MY FIRST SOLO, 8-24-07

[allkindza]

Hi everyone,
I have been reading all your posts for the past several months trying to learn everything I could for my this wedding I was asked to do, Well, I wanted to try and break into weddings to pay for some of my very expensive toys. Must Say I learned a lot from reading you all and felt a lot more confident going into this than if I had not discovered this forum. I still fell far short of mine (and in some ways, theirs) expectations and learned a lot from this experience. I thought I would share a couple of my favorites and risk the "c & c" and maybe I and someone else like me can learn from your comments. Thanks for looking.





http://www.sherwinmcgehee.com/allison_girls.jpg

http://www.sherwinmcgehee.com/entire_party.jpg

http://www.sherwinmcgehee.com/kev_and_boys.jpg

[Woogie]

Very nice pictures. Welcome to POTN, by the way.

I think number 2 would have been better if her arm weren't cut off. It seems like you had a bit of extra space on the right.

number 1 - her dress seems a little blue/purple to me. White balance issue, maybe? I think I'd like to see it a hair brighter as well.

number 3 - my eyes are drawn to that spot at the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Nothing a little bit of clone / heal won't fix.

[mkuriger]

nice job! I really love that #2 shot.

[ImagesByInku]

#2 is the best of the 3. #3 would be better if there was less foreground and the group weren't so "centered."

[allkindza]

Thanks for the quick encouragment and advice. I found that I really like the blurred background with the attendants kinda lollygaggin look. and that is one set up I will remember if I ever get any more gigs. Just a couple more if it is OK. I was having trouble with the white dress and suit is one of the lessons I gained from this day. I shot RAW and even with recovery at 100 I still lost some detail in the whites. I had the most fun and success IMO when I kinda just let them fall into their own poses and be natural. I could really use some advice on posing and havn't had a lot of success finding things on the web that are "free" so if I am going to spend some cash on a resource I'd like to hear from some of you who already use a book or video or something and can reccommed it.

http://www.sherwinmcgehee.com/kev2.jpghttp://www.sherwinmcgehee.com/walking.jpg

[MrsOpie]

There is a nice sense of depth of field in the first 2 shots. However, they seems just a little dark to me. It might be my monitor.

[Maureen Souza]

Beautiful work...congrats!! And welcome....looking forward to seeing more.

[restech]

Nice series,
Is the wedding gown blue ? Or the color is a little bit cold ? Or is it my monitor?

If it is the wedding gown, I have never seen a blue one like that.

[allkindza]

wish I could say that it was, probably my monitor as I have yet to calibrate it but Probably my PP as well, I really didn't notice till you pointed it out but now that you have, I may have to do some more tweaking and probably break down and get that monitor calibration thingamabob.

and a sidebar question to the forums and protacol and all that since I am a newbie. what makes one a "junior" member and one senior etc. is there any advantage to having a different title?

[MetalRain]

post count is what determines ones user title allkindza.

[allkindza]

I do not wish to do a "bait and switch" on this thread as it seems my question now shoud be in a FAQ or somthing, but I have to ask is there any advantage to having a HIGH post count??? I don't get it.

[kja]

I have to ask is there any advantage to having a HIGH post count??? I don't get it.

Means a poster has been active - how many of those posts are useful, relevant, helpful or otherwise valuable can't be determined by a #.

You'll soon get a feel for who's who of the "old timers" and just reading various individual's posts will give you a feel for if you are going to be able to take something away from them a lot of the time. You'll probably get some "favourites", too.

[Visual Bride]

Your pictures are really good. Even better that it's your first wedding. Imagine if you keep improving at the same rate.

I like your style. You have produced some great compositions. Your colors are great but as has already been said they are a bit on the blue side.

In what way have you not met your and the B/G expectations?

The junior/ senior member labels have nothing to do with being a junior or senior photographer. The labels refer to forum use only.

[mizuno]

You've got some nice angles there.

I can't take any dude in a white suit seriously, but that's not your fault.

[allkindza]

My clients liked the shots I got, its the shots I didn't get that is the problem. For example: I didn't get "table shots" and in our discussion I told them that since I was working alone these may be hard to get. The bride said that table shots weren't important but to just get shots of the people there. Well I tried to get shots of everyone but could not keep track. I opted to set up a backdrop during dinner thinking i would get shots of guests that way, had the dj announce it twice but the participation was just not there. The mom who is paying the bill (ok i'll tell you, $600) and the bride were disapointed that I did not get more shots of guests.
This was a friday afternoon "budget bride" deal and the time was rush rush so I did not get to do a lot of things I wanted. I only had a couple of minutes with the groom before ceremony and did not get individual shots of him with his groomsman. The KISS shot, I missed the KISS cuz I was out of posistion sort of, I got into posistion when I realized what was happening (catholic wedding, full mass, unfamiliar to me) so I kneeled down in the center isle aimed and was holding off to get some "emotion", well the groom just gave her a small peck and was done, I was expecting a longer moment and wanted to fire in the middle of the 2-3 second moment and it only lasted a blink. The garter shot, I got nice shots coming off, then the groom stood directly up and tossed it. No count down, nothin, I just looked at the DJ who was just as puzzled as I but I didn't get a shot of the toss as he just went from the leg to the toss. I can go on I guess but i won't. They have not complained too much about the missing other shots but I had pretty high expectations for myself and felt I did not get a lot of shots I should have. Thanks for all your kind and construcive critique so far.

[Bailly Photography]

Nice job on the wedding, I like the last two you put up.

[picturecrazy]

good job. You did well in capturing the people. What will bring your images to the next level is using the background along with the people to make them more of a wow type of shot. I think they could use a little more PP and colour correction work to make them even more cool. good job.

[00silvergt]

Curious Piccrazy, can you post an example of using the background and the people to wow?

[allkindza]

Yes I know what you mean about the background, that is one of the things I was disapointed in as the Rush Rush pace combined with a very "lower rent" type of area and hot muggy muddy conditions where the bride did not want to venture too much outside limited my choices, Not that I am making excuses as I agree with you 100 percent, I am just giving you a little context, another thing i learned is to make sure you either discuss ahead of time the time needed to get some "wow" pics or explain to B/G that you will only get what you allow me time for, This was the case and they were pretty aware of my location limitations. I asked her to step into a better background and her heel went staight down in the mud, "forget this" I was told, not that she was not a great bride to work with, she just didn't like being hot or muddy and was pretty low key attitude wise.
Again, thanks for your comments, they are wll recieved.