First wedding pics/new website

[tim]

Finally, after a LOT of processing, here's a sample of some of the pictures from my first wedding. My favorite photos can be found on the link below. Constructive critique is welcome. The full set of photos can also be seen on the website, all 600 of them.

http://www.wildphotography.co.nz/gallery/JJ/Highlights/index.htm

The website is new, comments on it are also welcome:

http://www.wildphotography.co.nz

Here's a few of my favorite pics.


http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj01.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj02.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj03.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj04.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj05.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj06.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj07.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj08.jpg

http://www.mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/jj/jj09.jpg

[Maureen Souza]

Well I perused through the gallery and I think you did an outstanding job with your first wedding. I love all the candids... they really capture the feelings of the day and I love that you captured a lot of the guests. I know the B&G will totally love them. There are enough posed shots interspersed with the candids that it makes for a great collection. Congrats to you!!!

[tim]

Thanks Maureen :D The bride did appear to like them, according to the the slightly cryptic text I got: "The pics are awesome. So happy" :)

If you have any suggestions or constructive critisism i'd love to hear it, that's one way I improve. I have that "lessons learned" thread of some of the things I learned. Next time i'll spend more time on posed photos, that's one thing the collection is a little lacking on, especially of the bride by herself.

[Maureen Souza]

I don't know how much post processing you had to do but they really look great....nice and clear and I think you got a wonderful variety of the day, including the weather. I usually do pre-ceremony posed photos because when I am the wedding guest, I hate waiting an our or more for the new B&G to show up due to photos being taken. And I take a lot of posed during this time frame. Depending on the size of the wedding party, I usually shoot 1-1 1/2 hours of posed photos. I try to keep the ceremony shots to around 6-8, then shoot with gay abandon from there on.
What lens did you use the most? And which one did the best job for you? Just curious to get your opinion on your favorite lens of the day. I just got myself the 135mm/2.8L.

[tim]

Post processing time: 25 hours, give or take. I have to learn to get better images in the camera so I don't need to tweak so much in CS. I couldn't do pre-ceremony photos, the couple aren't the most organised, and didn't want to do it either.

I used a mixture of lenses: kit lens for ceremony shots, 70-200 for formal shots in the theatre, 50mm F1.4 for the reception candids, and I think the Tamron 28-75 for the reception formals. I also used the macro lens for cake shots. If I had to choose one lens it'd be the Tamron for sure, but I couldn't have done the job near as well without a wide angle and the 50mm 1.4. Every shot with the 100mm macro comes out razor sharp, so long as I don't do anything stupid ;)

[tim]

Thanks Bloo :) A few people have commented that the website looks cool but doesn't work so well, I think I need to change it to plain html. I'll post again once I get that done.

[jfrancho]

Oh, Tim, these are really nice. Numbers 6 and 7 are really what I like. When I have time, I'll check out the rest. I've over 200 from the Zoo to work on. Thanks for putting these up.

[tim]

Thanks JF :)

I've changed the gallery over from flash to plain old html now, so anyone who had problems should find it better now. It's quite simple and not perfect, i'll do some work on improving it when I get more time.

[tim]

Thanks for the useful advice Mr Dog (or may I call you Bloo? ;). It's the most and best advice i've received so far :)

So candids should be "semi-candids"? Nice idea. It'd probably work better than actual candids.

Getting people attention before the photos is another one I knew I needed to do, but didn't do all the time, and will do better next time. Sometimes I wandered accross a shot that someone else had set up, so I took it without getting attention, whereas I should have waited and then taken my turn. There was one other guy with a decent camera there, people mostly looked at me because I did draw their attention quite often.

The ceremony was non-traditional, and the bride was in red, maybe that's why you didn't spot the ceremony shots? They're here (http://www.wildphotography.co.nz/gallery/JJ/Ceremony/index.htm). A photo of the couple is here (http://www.wildphotography.co.nz/gallery/JJ/Ceremony/pages/JJ239.htm). I was in the front row of a tiny, tiny room, because the outside venue was rained out, so the photos aren't perfect. Maybe I could use the CS2 vanishing point command to fix the perspective... The lack of outside portraits was because of the rain :(

Yes, the formal photos were taken in a theatre, under stage lights, with my 550EX as fill flash. Next time if we're not outside i'll try to use some strobes... I just have to learn how to use the dang things first, never tried.

Thanks again BD :)

[tim]

Ah, yeah, good thinking... staying under the mirror was on purpose, honest! ;) Really though, I was sitting down because I had about 50 people behind me wanting to watch the ceremony, though when I did start up for a few seconds I did make not not to get my reflection or the flash in the shot.

Thanks for the "candids" tips, they'll go into my wedding photography notebook :)

I was running on adrenalin all day! Earlier in the day I was driving the bride to the hairdresser and talking to her, I couldn't remember simple things like the model of the car I was driving! I calmed down though. I wasn't overwhelmed, I knew I could take photos better than anyone there, though not up to the level of a professional yet. What worked well is having a chat with people, appearing relaxed despite not being at all relaxed, and just being friendly. I had to push people out of the way sometimes (nicely), and no-one minded.

What would I have done differently? I have a whole thread on lessons learned, that's some of them. I wish i'd spent even 10 minutes alone with the bride, paying more attention to her and the background where I shot her. The rain really screwed things up, but it came out ok. I'd also have taken more flash batteries - I went thru 4 sets and stopped using them before I ran out. I think i'll want one of those fancy quantum batteries if I keep doing this. I'd also do more posed shots, candids like you recommend, and i'd use flash at the reception. That's all I can think of right now :)

Thanks for the comment Bloo, and your kind words :)