Scared to just go for it...

I just did my first wedding, my Brothers. No risk of failure as I was not getting payed but wanted so good shots. My fear is that I still mess and over shoo a lot at this point but manage to get good shots when I concentrate like I did for this event.
I feel like I am just being to cautious and not putting myself out there for payed work.. So tell me what you think of these photos..

Either get the subjects farther away from the background, or don't use flash, or diffuse the flash: don't really care for the bride's too defined shadow on the wall in #1.

Thanks for the feedback Alveric.. It was my first wedding and I found it almost impossible to not use a flash/SB700 diffused in TTL. The venue was real dark inside. Like in auto my D610 wanted ISO 3200 1/30 at 4.5 without flash. This is all new to me as I mostly photo wildlife stuff that does not matter if i mess up.. Outside it was bright Hence the first photo below. I was trying to create a fading away effect with what I got. Any tips are greatly appreciated..

I'll be completely honest if your photography skills matched your posing skills you'd have a shot. Sadly though, from the examples you've posted the photography side of things needs a lot of work.

Don't take this the wrong way, Didymus, but I don't like these images. I'll elaborate:

First, I'm not a wedding photographer, so I can't comment with authority on this particular genre, nor can I really give you advice regarding shooting an event like this.

I can comment on the exposure and aesthetics, though.

Your images were either underexposed or overexposed. These last two shew huge overexposure and clipped highlights. That pretty much kills them right there; trying to recover detail and/or reduce the over washing out only makes things worse. There's also inconsistency in the work, with the first two photos having a rustic feel with the desaturated colours and setting, and the last photo being the opposite with saturated colours an unpleasingly unnatural skin tones.

Personally, I'm inimical to ETTL, because it's not easy to use it effectively (i.e. knowing when to use compensation and how much). I'm a manual guy all the way, yet in events where you have to be constantly on the move, with changing scenes, lighting conditions, colours of garments, &c, &c, manual is very hard to use, unless you're really experienced. Thus, ETTL comes into its own in these situations, but you have to know how to use it.

One wedding photography tip I can indeed give you: always make sure that the bride's gown is perfectly exposed –don't ever blow out the highlights on it.

And one general photography advice I can indeed give you (and in this area I can indeed speak with authority, kind of): you need to come to grips with exposure before anything else, yea, even before you use flash.

Get yourself a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com …TF8&qid=1458802​446&sr=1-6. It's worth every single penny.

Thank you for being honest. I read a lot about editing and less about composition, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ect.. Also I lack a lot in terms of what to shoot when It comes to wedding type of stuff. I read a lot and have quite a few photo books but true thought that I would suck at editing more so I focused a lot more on how to edit. I guess I need to look more at my books and learn more on what to shoot and how to set it up. Thanks for the feed back.

WOW!!! This photo is amazing

That's where you've gone wrong, my friend.

Get into the habit of getting things right in the camera. Focus on the shooting part 95% and only 5% on post processing.

Composition is king, and the exposure triangle is not far behind.

Another required textbook for you: http://www.amazon.com …TF8&qid=1458802​446&sr=1-1

ThomasDidymus wrote in post #17946600
Thank you for being honest. I read a lot about editing and less about composition, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ect.. Also I lack a lot in terms of what to shoot when It comes to wedding type of stuff. I read a lot and have quite a few photo books but true thought that I would suck at editing more so I focused a lot more on how to edit. I guess I need to look more at my books and learn more on what to shoot and how to set it up. Thanks for the feed back.

Like the rest, sorry to say, not the best, good thing its your brother. And there are ways to correct that blown out dress in some cases with edits so you need to focus even more on that part because your edits could use some help as well. All comes with time and experience so don't give up, it will get better. And the comment made about getting it perfect, right out of camera, you should strive for this. Practice, practice, practice.

Like I said before I appreciate the feedback. I am only one year into anything. Most of my gear is less then five months old.
My brother only asked my to take some photos because he and his wife are broke and just out of college and I have a lot of gear and editing software (not that it makes a difference)
Like the hole wedding was less than 5K and that included the rings and everything.
I knew that I was not up to par with a Pro wedding photographer. I just want the confidence to be able to know that I can do a good job.
I will be honest and say again that I know little about photographing people and was expressly nervous.
Nature, structures, and wildlife have been what I like to do as I can play around until I get the shot I want.
But I want to be better at everything so I take feedback to heart and try to find new information on things that will help me in that process. That was the first time I every did any thing formal were time was a factor. I found out that I stress out when I am rushed and tend make stupid mistakes (Like setting my camera to Jpeg on accident wile trying to change the Iso)

So my Question now I should I have let the camera do more of the work..Ie shot in P,A,S mode vs M as I was new to it??

Here is a few no rush photos..

I'm not a wedding photographer but in my opinion you would use none of the options you suggested.

Shoot in AV or TV mode BUT IT WILL DEPEND on the environment or style of photography that you are shooting

before deciding which option. Learn about the camera meter/ISO and how to adjust it accordingly and always shoot in RAW.

The list is endless and surely more able photographers than I can offer better advise.

ThomasDidymus wrote in post #17949425
So my Question now I should I have let the camera do more of the work..Ie shot in P,A,S mode vs M as I was new to it??

Why, NO!

Can I say that louder?

Letting the camera do all the work is a sure guarantee of dreadful photos. The camera is a machine; no matter how sophisticated its firmware and algorithms, and how boastful its maker's advertising, a machine can't think, and it doesn't know jack about what makes a good photo. (Heh, just to shew how unintelligent machines and software are: the Preview feature just went bonkers because I used the word 'boastful':

Ok so a little more background... The wedding was in a very dark barn with just a few lights that were made for outside use. I took test shots the day before but everything was changed the day of the event. The outside shot were ok, everything inside was a crap shot. I have a flash so used it but had to let the camera decide the flash settings/TTL as I have little time with it. I was using the in camera meter to change setting on the fly but sometime they were drastic. Like ISO 100 for the walking in shots with the barn doors open, then ISO 1000 like my first photo posted with the doors closed. I feel like I need a lot more time on camera and need to get out of my comfort zone a lot more.

There is a balance between relying on the camera and using the manual settings. There are ways to use the auto setings, but controlling the parameters so that you get results you want. What I mean is you still need to make decisions about iso so that you control the balanceof flash to ambient, even while you allow ettl to make some decisions.

Also you want to get paid, not payed.

It is perfectly feasible to use P, AV and S (TV) modes and get results... HOWEVER... you have to understand what the camera is doing when you use them and what their limitations are. What the quirks are etc.

For example I shoot receptions almost exclusively on AV mode on my Canons. I shoot them 95% of the time with on camera flash with the flash using ETTL with FEC using spot metering and exposure lock. I.e. I know the limitations of the camera and know how to manage them to get the desired results.

Test shots beforehand with weddings are largely pointless unless the environment is almost fully controllable.

If you were a Canon user I'd suggest my Liveview method for getting to grips with things. But I don't know how LV works on the Nikons.