Recent wedding shots

[Big Mike]

These are from a wedding I shot on my birthday. Just a quick edit for posting up here.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

 

[Christie Photo]

Hey Mikey! I like it!

4 and 6 are stand-outs.

Is that a rapeseed field?

-Pete

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks Pete.

Is that a rapeseed field?

Yes, we call it canola now though. It's actually one of the most popular crops to grow up here. For a few weeks in the summer, it looks really great, especially when contrasted with blue sky and some greenery.

 

[Village Idiot]

Great shots.

 

[NateWagner]

I'm not sure if you were looking for C&C here, but I'm going to give it anyway, hope you don't mind too much.

1.) Other than the distracting background I do like this photo quite a bit. However, the older fellow (the dad?) is he the best man? if not he looks a little odd there just cause his suit doesn't match etc.

2.) I love the colors that you got out of 2-8 (were you using a circular polarizer?) gotta love it when the clouds play along for you. the only small nit is that the smiles from the woman in 3 and the bride in 5 look a little forced. The photos look amazing though.

9.) This is really blue. My main problem with it though is probably the fact that his suit is obviously black. It seems like it should stay black anyway, that's how it seems to me anyway.

10.) smiles and pose seem forced. was this shot staged or did they actually stop for you?

I love the shots in general they were very nice and my critiques are very minor. Excellent job.

 

[tirediron]

Nice work.

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks for the comments, and I do appreciate the critique.

Yes, I did use a circular polarizer and burned the sky a bit in post.
As for the forced looking smiles...that's just what they looked like. It's easy to see a resemblance between the groom and his mother in they way they smiled. We do have some more candid shots from various parts of the day, where they look a bit more natural.

As for the color in #9...I dropped the color temp quite a bit, to sort of simulate moonlight. There is also a lens flare around their hands, which is affecting how his suit looks.

 

[janetm1000]

great shots!!
but #6 looks like they are photoshopped in. dont know what it is, but it's kinda weird... maybe it's just me...

 

[Big Mike]

It does sort of look like that. It's because the flash exposure was a bit brighter than the ambient, especially on the B&G.

 

[Jeff Canes]

#1 is the only one I see any issues with, it needs more DOF

 

[visualpoetry]

Beautiful location for shots! That field is perfect.
I love the photographs but would have lowered the contrast a bit, IMO.
#8 is my favorite!

 

[Big Mike]

#1 is the only one I see any issues with, it needs more DOF

More DOF? Everything in the shot is in focus. Or did you mean less DOF? I would have liked to have less DOF, to throw the background out of focus a bit...but I was limited to 1/250 for the flash sync, which meant that I had to shoot at F11 or F16 (something like that). I think I may have tried using HHS but that really reduces the range of the flash.

 

[Jeff Canes]

^^^ It seem to me if black and white are not colors then being totally in focus or out is not DOF :lmao: Yes the background need to be out of focus.

 

[Jeff Canes]

What flash do you have?
What would happen if you set the camera to a slower speed and use end sync?
You can always use a faster shutter speed?

 

[Big Mike]

What would happen if you set the camera to a slower speed and use end sync?

If I used a slower shutter speed, that would have over exposed the background & sky etc. Front or rear sync doesn't matter in this situation.

It can be tough to balance daylight and flash, especially when shooting toward the sun light this. To prevent blowing out the background, I need to have an exposure of something like F16 & 1/250 (ISO 100). The problem is that at F16 & ISO 100...the flash range at max power is only 8 feet. If I make the shutter speed shorter (to be able to use a larger aperture) I'd go above the flash sync speed of 1/250.
So the best I can do, is to set the shutter speed to it's max sync speed and then use the aperture that will give me the background exposure I want...and hope that my flash has enough power (at that aperture) for the shot. The down side to that, is that my DOF at F16 is way too deep.

I could set the flash to HHS (high speed sync), which would allow me to use a faster shutter speed and therefore a larger aperture...but HSS greatly reduces the flash range and power usage....so that's not always a good option.