First Wedding - A few shots to C&C

[KmH]

The nice thing with the 7D is that I can crop down without losing too much image quality.

You don't have to discard any pixels at all (crop) if you get the framing right in the camera before you release the shutter.

Or did you buy an 18 MP camera so you would still have 10 MP left after correcting framing errors post process?

 

[Oilersrock]

IMHO, selective coloring is NEVER the answer..

Do you care to expand on that? I've found that a lot of people (not necessarily photographers, but potential paying customers) find selective coloring a neat effect. It may not get you published, but it may get you paid. No?

i dont have much input but wow, #9 is the money shot!

Thanks. Yeah, that was my favorite from the wedding. I had to steal the couple away from the reception when I looked outside and saw the lighting.

Great stuff for your first wedding! My comment aside from agreeing with what others have said is to pay more attention to your exposure. I usually shoot manual outside after taking a number of shots and paying close attention to my histogram. When you get a whole sky blown out, it's very difficult to control it in post processing without it looking artificial. I also agree with the poster that suggested that you keep it simple. Let the images stand on their own and keep the post processing subtle and consistent...especially for wedding photos. The last wedding I shot the mother of the bride says to me "Why aren't there any pictures of my sister?". "What...you never told me you HAD a sister!" Lessons learned eh?
Steve

In terms of the subtle and consistent - #3 is entirely untouched out of the camera. #4 is an Aperture preset. For the shots we did at this farm would you suggest perhaps simply boosting the greens and trying to recover the sky?

Welcome to the forum, Oilers do indeed rock!

I'll probably repeat a bunch of what has been said already...but oh well.

#1: Yes, too much room above while missing stuff below. It's a bad habit to fall into. Your 7D has a great AF system, so you don't have to use the centre AF points all the time.

#2: No bad. I'd crop this one right in. The only good/important parts are her & his faces...the rest is just useless space.

#3: Not sure where you're going with this one. Looks like a snapshot between poses or something. The horizon is in the middle, which feel bland.

#4: The grass is nicer but the sky looks pink.

#5: Cropped to close to the groom. Kids heads are stacked. When posing a group, think of triangles, not lines. In other words, never have someone's face right above another when you can have them staggered. Also, there is a lot of space between the 'groups'. Try to space out the people in a group photo, so that their faces create a nice composition within the frame. I'm sure it was easier said than done, as the kids were probably running around, acting like kids. It's a tough racquet being a wedding photographer

#6: Nice pose, cropped too tight. Also, as with some of the others...the sky is just too bright. It's a tough situation because if you expose for the sky, everything else gets too dark. In this situation, I would still try to expose for the sky, even underexpose it to make it look dramatic...but then use flash to light up the subjects. I would probably require a lot of flash power though.

#7: Sky looks much better here. I'm not sure if you shot it that way, or just edited it that way. The groom is too dark, the dress is too bright (and blue). Like I said, wedding photography isn't easy.

#8: Nice fun shot (did you think of that?). But it's cropped a bit too tight and the angle could have been better or more creative. I'd like to be able to seek the bride's face (with proper exposure) in the shot.

#9: Best shot of the bunch...by far. Not only did you expose for the great sky...but you lit them up really well...with off camera lighting. You should have been shooting like this for all the shots. :thumbsup:

#10: These are always nice. I might have tried to get a bit higher, to include more of the colorful sky...rather than the dark clouds. Could also try this one in a vertical and/or cropped closer.

Excited about Friday Mike? I'm kinda hoping we take RNH and trade for Smyth on Friday. That would be icing on the cake that has been the past 10 days (mainly watching Vancouver get blown out and then blown up)

#1 - Point taken, thanks

#2 - What if when I crop it in it centers the B&G. Would that be 'better' than having the wasted space? That's what I was debating, and decided to go wider and then if I needed to, I could crop later.

#3 - I've cropped a lot of the sky out and will try to remember to keep it on the top third. This one was a bit of a random one, as I was still posing the couple when the kid ran up.

#4 - I agree

#5-7 - Very good points.

#8 - Yeah, it was mine (minus the beers). We were out back with the B&G and the guys were with the bridesmaids inside the house relaxing. When we called them back out they came with their drinks, and I got a few of them all looking at the car, and then thought I'd get one of them "helping."

#9 - Yah Strobist!

#10 - Another good point. At that time I was just trying to snap off as many as I could before they got bit to death by the mosquitos. I'll take a look tonight and see if I got some better ones with less of the clouds and more of the sky.


Thanks again everyone! Awesome help.

 

[Oilersrock]

The nice thing with the 7D is that I can crop down without losing too much image quality.

You don't have to discard any pixels at all (crop) if you get the framing right in the camera before you release the shutter.

Or did you buy an 18 MP camera so you would still have 10 MP left after correcting framing errors post process?

Haha, yeah, I'm definitely going to try to get more shots as close to perfect straight out of the camera, but it's nice right now knowing that if I do need to crop, I can. Hopefully with more experience I'll need to rely on that less and less

 

[PhotoTish]

Photos 1 and 2 are nice but I agree that there is too much space at the top of photo 1.

I just cleaned my screen to make sure that the little spots I can see in photos 9 and 10 were on your photos. There are several and especially noticeable in photo 10. You can easily remedy them though and other than that, I really like these two photos.

I like how you tried something different and fun in photos 6 and 8 and photo 7 is a nice shot too.

I think your friends will be pleased - especially with the last two :thumbup:

 

[Oilersrock]

Photos 1 and 2 are nice but I agree that there is too much space at the top of photo 1.

I just cleaned my screen to make sure that the little spots I can see in photos 9 and 10 were on your photos. There are several and especially noticeable in photo 10. You can easily remedy them though and other than that, I really like these two photos.

I like how you tried something different and fun in photos 6 and 8 and photo 7 is a nice shot too.

I think your friends will be pleased - especially with the last two :thumbup:

Haha, yeah, those 'little spots' were bloodsucking mosquitos. I was wearing a full suit the whole day, and still got over 30 bites - through my clothes. It was ridiculous. I have a few other shots from the sunset series where you can see 2 or 3 on their hands and faces. Thats another reason I like those ones so much - we all had to suffer for them

 

[PhotoTish]

Ahh! In that case, leave them in. We have many old family photographs and it is little details like that which make them even more interesting :thumbup:

 

[eliz250r]

I'll probably repeat stuff too

#1-Cropping is off, as everyone has mentioned to much on the top & her arm is cut off on the side. It looks like she is holding blue flowers, mabe if you were able to get that in the shot it might of given it that "pop".

#2-Tighter crop. I do like her face, you really caught her in a moment where she is totally engaged in her groom

#3-The idea of the bride & groom looking at the little ones running around, playing in the feild & picking flowers is cool. Maybe if the kids were a little closer it might have worked better. I know it's hard to work with children...

#4-The original image better, the sky looks too pink, however the grass is better.

#5-I really like the idea of this pic, however the crop is way to tight for my liking. You cut half of the little girls arm off & the back of the groom. I would have liked to see more of the fence in there so I would have done a full body, then cropped it to my liking later if I wanted a closer view of their faces.

#6-Just the crop again, make sure to include the arms of both groomsmen.

#7-The dress seems to be the focal point for me & I do like it. The placement of the groom is odd to me but I like what you were going for. Maybe next time have him sit on the fence like he is & her off to the side of him. That way the dress can still be similar to the way you have it but she is to the side of him. She will still be able to look up at him & down at her but it might make a little more sence & you will be able to see them a lil better.

#8-My fav & a really really cute idea... LOVE THIS! Too tight of crop, you can see part of the tire is cropped out & the groomsman foot is gone. But this idea is totally awesome! I might have brought the one groomsman in the back on the otherside of the hood so they weren't so pushed together. BUT LOVE IT!

#9-I really like this. The grooms face is a tad dark but really like it.

#10-I would have done more straight on so the top part wasn't so dark where their heads are at. I would have liked to see their heads where it is more "orangie"

I love the location, so pretty!

 

[Quentin_Moyer]

@Oilersrock, I just could never bring myself to find the results of any selective colored image attractive, just my opinion. Likewise, lots of people say HDR sucks but I think it can be used to achieve good images (if used correctly of course). Merely my opinion.

 

[Oilersrock]

I'll probably repeat stuff too

#1-Cropping is off, as everyone has mentioned to much on the top & her arm is cut off on the side. It looks like she is holding blue flowers, mabe if you were able to get that in the shot it might of given it that "pop".

#2-Tighter crop. I do like her face, you really caught her in a moment where she is totally engaged in her groom

#3-The idea of the bride & groom looking at the little ones running around, playing in the feild & picking flowers is cool. Maybe if the kids were a little closer it might have worked better. I know it's hard to work with children...

#4-The original image better, the sky looks too pink, however the grass is better.

#5-I really like the idea of this pic, however the crop is way to tight for my liking. You cut half of the little girls arm off & the back of the groom. I would have liked to see more of the fence in there so I would have done a full body, then cropped it to my liking later if I wanted a closer view of their faces.

#6-Just the crop again, make sure to include the arms of both groomsmen.

#7-The dress seems to be the focal point for me & I do like it. The placement of the groom is odd to me but I like what you were going for. Maybe next time have him sit on the fence like he is & her off to the side of him. That way the dress can still be similar to the way you have it but she is to the side of him. She will still be able to look up at him & down at her but it might make a little more sence & you will be able to see them a lil better.

#8-My fav & a really really cute idea... LOVE THIS! Too tight of crop, you can see part of the tire is cropped out & the groomsman foot is gone. But this idea is totally awesome! I might have brought the one groomsman in the back on the otherside of the hood so they weren't so pushed together. BUT LOVE IT!

#9-I really like this. The grooms face is a tad dark but really like it.

#10-I would have done more straight on so the top part wasn't so dark where their heads are at. I would have liked to see their heads where it is more "orangie"

I love the location, so pretty!

Thanks for comments! Much appreciated!