Venue Shoot - How would you go about it?

[Braineack]

Ended up being a small shed/barn on the outside of the winery with an outdoor space in front:

It was a little challenging, moving from the indoor space to outdoors required constantly changing setting and a mixing of flash and no flash. The clouds were constantly rolling in and out so sometimes the lighting would be perfect, and other times harsh and nasty. the cramped quarters made for nasty backgrounds. and the place was doing about 3-4 other events at the same time so there was no where to really go take people for clean/fun portraits.

But the food was GREAT and we all had a good time and I got decent enough shots.

this is probably the standoutish one--the bridge and groom:

Robin and Josh by The Braineack, on Flickr

 

[Braineack]

Here's the album I put on FB if anyone cares:

Robin's Wedding Shower

 

[Braineack]

That good?

 

[tirediron]

Looks fine; these sorts of events don't generally provide a lot of Pulitzer-worthy materiel...

 

[Braineack]

yeah i know. Overall I'm pretty happy. I challenged myself to not be tempted to shoot below f/5.6 and shot the majority at f/8, I think my flash fill work was pretty good and working with the constantly changing lighting conditions was an awesome excise. but like you said, it was hard to compose interesting shots that really stood out.

I got a few detail shots that I was pretty happy with:


Tenderloin by The Braineack, on Flickr


Apple Pies by The Braineack, on Flickr


and my one really "creative" shot that didn't turn out well cause I dont make a good tripod when doing long exposure and holding a glass of wine.


DSC_3876-3 by The Braineack, on Flickr


Fun Fact: I made the cookies and little pumpkin muffins in that one shot.

 

[JustJazzie]

These look lovely! If it was my shower, I would be overjoyed with the memories.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, GOOD fill-flash work! Looks like the lighting was a pita to me. The food did look good, I looked at the main table and was like "Yeaaa-huh!"

 

[Braineack]

Yes, GOOD fill-flash work! Looks like the lighting was a pita to me. The food did look good, I looked at the main table and was like "Yeaaa-huh!"

Family friend made it all. That's just her hobby... Insane. Can't even.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think your skill as a photographer is in getting consistently well exposed, nice sharp photos, that are pleasingly bright with good color. You captured a lot of fun moments well too.

Some of these would benefit from cropping to eliminate distractions, where you're catching the edges of people/objects etc. or have distractions in the background that don't need to be there. For example the one of the two people from the winery (blond woman in red sweater) would be better cropped to eliminate the woman in white shirt and table off to the left in the background, and maybe the car to the right - the subjects look good, I'd just notice backgrounds when you frame shots.

You might want to think about how you're framing because it seems rather high in some (which might be due to your height?) where people are cropped rather abruptly but there's more than enough room above heads and to both sides (or they might have been better framed vertically). For me it took lots and lots of practice doing events to get fairly quick at getting photos as things happen and getting what I want in the frame.

(And FWIW wanted to take a minute to say I probably wouldn't have spent the time looking if I didn't think you have talent that will continue to develop.)

 

[Braineack]

I agree with everything you said.

I purposefully cropped loose--I've been critiqued as cropping in a bit too tight so can't even tell where the picture took place, so I just went with it. I've also had issues in the past where I'll focus on the subject near the center of my focus area and just take the shot. I forced myself to focus, AF-L, and then compose the shot better. I had a significantly reduced number of cropped off hands at the waist this weekend, something that's hurt me on a few otherwise great portraits.

There were plenty of shots where I'd have to pause from shooting just to wait for the BG to clear--there was no winning here. The area of the shower was too small for the amount of people and the entire winery was just completely crowded. There was a humane society art auction going on just behind us, there were at least 5-6 outdoor wine tasting stations, there was another bridal shower going on in a different part of the facility, and then there was just all the regular visitors. It was actually pretty insane with the amount of activity going on.

The shot you mentioned of the gril in red would have definitely benefited from using the 70-200, but I was trying to avoid using it or having to switch back and forth. If I moved to the right, there was more of the Human Society area, to the left, the parking lot. If we rotated around then there was just more crud.

The shots against the barn wall were actually done behind one of the outdoor wine tasting stations and I was pretty much shooting right up next to the sommelier. At that point I didn't care and just wanted to have some shots with clean backgrounds.

With what I had to deal with I think I did okay. Like you said: all the shots are in focus, well exposed, and bright/vibrant and I was very happy with my flash fill work and that I made less mistakes than I have in the past. I guess you'd say I was learning.

What I need more practice one is just composing interesting/unique shots. But that has a lot to do with lack of experience, so I just need to keep on keeping on.