First Solo Wedding

jlykins · Sep 18, 2008

So I did my first solo wedding about two weeks ago and ended up with about 350 finished photos. Here is a sample of the shots that I like. The bride Loved all of them(which is what really matters to me) but I thought I would share.

This was an outside wedding at about the worst time of the day, but I thought I did pretty well.

J.Bat · Sep 18, 2008

You got some nice shots, a few of them have some harsh shadows.

jlykins · Sep 18, 2008

J.Bat said:
You got some nice shots, a few of them have some harsh shadows.

Thanks, and yeah I know about the shadows. I tried to combat them with a reflector and a couple of flashes but I didn't want to blind them. I have a little work to do next time.

epp_b · Sep 18, 2008

Woah, did you jump in a time machine from the 70's? I mean, that guys hair... :lol:

On The Way · Sep 18, 2008

epp_b said:
Woah, did you jump in a time machine from the 70's? I mean, that guys hair...

oow com on :lol:

he looks cute

I thik your photos are gret ... I loved them

Flash Harry · Sep 19, 2008

cute, he looks like the son of the james bond "jaws" character.

Pics are reasonably good but need fill flash to combat shadows. H

Big Mike · Sep 19, 2008

Thanks, and yeah I know about the shadows. I tried to combat them with a reflector and a couple of flashes but I didn't want to blind them. I have a little work to do next time.

Don't worry about that, unless the actually tell you that it bother's them. For example, the 4th one looks pretty good, although there are some hot spots from the flash in that one.
I'm sorry, but the processing in that last one is plain sloppy.

jlykins · Sep 19, 2008

I can't believe you don't like the last one. That was one of her favorites... It was done with onone's focal point. What don't you like about it?

joecoulsonphotography · Sep 19, 2008

Background is way to visible/in focus for me, looks like she is sitting down (although that may be the dress) next time try to do that shot with either a dark/light background and lower aperture to put all of the focus (no pun intended) on the subject. I like the effect, wrong shot to do it with.

Big Mike · Sep 19, 2008

I can't believe you don't like the last one. That was one of her favorites... It was done with onone's focal point. What don't you like about it?

The edge of where it's blurry and where it's not...is way too hard. Also, there are parts of the floor & background that are still sharp, while there are parts of the bride/dress that are blurred. And I'm not sure which method of blur that is, but it doesn't look very natural.
I'm not totally opposed to blurring the background in post (would have been better to do it in-camera with a shallow DOF)...but for it to look natural, the areas that are farther behind her, should be blurrier than the areas closer to her...and things that are the same distance, should not be blurry...or at least, the blur should be on a gradient away from her. I can see that the surroundings don't look good, and why you would want to blur them...but I would suggest blurring only the far wall and burn the rest to create a vignette.
It's a great detail shot of the dress, but the blur processing just ruins it for me. Maybe you could post an unaltered version and I could have a quick try to show you what I'm talking about.

jlykins · Sep 19, 2008

Big Mike said:
The edge of where it's blurry and where it's not...is way too hard. Also, there are parts of the floor & background that are still sharp, while there are parts of the bride/dress that are blurred. And I'm not sure which method of blur that is, but it doesn't look very natural.
I'm not totally opposed to blurring the background in post (would have been better to do it in-camera with a shallow DOF)...but for it to look natural, the areas that are farther behind her, should be blurrier than the areas closer to her...and things that are the same distance, should not be blurry...or at least, the blur should be on a gradient away from her. I can see that the surroundings don't look good, and why you would want to blur them...but I would suggest blurring only the far wall and burn the rest to create a vignette.
It's a great detail shot of the dress, but the blur processing just ruins it for me. Maybe you could post an unaltered version and I could have a quick try to show you what I'm talking about.

Got ya. I see what you're saying. Here is a copy of the original:

LuckyStarPhotography · Sep 19, 2008

I like the barn shot.
Like you said, what is important is that the couple is happy with them. I still haven't had the balls to post wedding shots on here. So kudos to you for doing so. Congrats on your first solo wedding.

jlykins · Sep 19, 2008

LuckyStarPhotography said:
I like the barn shot.
Like you said, what is important is that the couple is happy with them. I still haven't had the balls to post wedding shots on here. So kudos to you for doing so. Congrats on your first solo wedding.

Thank you. The barn shot was my favorite.