My second wedding... and first solo

Russinating · 15 Oct 2014 at 11:50

Bit from the blog:

There was something really lovely and sweet about Caroline & Simon’s day. We get to go to so many different and stunning venues that you almost start to become numb to castles, manors and palaces. The Southville Centre is certainly not that – and I think they’d be the first to say that! – but this converted primary school had a really gorgeous feel to it which passed on to every single one of the guests.

Everyone was just happy all day, and the staff were the same; better than a lot of the 5* hotels we go to anyway!

“Many thanks for the sending a link to our wedding photos – we spent a lovely evening with a glass of fizz looking through them through the TV last night.

“You captured our day perfectly with many, many beautiful and warm images. It was an absolute pleasure reliving those wonderful moments through your pictures.”

It was actually quite nice, but quite nerve wracking; it was the first wedding photo gig I've done as a solo shooter. But it turned out alright! One of my fears was the amount of images, but in the end I delivered 700 odd decent shots to them.

Venue was quite difficult to get any stunning couple shots from, as it was just a converted primary school in the middle of a residential area. But, managed. And helped they weren't an overly posey couple.

Anyway...

Took your advice Rhys on the photo layouts

DBT85 · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:20

Holy moly thats a whole bunch of pics, maybe put 3/4 in a spoiler tag?

Some great photos there, well done

is 700 not a lot to edit and produce though? Or did you agree to a set number beforehand?

Russinating · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:32

No more than most people post, but apologies! There's 88 there and a lot of the time people go onto a 2nd post (ie 100+).

We say at least 400, most of the processing is blanket, especially between the same scene. Trouble is whilst some might be 'meh' to me, it's likely a shot of a good friend, useful for them or their friend, so they may as well have it so long as it's in focus, well composed etc. I certainly don't see the point in setting a limit.

An Exception · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:32

Had a good look through. I see the challenges you mention but think you did a very good job and have captured some beautiful pictures.
I really like shooting on my own personally as you know the end result is all down to you.
It is nerve racking. You'l notice it's get's easier and easier once your confidence grows. I find shooting alone encourages you to talk to people at the wedding. This then helps you become part of the wedding rather than remain an outsider. Sometimes surprising things happen, you may even get offered a free skiing holiday from time to time..

Back to the pictures, I love this one.

Main areas of critique would be the processing. There is some variation in exposure, where some pictures look a little underexposed relative to previous pictures. I personally find consistency in exposure can sometimes be difficult.
Below is an example of what I mean.

Another area would be how you lifted the blacks in the tone curve. It looks more like you suddenly clipped the blacks rather than a more gradual lift. Obviously if it was me, I'd also at at least some grain so they don't look overly smooth. Even if you are not a fan of grain, the highlight will have a little texture but the shadows will be completely smooth when the blacks are lifted. That just doesn't look as good imo as I like the texture to look fairly consistent throughout the image.

WB looks slightly too cool in some of them.
Not sure if you already use them, but I use VSCO keys when processing. I have a key set to maximise saturation & vibrancy. This way it becomes easier to identify white balance and colour casts. I think have another key to set the saturation back down.

An Exception · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:36

Russinating said:
No more than most people post, but apologies! There's 88 there and a lot of the time people go onto a 2nd post (ie 100+).

or 3rd...

Russinating said:
We say at least 400, most of the processing is blanket, especially between the same scene. Trouble is whilst some might be 'meh' to me, it's likely a shot of a good friend, useful for them or their friend, so they may as well have it so long as it's in focus, well composed etc. I certainly don't see the point in setting a limit.

I personally tell people 300. I deliver around 350/400 most of the time. 600 is the most I ever delivered.

Russinating · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:38

Thanks Rhys. Yeah, the processing is something I'm still developing really having only done two (and this is processed very differently to the first!). Every time I seem to tweak something else! Good point about the grain on the blacks.

Russinating · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:40

An Exception said:
I personally tell people 300. I deliver around 350/400 most of the time. 600 is the most I ever delivered.

Yeah, I think this will be the most, mainly because not only did they have a daughter but they also had a niece there and a whole load of other kids too. I find that means there's not only more opportunities to take photos, but also the parents are likely to love them pretty much no matter what so I leave quite a few in.

There's 10 of their niece playing with a ball outside, all slightly different compositions and orientations etc. If that was an adult I'd just pick one and be done with it but you never know what the parents might want to use the photos for.

Prophet · 15 Oct 2014 at 13:51

Great selection of pictures. I agree with the above and also notice many of your shots have the person centred with their head almost in the centre of the frame. A slight shift to the side will (IMHO) make for a better photograph.

*Ignore the 3rd pic as it's one image with the 2nd one.

D.P. · 15 Oct 2014 at 15:03

Russinating · 15 Oct 2014 at 16:00

Thanks for the comments guys

. I actually prefer shooting with white space, and I have to do that almost all the time when shooting film, but it does depend on what moving to the side will reveal. I also do like a bit of symmetry, especially with portrait shots which I don't think suit having lots of side whitespace. Just my style preference, and that's why every photographer is different!

Your kids comment DP, I thought you meant I should be in the tree, ha. As you know weddings go so quickly and that other shot (looking down at their daughter), she was literally sprinting past as I was doing their couples shots. If I had crouched, which yes would have been better, I wouldn't have got anything. In the full sequence it comes between two of them looking down at her as well so in that sense I think it works ok.

Thanks folks!

An Exception · 15 Oct 2014 at 22:18

Prophet said:
Snip...

I agree about the other two.
These ones work well though imo although the lady on the left could be cropped a little closer so she is high in the frame.

If you want the lady on the left to be off centre, then it would have to be a wider composition or a landscape orientation rather than portrait for it to work imo.

D.P. · 15 Oct 2014 at 23:37

I think he meant the one on the right was fine.

Yeah, in portrait orientation centered subjects work much better.

Prophet · 16 Oct 2014 at 10:18

D.P. said:
I think he meant the one on the right was fine.

Yeah, in portrait orientation centered subjects work much better.

Indeed I did. Those are one image. I had no beef with the right side one

Regarding the portraits. It's not so much the centring of the subject. I just find it hard to see how the amount of space above the images is anything but a waste. I would rather see more of the subjects body than have then cut off at the waist or above..

Cropping in and down from the top left making the subject left of centre with him looking to the right would IMHO make for better framing.

An Exception · 16 Oct 2014 at 13:29

D.P. said:
As I normally do I will pick out examples I don't like rather than listing all the great photos that I do like because it is generally more useful to learn from mistakes than praise successes (because over hundreds of photos at a wedding there will always be dozens of good captures).

That's actually what I find most useful DP. Receiving such critique will always cause a little pain. Especially if deep down you actually agree with the critique and you care deeply about your work.
But that little bit of pain anchors that mistake with emotion, making it much easier to remember and avoid in the future.

It's why I like to post allot of pictures from a set. It helps to highlight the weak links and think about how to do it better next time.