First solo shoot...

So I had my first solo wedding after assisting last summer. Had the lights set up, metered and took the first test shot. Boom, black. Wait, what the...? Check again, black. Check again, black. Now the bride and groom are there ready for alter shots. Panic sets in, what do I do? Well, shoot away with the fastest lens in the bag and hope to recover in RAW. Yes, it works well enough, good thing I'm a graphic designer by day and know PS like the back of my hand. Idiot that I am I didn't know the rented lights like I should have, and it turns out that I should have set my 550 to manual to negate the eTTL. Lesson learned, won't let that happen again!!

Things go well with the ceremony, no problems to speak of. Next, I head outside to catch the bride and groom getting into the limo. Switch the camera settings, including ISO, metering and white balance. Nice, going smoothly now.

Head to a park for some shots of the bridal party, got some great candid's, as well as some nicely posed shots. Ok, things are still going good. Get back in the truck to head to the reception, wait...which camera did I use? Please tell me...damn!! Wrong camera!! I had used my second camera that was still set on the white balance in the church!! Somehow I managed to set the ISO and metering but not the WB. Everything's blue!! Well, I'm still in RAW and this can be fixed as well. I'm kicking myself and I'm a bit embarrassed right about now, but I can do this.

Reception goes great. A lot of candid's, I recovered quite nicely. Quite proud of myself actually. Finish up, head back out to the truck, had the camera bags on the tailgate, cleaning up and getting bags back in order, when thunk...thunk...smash!! My new 50mm f/1.8 is now in two pieces on the ground. AHHHHHHGGG!! Only had it about a month. Not worth fixing it because it only cost 75 bucks. But I liked that little bugger, guess I'll have to put down another 75 bucks to replace it. The kicker was I didn't even touch it all day, just took it out to clean the bag. Thankfully it was mine and not one of the rented lenses!!

Overall, not a bad shoot. I can't feel horrible about the alter shots as they are friends and they are only paying me cost for the shoot (which doesn't help with the busted lens), plus I reshot most of the posed shots outside to make sure I had coverage.

Long story short, here are a few shots of the post reception (only 1/4 of the way through converting the day from RAW). Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'm working with another photographer this summer and would like to learn as much as possible without wasting a lot of time.







Alex
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http://www.alexanderphotoservices.com

Its so easy to be nervous under pressure. Think Tiger Woods.....!!! It is always
there, but after warming up it goes away. Checking the camera settings
every few shots gets to be a quick habbit. Keep it simple, carry only what you
actually need.

Have a good camera accessory belt with extra supplies and an
extral lens and carry no more that two cameras. I have a big Hardigg box for
all the back up stuff waiting near by in the truck.

I photographed music festivals (on stage) before doing wedding and that
gave me experience in getting close, framing and gaging reactions of people
and looking for the best candid angles.

You now know why great studio photographers don't take to live events
right away. The fun is that live events require special skills and each one
is so different. Lighting, background, color, posing and expressions have
to be considered and all in a fraction of a second.

Lastly.... that is why I think digital is so important for the wedding photograher.
Quick changes of ISO, color balance, and instant review have helped us get
the best out of live events.

We do a lot of close images too. The back of a dress, a hand on a shoulder,
wedding decorations and close portraits are some of the things our client
enjoy seeing. Not every wedding photographer has time to get the small
details.

Best wishes, HB

alexphoto said:

... good thing I'm a graphic designer by day and know PS like
the back of my hand.

Click to expand...

At least when photographers by day act as graphic designers on the side, our mistakes aren't out in public, they are just in front of a computer (unless of course we don't realize it and just produce bad graphic design).

M

Like your site but you want more + and less - in your intro:

Welcome to Alexander Photo Services.

We cover many styles including weddings, seniors, children, families, musicians, and stock photography.

Please take a look through our portfolio and you will find some examples of the many services that are available to you.

Contact us today to discuss your next photography project.

Thanks for visiting.
Sincerely,
Jason Alexander

--
'There can only be one winner and the winner is Sitannee!.'

Quite an adventure I must say you have great photos on the website and the site's format is clean and easy to browse....!

--




http://www.pbase.com/natalia

The first shot clearly shows that you did keep your head cool enough under presure, as you didn't loose your eye for an intimate shot like this...

John

--
I'm not a Troll, I'm a Hobbit!!!

Thanks for the responses.

Glenn,

I updated the site to your version because it just seemed to flow better. Thanks.

HB,

I really like digital for weddings, seniors and musicians. I gives me a sense of freedom that I don't have for film. I know that I'm still a rookie at weddings and digital enables me to shoot what I see and not worry about wasting a shot. I found with film that I would think twice when shooting because as a start up I didn't have a ton a money to pay for bad shots. I know it's a weak response, but hey, I'm sure it's a common thing for the newbie and even some seasoned shooters. As they say "pixels are free", so shooting even the shots that are questionable I have been able to review my shots and find the things that work and ones that don't.

Mike,

Fortunately, I've owned a photo business in the past (youth sports) and learned long ago not to let the subjects know if there is a problem. After the lights wouldn't work for me, I simply went to another solution without causing a scene. In fact both the bride and groom told me that I made things very easy for them and everything went very smoothly. Yes I will have more post work to do than if I had the lighting down, but I am fortuanate that I am able to recover.

Again, thanks for the responses, and I hope to do better on the 12th of June.

Alex

Murphy's Law, anyone?

I did something like this once with film on my first solo wedding. Except with film, I couldn't tell that I had bumped the shutter speed on my 645E so that it was out of sync with the flash! I was exposing for sky, and using flash to fill, but NO flash was recorded. All the groups from outside (all the family, all the wedding party, EVERYTHING, was too dark.

The great thing was, I was certain I had everything, so I didn't cover myself, and I didn't have to "act" as though everything was fine, because I was certain it was! I hate film.