Very First Wedding Pics. Comments welcome

Johnboy2978 · Jan 1, 2007

Well, after much anxiety, I had my first wedding this past Friday night. I did this as a wedding gift for the couple as they are good friends of my wife, and also b/c it was my first. I was so nervous, but I think I got some passable shots. I ended up taking about 450 shots over the course of 6-7 hours. It's amazing how many pictures a 15" wedding (literally was only 15") can generate.

Anyway, as this is my first, I would love comments good/bad/ugly, just call it as you see it. I'd also appreciate comments about whether the colors appear normal on your screen. I just recently got a Spyder monitor calibrator, so I think it should appear correct.

These are some of my favorites so far.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

LaFoto · Jan 1, 2007

You did well for this having been your first wedding.
My favourite of the series clearly is # 3.

You placed these in People and Animals, our new forum, but I think you much rather have them in Portraits and Weddings (a forum which still exists, only has it moved to another place within our forum)? Let me know and I'll move it there for you.

Johnboy2978 · Jan 1, 2007

Thanks Corrina. That's where I meant to place it but couldn't find it and thought that it was rearranged into this one.

LaFoto · Jan 1, 2007

Well, Portraits and Weddings has now moved to the Business District here on the forum. We all need to get used to the new things here but eventually we will, eh?

Johnboy2978 · Jan 1, 2007

Thanks for the move Corrina. I never would've looked there for this forum.

Jazz · Jan 1, 2007

Congrats! I think you did really great for a first wedding. I thought a few might be underexposed, especially #3, and since you allow edits, I did some quick & dirty corrections and came up with this. I added a stop of light overall. Then I brightened her further with curves, but masked out everything except her.

What's a 15 inch wedding?

mysteryscribe · Jan 1, 2007

I thought most of them could use more light. That is a common first wedding mistake it seems to me. They go awfully flat when underexposed I noticed. Most people seem to be afraid to hit it with enough strobe or try to shoot weddings with too little or no strobe light. A glaring flaw in my opinion.

But the times they are a changin I am reminded daily.

Also guys with bald heads don't usually like the glare on their noggins I have noticed. It is easily cloned off. Since Im not the first to do it.

ted_smith · Jan 1, 2007

My favourite is No 1. A really nice B & W shot and the depth of field adds to the impact.

I am a relative noob compared to most of the people here but my opinion is that the shots where you have blurred the backgrounds look the best. But I guess with a wedding people want to see the environment they are in. With no 4, personally I would have cut out more of the back wall (which has no features of interest or significance) in favour of getting more foreground thus bringing one's eye to the ladies dress.

Out of curiosity, how much research did you do before you agreed to do the shoot for your friends? I am quite keen to do the same when asked (a few weddings in the pipeline and mutterings have been made about me doing it for them!) but I was put off recently by reading a few of the other threads which basically said that only experienced events photographers should take on a wedding - a belive the analogy was it's like flying a jumbo jet when you first pass your flight test instead of flying a small 2 seater first. But you took it on and clearly you have done a good job.

Lastly, what did your friends themselves think of the pictures. We at TPF will obviouly look at them in a different light to the 'average person' - are they pleased with them?

Ted

Johnboy2978 · Jan 1, 2007

I appreciate all the comments so far and look forward to more as this is what will help me to improve. I really like the edits that I am seeing from you all and will go back several more times and play around with these shots I'm sure.

Ted, I talked with them quite a bit before hand and asked why they wanted me to do it instead of a professional first off. I was quite anxious about doing these since I've never done one before. They were trying to do it on a budget and they were also pleased with the work they have seen in the past of mine. I also did some engagement portraits for them as well. Then I sent them a check list of poses to see what they were looking for and tried to decide if I could do a decent job with what they wanted. It was a small wedding party which made it easier and they were also very easy to work with. The analogy you mentioned is quite accurate. The biggest problem I had was working on a time constraint. I tried to get as much of the formal shots done before the ceremony as possible to prevent them from keeping friends from waiting at the reception. Unfortunately, they were unable to get together much earlier than 1.5 hours before the wedding. In that time I took "getting ready shots" as well as "formals" of both sides and did the shots they wanted. The actual ceremony is the most stressful as you can re-stage things afterwards, but not every shot and you won't capture the same emotion. So you have to be able to know what setting you need for each shot and can do it quickly w/o thinking about it b/c you don't have the time to do so. If you are thinking of doing one, make sure you attend the rehearsal and take the shots just as you would for the real ceremony. Then go back and see what shots worked and what didn't and why. That was my biggest help. During the ceremony, flash was not allowed, so I had to do the best I could w/ a 70-200mm f/2.8 from the rear of the church. It's pretty much the Super Bowl of photography so it is intimidating.

They are still on the honeymoon as this was just Friday night so they haven't seen them yet. I think they will be happy with them though.

emogirl · Jan 1, 2007

You did a great first time out!!! I have to agree some are a little underexposed, but easily fixed for the most part. One thing to remember when shooting a wedding, if you are doing a full lenghth shot, dont nip off the dress!

mysteryscribe · Jan 2, 2007

emogirl said:
You did a great first time out!!! I have to agree some are a little underexposed, but easily fixed for the most part. One thing to remember when shooting a wedding, if you are doing a full lenghth shot, dont nip off the dress!

excellent point that goes past the what techie things do i need to know. There are a lot of little thing that distract from a shot. Everybody knows not to cut off the tops of their heads but feet is just as bad.

Rule of thumb is: It is easier to crop one percent off in the lab, then it is to add one percent. Shoot just a tiny bit loose it's a really good habit to get into.

Johnboy2978 · Jan 2, 2007

Here is a re-edit of one of the shots. I knew that there was more detail that could be gathered from the stained glass windows.

Big Mike · Jan 2, 2007

Looks like you did a good job on your first time. As you have found...when shooting, it's less about getting a good exposure...and more about fighting the clock and trying to get everything done with all the distractions and constraints. But then when it's over, it really helps if your shots are well exposed. As others have mentioned, many of them look a little dark but not so much that they can't be fixed.

#1 is my favorite. The shallow DOF works well and her smile is perfect. I'd like to see a little more contrast though...but maybe that's just me.