Some first time Wedding shots

[GlenM]

Some time ago, I mentioned that I had been asked to take some photos at a wedding. There was an official wedding photographer, so the pressure was off me!
I was a guest at the wedding, so I was trying to enjoy the wedding, get some half-decent photos, and keep out of the official photographers way.
I've posted a smal lselection of shots here, feel free to comment.

Thanks
Glen

1 Husband and Wife


2 The Bride


3 Bridesmaid


4 Last minute adjustment


5 Where's the food?


6 Come back


7 Just Married

[rpcrowe]

Very nice shots but, the bright background of #1 seems to distract somewhat from an otherwise lovely shot. I don't know if it is the adjustment of my monitor (my Huey seems to provide better color correction than brightness correction) but, a bit of playing with the brightness and contrast in PSE came up with this which sort of (at least on my monitor) tones down the BG and allows for detail in the gown...



BTW: If you had a pair of cameras with a telephoto zoom on one of them. This would also have been a very beautiful picture with a closer cropping in the camera. The bride has a lovely expression on her face and the shot is very intimate. The intimacy could have been increased with a close crop. Of course, you wouldn't have shown the lovely gown in a closer crop. However, if you only had one shot, your image with the full length view of her beautiful gown would be the one!

Do you know the wedding Photographer's Prayer?

"Dear Lord, please provide me with a beautiful bride and a handsome groom to shoot. But, if that is asking too much, a pretty bride would do quite nicely, thank you!..."

The added bonus to a pretty bride is that the bridesmaids are often also pretty as with this wedding. It may be chauvinistic but, I always used pictures from weddings with pretty people in my portfolio to show future customers. The saying that "Every bride is beautiful!" JUST AIN'T SO! Bare shoulder gowns look far better on brides who have a siim build...

[GrahamH]

Nice set Glen, what you would expect from the pro, so you've matched him/her here.
Gotta love the 5th shot (forks), love catch, great story.
Taking it up pro yourself? Based on these alone, you'd do a good job (I've seen worse on at least 2 occassions - both where I was the groom ).

Graham

[GrahamH]

Richard, love the prayer and your final comment. So true it ain't funny (having been caught with that on my first wedding shoot- everyone was ugly - including the photographer).
Graham

[rpcrowe]

I love black and white images, especially wedding images. However, I showed the image to my wife who said, "I wish it was in color, I don't like black and white wedding photos!"

I wonder how other non-photographer females consider black and white wedding coverage?

[GlenM]

Richard,
Thanks for the comments. Your edit is definitely better- it has really brought out the detail in the dress.
I already cropped the shot as much as I dared - it was taken at 250mm hand-held from quite a distance away. The photographer was close to them getting some shots, so I kept my distance so I wouldn't be in the way.
And it does help to have a photegenic bride and bridesmaid!

Graham,
I'm flattered! I have no plans to go pro with it - the thought of being depended on to get good shots scares me! Being a secondary photographer at a family wedding is much more relaxed and fun. The forks shot was of my son, and he really was getting impatient for food!

Glen

[Donald]

Challenging lighting conditions, as picked up by Richard.

On the second one (Bride in the car) - I wonder if it would benefit from:

1. A crop on the left to take out that intruding hand and arm
2. A crop on the right to take out the flash unit
3. A bit of a clone on the lapel of the jacket of the man at the back to remove that light curved mark

I wonder if 'Come back' would benefit from little more work on the grass (both in shade and in sunshine) to try and balance up the extremes of tone that exist between the respective areas

[GlenM]

Donald, Good points.
I have to confess to not even noticing the flash unit...
I'll go and write a 100 lines:
Must look at the edges of the frame more
Must look at the edges of the frame more
Must look at the edges of the frame more


Glen

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Great shots Glen - I think you did a fantastic job and echo Graham's sentiments. I don't have anything to add to Donald and Richard's C&C other than it's nice to see some different and very imaginative shots to what's in a "standard" wedding portfolio.

[WJT]

Nice shots Glen, the difficult part is with the white dress and the black suite but you have done well in general. I've never shot a wedding but the last photo can be cropped a bit from the left hand corner to get rid of that shadow.

[arith]

I like them; some good looking girls down there. The bridesmaid looks just like a girl I used to know from Loughborough, but I cannot even remember her name. Worrying that.

If the bridesmaid was looking at the camera, or in some way acknowledged the presence of the camera I think it would be better; but it is still personal preference.