My 4th Wedding (I decided to do my own processing)

met · April 24, 2011

I wanted to share a few images from my 4th wedding that I did last night. (I decided to do my own processing, which I'll expound about more in that thread about it.) I do feel like I'm learning from and improving with each one. Basically, I just shoot weddings when people ask me. (They've all been friends or closer acquaintances.) I used to always direct them to a pro, but I'm at the point where I decided I'll quote them. I shot this wedding for $900. Do you think it's time for me to get serious about pricing now?

I shot this day exclusively with my D700 and 50mm. I had a few other lenses, but I ended up sticking with the 50mm entirely. I'm still trying to refine my style. I want to have nice clean images that will stand the test of time.

Self-critique:

I think the main thing I need to work on are my "posed" shots. I've always just shot in a documentary style to capture emotions and interactions and I don't like directing people. But I'm discovering that people want you to tell them where to stand and what to do. Because of that I tend to not get the posed "wall-hangers" - or really cool group shots. I'm thinking 2nd shooting a few weddings with a pro that excels at that aspect would be really helpful. I'm thinking about bringing my sister-in-law with me as my assistant if I do another wedding to do the "posing" and be a dress-wrangler. She's very creative and personable.
What I think I do do well is capturing expressions, emotions and being on the ball as far as being aware of what's going on around me and who the important people of the day are. I always try to get a lot of shots of the wedding party and family and less shots of just random guests.

Please excuse the watermark as these are the triptychs I posted to my blog.

C&C and advice welcome as always.

1. Bride helping her little brother with his tie.

2. Little sister (and flower girl) getting her hair done.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Here's a few more singles that I processed this afternoon.

8.

9.

10. Mother and little sister of the bride sharing a tearful moment after the ceremony.

Scootersbabygirl · April 25, 2011

Beautiful work! You did an amazing job, I'm sure the bride and her whole family will love the photos!!

ShepsMom · April 25, 2011

Great photos! First two sets are looking greenish or yellowish, the 3rd one looks reddish, the rest looks good color wise, maybe dress could use some "whitening" it has a blue tint to it.

lizzard_nyc · April 25, 2011

I usually don't comment much here and I can't help with the processing, but that last shot

. The emotion you captured there is priceless, one of the best I've seen. I'm not a wet noodle, but it even chokes me up a bit.
I'm glad you chose black and white for that one.

indiegirl · April 25, 2011

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

I usually don't comment much here and I can't help with the processing, but that last shot. The emotion you captured there is priceless, one of the best I've seen. I'm not a wet noodle, but it even chokes me up a bit.
I'm glad you chose black and white for that one.

I agree, +10 is brilliant.

met · April 25, 2011

ShepsMom wrote: »

Great photos! First two sets are looking greenish or yellowish, the 3rd one looks reddish, the rest looks good color wise, maybe dress could use some "whitening" it has a blue tint to it.

Thanks for the feedback. I was looking at them on my work monitor and thinking the same thing - especially with the first two sets and their hair. It was some nasty overhead fluorescent lighting. I might go back through and tweak those before I sync the rest of the set. I'm going to order some prints, too before I upload the full gallery to see what they look like as well.

met · April 25, 2011

Scootersbabygirl wrote: »

Beautiful work! You did an amazing job, I'm sure the bride and her whole family will love the photos!!

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

I usually don't comment much here and I can't help with the processing, but that last shot. The emotion you captured there is priceless, one of the best I've seen. I'm not a wet noodle, but it even chokes me up a bit.
I'm glad you chose black and white for that one.

indiegirl wrote: »

I agree, +10 is brilliant.

Thanks so much guys! I was very pleased with the way that B&W turned out. Sometimes people's facial expressions when they cry aren't the greatest. I was happy that their faces weren't all scrunched up. She had the sweetest freckles and I was pleased that you can see them on her nose.

Sam · April 25, 2011

First i want to address something (IMHO)I see too much of, and this is NOT directed at one person!!!!! I probable have been guilty of this myself.

Many times I will see a photo or group of photos and read comments like: Fabulous! Fantastic! Great work! When in fact they are less than that.

The idea here at Digital Grin is not to gore or malign anyone but to assist each other in growth and improvement. That means finding the faults as well as the good.

I agree with ShepsMom, and IndieGirl. The basic images here have captured the mood and ambiance of the day. They are clean and bright. Number 10 is very good!

The triptychs are nice, but the white balance is way off. While the white balance really detracts from an otherwise nice image, it's SOOOOOO easy to fix! No real damage done!!

Your self analysis seems like a realistic start, but please don't stress unnecessarily on on too many details at one time.

It is time to ensure your working with a calibrated monitor. I believe this is critical for final processing.

Hopefully you have some wider shots of the day to provide some environmental context to the event. You close up shots are very nice, so don't take the last sentence as a negative.

When offering prints you might want to consider using Bay photo and choosing the color correction option. They are very good with skin tones.

Once the white balance has been fixed, I think your client will be very pleased with your work!

Sam

met · April 25, 2011

Sam wrote: »

First i want to address something (IMHO)I see too much of, and this is NOT directed at one person!!!!! I probable have been guilty of this myself.

Many times I will see a photo or group of photos and read comments like: Fabulous! Fantastic! Great work! When in fact they are less than that.

The idea here at Digital Grin is not to gore or malign anyone but to assist each other in growth and improvement. That means finding the faults as well as the good.

I agree with ShepsMom, and IndieGirl. The basic images here have captured the mood and ambiance of the day. They are clean and bright. Number 10 is very good!

The triptychs are nice, but the white balance is way off. While the white balance really detracts from an otherwise nice image, it's SOOOOOO easy to fix! No real damage done!!

Your self analysis seems like a realistic start, but please don't stress unnecessarily on on too many details at one time.

It is time to ensure your working with a calibrated monitor. I believe this is critical for final processing.

Hopefully you have some wider shots of the day to provide some environmental context to the event. You close up shots are very nice, so don't take the last sentence as a negative.

When offering prints you might want to consider using Bay photo and choosing the color correction option. They are very good with skin tones.

Once the white balance has been fixed, I think your client will be very pleased with your work!

Sam

Hey Sam. Thanks, those are the kinds of things I really want to hear. I do have a lot of environmental and contextual shots - but I just didn't feature them in the sneak peek. I also have my Bay Photo set up with color correction. I'm planning on ordering a cross section of some test prints from this set tomorrow to see what they look like. My laptop is not calibrated and I know that it is critical for me to do that at this point. It is on the agenda before my next gig. I see what you guys mean about the white balance. It looks different on my work monitor than my laptop. It's one of those things that I need to work on - especially the fluorescent lighting shots. I want to make sure I improve as much as possible and I'm not afraid to move beyond baby steps while doing it. Throw it all at me.

W.W. Webster · April 25, 2011

met wrote: »

C&C and advice welcome as always.

Are you cultivating a conscious 'style' to be always looking down on your subjects? IMHO some different perspectives would provide more variety and interest.

relsah85 · April 25, 2011

i agree with sam regarding the white balance issue on the triptychs.

overall, it's a great set. i like the PP you did on #6

Blurmore · April 26, 2011

I think being a human zoom and working those primes is a great way to develop a style. I shot weddings with 3 primes from 5 years, makes you think and plan more. Deliberate photography is the best way to learn. I agree about the WB...all of the images you have WB issues with in my opinion would make stronger black and white photographs than color. I think you need to learn to use, and not be afraid of a flash. I do not believe that a perspective style and flash proficiency have to be learned separately. So far as perspective (above/below) goes....except for out of the box shots....I think it is over-rated. If I'm climbing something or laying down on the ground, there is a damn good reason. I'm either dodging or including something in the frame, or minimizing someone's heft, making them taller, etc. My general rule of thumb is never shoot from below subject eye level with a standard or telephoto lens, always shoot from above eye level on a heavy subject, and if you are laying down or sitting (except for a VERY limited number of exceptions) you better be framing very wide angle 24mm or wider. I think this is good work, and the moments captured are excellent.

Ed911 · April 26, 2011

Sam wrote: »

First i want to address something (IMHO)I see too much of, and this is NOT directed at one person!!!!! I probable have been guilty of this myself.

Many times I will see a photo or group of photos and read comments like: Fabulous! Fantastic! Great work! When in fact they are less than that.

The idea here at Digital Grin is not to gore or malign anyone but to assist each other in growth and improvement. That means finding the faults as well as the good.

I agree with ShepsMom, and IndieGirl. The basic images here have captured the mood and ambiance of the day. They are clean and bright. Number 10 is very good!

The triptychs are nice, but the white balance is way off. While the white balance really detracts from an otherwise nice image, it's SOOOOOO easy to fix! No real damage done!!

Your self analysis seems like a realistic start, but please don't stress unnecessarily on on too many details at one time.

It is time to ensure your working with a calibrated monitor. I believe this is critical for final processing.

Hopefully you have some wider shots of the day to provide some environmental context to the event. You close up shots are very nice, so don't take the last sentence as a negative.

When offering prints you might want to consider using Bay photo and choosing the color correction option. They are very good with skin tones.

Once the white balance has been fixed, I think your client will be very pleased with your work! Sam

+1 Sam pretty much hit the nail on the head.

met · April 27, 2011

Blurmore wrote: »

I think being a human zoom and working those primes is a great way to develop a style. I shot weddings with 3 primes from 5 years, makes you think and plan more. Deliberate photography is the best way to learn. I agree about the WB...all of the images you have WB issues with in my opinion would make stronger black and white photographs than color. I think you need to learn to use, and not be afraid of a flash. I do not believe that a perspective style and flash proficiency have to be learned separately. So far as perspective (above/below) goes....except for out of the box shots....I think it is over-rated. If I'm climbing something or laying down on the ground, there is a damn good reason. I'm either dodging or including something in the frame, or minimizing someone's heft, making them taller, etc. My general rule of thumb is never shoot from below subject eye level with a standard or telephoto lens, always shoot from above eye level on a heavy subject, and if you are laying down or sitting (except for a VERY limited number of exceptions) you better be framing very wide angle 24mm or wider. I think this is good work, and the moments captured are excellent.

Thank you. I find that shooting down rather than up is almost 99% of the time more flattering. I don't intentionally always try to shoot down, but with younger or seated subjects it tends to happen a lot. I do have more straight on shots as well, but it's pretty rare for me to try and shoot up into someone's face.

So I did some work on the white balances and would like to get input.

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL I POSTED.

1. HERE IS THE LIGHTROOM AUTO WB

2. HERE IS THE DROPPER TOOL (I tried to find a spot where all 3 were within a couple points of each other.) Seems a bit red to me but still more pleasing then my first greenish attempt.

3. HERE IS BLURMORE'S SUGGESTION OF B&W

lanaer · April 27, 2011

I think your dropper tool provides the best color. Lightroom's auto WB left the hair looking a tad green in places.

That said, I like the B&W better

ShepsMom · April 27, 2011

Big big difference! I like last one in color and BW!

Kinkajou · April 27, 2011

lanaer wrote: »

I think your dropper tool provides the best color. Lightroom's auto WB left the hair looking a tad green in places.

That said, I like the B&W better

+1

Awesome job overall, I think you're really getting this whole wedding photography thing down

My 4th Wedding (I decided to do my own processing)

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