My first wedding... *gulp*

[minicoop1985]

Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...

Lew, I didn't put nearly that much effort into that photo because I had another with flowers, but I definitely appreciate it.. In fact, here it is:

IMG_6690 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Sharon, I can see why you would get that impression... I've done events and stuff. My first one was a charity event called Drive for a Cure. In fact most of my events have been charity events. Christmas dinner, a bowl a thon, some other stuff... but this was my first wedding.

Edit: Dunno why it looks like I nuked the dress. It doesn't look like that in Lightroom.

 

[Fatalit14]

Good work!

 

[gsgary]

Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...

Lew, I didn't put nearly that much effort into that photo because I had another with flowers, but I definitely appreciate it.. In fact, here it is:

IMG_6690 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Sharon, I can see why you would get that impression... [emoji38] I've done events and stuff. My first one was a charity event called Drive for a Cure. In fact most of my events have been charity events. Christmas dinner, a bowl a thon, some other stuff... but this was my first wedding.

Edit: Dunno why it looks like I nuked the dress. It doesn't look like that in Lightroom.

The chap next to the groom looks like he has come straight from work with his steel toecap boots on, it's hard to make people look good when they dress so bad

 

[minicoop1985]

Exactly. Not much I could really do with that. Oh well. I'll be delivering the photos tonight, hoping all goes well... This was a paid gig at least.

 

[Dillard]

I'm sure they will love them! You had an incredibly tough environment to work in, and you made the best of it. We've all been there!

 

[SquarePeg]

I think you did a great job considering the location and lighting.

Purple shirts????? Eek! This is the 2nd or 3rd wedding shoot I've seen recently where the groomsmen had on colored shirts instead of suits. Is this some horrible new trend sweeping the country?

(Can't stop looking at the decorative tree branches between the bridesmaids on the right.)

 

[minicoop1985]

Yeah, the purple shirts is the new thing. This was a rather informal ceremony, so it makes sense.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I really appreciate it. I've been roped into another in the spring, so at least I'll have the experience.

 

[W.Y.Photo]

I leveled the first shot. That's easy enough.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Next time I will make sure I'm a part of the planning process. I was barely a thought in this one, and didn't have much choice. It was already planned (just found out they wanted me as a photographer all of two weeks ago), so honestly, I was flying by the seat of my pants. On my first time. Oh joy.

I did try to crop the father and bride down to the faces, but my god was it noisy. I needed to shoot at 800 because my flash just plain wasn't powerful enough.

As for being hard on myself, you're right. I am pretty harsh with myself. I want to accomplish the best, but feel like my skills just aren't quite there when it comes to what's in front of the camera. I can talk about menus, TTL, ISOs, lens specs, etc all day, but posing and shooting in the moment I feel like I just don't get yet, so I get frustrated.

Sounds like a terrible environment to work in. What's good is that you recognized what caused the issues you faced that you can actually do something about, and that you now have a bad wedding under your belt and the experience that comes with it. Next time you have a bad location or group it won't hit you as hard and you'll know what needs to be done to make things work with the hand you are dealt.

As everyone has been saying, for the circumstances you faced you came out with some excellent technically sound images; that's a feat in and of itself. (and one that I'm sure will make your clients happy.) Knowing that you can do that in a chaotic environment only serves to ensure you that you've got room to now be more open and creative when you have more opportunity to plan and aren't struggling just to make sure you get the right shots.

Good job. I'm excited to see what you come up with for your next one!!

 

[gsgary]

Yeah, the purple shirts is the new thing. This was a rather informal ceremony, so it makes sense.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I really appreciate it. I've been roped into another in the spring, so at least I'll have the experience.

Purple shirts and coloured shirts needs to stop as soon as possible it looks naff and very cheap

 

[Braineack]

Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...

what about a creative crop?

converted to B&W to make the noise appear as grain. I'd do some clean up and clone out the hand on the left as well as bluring that area as well.

 

[minicoop1985]

Thank you, WY. I'm so glad it's out of the way too.


I agree, Gary. Just doing colored shirts is kinda tacky, but for a rather informal wedding, it works.

Now the next one is going to be a proper wedding with actual tuxedos and the like, and I believe it's going to be in a church. Gotta get a flash bracket before that one.

Braineack, I hadn't thought of that. I guess I wasn't as creative as you when it comes to cropping. Too focused on just getting the shot.

 

[gsgary]

Mine was very informal but I had a bespoke suit made because I wanted to look and feel good

 

[astroNikon]

Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...

what about a creative crop?

View attachment 110879

converted to B&W to make the noise appear as grain. I'd do some clean up and clone out the hand on the left as well as bluring that area as well.

and clone out the 3/4 face above the ladies left shoulder who oddly looks like Braineack. lol

 

[Braineack]

Braineack, I hadn't thought of that. I guess I wasn't as creative as you when it comes to cropping. Too focused on just getting the shot.

Have MP, will Crop.

 

[minicoop1985]

Nothing like a good heaping load of megapickles.