My first wedding!

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 01:42

EDIT: Final, full set here - HERE

I have updated my Flickr with re-edits so some of the images in the first few posts may not load, see here for full set -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarysquirrel/sets/72157622165656003/

Following my thread seeking advice about wedding photography, I got a chance to put it all into action on Saturday.

Naturally, everything went out the window, I forgot the very basics of photography, and generally screwed up lots of things. First off, I wasn't paid for this, I was simply helping out with another guy who does a bit of photography, so I didn't cover EVERYTHING, mainly the bride getting ready, the ceremony, and a bit of stuff in the evening.

Lots of things went wrong for me! Things happened so quickly I ended up messing simple things up, like forgetting to change ISO and overexposing loads of shots, forgetting to set high speed sync on my flash, blah blah blah.

I didn't do many shots of the guests, to be honest, I was put off as some of them really hadn't made an effort and seemed very unnaproachable!!

Anyway, here is a small selection of the first batch of photos I have processed, the bride getting ready and the ceremony. Some more coming up in the next couple of days.

Oh, by the way, you can't escape Helen! There's plenty of her in this set too!!!!

1// Told you!

2//

3//

4// Had to be done!

5// Bride and groom's daughter!

6// Some colour!!!

7// Helen was a bridesmaid by the way!

8//

9//

10// Blown highlights on purpose of course....ahem!!

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 01:42

11//

12//

13//

14//

15//

16//

17//

18// Waiting for the other bridesmaid to turn up! Believe it or not she went in a different car and went to get a drive-tru KFC, resulting in holding up the wedding by 15 minutes!

19// Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.....see what I did there? See that? I focussed somewhere different! That's talent for you ladies and gentlemen.

20//

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 01:43

21//

22//

23//

24//

25//

26//

27//

28//

That's all for now, I have some more to process so will update this thread with some more shortly.

Wedding photography is hard!

martinturner · 7 Sep 2009 at 08:16

Have to say I was not too impressed with the first couple I saw; composition is good but they just seemed a bit flat with no real tonal range. But then from 7 onwards, a massive difference. It may just be a personal thing but I am not a fan of the soft processing. Anyway, that aside, the later ones are terrific. I am sure they will be very pleased with them.

The_Abyss · 7 Sep 2009 at 08:36

There's some nice shots there - I must admit I'm not a big fan of using unusual angles, or rather, that should be overusing them.

I wouldn't put number 8 in the collection as it stands - her nose looks enormous on that shot!

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 08:49

martinturner said:
Have to say I was not too impressed with the first couple I saw; composition is good but they just seemed a bit flat with no real tonal range.

Hmmm....I agree actually. What could I do to bring them to life a bit more?

martinturner said:
But then from 7 onwards, a massive difference. It may just be a personal thing but I am not a fan of the soft processing.

Are there any in particular which stand out as too soft for you, which would benefit from being brought back a peg or two?

martinturner said:
Anyway, that aside, the later ones are terrific. I am sure they will be very pleased with them.

Thanks

Hopefully they like them!

The_Abyss said:
There's some nice shots there - I must admit I'm not a big fan of using unusual angles, or rather, that should be overusing them.

Yeah perhaps I did overdo the angles, I should have been a bit more aware of this whilst shooting. Most of the shots are traditionally framed, it seems that my 'picks' for this thread just happen to contain a lot of angled shots!

The_Abyss said:
I wouldn't put number 8 in the collection as it stands - her nose looks enormous on that shot!

She has a crooked nose, not much I can do about that

Thanks for the comments though, much appreciated. Unfortunately due to the mistakes I made it has made the processing very difficult on many of the shots. Perhaps why I used some soft focus effects a little too much on them.

Prophet · 7 Sep 2009 at 09:12

Nice work mate

How did you get on with the rented lens?

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 09:20

Orange Peel said:
Nice work mate

How did you get on with the rented lens?

Yeah it was good thanks, very quick to focus and worked well. Unfortunately due to my own inability to photograph under pressure (as I was extremely nervous) I really didn't keep my eye on the shutter speed enough, this is one thing I have learnt from this event and the last shoot with Helen.

The result, lots of photos which aren't particularly sharp.

I think the main thing about this day though is that I learnt a hell of a lot, in a weird way I am glad that I made some mistakes, as now I know I will not make them again

p0ss3s3d · 7 Sep 2009 at 09:29

ScarySquirrel said:
Hmmm....I agree actually. What could I do to bring them to life a bit more?

Wacky Voice: Increase midtone power!! Use the clarity control to bring back a bit of detail, lower exposure a tad. Sometimes adding a tiny vignette helps frame the stuff.

Once you get to 7 things look really really good, prior to that they are a little too soft for my liking. Good Job dude!!

martinturner · 7 Sep 2009 at 09:38

I would process the earlier ones in a similar manner to the later ones? #5 stands out as being very soft. I think its not that the actual shot is soft, but this has happened in post. It seems like you have replace 'white' with a 'soft grey'. #4, is best example of this as the dress on my screen looks grey rather than white. I think it may just be a case of adjusting curves to bring out a bright white. I don't think they should be as strong as the later ones, but just a smidge. Not that portraits are my thing; so this is a more 'my opinion' and 'what I would do', if they were mine.

The later ones a great though; and I quite like the angles myself.

An excellent first attempt though fella!

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:03

Really appreciate the advice guys.

One of the problems was that I had to deal with blown highlights in most of my shots (due to me being a retard and throwing out everything I have learnt in the last two years out the window), which is maybe why some of the whites have gone a bit grey.

I'll revisit the 'getting ready' ones tonight and see if I can do anything else with them

I have the second batch to go through tonight so I'll be doing those first and then come back to these ones for a second pass.

D.P. · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:36

My neck hurts from all the tilting!

SOme good work but far too many tilted shots, too much B&W.

Careful of the highlights also.

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:37

D.P. said:
My neck hurts from all the tilting!

SOme good work but far too many tilted shots, too much B&W.

Careful of the highlights also.

As mentioned in the OP, I screwed up a lot and ended up with so many blown highlights. Good thing is though, I know where I went wrong and have learnt from it.

For anyone interested, full set from the first batch is here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarysquirrel/sets/72157622276210734/

As you'll see, there are around the same number of colour photos than black and white, it just seems that, like the tilting, most of the photos I picked for this thread are black and white.

Besides, the bride and groom kept telling me they like black and white photos

Raymond Lin · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:40

My 2 cents, I am going to go straight to the point so bear with me and despite what i've said. This is a BRILLIANT first attempt at wedding photography, I've seen worse, much worse from people whose does it for living.

1 - Processing, the various different processing effects is irratic without consistency. It is quite confusing as a viewer, try to keep the tone of it the same otherwise it'll feel disjointed and disorienting. BTW, no.10, you can blown highlights, but plesae not the dress!

2 - I too isn't too keen on the soft processnig, nor the serpia tone but that is my opinion. Serpia tone does work but it takes a specific image for to work.

3 - Same with the tilted angles, less of those please

4 - The church looks dark but i am sure you can punch it a bit brighter in LR, up it half a stop and see what happens?

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:55

Cool, cheers for the advice Raymond.

I think I'll leave it a couple of months and then perhaps contact some local wedding photographers and look into helping out as a second photographer a few times.

I can't see me doing this for money, but it was good fun and I learnt a lot.

D.P. · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:57

The main things that the B&G are happy. We just want to point out some obvious things which we ourselves would not be too happy about.

Seen much, much, much worse first attempts - and probably as good as anything I would ge out of a wedding!

Yeah, also wanted to point out that you need to have a consistent processing. <You have various different tones, styles. The odd one or 2 different effects is fine but if it is a complete jumble or standard colours, B&W, highly saturated contrasty, sepia, over-toned B&W then it is a bit of a mess in an Abum, even if the photos work individually. Maybe you need to pick a stye you are most compfortable with and stick to it.

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:04

Good point about the processing guys, I hadn't really thought of that. It's difficult when one image works well ina certain style but none of the others do.

What would you say is the maximum number of processing styles? 2? Or 3 maybe?

Raymond Lin · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:06

p.s. if you have LR 2, use the localised brushing too for exposure and tone down the exposure for the dress in No. 25. Have fun with that tool, it is WONDERFUL

ScarySquirrel · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:07

Ok Raymond, I'll give that a go

Raymond Lin · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:17

ScarySquirrel said:
Good point about the processing guys, I hadn't really thought of that. It's difficult when one image works well ina certain style but none of the others do.

What would you say is the maximum number of processing styles? 2? Or 3 maybe?

1 if you can, 2 at most, and thats for style for colour, 1 style for B&W. You can blow up a specific image (normally the stand out one from a set), and process that differently but that's as far as I personally will go.

The point here is that as a photographer you want someone to look at a photo and they can say "that by you" without looking at credit in the corner. That style can come from subject, composition, emotion, processing etc.

What i am trying to say is that when people hire you, they are hiring you for your style, and they want photos of their day similar to those of what you've already done. So if you have like 5 different processing going on, it is hard to make yourself stand out you see.

This is a post from someone who used to post in TP, which I think is very helpful, specially if you want to make it as a living.

I wrote this piece a few months ago and thought I'd share it here. I wrote it with portrait/people photographers in mind, but it's largely applicable to every genre. If I were to squeeze a three-day workshop down to five minutes, this is what I'd say.

************************************************** **

These are my thoughts, nothing more and nothing less.

I get asked all the time, during workshops, in e-mails, in private messages, what words of wisdom I would give to a new and aspiring photographer. Here's my answer.

- Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don't look outward for your style; look inward.

- Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It's like money; you only have it when you don't need it.

- Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus.

- Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don't fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you're stressed and anxious.

- Learn to say "I'm a photographer" out loud with a straight face. If you can't say it and believe it, you can't expect anyone else to, either.

- You cannot specialize in everything.

- You don't have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don't have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.

- Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don't, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that's tough.

- Accept critique, but don't apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn't not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent.

- Leave room for yourself to grow and evolve. It may seem like a good idea to call your business "Precious Chubby Tootsies"....but what happens when you decide you love to photograph seniors? Or boudoir?

- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else's, there's no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you're cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as "the cheaper photographer".

- Gimmicks and merchandise will come and go, but honest photography is never outdated.

- It's easier to focus on buying that next piece of equipment than it is to accept that you should be able to create great work with what you've got. Buying stuff is a convenient and expensive distraction. You need a decent camera, a decent lens, and a light meter. Until you can use those tools consistently and masterfully, don't spend another dime. Spend money on equipment ONLY when you've outgrown your current equipment and you're being limited by it. There are no magic bullets.

- Learn that people photography is about people, not about photography. Great portraits are a side effect of a strong human connection.

- Never forget why you started taking pictures in the first place. Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject.

- Never compare your journey with someone else's. It's a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never "arrive". No one ever does.

- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons, and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.

- CJ