My first wedding

[PaulyJ]

I'm slowly trying to get into photography as a profession, and a friend of mine asked to shoot her wedding. At first I was hesitant not having shot one before, but I think its a good start. Wedding was fairly low key, so i tried capturing the great mood about it.

Any comments/criticism appreciated.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7335small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7420edited2.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7519small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7533small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7566small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7678small.jpg


Regards
Paul

[PaulyJ]

some more...


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7734small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7735small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7829_1small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7850small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_7964_1small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_8002small.jpg

[PaulyJ]

last ones...

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_8018small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_8026small.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/paulyj/Wedding%20Photos/IMG_8161small.jpg

Any comments, criticism and hints appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

[findonsa]

Hey Paul,

Definitely a few great ones you've got there. I especially love the one with the certificate...

But a couple of them seem to suffer from a bit of colour cast or focus problem.

But overall nice work I must say, the couple must be very happy I guess.

[Shaddsi]

Ditto on findonsa's comment. TBH i would of liked to see the second shot without a door in the background.. Nice work though!

[PaulyJ]

Thanks for the comments.
I'll be photoshopping that door out, as it really is annoying me. Originally the picture had frames and surround sound speakers in it too, so i got rid of those. Now i'll just do the door.

Getting the focus right seems to be my main issue. What's the best way to overcome that? More practice or is there a technique?

[Shaddsi]

What lenses did you use? maybe a shorter dof and check what your cam focuses on.. also up the vibrance and use some fill flash, some of the photos have harsh shadowing on the faces.. that is pure honesty and not to be taken badly, your photos are nice! try upping the vibrance as well. it can bring a different feel to it..

[Helen]

A little bit of constructive criticism.

From what I can see on the EXIF info, the photos you had focus trouble with were those with too shallow a depth of field, in particular the first two of the last set where the aperture was only f/2.5.

Try also to keep everyone in the same type of exposure, by that I mean either everyone in the sun or everyone in the shade and try and keep the sun off the side of your subjects. I know, easier said than done, but side sun shots tend to leave overexposed skin which is rarely recoverable.

Overall though, this is a fantastic effort for your first wedding and I'm sure the bride and groom will be absolutely chuffed with the results.

My personal favourite? The 10th photo from the top... it's a beauty. :D

[PaulyJ]

Thanks for the comments and feedback. I'm taking everything on board. The lens I used are listed in my signature. Mainly used my 50mm 1.8, but ocassionally reverted to the 18-55 which I got with the camera.

[NMP]

Great work... Try using a fill flash 2/3 stop under set on the flash it evens the contrast. Also for the full length shoots dont cut off dresses and feet.

I too struggle with focus at F2.8, but love out of focus depth feel, I found changing the focal point from multi to single helped.

My fav is the bubbles...

[troy]

i like them
i think its hard to take wedding photos and what you have taken are still excellent
ill be doing my frist wedding shots soon but im not the main person... so ill be relaxed and be taking shots from different angles
but i guess i have to learn to use photoshop to get some differnt styles

[Desire]

Great start something to build and grow from


cheers

[PHIL THE FRAME]

as desire said, Great start something to build and grow from, take on board the comments and you can only get better, good luck with the next one:)

[DG77]

Try shooting in RAW.
It' s much easier to fix any white balance problems and exposure problems. It won't fix out of focus shots though unfortunately.... if only :)
Like Helen said shooting your subjects when they are half in the shade and half in the sun should be avoided at all costs, however the overexposed bits will probably look ok if you convert the images to B&W. - It's a handy trick when shooting in difficult sitiuations where there is dappled light.

[biggles]

shooting a friends wedding must be nerve wracking. well done, you should be very happy with how you went.

I like shots 10, 11 and to a lesser extent 12 for their candid feel.

i also think 15 works really well.

the shot of the groom with the sun coming in from the left may have worked better if the candlestick was on the left side of him. so that the shadowed side of his face was closest to the edge of frame. just my opinion on composition to minimise the bright, dark, bright feel of the highlights.

a little fill flash on the two bridesmaids sitting in the shade as others have mentioned to balance out the bright sunshine and backlighting.

i really like how you've tried to use the tunnel-effect of the arboury in some of those shots.

Well done.

[biggles]

i also agree with Helen re aperture.

shot 14 - the bride and her bridesmaids - seems to have the smallest bridesmaid out of sharpness. the f/2.5 that you used would have a very shallow depth of field, and since she (and the flowers) are forward of the bride, they have left the focus plane. I tend to do this too, as i love to isolate the subject via depth-of-field, but often i don't realise how shallow it actually becomes at larger apertures until i view them later.

[PaulyJ]

Thanks heaps for the comments.
To be honest, I was shitting myself all day.
All the comments I'm taking onboard. I'm also undertaking a course at the moment to further learn and develop my skills, and to further understand what you have all told me here.

Also will be working with some professionals as an assistant , so yeah, looking forward to that.

Thanks again everyone. Hopefully the next ones will be better.

[MistieWatters]

Number 2 would look awesome with an urban acid action applied to it (you can download it from the web, just google "urban acid")
Love number 3, but I would tone down the brightness a little on the left side of her face (I say this because you said you are using photoshop, so I know it can be done hehehe)

Second set...

First one is great :)
Third one would look lovely without the lens flare ;) - I get that problem with my nifty fifty as well
Fourth one is gorgeous
Focus is a little out on the fifth one but an unsharp mask might fix that up (or do a gaussian blur on everything besides the couple to make it LOOK like they are in focus and that you deliberately softened them)
The sixth one Is gorgeous, I love it!

Third set...

First one would have been great if you could have nailed the focus and had shot a tiny bit lower to get the bottom of the dress in (i.e. shoot closer to the top of the heads of the bridesmaids) but I still like it (and you can always use a gaussian blur over the bridesmaids and the background to draw the focus to the bride and the flower girls... again making the blur look deliberate)
Second one is gorgeous but I think you need to make the colours pop a little (fiddle with the hue/saturation or with the curves)
I like the last one, but I find the branch above distracting, if it was me, I would clone it out (and up the saturation to make the colours pop)

Overall though, what a stunning set for a first attempt! I take my hat off to you :)

[Carrot]

INCREDIBLY great shots for a first wedding... I'm very happy with all of them. Just a comment, #2 would have been better IMO without the door in the background and in a couple of the other shots there are just a few distracting things in the background that spoil the photo just a little bit.

But other than that picky ramble, AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWESOME shots!!!

[str8shoota]

Mate, for the first time they were really good (trust me, I know how stuff up wedding photos!).