Need CC on some wedding shots!

andrew99 · Aug 15, 2008

I took some candid shots at my brothers wedding, I was not the official wedding photographer (thank God!). Anyway, I want to surprise them with some 8x10's.. The shots are not spectacular, but I'm trying to salvage something with a split-tone B&W effect. Please give me an honest assessment, I can re-do them if you guys can tell me what is good or bad about them. Also are they too contrasty and are they too dark or bright? And what do you think of the tones? Should I boost the saturation a little? I've been staring at the screen so long I've completely lost any sense of what is good or bad! :lol:

Thanks!

1.

2.

3.

manaheim · Aug 15, 2008

I like #1 a lot, but that harsh background shadow is rough.

It looks like you used a direct flash on all of these, which has some unfortunate results. Compositions on 1&2 are great, though.

tirediron · Aug 16, 2008

I don't like the treatment, I would prefer straight B&W. 1 and 2 have potential, but as manaheim indicated, some shadow/exposure issues in 1.

andrew99 · Aug 16, 2008

Thanks guys. Yeah, I did use my SB-600 mounted on the camera. And bouncing it off the ceiling was not working for me in this place either. But yeah, the shadows are brutal, most of my shots from that day are like that unfortunately.

They had hired a real wedding photographer, so I didn't want to start setting up light stands and umbrellas!

In retrospect, I kind of wish I had, though.

I'll play with the colours more. Either straight B&w or a more subtle version of this split tone, or even straight sepia. Thanks for the comments, much appreciated!

LuckyStarPhotography · Aug 16, 2008

andrew99 said:
They had hired a real wedding photographer, so I didn't want to start setting up light stands and umbrellas! In retrospect, I kind of wish I had, though.

If you're not the hired photographer for the wedding I can't see this ever being a good idea unless discussed prior with the wedding photographer. IMHO.

andrew99 · Aug 16, 2008

LuckyStarPhotography said:
If you're not the hired photographer for the wedding I can't see this ever being a good idea unless discussed prior with the wedding photographer. IMHO.

Yeah, I didn't want to upstage the hired photog or interfere with her work, so I approached the wedding the same way as everyone with a P&S, just grabbing some candid shots and letting her do her thing.