: First dance.
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After this my wife (far left in pic 10) asked if I could put away the camera and join her on the dance floor so I didn't get any of them leaving or many at the reception but overall I was pretty happy with what I got. Let me know what you guys think!

Scott_Quier · August 8, 2008

#2 is under exposed and composition could have been better (cut off the top of his head)

#3 She's over-exposed and the guys under-exposed. But, it's a very nice composiiton - I like it!

#4 The lighting is a bit better here. The composition is a little strange. He's all relaxed while the ladies are much more formally posed. Hmm..

#5 - Good composition though I wonder if you could have reduced the impact of the bright background had you waited a bit?

#6 and #7 - Under-exposed

#8 - That's a keeper - love the expression. Color cast might need some work though.

#9 They are significantly over-exposed

#10 - Background is too bright

#11 - Nice perspective and good capture of the emotion (remember it's all about the emotion!!), but technically, it suffers from underexposure, color cast (red/magenta) and is a bit centered.

All in all, this was a good firt effort and shows a lot of promise for what you can get deliver in the future!

jrmyrnsm · August 8, 2008

Thank you for the comments and criticism Scott! I knew my exposure needed some work, it was one of the first times I had to try and get shots without having "ample" time to check all my settings but thats something I'm working on. My composition on a lot of them was limited because of using the prime and I was trying to stay out of the main photographers way which lead to some different angles than I would have normally used, but I knew that going in... Thanks again and I appreciate the comments!

dangin · August 8, 2008

i've got to echo scott's comments especially about exposure and lighting. i think a couple of things that you may want to play around with and see how they work for you are:

1) bounce flash. this doesn't mean just aiming your flash head straight up. 45 degrees or even off of opposing walls when indoors.
2) looking for light. shots 3 & 4 really lack this IMO. your foreground and background subjects are about 3 stops off from one another. composing it differently would have helped.
3) fill flash. would have provided less stark contrast in #10.

i know you mentioned you weren't the hired gun for the wedding so please don't take my comments as being overly critical. one of the things i tell new wedding shooters is look for good light and use it. and when there isn't any, then cheat and fill it in with flash.

jrmyrnsm · August 8, 2008

Thanks again for the comments! I'm excited about the next time I have an opportunity to shoot a wedding so I can try and improve my shots. I'll have to play with some of them on photoshop and see if I can get them looking a little better...

Scott_Quier · August 8, 2008

jrmyrnsm wrote:

Thanks again for the comments! I'm excited about the next time I have an opportunity to shoot a wedding so I can try and improve my shots. I'll have to play with some of them on photoshop and see if I can get them looking a little better...

Between now and then, practice on anyone that'll stand still for it. It's gotten so bad around my house that my just about runs every time I point a camera in her direction.

The practice will hold you in good stead when it comes time to again shoot under pressure. Also, practice shooting in full manual mode - you'll get a better appreciation for the relationships between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

bham · August 15, 2008

Yeah see what you can do in pp with them. Given your conditions (behind primary, basically a guest with a cam) and what you brought to shoot (one lens, no flash) with, not bad.

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

jeffreaux2 · August 15, 2008

bham wrote:

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

Oh Boy......

....:lurk

Scott_Quier · August 15, 2008

bham wrote:

George Costanza (Seinfeld), wait I mean Scott, did a good job of critique. Sorry Scott, with that avatar you look like his twin.

OK - I know when I've been slammed. I have lots more hair than he does:D

bham · August 17, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

OK - I know when I've been slammed. I have lots more hair than he does:D

I did not mean it as a slam. But the smile and glasses are so much like him. I really wasn't looking at the hair. Yes you have much more than he. Surely I can't be the first to tell you this. Seinfeld is my favorite show.

Scott_Quier · August 17, 2008

bham wrote:

I did not mean it as a slam. But the smile and glasses are so much like him. I really wasn't looking at the hair. Yes you have much more than he. Surely I can't be the first to tell you this. Seinfeld is my favorite show.

It's all cool. And, yes, you are the first person to tell me my avitar looks like him.