Post Ceremony Wedding Photos

crimbfighter · May 23, 2016

So, long story short, my brother tied the knot this past weekend in a very small ceremony that was only going to be them, parents, maid of honor, best man and the officiant. What does a good brother do in that case? Drive 800 miles with our other brother to crash it, of course! They had a photographer there for the ceremony, so I sat back and enjoyed that part. Afterward, the photographer couldn't stay long, so there was almost no time to get photos of just the bride and groom. I'm not sure where they got this photographer, it may have been a friend of a friend type situation. He may well take very technically nice looking photos, but I found he was not very creative or assertive in his posing, composition, etc., and was giving them virtually no instructions (and they needed it) so I found myself posing them while he took the photos. He had no objections, in fact he was appreciative of my help, which I was happy I could offer. After he left, I took them around the botanical gardens where they got married to get some more photos for them. We didn't have much time and were dodging another wedding party, so I captured what I could.

C&C on my favorites or any others in the set welcome.

Here is a link to the full set:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/54751692@N08/4t31Db

A few of my favorites:

1. This one's not super sharp, but I still liked it.

2. The structure was a tall bell tower.

3.

4. Whispering sweet nothings.

5.

6. Last one.. I wasn't sure what I was going for when I set it up, but I liked the end result.

crimbfighter · May 24, 2016

Bumpetty bump.

Any comments? Critiques? Snide remarks?

Designer · May 24, 2016

I like them.

#s 1&2 the subjects are too small in the frame, so we can't see their faces very clearly.

#6 is a good idea, but I hope you got one of the bride's face in clear focus and your brother's face oof.

crimbfighter · May 24, 2016

Designer said:
I like them.

#s 1&2 the subjects are too small in the frame, so we can't see their faces very clearly.

#6 is a good idea, but I hope you got one of the bride's face in clear focus and your brother's face oof.

Thanks Designer for the comments. I agree the subjects are small in 1 & 2. In 1, I found I couldn't crop in any more because of the lack in sharpness. In 2 I was trying to show the scale of the bell tower. But perhaps it wasn't helping the image. On #6 I do have one with the opposite focus.

tirediron · May 24, 2016

I think you done did good! I've seen people pay a lot of money for images that didn't match these. I agree that the subjects in 1 & 2 are rather small, but I don't see that as a negative; in fact I see these as being the 'memory' shots of the event because they show the location. They know who they are, and their friends know who they are....

UncleSteve · May 24, 2016

Something about the angle of her arm in #4 bothers me. I feel like my eye keeps being drawn to her armpit area. The idea of the photo is great, just wish the heads were a little further forward with her arm dropped just a touch. I do like how you turned #2 into a black and white. Great job over all.

crimbfighter · May 25, 2016

tirediron said:
I think you done did good! I've seen people pay a lot of money for images that didn't match these. I agree that the subjects in 1 & 2 are rather small, but I don't see that as a negative; in fact I see these as being the 'memory' shots of the event because they show the location. They know who they are, and their friends know who they are....

Thank tirediron! Much appreciated!

UncleSteve said:
Something about the angle of her arm in #4 bothers me. I feel like my eye keeps being drawn to her armpit area. The idea of the photo is great, just wish the heads were a little further forward with her arm dropped just a touch. I do like how you turned #2 into a black and white. Great job over all.

Thanks UncleSteve. Now that you pointed it out, I'm thinking her arm might be drawing the eye because it's bright, and the highlights are contrasting sharply with the shadows in her arm pit. Bright highlights next to shadows will tend to draw the eye. I did work on her arm pit in several similar photos in PS to tone down shadows and remove red marks. Perhaps I can look at burning down the highlights on her arm to even it out. Thanks for pointing it out!