My First wedding.. (and probably last)!

Since somebody started giving editing idea, i might as well throw in mine just to give you more idea of how you may make your images pop. hope you don't mind at all.

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Thanks guys for the replies and the edits,

I knew I was out of my depth but for a mate who was on a budget I thought what the heck give it a go.

All in all I enjoyed the shoot though I have have to admit I was nervous as hell and in the heat of the shoot my mind went blank, I missed shots etc etc..

I think i'll get my stuff listed on ebay and call it a day!!

For those that say "oh keep doing it, you're good! blah blah"

STOP IT!

These are not good and it appears the OP knows this. This doesn't mean he should stop shooting, but should definitely do a lot more learning before shooting weddings.

Telling this guy that he is good at this and should keep doing it is HORRIBLE advice. This is probably why there are so many people that think they can shoot weddings when they don't have much business shooting them. You can seriously screw up someone's wedding, which is a (hopefully) once a lifetime event. You don't want to do that.

This is not a dig at the OP - at least he is aware they are not the quality he would like. I am SO ABSOLUTELY SICK of seeing so many people on here just parrot out the "oh those are great", "good shots!", "you're really good!" crap to photos which are absolutely not.

vinmunoz wrote in post #14814072
Since somebody started giving editing idea, i might as well throw in mine just to give you more idea of how you may make your images pop. hope you don't mind at all.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

That's pretty horrible and the fake blur is very annoying.

Ditto, I'm after constructive input and I'm not fooled by nice shot your good at this and all that stuff.

I'm a begginer who does mainly wildlife shots as a hobby but I'm up for a challenge now and again.
I need to learn more lots more..

Pixil Studio wrote in post #14813983
I said second shoot not give up

philc123 wrote in post #14814185
Thanks guys for the replies and the edits,

I knew I was out of my depth but for a mate who was on a budget I thought what the heck give it a go.

All in all I enjoyed the shoot though I have have to admit I was nervous as hell and in the heat of the shoot my mind went blank, I missed shots etc etc..

I think i'll get my stuff listed on ebay and call it a day!!

Hi Phil,

Just realised your in the UK too. In fact I used to travel up your way to Stone.

I'm sure you won't give up, just keep at it. If you really want to hone your skills for in door photography you could get yourself introduced to Youth Theatre on rehearsals nights. Thats what I did and you'll learn loads about your camera & lenses, although you might start getting the wants for fast primes

It will get you use to fast accurate focus is low light and very shallow depth of field, and it won't cost you anything.

Numenorean wrote in post #14814215
That's pretty horrible and the fake blur is very annoying.

LOL I agree :P

philc123 wrote in post #14814245
Ditto, I'm after constructive input and I'm not fooled by nice shot your good at this and all that stuff.

I'm a begginer who does mainly wildlife shots as a hobby but I'm up for a challenge now and again.
I need to learn more lots more..

And if you like shooting portraits, keep at it and you will get better!

Sometimes, people just don't like portraits. I know many wildlife photographers who could care less about portraits. I'm the opposite. I could care less about wildlife and though I could rent a big lens and go do it, I'd basically be a beginner at that and would have lots to learn there.

Shoot what you like! I think part of it is friends think we can shoot anything just because we have a nice camera.

Though I definitely understand people shooting weddings where the couple doesn't care much for the photos - why would they pay for a high priced pro photographer to do them in that case? Doesn't make sense. For what they expect, I'm sure they are at least happy to have some photos of the day.

Numenorean wrote in post #14814215
That's pretty horrible and the fake blur is very annoying.

charlie z wrote in post #14814379
LOL I agree :P

Agree and I like the original better than both edits.

Numenorean wrote in post #14814215
That's pretty horrible and the fake blur is very annoying.

You know what I'm also a beginner and just thoughtful enough to help out whether it is good or horrible as you said. BUT to help us out horrible people, please say it in a nice way. it's like your hurting the kids feelings.

you're comment is HORRIBLE for us beginners.

2.8 isn't that shallow? He's probably going to be pushing closer to the long end, so closer to 55, and at least 10 feet away from someone. Doesn't that leave like 8 inches to work with? That's IF he's that close at 10 ft away. Since he's using crop he's probably a little further since that's pushing into the high 80s-ish...

Philc123 - The third photo is the best of the three. Though, as discussed, subject isolation would've made it even better. I say shoot in AV mode and just see what you can get away with, depth of field wise, around the house. Get used to seeing the difference between 2.8 and 8. Figure, if your subject(s) are on an even plane shoot closer to 2.8. If you have a bigger group and want to show more depth, shoot closer to 8. Shooting in AV will help you see the difference of what aperture does and let you hear what acceptable shutter speeds are before you even look at the viewing screen. From there, you can dial in those shutter speeds / aperture settings when you want to move on to manual. Lastly, I usually shoot in AV during an event anyways. For me, it just seems more in control than P and less likely to miss a shot in M.

vinmunoz wrote in post #14815778
You know what I'm also a beginner and just thoughtful enough to help out whether it is good or horrible as you said. BUT to help us out horrible people, please say it in a nice way. it's like your hurting the kids feelings.

you're comment is HORRIBLE for us beginners.

In real life, not everyone wins a trophy. If my comment hurt your feelings, oh well.

If you're a beginner, what business do you have editing other people's photos and saying things like "well here is how to make them pop" when you have no idea what you're talking about?

Edit your own photos to work on your post processing ability and post them for comments and ask for help. Don't present your work as if you know what you are doing and are offering a good technique to use for editing photos, which is what you made it sound like.

wow end of story. i have nothing to say.

Not bad OP. I also shot my first wedding last dec and it was tough. my suggestion is get more fast primes. 85mm perhaps.

Scooby, not to gang up on you but Pixil is right. the 40D anything higher than 1600 is a far push for it. this is why you need something faster than a aperture of f/2.8 . I have had a 40d and it won't cut it. Op was lucky that there was enough ambient light around. My first wedding was in a Buddhist temple and ambient light wasn't in the question

Numenorean wrote in post #14814213
For those that say "oh keep doing it, you're good! blah blah"

STOP IT!

These are not good and it appears the OP knows this. This doesn't mean he should stop shooting, but should definitely do a lot more learning before shooting weddings.

Telling this guy that he is good at this and should keep doing it is HORRIBLE advice. This is probably why there are so many people that think they can shoot weddings when they don't have much business shooting them. You can seriously screw up someone's wedding, which is a (hopefully) once a lifetime event. You don't want to do that.

This is not a dig at the OP - at least he is aware they are not the quality he would like. I am SO ABSOLUTELY SICK of seeing so many people on here just parrot out the "oh those are great", "good shots!", "you're really good!" crap to photos which are absolutely not.

I agree to this, Wedding photography is not only hard, but it can ruin a person if they don't know what they are doing. People get sued left and right for not meeting to the client's standard. Best way to get training is to be under another wedding photographer and go from there.