First Practice Attempt at a Wedding...David and Melissa

NJMAN

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Not too long ago I posted a thread about advice for first time shooting at a relative's wedding, especially inside the church. I got some great tips from Big Mike, JD, Dewey, JIP, and Leo. Thank you very much for your great tips about equipment, technique, and general pointers. Here are some pics from the wedding. As some of you may remember, I was not the paid pro, and I made every attempt to let the pro do her job and stay out of her way (but she was very nice and accommodating...). Some photos were taken with my speedlite when possible (had a homemade bounce/diffuser card attached on the end, and used as a fill flash), and also experimented with no flash and just used ambient light. The pro had tight control over the usual shots before, during, and after the ceremony, so I did what I could to capture some moments when she wasn't around. After the ceremony, I had more freedom to shoot anything I wanted at the reception and dance. Some of these are almost straight out of the camera with some touch up, but a couple are processed with effects. Comments welcome!

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Nice work, I hope you had fun. I see some good things and some things that need to be worked on.

#1 is a great perspective but I think it would be better if it wasn't just a few people in the pews...or if the ceremony had started. It might even look better if all the pews were empty...therefore giving all the attention to the church.

#2 is a nice shot with a shallow DOF. It would be better if the person behind (alter boy?) was not visible. You could have moved just a bit to hide him or waited until he was gone.

#3 also has a nice shallow DOF but it looks like he has s candle growing out of his head. You should always try to avoid getting things in the background that make the subject look weird. Sometimes it's unavoidable...in this case, I'd probably just clone it out.

#4 is OK but it would be better without the backs of people's heads.

#5 is pretty good...but you just caught the edge of them. Either include them or don't...but try not to cut them off like that.

#6 is great, nice moment and lights etc. I like the dreamy effect but it is making parts of the image a bit too soft...maybe use a layer mask to better control the the soft glow vs sharpness. #7 is better in this way...nice glow but still pretty sharp. The contrast is a bit high, which is OK but the suit seams to be extra black.

#7 great detail shot...looks a bit yellow but still OK.
 
Mike about summed it up, but I would add that I would have played around with the white balance a bit. I tried setting the white point using PSE, and it made a big difference; you may want to try this as well. Not only does it make the whites "whiter", it also extends the dynamic range a bit, helping the photos to "pop" with more contrast.
 
#6 is a standout for me with the exception of the white balance issues you have I think overall you did a great job. One criticisim I might have, and this is minor is it looks like you did alot of the standard shots that I as the photographer might have done had I been the one of course. This is something alot of people can fall into if they are trying to shoot along side of another photographer it is hard to find moments that it is not the responsibility of the photographer to get. Putting that aside I would say overall great job for a first time. I woukld like to see some more.
 
Hi there glad the tips we gave helped however I have some comments on how I see them.

Most of your images are quite a bit under-exposed (a stop maybe more in some cases - look at the levels in photoshop) and also to my eyes none look extremely sharp. But I guess this was caused perhaps by a high ISO.

I'm guessing also you did you not use the 50f1.8 much because I'm sure you'd have gotten sharper better exposed images using a faster lens?

They are nice compositions but they don't work for me as they are. The curves/levels need to be tweaked quite a bit. The whites in your images are not actually white....

I don't mean to be harsh and all the images I think they can all be saved with some extra editing.

Regards
Jim
 
As mentioned there is a definate white balance issue here, but other than that, I think you did well.
One thing you could benefit from is to get close and turn your flash backwards. (sounds crazy, and looks even more insane, but it produces beautifully lit couples with nice ambient light.)
But since it's too late for that, just boost your levels on a few, like the cake and church shots.
Overall, nicely done for a practice run. :)
 
Thanks all very much for the constructive criticism. These are valuable tips, and I appreciate it. Yes, Mike, I had a blast, thanks! I see where I can tweak the color, contrast, and levels/brightness in a few of these. Regarding composition, I can tell that I need some work on that too.

To answer your question JD:
I'm guessing also you did you not use the 50f1.8 much because I'm sure you'd have gotten sharper better exposed images using a faster lens?
I used the 50mm f/1.8 about half the time. Mostly in the church, and somewhat later on in the reception hall. The other times, I used the 18-55 mm kit lens when I felt that I needed more of a wide angle. Regarding the pics in the church, I tried not to use flash, so the ISO was quite high at 800. Unfortunately, when I do that, I have to clean up the noise quite a bit afterward in addition to all the other details and make sure it remains sharp. The shutter speed was somewhere around 1/60 to 1/90 in the church at f/1.8 and ISO 800 to get a good exposure.

I plan on posting some more pics from this wedding if you want to see them. I have some fun shots at the reception and dance of the wedding party, guests, and some of the kids.

Again, thanks a bunch! I will keep trying and learning. :D
 
Someone else mentioned the string of lights at the top in #6, and I really like that too. Maybe you could duplicate it somehow so that they run all the way across the top of the frame? Or you could try other crops so that they don't stop on the left hand side like that. And, as others already said, these would look even better if you brightened them up a bit:)
 
To answer your question JD:

I used the 50mm f/1.8 about half the time. Mostly in the church, and somewhat later on in the reception hall. The other times, I used the 18-55 mm kit lens when I felt that I needed more of a wide angle. Regarding the pics in the church, I tried not to use flash, so the ISO was quite high at 800. Unfortunately, when I do that, I have to clean up the noise quite a bit afterward in addition to all the other details and make sure it remains sharp. The shutter speed was somewhere around 1/60 to 1/90 in the church at f/1.8 and ISO 800 to get a good exposure.

I think you have more noise than expected because you under exposed all your images. Easy to do but with practice you'll get better. Watch your histogram.... A LOT and adjust to suit. You'd have seen the under exposure with the gap right.
 
great photos, what equipment did you use? did you use any flash?
 

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