Urgh! First wedding assist lol

[SeraphX]

Oh and i was best man too,

Anyways, i was assisting my uncle with photo's for my younger brothers wedding yesterday, Camera was a D5000 with 35mm nikon 1.8 for the most part, i know some of the pictures could have been a lot better, but i was almost drunk for most of it, and trying to learn the new lens etc etc so i've picked the ones i like the most to post here for some nice comments etc etc lol


First Dance 1 by Seraph82, on Flickr

First dance 2 by Seraph82, on Flickr

First dance 3 by Seraph82, on Flickr
^^ i love this one! i think it could use cropping down a tiny bit but i love it anyhows lol


DSC_0154 by Seraph82, on Flickr

DSC_0138 by Seraph82, on Flickr

DSC_0132 by Seraph82, on Flickr

 

[SeraphX]

Yup as has been said above, as these no way look like they were shot at 1.8! Hopefully this sort of experience has made you aware of areas you need to improve on as some of these shots could have potentially been very good, its just the harsh flash and the under exposure that has ruined some of them!

I dont think any of them were shot at 1.8 either tbh, i'll have a look at the originals to find out, some of the pictures were used with flash, the dancing ones were not, ISO was 2000 roughly to give me a fast enough shutter and the lighting was from a mobile disco off to the right. i borrowed the lens from my uncle and had roughly an hour before the wedding to mess about, bit of a lame excuse, but i've never really shot people in this setting with that lens before, so it was a proper learning experience

No offence but don't give up the day job. These are really poor. I think my 2 year old has taken better pictures with my iphone by mistake.

Thanks for taking the time, are you a photographer? did you get brilliant over night? no you didn't, try thinking before posting in future

My best man got married a couple of weeks ago and he wanted me to be his wedding photographer, he even wanted to pay me a decent salary for the job. I turned it down, mainly for two reasons: firstly, I am not a wedding photographer. I am a good photographer and could make great pictures, but I can't guarantee to get decent pictures of the most important moments (like swapping rings, the kiss, or cutting the cake). Second, I wanted to celebrate his wedding as well and photography is hard work while which you can't enjoy a party if you're doing it right. In the end, a good friend of mine (she is currently doing an apprenticeship as a professional photographer) covered the job with my gear, and she did a good job.

I think, you should have done the same. No offense, you undoubtedly are able to get good shots, but for the really important ones there is no second chance to do it right. And, of course, you wanted to have fun by yourself. Good thing about this: you've just been the assistant, so the couple probably will get quite decent pictures after all. But if this teaches you something, it should probably be:

Never ever become a wedding photographer unless you are capable of and willing to deliver 150% of what you are used to and the couple is expecting you.

I totally agree with what your saying, i only really started this whole lark 6-7 months ago, the photo's weren't paid for, it was all a learning experience, i don't plan on doing any weddings any time soon thats for damn sure, but thanks for posting

Rather than just reel off a list of what may or may not be wrong with the photographs, I thought it might be helpful to share just two things I would do differently.

The first is exposure - the last two photographs are very under-exposed. I personally very rarely nail it in-camera, so I shoot RAW to help correct my mistakes in post. It’s worth investing some time in understanding how your camera evaluates exposure, the histogram and how to use your exposure compensation button/dial.

The second is composition. While there is nothing strictly wrong with having someone slap bang in the centre of the frame looking down the lens, it can be more pleasing to place the subject off-centre. The “rule of thirds” is a good place to start.

I’ve included below side-by-side with the original how I personally would have handled what came out of the camera, just taking the last picture as an example. (Please note that I am not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination!)

Hope that helps

thanks very much, now why can't everyone offer decent feedback like this more often

as i said above, never really done anything like this before, my personal tastes are more macro/landscape etc etc so, wanted to experiment and find out.

agree with the above, some good feedback there

also, the shots look like they were taken in auto mode, would be worth getting to grips with AV mode (aperture priority) and M mode (full manual) mode to be control the light better

and getting to grips with using flash...

Indeed

all of the shots were taking in A mode on my camera which is Aperture priority
i never use fully automatic. as for the flash yes it's the camera body flash, so not a whole lot i could do with it, but heyho Learning lol

Thanks for all the comments, everyone starts somewhere !!

 

[SeraphX]

i think another thing that made the thread take the direction is has is that the title is "first wedding assist"

if it was "a few picutres i took at a wedding" people might have been a bit more forgiving

but when someone goes as an assisntant or second there is an expectation that they have a certain level of ability already.

mhmmmm, Yes i was having that very thought this morning lol, too late now though i guess

 

[SeraphX]

i have and am doing, even before this little experience, i never had any wild dreams of shooting a wedding on my own, least of all as a proper tog that charged, all this has further concreted the belief in me that my work and creativity needs a tonne of honing especially regarding portraits and general people shots