K&C's wedding, Part I

[spencer87]

this was my first wedding, and all in all i think it went pretty well (better than I expected, to be honest). Preparations at the bride's house got off to a late start because her car broke down, and then the makeup artist did a horrible job on the bride. I was thankful for my background in makeup and skincare, because the bride's sister and I ended up redoing her makeup! Aside from that, things went very smoothly. Here are a few of the prep shots, C&C is always welcome.

http://static.flickr.com/76/158082448_f432114d3b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/51/158082833_0779257e25.jpg http://static.flickr.com/56/158082918_775658ebe5.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/56/158083546_f43e86d39f.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/77/158083624_f9630c5fa4.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/70/158083712_76b3b90f9a.jpg http://static.flickr.com/57/158110069_155fafa555.jpg

edit: also, any feedback on the b&w conversions are greatly appreciated!

[tim]

There's no good shot of her looking at the camera without a silly expression. I'd think about your angles and where you stand, and concentrace on faces. #4 is my favorite.

[spencer87]

There's no good shot of her looking at the camera without a silly expression. I'd think about your angles and where you stand, and concentrace on faces. #4 is my favorite.

i have more pictures of faces (didnt want to crowd the thread though). she did not want shots of her looking directly at the camera, as she didnt want them to look posed or set up. thank you for the input, i'll post more from ceremony and reception later for feedback.

a few more from the bride's house:

http://static.flickr.com/63/158082055_a1f77f0636.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/75/158082150_1cee9f290a.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/44/158082574_579fe4e6f2.jpg

[Sharyn1983]

your BW pictures are somewhat flat. You could adjust the levels to bring up the contrast.

[Sharyn1983]

You could BW through Layers and Channel mixing since they prevent the flat tonality of grayscale or Desaturate. Or buy a good plugin.

[spencer87]

You could BW through Layers and Channel mixing since they prevent the flat tonality of grayscale or Desaturate. Or buy a good plugin.

i always use channel mixer to get pretty good b&w, but i toned down the contrast on these because they looked too contrast-y on my monitor. guess I'll have too work on some of these a bit more.

[Sharyn1983]

And I somewhat disagree with Tim. I kinda like the last one (in the first set). I think it shows her excitement and nervousness. If you get a bride in the future that doesn't feel photogenic, then talk her into relaxing (wine or champagne helps) and let you "try" a few shots and she doesn't have to buy them if she doesn't like them. Also try to catch the pictures of her naturally glancing at you. Sometimes I tell people to not look at me for awhile because they will still occasionally glance at me, but never long enough to put on their "camera" face, so I get a more natural look. Also you can have her mother behind you talking/joking with her so she isn't nervous about having her pictures taken. And you can get better, more natural smiles this way. Combining these should help you win over an uneasy bride.

[Sharyn1983]

it doesn't matter on the screen as long as it turns out correctly in print.

[Sharyn1983]

I use a different computer every day. It could be my screen.

[madferrit]

I like the pics, hard to choose a favourite.. but on the last one.. you chopped off her fingers, which stood out for me right away. :)

[spencer87]

Sharyn - thanks for all the tips! in this case it wasnt so much that the bride was camera-shy, she was just really into the photojournalist style and didnt want a whole lot of shots that looked posed. And part of it im sure is because the preparations got started so late. I did manage to get some good shots of her looking at me during the ceremony and reception though. As for the last photo in the first set, each to his/her own I guess! so far that's one of the B&G's favorites though, so it's definitely going in the album.

madferrit- thanks for the compliment! the finger thing really bugged me, not a whole lot i could do about it after the fact (except kick myself) B&G didnt seem to mind though, so I guess that's good.

thanks again for all of the feedback.

[tim]

Try using the channel mixer for B&W. Look at the R, G, and B channels for each photo, and mix to your taste. I use an adjustment layer, it's easier. After you're done merge layers (hold done alt to make a new merged layer instead of merging into an existing layer), check the levels, then increase the contrast if you feel like it.

[Julé-Anne]

I really like them a lot. I like the detail shots of the Wedding vows etc. I tried to do that with my first wedding and never seemed to have time to get it all done. I have more to share later on. I think they are great, nice and clean...Did you have the first wedding freak outs like me?

[spencer87]

I really like them a lot. I like the detail shots of the Wedding vows etc. I tried to do that with my first wedding and never seemed to have time to get it all done. I have more to share later on. I think they are great, nice and clean...Did you have the first wedding freak outs like me?

the couple of daysleading up to the wedding I was getting really nervous (about equipment,memory cards even though I had backups for backups!) The day of the wedding I was suprisingly calm- I think you have to be, everyone else in the wedding is nervous enough. After helping with the whole makeup fiasco the bride's sister and other bridesmaids told me I was a 'very calming presence', lol.

thanks for the compliments on the photos. :D

[Arnie1]

And I somewhat disagree with Tim. I kinda like the last one (in the first set). I think it shows her excitement and nervousness.

Thats exactly my take-out!

I think you've done a pretty good job here.

Simon

[Arnie1]

Great method for fast black and white.

Convert to LAB Colour in mode.
Open channels and delete a and b channel
Convert to greyscale.

Gives a really good puchy black and white with no burn out and good shadow detail.
Easy to set up an action and batch 'em.

[spencer87]

thanks for the compliment Simon, and thanks for the LAB tip. I'll give that a try.

[Sharyn1983]

I don't like converting to greyscale. If you are lazy buy a plugin, but don't discard the color entirely.

[Arnie1]

I don't like converting to greyscale. If you are lazy buy a plugin, but don't discard the color entirely.


why?

[MagicallyDelicious]

id be really happy if these were my wedding pics..i like em :)

[Keiffer]

WOw....beautiful wedding vows! Defintely a good Christian woman:-) And nice shots :-)

[DegasGoneDigital]

Have you ever tried taking them in Sepia? Alot of people love the Sepia's tone more than the B/W.

[Sharyn1983]

I don't like to discard the color. I always keep the original as a layer, just in case I need to go back and redo something. If you convert to greyscale you discard your color information. If you screw up you may have to go back and start over. If I feel lazy I use Alien Skin's Exposure plugin for their old black and white film. It automatically sets up as a separate layer. I always, always have the original in color.

PS. Spence, your pictures turn out pretty well on the plugin. If you go to Alienskin's website you can download a free demo and you can use the whole program for a month without a watermark or that usual demo crap. I will mail you what I did tomorrow.

[Sharyn1983]

here is an example of simple channel mixing BW

[Sharyn1983]

There is no way I could get that with greyscale/leveling or with desaturate (because I tried)