First wedding done

[tim]

Bugger that was a long, hot tiring day! It rained all day so it was inside in a hot, cramped room, flashes going off everywhere. 350 photos taken, 5.5GB or so and I went crazy at the end with rapid fire because I had space left :) 2.5 batteries used, but I changed when it started to say it was low. 3-4 sets of AAs, and I REALLY would like to have a quantum or similar battery next time. Did I mention it was hot? And man am I hungry. Out of 350 pics, on my first pass thru I marked 90 as "5 star" in Photoshop, with a bit of work I should get 200 keepers.

Many thanks to all the people who helped me get ready for this. Bob, Todd, Maureen, Bloo Dog, Dave, and to the many people whose names escape me right now, apologies and thanks. Also, thanks must go to Pekka for providing this brilliant website, without which i'd be, frankly, stuffed. A donation will be on it's way as soon as I check my credit card statements...

Here's a few of my favorites arty type shots, straight from the camera (exposure tweaked in CS). There are heaps of good ones with people in them (eg YMCA pose during formals) but i'm too tired to process them now - i'm off to bed.

http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/jj1.jpg http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/jj2.jpg http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/jj3.jpg

http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/jj4.jpg http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/jj5.jpg

[Harry Settle]

From what I can see, so far, I like your style. Lets see some more.

[Hellashot]

I don't think the McDonald's bag one is much to look at.

[psk4363]

How much weight did you lose through that long day? When I did my first, many years ago, on a conventional MF 645 camera, I lost 10 lbs and was very dehydrated by the time I finished. Things are much less stressful nowadays with D-SLR instant feedback.

Barry

[robertwgross]

Since wedding photography is kind of stressful work, it sure helps to be in good condition and able to make it through the day with minimal chances for refreshment. Sure, I may be able to score some good refreshment at the reception, but some wedding ceremonies are long and drawn out, especially if you had to shoot beforehand and wait at every place along the way. As a result, I keep a small water bottle hidden in my photographer's vest along with some candies. Then, at my camera bag, I keep another water bottle attached. Then, in my car, I keep more refreshments stashed. So, wherever I am along the way, I can grab enough sustenance to keep going and without making everybody else wait for me.

---Bob Gross---

[Maureen Souza]

Well you did it Tim. Can't wait to see more photos...love the candids you've posted thus far.
One thing I forget to tell you..... take time for yourself! I make sure I eat, drink and use the facilities along the way. An uncomfotable photographer can't focus on the job very well! I'm sure you learned that already. Next time you will feel more confidant and it won't be as stressful :):):)

[tim]

Thanks everyone :) I'll be doing the proofs over the next few days, i'll post a link or a few snaps when they're ready.

I don't think the McDonald's bag one is much to look at.

It's part of the story of the day, and I love her expression in the background :)

How much weight did you lose through that long day? When I did my first, many years ago, on a conventional MF 645 camera, I lost 10 lbs and was very dehydrated by the time I finished. Things are much less stressful nowadays with D-SLR instant feedback.

Maybe a little, not anything significant. I'm reasonably fit anyway. My meals were pizza/mcdonalds/wedding dinner, so not the healthiest of foods! I kept water and snacks in my bag, and I did manage to eat during the day, but because I was so busy I ate a bit less than usual and did a lot more.

[Hellashot]

[QUOTE=tim]


It's part of the story of the day, and I love her expression in the background :)



QUOTE]

Then maybe get something else besides the bag in focus.

[tim]

Then maybe get something else besides the bag in focus.

You've already given your opinion, no need to flog a dead horse. The shot looks exactly how I wanted it to look, I have wide and narrow DOF shots and I went with this one because I liked it better.

[MAD DOG]

Glad it all turned out well for you Tim.

All that worry and look what you acheived. Well done.

[CyberPet]

Tim, I'm thick.... NOW I know who you are... LOL.

Looking forward to see more pictures (the ones so far looks good) and hear the real dirty story on how bad it really was. :D

[tim]

Yeah it went ok, I have a list of about a dozen things to improve on next time.

I wondered if you'd worked it out Petra, your picture's the same on both sites so I figured it was you quite a while ago :p

[Merle]

Tim,

I like the MacDonald bag shot. It is a great candid of the preparation, It shows the mood at the time and what was taking place behind the scenes. I've been photographing weddings for 32 years and that shot will fit in very well, mixed into the prep. section of the Brides album. Now show us some of the Formals, family and wedding portraits. ;) :) :D

Good Shooting to Ya !!
Merle

[tim]

Thanks Merle :) I'm processing the rest of the 750 odd pictures now, i'm almost done adjusting the basics, i'll finish that tomorrow night, and hopefully do some of the more creative stuff later this week or on the weekend. Man it takes some time to process all these images eh?!

My formals came out ok, with a few great ones, family I got some ok shots, and there aren't any i'd call wedding portraits. Despite my repeated urging there was NO organisation with regards to photography, I was lucky to be able to steal them for an hour to do standard group shots. Ah well, next time... :)

[Feihung08]

Tim,

I like the MacDonald bag shot. It is a great candid of the preparation, It shows the mood at the time and what was taking place behind the scenes. I've been photographing weddings for 32 years and that shot will fit in very well, mixed into the prep. section of the Brides album. Now show us some of the Formals, family and wedding portraits. ;) :) :D

Good Shooting to Ya !!
Merle
I totally agree on the 'McD's" bag shot. And I'm sure the bride will look at it with inspired memories of how hectic it is to get ready throughout the day in that the only time you have for food is when you drive through McD's on the way to getting your hair/make-up done! I just think Hellashot wasn't looking at the full spectrum here. In any other place he might have a legit post, but it works great here!

[Todd Jacobsen]

I totally agree on the 'McD's" bag shot. And I'm sure the bride will look at it with inspired memories of how hectic it is to get ready throughout the day in that the only time you have for food is when you drive through McD's on the way to getting your hair/make-up done! I just think Hellashot wasn't looking at the full spectrum here. In any other place he might have a legit post, but it works great here!

But wouldn't you get the same affect with the women in focus and the bag out of focus? I understand the described intention, but does the photograph provide the intent or does the intent need to be explained.

There is significants (focus) being placed on the bottle of liquid as well as McD bag - are they of equal significance?

If I was a relative, would I understand the intent of the photo?

Is the McD bag, at all, related to the women in the background? - It would be if one of them were eating.

Is the bottle liquid, at all related to the activity being performed? - If so, how can that be concluded - without explanation.

If you were to hand ONE photo to someone, would they know what is going on?

[jfrancho]

Tim,
These are great! All the preparation certainly paid off. Glad to hear you made through alive. Love the first two - these are the types of pics I really like. The narrow DOF really drives the irony home in the McDonald's shot. Nothing like a little lo-fi snack at a hi-fi affair. Nice job!

[Feihung08]

But wouldn't you get the same affect with the women in focus and the bag out of focus? I understand the described intention, but does the photograph provide the intent or does the intent need to be explained.

There is significants (focus) being placed on the bottle of liquid as well as McD bag - are they of equal significance?

If I was a relative, would I understand the intent of the photo?

Is the McD bag, at all, related to the women in the background? - It would be if one of them were eating.

Is the bottle liquid, at all related to the activity being performed? - If so, how can that be concluded - without explanation.

If you were to hand ONE photo to someone, would they know what is going on?
Todd, your reading way to into this! LOL!
I don't see the bottle as the subject at all, but that's probably because I'm still seeing the whole picture and only looking at this picture as part of the story, or to make it more easily understood, as part of the collage. I'm not thinking this is a picture Tim is expecting to sell to the couple so they can mount it and hang it above the fireplace. But to appease you, if the bottle does hold any significance it would be to ensure the viewer knows that they are in fact at the hair salon, and the bag of McDonald's is truly out of place which just goes to show how hectic her day must have been.

[tim]

Glad you all like the photos :) More to come in a couple of days when my processing's finished - damn it's taking a long time.

But wouldn't you get the same affect with the women in focus and the bag out of focus? I understand the described intention, but does the photograph provide the intent or does the intent need to be explained.

There is significants (focus) being placed on the bottle of liquid as well as McD bag - are they of equal significance?

I got both shots, one with the bag in focus, one with her in focus, and I liked this one better. It's trivial to remove that bottle if I want to.

[Feihung08]

Glad you all like the photos :) More to come in a couple of days when my processing's finished - damn it's taking a long time.
I imagine 'post processing' 700+ RAW shots to be quite the time consuming pain in the arse! This is where your 'work flow' skills really come into play!

[tim]

Yep, it takes some time. The lighting was uneven and varied, and auto white ballance didn't do a good job at all. Also, because of all the lights and mirrors exposure was often off as well. Next time i'll pay way more attention to white ballance and the histogram, I won't get as many shots, but they should be better and require less processing.

[CyberPet]

Wedding is not "all glamour" and I remember how I was being spoon-fed yoghurt by my sister-in-law. It's great to see that picture now. I can't believe I survived the whole day on that one yoghurt until it was time for dinner. :D

[tim]

I was shooting photojournalistic style, there's not so many posed photos, and the ones I like the best are the getting ready shots, and ones where people don't know they're having their photo taken. I made sure to eat during the day myself, with the amount of running around I was doing i'd have just stopped otherwise!

[Merle]

Tim,

I like your attitude and eagerness to put a lot of work into producing the finest Wedding Album you can.

I'm going to give you some advice. You take it for what you think it is worth.
In my opinion if you would be required to put as much workflow post-production time into all of the weddings you will be doing in the future as you are going to be putting into this wedding. I predict that in 5 years you will not be photographing weddings anymore. The Butcher, the Baker, the Candle Stick maker, to them the wedding is now history. The Bride and Groom's money is in the bank and they are on to other things in their lives. To give you an example "The preacher who Preached the wedding a couple of hours later he is sitting in his favorite easy chair watching Saturday Night Live on T.V., while your JUST getting started with hours and days of work-flow back end work.

My suggestion, After you have one or two more weddings under you belt, is do a lot of careful planning. "What can you do during the wedding that will reduce your work-flow."

Second, Join a local professional Organization in your area go to the meetings and make friends with other photographers ask questions and seek advice. You might ask, "What is this going to do for me? " Great battle field generals study military history so they won't make some of the same mistakes that those that have gone to battle before them made.

Because you aspire to do a good job and you obviously have a creative eye I hope that in 5 years you are still photographing weddings.
Good job on your first one.;) :) :D

Good Shooting to Ya !!
Merle

[tim]

I appreciate the advice Merle, you're absolutely right, if I have to do this much work after every wedding i'll not do it for long. The question is how to avoid the post processing. The answer, I think, is to get better at taking good exposures in the camera, and to take less photos but to make them count. That will come with practice, I hope, at least i've learned what I have to learn now :)

The other question is how to get more weddings, given my relatively low experience level.

[Maureen Souza]

I appreciate the advice Merle, you're absolutely right, if I have to do this much work after every wedding i'll not do it for long. The question is how to avoid the post processing. The answer, I think, is to get better at taking good exposures in the camera, and to take less photos but to make them count. That will come with practice, I hope, at least i've learned what I have to learn now :)

The other question is how to get more weddings, given my relatively low experience level.

Ahhhh, that is definitely the challenge Tim. I did a ton of post processing after shooting my first wedding. Then I figured out more about how to shoot, what shots were important and how to make my camera work for me. The last wedding I did 4 weeks ago... I took about 250 photos and only had 4 hours of post processing to do. So it takes a little time and trial & error but it really gets easier. I also realized the more relaxed I was at the shoot, the better my pictures came out..... I think my subjects were much more relaxed too. Next wedding shoot is June 4th!

[tim]

I wrote up my "lessons learned" tonight, things I have to do next time. I can post them if there's any interest. Near the top of the list is "get the image right in the camera".

I'd love to do another wedding, the question is how to find someone who wants me to do it.

[Claire]

I shot somewhere between 200-300 photos at my first wedding. And I even skipped shooting a lot of "must" shots! ((Thank god for just doing it for fun) I've looked at all the photos and resized them etc, but still doing post processing. In all honesty by now I get tired just thinking about post processing the damn pics! I just want to burn them straight to a CD for the bride, but my artistic side refuses to let me. I have so much more respect for all the pro's out there now.

[Maureen Souza]

I'd love to do another wedding, the question is how to find someone who wants me to do it.

Too bad you live on the other side of the globe... I sure could use an extra hand at my next gig...it's gonna be a big one, yikes!!!

[jfrancho]

I wrote up my "lessons learned" tonight, things I have to do next time. I can post them if there's any interest. Near the top of the list is "get the image right in the camera".

I'd love to do another wedding, the question is how to find someone who wants me to do it.I'm a process geek, and I'd love to see this. I think it would apply to more than just wedding photography.

[CyberPet]

Maureen, I'm shooting my first wedding this weekend (saturday). Might want to share some of those "important" images are? So I don't go about and shoot 2,000 images and find I will only need 10%. I don't know if I'll get it all done in the camera yet (have to try before I know, but mostly I do little post processing when I photograph now, just some cropping, etc).

But since I'm a newbie at weddings, I really want to know what type of photo's are "must haves", those that will always bring down applause (ok, a bit too much there, but you get my point), while the rest of the shots can be more "in my own head/style" where I can experiment and find my style and develop that in the future.

I know it's almost as asking if the hen or the egg came first, but I'm sure you have some great tips to share with me/us.

TIA! :)

[Feihung08]

I wrote up my "lessons learned" tonight, things I have to do next time. I can post them if there's any interest. Near the top of the list is "get the image right in the camera".

I'd love to do another wedding, the question is how to find someone who wants me to do it.
Please Please Please!
You know we all love that sorta stuff here!

And don't worry man, after you get all the prints to the couple and they start showing them off, and they mention how 'cheap' you were (guessing here), their friends will tell two friends, and their friends will tell two friends etc etc etc! I'm sure of it!

[Feihung08]

Too bad you live on the other side of the globe... I sure could use an extra hand at my next gig...it's gonna be a big one, yikes!!!
Where in "Central California" are you Maureen?? Or I should say, as it's called now "Cuwlifournia" by the Govenator! ;)

[Merle]

Hello Tim,
Unless you have a good sized advertising budget, use this present wedding to promote future weddings for you. You will find that 50 -60 percent of the weddings you book will be from referrals. Make sure you get this present wedding you are working on finished as quickly as possible. I don't know what arrangements you made with your wedding couple but deliver to them a finished wedding album. For the first year the bride from the wedding you just shot will be showing off her wedding pictures to her friends (bridesmaids) and relatives. Supply your bride with a large stack of business cards and offer her a fee (I offer $50.00) for every wedding you book from her referral. You will find that a referral system will be the least expensive and most productive form of advertising you can use. (per wedding booked) You will also need to make up a Sample Album for yourself to show potential brides. Remember this industry is visual so don't skimp on your samples get a nice album you want the brides to get excited about what you can do for them and their wedding. Keep up the good work, with planning and organization it will get easier and better and who knows you may find you can make a good living at it.
;) :) :D
Good Shooting to ya !!
Merle

[tim]

Advertising budget? I just did my first wedding, and photography's a sideline thing for me, so advertising isn't really an option right now. I just want to get experience doing wedding photography to get to a place where I feel it's reasonable to charge people for my effort. Referrals are a great idea, i'll make sure to get some business cards made up and offer a referral fee.

Now I have to work out how to make nice wedding albums... i've never seen a nice one so I guess I have more reading to do.

Thanks Merle, your advice is appreciated :)

I'm a process geek, and I'd love to see this. I think it would apply to more than just wedding photography.

Here you go: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=568782

[Feihung08]

Now I have to work out how to make nice wedding albums... i've never seen a nice one so I guess I have more reading to do.

Tim, Gardenstate posted some good links to some software that helps put together collages for wedding albums on this thread.......
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=568597#post568597

Some of the nicer albums I've seen are quite simply amazing where the images are printed out on a thick black paper with very elegant style. Looks like the albums probably cost about $1000 to put together by themselves! But these are $4000 per wedding pros that produce these. I'm gonna look into 'scrap booking' for just this reason!

[Maureen Souza]

Maureen, I'm shooting my first wedding this weekend (saturday). Might want to share some of those "important" images are? So I don't go about and shoot 2,000 images and find I will only need 10%. I don't know if I'll get it all done in the camera yet (have to try before I know, but mostly I do little post processing when I photograph now, just some cropping, etc).

But since I'm a newbie at weddings, I really want to know what type of photo's are "must haves", those that will always bring down applause (ok, a bit too much there, but you get my point), while the rest of the shots can be more "in my own head/style" where I can experiment and find my style and develop that in the future.

I know it's almost as asking if the hen or the egg came first, but I'm sure you have some great tips to share with me/us.

TIA! :)

PM sent.

[tim]

Feihung08, that looks like a great program! Are most pages on a wedding album this type of thing, I though you'd put a either one or a few images per page, not all collages?

I think i'll do it in photoshop for now, it'll take longer but it's cheaper. I'll keep it in mind for when i'm doing many weddings and I can justify buying a piece of software for such a specific task.

[CyberPet]

Marueen, thank you!! Much appreciated. :)

[tim]

I've started a new thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=76103) to share the photos.