Oly wedding photography – a non-pro’s experience

Abbar, I really enjoyed seeing some photos from a very different wedding to what I usually see, thanks!

They all look good with strong compositions and attention to detail, though the first seems a bit OOF. What I really like though is your creative use of the light source inside the frame in the first and the ring shot: great idea! What lights were you using? The light source in the ring shot seems too small to be a flash. A flashlight maybe...?

Cheers
Christa
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

cnb wrote:

What I really like though is your creative use of the light source inside the frame in the first and the ring shot: great idea! What lights were you using? The light source in the ring shot seems too small to be a flash. A flashlight maybe...?

cnb said:

Cheers
Christa
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

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Thanks Christa..... hehehe..very easy but not original though......the light source is photoshope filter..... you go to Filter> Render> Lens Flare... you control your flare+light source from there...

Thanks again...

ABBAR

for some reason Flickr renamed the image - hence the broken link.

I warmed it up a bit. WB was way off. Also looks noisier than the other images, alas the sun was going down, and I probably underexposed a bit. Still though, got to wonder what she's thinking/day-dreaming about.

thanks for the comments.

Peace,
John



--

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ' George Bernard Shaw

'Believe Nothing, no matter where you read it
or who has said it, not even if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and
your own common sense.' -Buddha

'This too shall pass.... (Hebrew advice to Solomon)
until that which passes is life itself' - me

I shot my first wedding two weeks ago: my daughter's! Her hair appointment ran over about an hour and a half. By the time we got to the church to begin pictures I was so stressed out that everything I had learned (and I had been studying for months) went right out the window!! Fortunately for me Heather loves her pics! I have another relative getting married in a few months and they want me to photograph their wedding. I don't know. These were all shot with the 620, 12-60 and FL-50 flash. I had problems with the camera focusing in low light and missed several shots. I said I would never use this camera again for a wedding but maybe I'll have to! Here's a few pics. I have more in my gallery and would love c & c!

I have never put pics on here before. Apparently I did something wrong since the pictures showed up before my message??

Considering the equipment you were using, I must say you've done an amazing job! Lovely photographs and I'm sure the couple must be very pleased!
--
Raj Sarma
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rssarma
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Follow me on Twitter: rssarma

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cnb said:

Brent, thanks for posting, and sorry for badgering you into it

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;-) Of course I liked it - it is really good to see the responses! I am really pleasantly surprised at how wonderful some of these wedding shots are that people are contributing.

cnb said:

I really like the first collage: excellent b&w, in particular! And the last candid with the oldtimer car is funny. As someone else mentioned, the photo of the couple on the stairs seems a tad soft, but maybe it's the effect of high ISO combined with denoising?

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I guess we are all allowed a soft one once in a while. I have trouble with people shots in that it matters more if it captures something about the people than if it is technically good (it is nice when they both work out). The good thing is the B&G had this made large and framed along with several others (perhaps because they had no choice?

cnb said:

About the whole group shots: after I'd arrived and asked one of the pastors about how the ceremony would be, I was handed a program for the day by one of the ushers, and gasp!, there was an entire page of set group photos to be taken! And I'm talking about twenty different combinations at least! It turned out that this program was indeed serious; how the b&g had intended to get these done without a photographer I don't know, since I'd been casually told the week before that "yes, please, uhm, could you take some photographs?". There was another guest with a malfunctioning DSLR, so that wouldn't have been an option; I'm not counting p&s and phone cameras.

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What an excellent idea! To post the group shots and who would be in them and when!

cnb said:

Anyhow, it turned out that the thing was well organized: a guy stood there with program and microphone in hand, calling out the required people for the next shot. The trouble is, once the planned shots were over, EVERYONE else wanted a shot with the b&G, too - and I'm talking over 200 guests! Plus several people begged me for shots of them alone, with friend, with spouse... Patience was the word of the day.

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It is amazing how much energy it takes - isn't it? I learned a lot about myself and photography. It takes a certain personality and showmanship (to keep people UP) to be a good event photographer. I am better with trees...

cnb said:

Cheers
Christa
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

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--
Thanks,
brent

http://lossing.zenfolio.com/

What a way to get married. Then a kiss on the beach at sun set. Nice job !!

Peace,
John
--

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ' George Bernard Shaw

'Believe Nothing, no matter where you read it
or who has said it, not even if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and
your own common sense.' -Buddha

'This too shall pass.... (Hebrew advice to Solomon)
until that which passes is life itself' - me

birdwoman, thanks for posting and congratulations on your daughter's wedding! She looked lovely and very happy! I think you did a fine job on the photos, but it must've been tough to shoot your own daughter's wedding... did you actually get to enjoy the event (once it got started )?

Cheers
Christa
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

The write-up :

Basically what I had read before, with a few elaborations. Very informative and a clear invitation to all those hesitating to jump in at the deep end.

The images :

Nice consistent toning and overall very pleasing. Your friends will be over the moon.
Individual comments :

• Lifting the veil is well done and would work well too cropped tighter
• I am no fan of brightened vignette
• I adore the spontaneity of the evening party shots : the boys with their game console, and most of all the dancing (with a nice tilt to enhance the dynamics of the scene !)

Great job. Be proud of yourself.

--
Roel Hendrickx

lots of images : http://www.roelh.zenfolio.com

my E-3 user field report from Tunisian Sahara: http://www.biofos.com/ukpsg/roel.html

rssarma said:

Considering the equipment you were using, I must say you've done an amazing job! Lovely photographs and I'm sure the couple must be very pleased!
--
Raj Sarma

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Thanks Raj!

The E-510 may be old, tend to blow highlights and have limited high-ISO capability, but it's still a very good camera Maybe one reason why I like it so much is that it's absolutely reliable: work around its flaws, and it will reward you with tack-sharp photos and great colours. And despite its flaws, it's actually pretty forgiving: for example, I gasped when I realized that some indoor shots were accidentally made at ISO 400, with shutter speeds way below what they should've been. But I saw once again that the IS really works very well - better than the one on the E-PL1, I think.

Having said that, I wouldn't base a wedding photography business on it. I found that I do like making available-light photos, and I'd want better high ISO for that - even if I had fast SHG glass.

Cheers
Christa

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

RoelHendrickx said:

The write-up :

Basically what I had read before, with a few elaborations. Very informative and a clear invitation to all those hesitating to jump in at the deep end.

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Thanks a lot Roel! I'm pleased with myself overall, though several of the really excellent shots in this thread confirm that I have lots to learn. But having stuff to learn is a good thing.

RoelHendrickx said:

The images :

Nice consistent toning and overall very pleasing. Your friends will be over the moon.
Individual comments :

• Lifting the veil is well done and would work well too cropped tighter

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I'm not sure the "under the veil" shot will hold up to cropping, because it's slightly blurred. But I'll try and see how it looks.

RoelHendrickx said:

• I am no fan of brightened vignette

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The white vignette is something I tried on these after having seen Matt Kloskowski do it in a video with a wedding shot. I won't be doing it much, because it's a bit cheesy IMO; but cheesy and wedding kind of go together A dark vignette risks adding a more brooding atmosphere, depending on the shot. Or just no vignette at all!

RoelHendrickx said:

• I adore the spontaneity of the evening party shots : the boys with their game console, and most of all the dancing (with a nice tilt to enhance the dynamics of the scene !)

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You see, I'm doing dutch angles now, too!

RoelHendrickx said:

Great job. Be proud of yourself.

Click to expand...

Cheers
Christa

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

Hi PDidd117w3n7y !

very impressing,til today I thought this shots(fillflash)are coming out only this way with

CaNikon gear...but with strange colors(like Canon with to much blue and Nikon with to much yellow tones)absolutely convincing wath´s coming out with the E-3!(and what the photographer did)
would you please coment the configuration of your gear-or post the exif dates?
thank you for sharing!
saabbilly

Only a few days to prepare, and a first, and you pulled it off very nicely. Great job and the pictures are fantastic. You do have an eye for composition--keep up the good work in the challenges as well we need more Oly photos submitting.

I've only done a few weddings and I hate it because I really don't like posing people... I'm pretty shy with photography and always feel like I'm "taking" when taking people pictures. I think it stems from so many people feeling uncomfortable with having their picture taken. But weddings are great learning experiences and they couples seemed really happy with the results.

If you really did this for nothing, I hope the couple understands how fantastic a gift you have given them. They shots you showed us are really great and will be nice memories.

Best,
Seth

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
wallygoots.smugmug.com
wallygoots.blogspot.com

Gidday Christa

cnb said:

John, I think you did a good job: the shots are nice and natural with good skin tones and a smooth, finished look.

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Thanks. Considering the gear I had, I reckon they turned out pretty well. Much of my "success" came from shooting in RAW + JPEG, so the appallingly variable WB in the church was relatively easily corrected in post. The pro shot JPEGs, and must have had a heck of a time trying to fix things up afterwards ... The colour temperature varied from around 2750°K to 3850°K inside the church!

cnb said:

Btw, I think you have a few doubles in that set.

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A bit of explanation. The B&G were married here (my wife's cousin's son), but live in Sweden. They had a second ceremony and party for their Swedish friends when they arrived back there. I had explicit instructions not to delete a single shot (family snaps were as important to them as the ceremony shots ... ).

I also had no way of getting the PP images to them in time for the Swedish side of things, so put them up on my (then new) web site for them to download. I note that those piccies still get heaps of hits from Sweden each month. Apparently they projected them as a slide show at their reception in Sweden.

AND we got taken out for an extremely nice Chinese feed at a pretty posh restaurant at the B&G's expense by way of thanks.

Some of the duplicates are different PP to try to get the skin tones right. The bride is originally from the Eastern Mediterranean area, and hard to get the skin tones right without the model in front of me ... specially given the appalling colour temperature variation. Trying to avoid the groom looking like an apple, or the bride looking like a Viking was tricky, and particularly with the shot of them looking over towards the bride's parents just before the ceremony proper began. Love that shot, their expressions are so sweet and spontaneous - a good catch, IMHO. They are a lovely, loving family.

--
Regards, john from Melbourne, Australia.
(see profile for current gear)
-- -- --

The Camera doth not make the Man (or Woman) ...
Perhaps being kind to cats, dogs & children does ...

Gallery: http://canopuscomputing.com.au/gallery2/main.php



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Christa, thanks for the response. In answer to your question on whether or not I got to enjoy the wedding - NO. I knew it would be this way though; I wanted to see what I was capable of doing and if someone else had done the photography I would always wonder. When my daughter asked me if I would cry at the wedding I said "No, I won't be thinking of you, I'll be taking pictures." She thought that was funny but in actuality when I got home that evening and realized I never even had a piece of wedding cake I broke down and cried for a quite a while. I guess from the unbelievable stress of the day. I don't think it would have been so hard if I was taking pics for someone else's wedding.

Beautiful daughter/bride.. 2nd pic is outstanding..

Peace,
John

--

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ' George Bernard Shaw

'Believe Nothing, no matter where you read it
or who has said it, not even if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and
your own common sense.' -Buddha

'This too shall pass.... (Hebrew advice to Solomon)
until that which passes is life itself' - me

John thank you for the positive response. It means one thing to have family and friends tell you that they like your pics but it means a lot more to have a fellow photographer comment positively, especially since I have been so afraid to post any pictures here. Everybody's pics are so good!!

birdwoman said:

Christa, thanks for the response. In answer to your question on whether or not I got to enjoy the wedding - NO. I knew it would be this way though; I wanted to see what I was capable of doing and if someone else had done the photography I would always wonder. When my daughter asked me if I would cry at the wedding I said "No, I won't be thinking of you, I'll be taking pictures." She thought that was funny but in actuality when I got home that evening and realized I never even had a piece of wedding cake I broke down and cried for a quite a while. I guess from the unbelievable stress of the day. I don't think it would have been so hard if I was taking pics for someone else's wedding.

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Ok, I won't say "what a shame"; after all, you did actually get very good pictures, so in a way you can relive the event as many times as you want - which wouldn't have been possible if some other photog's photos had turned out to be bad! The two photographers at my wedding - father and son - got into the business after the father's own wedding photos (by a paid professional) had turned out REALLY bad, and he decided that surely he could do better than that... he set up a nice little side business with his photography.

However, if ever you do shoot a wedding again, at least ask for some token amount in return for your efforts, because the results warrant it. You have a nice combination of posed photos and fun spontaneous ones like the one coming out of the church.

Cheers
Christa
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/

SirSeth said:

Only a few days to prepare, and a first, and you pulled it off very nicely. Great job and the pictures are fantastic. You do have an eye for composition--keep up the good work in the challenges as well we need more Oly photos submitting.

I've only done a few weddings and I hate it because I really don't like posing people... I'm pretty shy with photography and always feel like I'm "taking" when taking people pictures. I think it stems from so many people feeling uncomfortable with having their picture taken. But weddings are great learning experiences and they couples seemed really happy with the results.

If you really did this for nothing, I hope the couple understands how fantastic a gift you have given them. They shots you showed us are really great and will be nice memories.

Best,
Seth

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Thanks Seth! I freely admit that I could've prepared better (flash practice, scout the location, talk more with the b&g beforehand) and surely would if I ever do this again. I don't know if the b&g do know how much a paid pro would've cost; I do, and I assume they do as well. If not, who cares: I enjoyed the experience, I've enjoyed going through the shots to make the best I can of them, and it'll be a joy to give them the final album, so it's all good.

The funny thing about shooting a wedding is that even though I'm also usually reluctant to photograph people, strangers especially, I had absolutely no qualms about pointing my camera at whomever during the event: I was the "official" photographer, and that gave me the (mental) freedom to just go ahead and take pictures.

Cheers
Christa

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/