Weddings from 2008

[photogirl07]

Hey ya'll,
I'm doing the 10 day trial on smug mug so I put up a gallery with some photos of the 2 weddings I did in 2008.If you have a min. would you mind taking a look and leaving me a little c&c here?
Just testing the waters here. Thanks so much!

http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/

[Nicole Faith]

Hello,
Overall I think you have a nice start and a good set of images to be able to show new clients. I do like a lot of your motion blur images - whether that was done on purpose or not! Here are a few things I noticed that I thought I would give an opinion about.

A handful of the images are top-heavy - meaning too much sky. So either you are very tall, or you are just not catching the fact that there is too much sky in the composition when shooting. This is more just a change in frame of mind while shooting. Sky is good as long as there are also feet and some foreground - but most of yours are chopped in the middle of the body. I thought maybe it was due to the limitations of the lenses you had, but you do have some shots that fill the frame well. Examples below.
http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467745850_abvzN
http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467740980_HXya7

There are some crops that seem too tight. While tight shots are usually emotional and capture a great moment - the crops I am talking about are cutting off part of a hand or really boxing in a group shot. Otherwise, you do also have crops that work well.
http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467742078_qRUBG
http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467750353_Gb9iN

The only other nit-pick I would have, and only mention it because you are offering these images as a whole, is that the processing seems inconsistent. Some images have high contrast with bright colors, other seem underexposed, some have no contrast, the b/w conversions all don't match. Where you want to offer some edited images to the client - many of the photos need to carry the same feeling throughout so they flow together. Individually, there isn't anything wrong with your processing - just looking as a whole, you hit bumps where the white is different or the skin tone is different and you notice it.
Like this image - which I LOVE. Very natural feeling, natural colors. http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467749261_pp7FJ
Compared to this image - which has a great composition - but obviously different processing. More contrast, brighter colors due to contrast, blown out whites. This is the same room with the same lighting, so you question what was done different.
http://ashleyspics.smugmug.com/gallery/7208993_sRooY#467749127_RMie3

I think it's ok to offer all these to the client as long as you also have consecutive images to offer before processing as well. Hope that makes some sense and helps a little. I offer CC only because I do it all day and I get a lot of feedback as well that I learn from.

[photogirl07]

Thank you so much Nicole! I will take your pointers to heart and put them into practice. I definitely hit some bumps during both the shooting and processing. Both of these brides are friends and were in a jam needing a photographer, so I was up front about my lack of experience in the area and they were fine with it. They loved their photo's, which is all I wanted. I am always trying to get better & grow in my photography though, so thank you again.
Ashley

[SIMPLEPHOTOLT]

Hi, I think you took some great shots with great emotion. I agree with Nicole, however, that you should pay attention more to cops (too tight). Color saturation and exposure could also be improved. Enjoy shooting.

[photogirl07]

Thanks Simplephotolt, I will!

[Nicole Faith]

Thank you so much Nicole! I will take your pointers to heart and put them into practice. I definitely hit some bumps during both the shooting and processing. Both of these brides are friends and were in a jam needing a photographer, so I was up front about my lack of experience in the area and they were fine with it. They loved their photo's, which is all I wanted. I am always trying to get better & grow in my photography though, so thank you again.
Ashley

Oh girly, I know how that is. I shot 2 of my cousins' weddings for cheap when I first started. Where I don't love the images, they both do of course. Which is great - but I can see where I totally f-ed up and how I have improved. lol.

[ejicon]

The pictures in your album are beautiful. First off the bat is sectioning.
Is it possible to separate the two brides into their own section/Category?

I really like both compositions of the pictures that I've attached (hope you don't mind. I'll remove if needed)

The shot with the entire court: Something about the bride and grooms feet missing is distracting. Same thing with both left and right sides of the shot. My eyes want to see a little more on both sides.
I like the casualness of this photo. Everyone looks happy and like their having fun.

The Crop with the bride and bridesmaids bouquets is a real nice touch. I can see a nicely composition in a photo album of the entire picture cut into 3: Top would be their upper-body + faces Middle would be this shot and the bottom would be of their lower halves. All in all, nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

[Eliza_Day]

I really liked them, well done!

[tnicol]

I think you've done really well. I agree with some of the comments about cropping, framing, and consistency, but I'm sure your friends will be happy with these. (I speak with some authority about the consistency because I suffer from lack of same badly!) Overall, I like the second set better, maybe it's the colors. I like vivid colors. Love the picture of all the girls jumping. They'll love it too I know. I like the variety in your pictures. I really like all the "getting ready" pics, #81 is beautiful. You obviously are moving around with your eye on what's going on every second. That's important. Really nice work.

[photogirl07]

Thank you everyone so much for your advice and encouragement, being a newbie I really appriciate both.

The second set (with the bridemaids in green jumping) was actually a wedding I was in.
My friend, the bride, called me in a panic about 1 week before the wedding because her photographer bailed out at the list min....(she had no contract.)
She wanted to know if I could recommend another photographer, but when she told me their budget.... I couldn't think of any they could get so last min and for such a low price.
So I told her I'd set everything up and have my Mom and sis click the shutter, she agreed and that's how we did it.

It was interesting to set up a shot behind the camera then run to the front, jump into the shot, then run back around to check the LCD. Lol.
Overall it we had great fun, the bride got a great deal (she basically just paid for my dress) and I learned alot.
Anyways, there's the story behind that wedding in particular. :)

Thanks again everyone!
Ashley