First Wedding | A Craigslist Story

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I really like the picture of the cake.

On a separate note the bridesmaids dresses are weird. The brown things on the dress caught my eye and looked like pigtails to me at first...

For a first time you did pretty well - I think you captured a lot of emotions in these pictures! Careful about using wide lenses though - in #4 you have some distortion on the bridesmaids standing on the outside, making them look a bit ... wide.

Nice lighting too!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

A bit of the aesthetics threw me off throughout the day, but I figured it's what they want. =D

My positioning was poor with using that wide angle lens. =( Couldn't really think of any other way to fit that many people in a single frame. Thanks for the comments on lighting =D

Thank you!

Overall I think this is a very respectable first attempt at weddings.

1-good color, exposure; I wish your vantage point was slightly different so nothing was cutting across the bride's eye. In this case maybe that meant shooting from the other side.
2-fine, for what it is
3-fun shot--lighting is helping a lot. Bounced from ceiling ? or pure ambient ?
4-one of the major rules of weddings: for a posed shot we don't have excuses. Look through the camera and actually try to see what you're shooting. Try to see the scene as you would see the photo later on when you're editing. You needed to get back further or tell them to move back slightly; you needed to adjust the 4th bridesmaid on the right so she wasn't being occluded; you needed to put the most slender and shortest women on the outside (or I would anyway) to mitigate distortion effects.
5-This shot shows a lack of presence of mind (very difficult thing to maintain during a first wedding shoot especially). I'm not sure how I would have arranged them, but it looks like you just sort of let them do whatever they were doing. Most of the time people don't know what they're doing so we have to step in.
6-too tight. His shadow is on her face--is that your off-cam speedlight ?
7. Suffers from the ill effects of bouncing from a ceiling that is high, causing the light to come basically straight down. If there were a wall 10-feet to my right, I'd have bounced off of it at a 45 degree angle or even less. A bounce card is another way to go.
8-good moment.

great color and focus in these, appears to spot on in all of them. i'm sure the client loved them. hope you got a piece of that cake.

great pictures whether or not it's your first time. you are already producing better wedding work than most wedding photographers here, i think.

I would be really pleased if they were my wedding photos.

I think you did a good job. I agree about the bridesmaid's dresses; hideous. But, different strokes I guess.

Women and wide angles do not mix. Nice series overall.

Thank you all for the comments. I learned a lot from the day and continue to from this thread.

Sadly, for the shot in the gazebo, the majority of the party was slightly intoxicated and overly hot from the weather. I was trying my best to organize them.

My flashes were all bounced so I need to practice and read a bit more.

Glueeater wrote in post #14748711
Sadly, for the shot in the gazebo, the majority of the party was slightly intoxicated and overly hot from the weather. I was trying my best to organize them.

Thats what I use to explain all the time when I first started out, but I learned from working with clients, that no one cares for your excuse. You are paid as a professional and are expected to provide shots to their standards.

It's one of the best learning experiences of my career and I ALWAYS remind myself during photo shoots. It's even in my signature.

Not that the gazebo shot is that bad, but under all circumstances, you have to remind yourself what the client might say later about the photo.
-why is my face blocked?
+oh because you were slightly drunk.
-Why didnt you just tell me to move a bit?
+oh because I didnt want to inconvenience you.
-no, it would not have been inconvenient to move 2 inches.
That same message with different words always goes through my mind.

I hope this helped you.

stayhumble wrote in post #14750241
Thats what I use to explain all the time when I first started out, but I learned from working with clients, that no one cares for your excuse. You are paid as a professional and are expected to provide shots to their standards.

It's one of the best learning experiences of my career and I ALWAYS remind myself during photo shoots. It's even in my signature.

Not that the gazebo shot is that bad, but under all circumstances, you have to remind yourself what the client might say later about the photo.
-why is my face blocked?
+oh because you were slightly drunk.
-Why didnt you just tell me to move a bit?
+oh because I didnt want to inconvenience you.
-no, it would not have been inconvenient to move 2 inches.
That same message with different words always goes through my mind.

I hope this helped you.

Definitely! I think I was taken aback by the situation. It was really a great discovery of my own weaknesses throughout the day. Thanks for the comments.

If this was your first wedding ever, I think you did a great job. Sure, there are some technical issues here and there but I think the average client would be pretty happy.

i actually have a line in my contract that reads basically reads:
shot that are missed, ruined or otherwise disliked that are due to the results of alcohol consumption are not my fault but are the fault of the person in them or not whatever the case my be.

people laugh when they read it but i stick to it, never once had some one complain about a drunk shot, But i dont try and shoot anything formal once the bar has opened.