Asked to take a couple of photos at a friends/employees wedding

[sunnygirl]

First time shooting at any function let alone a wedding. But as B & G was not having an official photography I said I would try. Here are a couple of examples, CC is most welcome. Yes I realise that there was not a lot of eye contact but there were about 20 other people with P&S taking photos at the same time - we only had a few minutes before the reception. Most importantly B & G loved them - probably got about 100 good shots.

[Jim G]

I like the first one... a very warm portrait. :)

[Svetlana]

I like the 1st one, too.

[Patsa]

Beautiful shots, #1 is great...well done!!

[sunnygirl]

Thanks everyone, as a amateur I can see my shots improving, just needed some guidance to see if I am on the right track.
I only intend doing photography for myself, family and friends enjoyment, certainly not looking to go commercial.

[sunnygirl]

Any ideas how I could improve PP on BW one? I find BW processing so much harder. The B & G are big lovers of BW so I would like to do something nice for them.

[kelvinleung]

Great capture, check out atncentral.com for more BW actions. Or if you LR, get some BW presets from lightroomkillertips.com

[sunnygirl]

Great capture, check out atncentral.com for more BW actions. Or if you LR, get some BW presets from lightroomkillertips.com

My original bw was done in LR2, basically using presets and some tweaking to get the photo good in colour, then I used a combo I think of a couple of BW presets.

I have most of the presets from Matt's website (killertips) plus I also have a lot of actions for CS3 from atn.central.

I think my problem is I use presets/actions and then think I should tweak them - just get too carried away.

2nd Bw using toned down version of POTN "Cheetapita BW Instructions", as I find a bit too dark on my photos. Maybe works better on babies/children.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=404206

[Chris&jess]

I hope you don't get your feelers hurt, but here goes:
Photo #1: Try to avoid the horizontal horizon line in the background. Shoot up, shoot down (preferably), or have them move, but eliminate it if possible. Also, her expression isn't natural so she won't like this photo.
Photo #2: This photo needs to be cropped to eliminate the confusing wad of flowers and his belt line below. If properly cropped, this photo (the best of the two) can be made to be more about them. This photo shows their joy and they both look good in it. They will like this photo. Use it. But first get rid of their shiny skin areas.
As an aside, when shooting people who are a tad on the heavy side, always try to shoot down at them. You have to get their neck stretched out to eliminate their double chin. If you're short like me, you sort of have to shoot on your tippy toes all day and step up on available objects and have them look up. Stretch out their pretty necks and they'll love the photos of themselves. They won't know why, but they'll love them.
My .02
Chris

[k-style]

HER EYES ON THE FIRST ONE ARE SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL

[sunnygirl]

I hope you don't get your feelers hurt, but here goes:
Photo #1: Try to avoid the horizontal horizon line in the background. Shoot up, shoot down (preferably), or have them move, but eliminate it if possible. Also, her expression isn't natural so she won't like this photo.
Photo #2: This photo needs to be cropped to eliminate the confusing wad of flowers and his belt line below. If properly cropped, this photo (the best of the two) can be made to be more about them. This photo shows their joy and they both look good in it. They will like this photo. Use it. But first get rid of their shiny skin areas.
As an aside, when shooting people who are a tad on the heavy side, always try to shoot down at them. You have to get their neck stretched out to eliminate their double chin. If you're short like me, you sort of have to shoot on your tippy toes all day and step up on available objects and have them look up. Stretch out their pretty necks and they'll love the photos of themselves. They won't know why, but they'll love them.
My .02
Chris

Hey thanks for this Chris, you certainly aren't hurting my feelings, no point going on my merry way making too many mistakes without knowing any better. Much appreciated.

All excellent points, I will take certainly make note of. I can practice on my husbands double chin (:):) (may be divorced when he reads this). This was the first time I had taken photos at a function of any kind and I could not believe how fast paced it was, but I enjoyed the experience. The bride was not fussy at all about photos so had no expectations at all, thank goodness.

[sunnygirl]

HER EYES ON THE FIRST ONE ARE SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL

Thanks so much!

[marcus769]

The first one is great.. Its VERY sharp! Which lens did you use?

[sunnygirl]

It was the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX DC (non macro) taken at 50mm @ f2.8. However I have sharpened the whole picture and sharpened the eyes again.

I really like this lens but I would prefer something with IS as I am not the worlds steadiest photographer!

[LeesaB]

You're only going to get better in time, You did good!

I like them both but have to say 2 is my favorite just with a bit more work on the BW coloring!

[sunnygirl]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful comments, much appreciated.


You're only going to get better in time, You did good!

I like them both but have to say 2 is my favorite just with a bit more work on the BW coloring!

PP for BW is what I seem to struggle with! I just keeping trying to learn as many techniques as I can - sometimes I think some of the presets/actions available are the way to go. Maybe I'm trying to hard.