First wedding - lessons learned

yarnos wrote:
How would you compile your photo list or checklist ?what type of images do you ensure you cover ?
Do you cover both the bride and groom's house before ceromone ? how do you manage?

I always meet with the bride, and often her mother, grooms usually aren;t interested, they are usually paying the bills.

No two lists are the same but generally split into pre ceremony, ceremony, register signing, exit, reception, and do they want candids

a list of people to be in each shot (obvisously not all shots) but you want to make sure no one gets left out who's important, clients can be dissapointed.

it can be any format you prefer, the main point is, in the hectic day reduce stress of missing something so that you can focus on the quality of the shots.

I noticed that a lot of you are using different types of lense for wedding. What kind of lens do you all suggest using and why?

thanks~

There are currently two active threads about wedding lenses, i'd suggest you go and read those.

Thanks Tim!! I think I found them...

After over a year this thread is still going.

I have learned a bit from it. Thanks to all who have offered input to those of us still learning.

tim, please don't let the questions wear you down. Your input is very gratefully appreciated and down to earth. While I still don't understand enough and know I'm in over my head for my first wedding, at least I understand most of what you are offering as free advice. Thanks again.

I'm happy to be able to help people. A lot of the advice in this thread is outdated now, as i've found better ways to do things, but it should still be useful.

Tim - you suggested approaching a Pro as an assistant to learn the ropes. I have been considering this myself. What do you suggest would be a good approach. I have a photographer in my area that I have been wanting to meet, and see if I can "tag" along for a few weddings to observe, but am concerned they would be hesitant. Do you think most pros are open to this, or are they "threatned" even if the person is a new shooter.

It never hurts to ask! If someone asked me I would consider taking them along. They'd have to be the right type of person, be willing to work as an assistant probably without a camera at least to start with, and I probably wouldn't want someone who only wants to come along a few times - that doesn't help me much.

Thanks.

Silly question that just hit me.Where do you all place your bag when shooting?

Under a pew, behind seats, off to the side of where I am - anywhere that doesn't get in the way of people or photos, where you can still see it.

Rather than explaining it over and over, i'm going to post my vignette technique once and point people at it if they ask for it. This thread is as good a place as any.

1) Open high res file.
2) Get the lasso tool, in the options bar set it to a 250px feather (that's the max it'll do). For web sized images try 50px.
3) Draw a rough outline around the main subject, don't be too fussy. Leave some space between them and what's around them. This takes me 3 seconds, if it takes you much longer you're doing it wrong.
4) Invert selection, copy selection to new layer.
5) On the new layer open levels, drag the middle slider to the right until you like the way it looks.
6) Same layer, add some gaussian blur if you like.
7) Add saturation and contrast adjustment layers to taste.
8) Add channel mixer adjustment layer if you want B&W. I look at each channel using Control + 1 thru Control + 3, then mix them to taste. Control + ~ resets to show you all the channels at once.
9) If you want sepia or duotone go to your top layer, hold down alt, and select "merge layers". A new layer will be created. Do you tinting there.

So Tim, can I ask you how to do the same on Photoshop 7,

I never got it working and kinda gave up.

Anyone else know?

Wazza wrote in post #2099048
So Tim, can I ask you how to do the same on Photoshop 7,

What doesn't work? I would think it has the lasso tool, you might have to choose select -> feather perhaps. Everything else is trivial so don't know why it wouldn't work.

i just tried it the way Tim described it. The only thing i couldn't do right is the step 9. by top layer, i assume you are talking about the original photo (labeled background) right? because when i held down ALT, i wasn't able to get it to merge. instead i just went with the layer and hit Ctrl + E and merged.

here's a quick sample i did from a random photo off the web. is this the effect you are teaching Tim?

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