First Wedding (crits and comments please)

[J.Bat]

Ok today I did my first wedding, here are a few shots that I have edited so far. Let me know what you think. Will update.

 

[samal]

I am a noob in this, so take it with grain of salt, but:

Horizon doesn't look straight on few of them - it is very noticable on 2 and 7, but few others as well

on 8, I would add more DOF to have all 3 subjects on focus, or would focus on a bride, not on the kid in front

I like the last shot, just wish the groom would not look so depressed

 

[seth-trenda]

If this is your first wedding you did a great job. The one thing that i noticed though is you need to keep your eye open for weird things in the background like the flag in #1. Even though it is out of focus it is a bit distracting from the bride. And also i would make the portraits of the bride look a bit softer. Remember this is the day that she wants to remember looking beautiful, So I always like to help them out. :0) But over all great job! You have a good eye.

 

[J.Bat]

Thank you, is there a way to clean up the grain??

 

[tommyqh]

Thank you, is there a way to clean up the grain??

I don't see any post processing done. I suggest using Adobe Lightroom2 to remove a lot of the noise. It can also help you straighten the pictures

I also have OnOne Software add-ons for photoshop cs3/cs4 for additional post processing work to give that warm dreamy look.

good luck!

 

[LarissaPhotography]

Excellent job for your first wedding! On the image with the bride walking down the aisle, if you zoom in a little, you'll get rid of some of the non-essentials and keep the focus on the interesting content in the picture.
Sometimes it's good to have the extras in the picture, like in your last shot where the people are blowing bubbles. The basic rule is that if something is not essential to improving your photograph, try not to include it.

 

[federerphotography]

Not bad... darn good for a first try, actually.

For still lifes, you really should hit the horizon perfectly. For 'action' stuff, I find a tilt is generally accepted. Oddly enough, a tilt of like 5-10 degrees is many times more acceptable than one of 1 degree.

A lot of the images seem a bit dark... I'd suggest that a mid-tone bump to all of them would be an improvement.

Keep on keepin' on...

 

[shuttercraft]

Great job for your fist wedding! The only thing I suggest is to make sure that you keep mind that the main focus of the event is the bride and groom. When you do weddings in the future try to capture as much personality as you can. After everything is all said and done take the bride and groom and get some more personal shots, Shots that resemble there love for one another.

Sometimes I mix it up a little and get some fun and wacky shots. A few months ago I was shooting a wedding when the bride approached me and said, "I want to do something more then just the standard formal shots". She then told me she wants to do some more shots after the wedding was over.

Later on that day I took the bride and groom and got some shots of them having fun around the city in full dress. Still the bride wanted something more, I then asked her about doing a trash the dress kinda shot. The words "Trash The Dress" kinda thew her off a little but she kinda liked the idea. Next thing we know I was taking pictures of the bride and groom jumping in the river down the road from the chapel in full dress!

Get personal with your clients, get to know who they are and you will get more powerful shots!

Great Job!

 

[SrBiscuit]

i think 4 is your strongest image.

number 7 has unfortunate lighting...seems very harsh and bright.

good job though!

 

[ken2323]

Yeah keep it up and let the comments help you out!

 

[Sarah23]

Looks like you didnt have enough light in most of them. If you could post your settings, that might help a bit.

Your white balance also looks off a bit.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Yeah, if this is your first wedding, I think you did really good. Yes the color is off, and yes, some have alot of noise, but churches are dungeons and sometimes it's unavoidable.

 

[Wyjid]

cool. i think i would prefer 5 and 9 (roses on table) to focus on the roses.

 

[4thirds_dude]

I've never shot a wedding before, but here's my 2 cents...

The shots themselves look good to me. I agree about the issue of "funky" items in the background. Also, a bit more post-processing would make a world of difference.

In photo #1, the bride seems to have some skin tone issues because of the lighting. I think if you pull more mids out of this, a little skin smoothing, and add a bit of a glow it'd be a really great shot.

As to your mention of "grain," I use Nik's "DFine" software and it's phenomenal... lets you use control points, color ranges, and other custom settings to tune your noise reduction... then I just run a "high pass" sharpening filter over when I'm done to bring back some edge detail without sharpening the noise I just removed.

Like I said, looks excellent for your first wedding. Probably quite a bit better than mine will be, whenever that happens. Happy shooting!