First of all thanks for your great C&C! It's rare that someone takes time and actually gives good and helpful criticism (I too belong to that lazy part of image commenters). Many of these are just shots in between or some goofing around. Thought to try with these to get some of this I applauded earlier.
Often most of the photos like these have no real meaning to others than the couple and the photographer so I'll try to shed some light on things and the choices I made.
John_A_G wrote:
Generally speaking, color and exposure are good in all of these. Now it comes down to personal interpretation. #2 and #6 are my favorites in the set.
Shot 1 - I simply don't have enough context - the street crossing might have more meaning to the couple - but as an outsider a shot of the backside of them crossing the street seems odd
It's a part of series where the bride is on her way to the venue. This one probably would have worked better if I posted the whole series as it really doesn't tell a story on it's own as you hinted but as I said, bits of this and that.
This is where I regret not standing on the road to get that crossing sign in a better spot.
Shot 3 - Doesn't work for me. The person randomly walking across the frame is right in the middle and the distortion and angle don't particularly work well for me. But others might feel differently
I was trying to get a photo of the groom and bride in similar position that the cake topper has without disturbing the moment. There was no time for shot without the walking person before the horde of quests arrived to the scene and the candid pose was gone.
shot 4 - too much distracting elements - window light on back of groom, bright light on window in front, backs of people to left and right of the frame as you shoot between them. I can understand wanting to capture the bride/groom paying attention to the soloist but just too many disracting elements in the image.
There's a set of photos from various angles from this scene but there's something to this I find more interesting. Good point's on the busyness of the photo.
Also this is where my old 17-35 Sigma shows it's worse than mediocre sharpness wide open
shot 5 - It depends on context. The image makes it look like there were only a handful of guests. If that was indeed the case then I think the image is fine. But if there were 100+ guests this framing makes it look like there were only a dozen - the wide angle minimizes the expression on the bride/groom. So, if there were more than a dozen guests a wider shot would work better to capture that aspect - and a closer shot would work better to capture the expression of the couple as they exit
That's 17mm right there so not much wider to go as I had to be sure to have something longer at hand just in case so couldn't use my 14mm prime. I have to admit that going closer and then working back would have been better.
shot 6 - a nice, fun shot
Thanks, here's the bride with her friends.
shot 7 - grooms face is completely cut off. Either the shot emphasizes the ring itself being placed or the couple - this framing with the groom's face obscured doesn't work for me
This was an annoying place to be as this was the only spot to get their faces somewhat nicely lit and towards you during the ceremony. There literally was no room to get a shot where they both were unobstucted as the canopy blocked the groom and the magisrate standing on the right blocking the bride. Still got a shot of with only the hands and a shot of them both somehow.
shot 8 - no real subject. This shot seems to me like the whole purpose of the shot is to show high dynamic range - but there's really no interesting subject. So, I think gear-heads might appreciate the HDR aspect of the shot but not that compelling of a subject.
I admit occasional strange composition is one of my (many) sins and it doesn't work for everybody and I don't blame anyone if it doesn't but HDR is not something I do.
Here's the original, +0,1 exposure, +25 contrast, -40 highlights, +10 whites, +25 shadows, -5 blacks and +5 clarity in lightroom
shot 9 - I'm not sure what you were going for here. Having an in focus table and random decorations in focus bride and groom out of focus doesn't work for me. There just isn't anything interesting about what is in-focus and there's nothing aesthetic about the mood created.
Again, this is my strange personal sense of aesthetic. Something like "last dance of the night" was the driving point in this one and it was what was happening atm. Posted this just because I was interested in what king of input I would get.
Sorry about the bg, this venue was downright riddled with everything unseemly
Again, I think you did an excellent job of exposure/color and you clearly got the focus the way you wanted it - I just think the composition on most of these is too random and not compelling in telling the bride and groom's story.
And yet again thank you for your excellent input!
