My brother's wedding!

Bellezzo · Aug 26, 2012

I was at my brothers wedding yesterday and had to shoot the whole thing, something I've never done before. Now, I think my results are alright, but I'd love to hear your opinions and get some c/c on them, since I'd like to do something like this again another time. Of course this is only a few of the pictures.

Cirkeline · Oct 3, 2012

My favorite is #4 and #5

tirediron · Oct 3, 2012

Not bad for a first go. My one general comment would be: In future, consider using a larger aperture to decrease DoF and render the background more softly focused and less distracting. I think they would all benefit from a slight exposure & saturation boost as well.

Designer · Oct 3, 2012

3 & 4

TonysTouch · Oct 3, 2012

I would be careful on #5. You are not leaving much room for the photo crop.

Hickeydog · Oct 3, 2012

Looks like you might have your exposure set too dark for those pictures.

lizbethR · Oct 3, 2012

I really like #3&5 may i ask what type of cam you have ???

Sw1tchFX · Oct 3, 2012

on #5...when you see it....

pickle788 · Oct 3, 2012

First 3 look under exposed.

MonicaBH · Oct 3, 2012

I agree with the others that they look underexposed.

#4 is the only one that I think has the potential to be a portait, although it's still slightly underexposed, the DoF is too deep and she has a tree growing from her head.

The others look like snapshots more than anything.

But this is coming from an enthusiastic amateur, so take it with a grain of salt.

Bellezzo · Oct 4, 2012

Thanks everyone, I see what you mean with the 'snapshot' thing - but I just kind of wanted to get a bit of everything from the wedding.
I see what you mean with the underexposure-thing too, but as usual I feel like my pictures look a little different when I put them out here, of some reason..

What I thought was the hardest of part doing this wedding-thing, was to find pictures the bride herself liked. She was very picky haha!
I like these two as well, though there are a few things I wish was different, but at least they are less 'snapshot-like'..

Bellezzo · Oct 4, 2012

lizbethR said:
I really like #3&5 may i ask what type of cam you have ???

I have a nikon d7000 and I used both 35 mm and 50 mm 1.8 lenses this day

Majeed Badizadegan · Oct 4, 2012

In the realm of the good professional wedding photography I've seen, these all fall quite short. This is the peril of taking on the photography job for family/friends without adequate knowledge/prep to deliver professional-quality images they will look back to forever. There are some major technical problems in each of the 5 originally posted. Exposure, light, composition-- some basic areas that are weak. At first look they feel very Uncle-Ben-at-the-wedding-with-his-DSLR-snap-shottish.

The last 2 you've posted are better.

I'll share my thoughts on each, extract what you will. Usually I wouldn't take the time to CC this many photos, but want to take a little time.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18355

There's some nice things going on here. It's underexposed, and busy. The leaf on the right crept into the frame and the woman smiling down at the two is cut off severely. I think you half caught this moment, but it leaves much to be desired. The exchange, which I'm assuming is a handshake, would be more clear from a different angle.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18354

Light is flat. Composition is uneasy with the placement of the persons in frame. Creates some tension. DOF is giving us all the juicy details in the leaves and bushes behind the subjects that we don't care about, and are just distracting.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18353

I like this. Except for the tree coming out his head. Portraiture 101 no-no.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18356

Her expression is somewhat uncomfortable here. Kind of a forced smile. Not always your fault, as some people can be uncomfortable in front of the camera. The roses are also blown, or bordering so, you might try to bring those back down.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18352

Group shots are really difficult. I like your idea here. I like the framing with the low hanging leaves, and the light is nice. But you've got two blinkers, which just kills it. Make sure you shoot a bunch of the same shot when it comes to groups so you can weed out the blinkers.

Bellezzo said:
View attachment 18360

Probably the best shot of the set. The treatment has rendered a pretty flat photo here, and the crop is pretty tight which might make framing/printing difficult.