First wedding shoot.. Pics!

[rubberband]

As promised (quite a while ago now) some shots from my first wedding as the main (and only) photographer.

I suck at PP. Ack. I don't know how the experts manage to get these nice, contrasty, blacks-that-go-to-11 results without ruining the skin tones. Klam/Demi, be nice and don't post your work for a few days so I don't feel too inferior. :cheesygri

Anyhooo..

1. Details

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435006745_mLeTv-XL.jpg


2. Details again

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435009096_QVhtS-XL.jpg


3. Almost ready to go..

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435013867_4hq77-XL.jpg


4. Lipstick

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435126423_jgxfX-XL.jpg


5. Church

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435029554_98poP-XL.jpg


6. Kiss

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435031544_bFY2o-XL.jpg


7. Flowers

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435043131_jMRQ4-XL.jpg

[rubberband]

8. Willow

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435120895_fgZ5T-XL.jpg


9. Backlit

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435126049_fsc4K-XL.jpg


10. One of the few group shot I like (I have one where they're mid-dropping the groom, fun!)

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435125567_YGMRV-L.jpg


11. Father of the bride

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/442195498_7pcYz-XL.jpg


12. Quiet before reception

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435128256_yY95j-XL.jpg


13. Are we done yet? It's cold out here!

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435041951_Kdv8C-XL.jpg


14. Dancing

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435152191_RXdXC-XL.jpg


15. Last dance of the night

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/photos/435152713_k3Btw-XL.jpg



If you're curious, the rest are here:

http://matthyw.smugmug.com/gallery/6804169_A7Skg#434869604_QBVLh

[rfdrfd]

Nice pics!

Here's one interesting trick I learned from a pro last time I was at a wedding.

You know how its always impossible to get a good "put the ring on the finger" shot in the middle of the ceremony ? During this action, everyone was snapping away, trying to get a good shot (not possible) without pissing off the minister.

I looked at the pro, he was doing absolutely NOTHING. I was like "yo man, you're missing everything!"

Turns out, after everyone leaves the church, he asks the couple to re-enact the same scene, with the minister in the background. BRILLIANT !! He zooms right into their hands, you see the ring being put on the lady's finger, then he asks them to kiss again "1st kiss" !!

Perfect shots ! While everyone was outside awaiting the couple to come out, he was inside getting these shots.

I was pretty impressed with this idea.

[SENSEI]

Not bad for a first time out.

1. Like the shot, looks a bit OOF to me. Maybe some camera shake from trying to hand hold too long of a shutter?

2. Beautiful colors. Move the ring a bit off centre, and you have a winner.

3. Nice moment, good control of back lighting.

4. WB seems to be off.

5. Typical shot, did you get any shots closer to the ground? Makes the ceiling and pews more dramatic.

6. Good timing. Maybe play around with the horizontals. You could possibly crop this shot as well as the busy background distracts the eye.

7. I like this.

In your second post, your contrast and exposures seem to be all over the place. The suits and blacks and all dark voids. (not good). Also, the shots look to be a bit soft or OOF.

The moments you chose are good. You got a good eye for catching those candid moments. Maybe a bit more attention to composition and settings to make sure you get sharp pics each time.

The father of the bride pic is great. You need to tweak the contrast a bit as his you can't see any detail in the suit jacket, but it's a great pic.

Great job overall.

[CSAgent]

Sensei got everything right as to what you can work on next time.

Composition is what I see that can be improved. The b&w group shot, some people are behind the leaves on the branches, it doesn't work. The other couples on the right just begins to "blend" in with the photo, there's also too many distracting elements to make it effectively work. The set up is nice, but I would have chosen a different backdrop and less elements to distract the viewer from.

The couple too, again, behind the leaves - esp. around the face, it doesn't work because that serves as the main focus point of the photo, (unless you wanted people to focus somewhere else when viewing it?) the expressions are suppose to bring the photo to life. That one single leaf over the bride's left eye ruined the shot imo, I'm being harsh but I've known friends who chewed out their photographer over small details like that. You MIGHT be able to Photoshop it out but it would take some very time consuming tweaks. (Clone the leaf over her eye, move it up, reconstruct eye details...)

The group of bridesmaid holding up the groom has great emotion showing through, only gripe I have is how one of the girls head is chopped off at the top...it's distracting. Also, next time - physically shoot it level by kneeling down on one knee or use a tripod, because I can clearly see that you shot it standing up pointing the camera down. The distortion on the far left brides maid's face is indicative of this.

I like the church photo though. Symmetrically perfect, DOF is good. The ring on the fall leaves is good, I would have used a smaller aperture to get the ring in full focus though.