Yesterday's Bridal - CC Welcome

Well this was my first paid bridal shoot, the wedding is in January. Be Gentle . I know we got some I like and the Mom is blown away. They had some bridals done about a month ago and hated them. I was a little anxious that they would be hard to please. The good thing was I saw the bridals she had done by the other photographer and as I never really bad mouth someone else's work, they were pretty bad.

So here are a few I've tinkered with last night.

#1 Wishing Pond - It may be a little tough to see but in the full size printed image you can see the penny in #2 and the little splash in #3.

OK, where do I start?
OK, #1, Nice idea, guess the fullsize would be much better, although I dont like the frame background colour!
#2, Needs some work on the contrast - although I must say I've never seen a bride pose like this before.
#3, Again, nice idea, I like the colouring in this, although her arm (with I guess her looking at her ring) looks a little awkward.
#4, Nice exposure, although my mind is a little confused over what the picture is telling me ....
#5, Again nice pic, white balance looks a little off. It would benefit from a tighter crop, except then a lot of what you want to include would be lost.
#6, The pose is nice, but don't like the colours, they make her look travel sick!
...and finaly, #7, nice composition, you've done well with the exposure - now just needs a tweak of curves in PS to make her pop.

Phew, I'm going for a lie down after that!

TJ

I find #2 really nice. It's different but I like it. I also like #6. Nice pics.

Thanks TeeJay,

The idea for #2 was straight out of a wedding magazine. I could not decide on a frame color on #1 so I chose the color of her hair.....This won't matter much because if they want to go this route the client will pick the colors.

#3 yes she is looking at her ring

#4 was more a test to see if I could get a stitch by hand holding with out a tripod. The bride wanted this shot as well.

A tighter crop won't work in #5 as I will lose the sky and the reflection. This is one of those images you have to envision being printed large on canvas...that was the goal anyway.

Colours is the hardest thing for me, being I'm color blind. I rely on the client and my wife to get it just right. I instruct my clients that I need them to look at the color in the proofs I send them, so this one is hard for me to tell where it is off.

I will see what a little curves does on #7.

Thanks.

love the first one :}

The second one I dont know it kinda looks like she is sniffing her arm pit to check for BO to me.

3 and 6 need color work but I like them.

4 is kewl, the story I see is that she is on a trip and has traveled far... a matching photo with the road before her would be awesome. sorta a symbol of a new beginning.

5 love it but would try and make the shadow pop a little more.

6 - colors off

7 love it, nice lighting, nice location, one with her eye more open as you noted would rock add a little PP to make her pop a little more and its a winner.

Nice I like them all
second one could use some contrast
Great work

I am very impressed. #1 I don't know about the frame color either. #2 is too darkish for me. #3 looks like a very feminine shot that the girls all seem to find very romantic and I like it as it is. #4 is interesting but doesn't do much for me ... although, again, I can see where the bride might like it. #5 I would like it cropped a bit lower to give some space over her head in the reflection and maybe lightened her face in the reflection so that it doesn't have that "grim reaper" look. It is surely one they would like. #6 looks like what I see in elegant bride's magazines ... I think it is perfect although holding a red rose might have been a nice touch. #7 her eyes look a bit droopy but I love the autumn colors.

Again, grand work! I didn't know that one did shots of the bride dressed up before the wedding. I did six weddings 35 years ago and hated it. Every MOB was nasty, demanding and dissatisfied (even though they hired me because I was cheap!) and I swore never to do it again, but if I got into it slowly starting with something like this maybe I could get my courage back. When you have mastered the full wedding thing maybe I'll fly down and shoot a couple with you to learn the ropes!

The PP is horrible in #4. You have a cyan sky and clouds (on my non-calibrated work monitor, mind you -- but I think it's not that off!) and you didn't change the color in between the tree branches...

#3 is also odd for her arms. You justify that she is looking at her ring, but the pose really doesn't look comfortable. Another pose could do a better job to achieve what you were looking for. The color job in PP doesn't work for me.

Otherwise, it's all ok! I won't repeat the comments already stated about the other pictures. But please be more careful with your PP! Less and subtle is best!

Keep on posting!

they look nice, I can see why she likes it. One big think that I noticed... in pic 4 you need to turn her around.. never pose someone on the side of the frame and let them look away..t hey have to look into the picture to make it work, otherwise the composition doesnt make sense.

I am not a huge fan of the effect in number 3, maybe tone it down just a bit.

Number 2 is beautiful, but would benefit from some more contrast

Thanks for all the CC. Getting the color dead on is the toughest part for me, hence the color blindness.

Dwight, Jenny Mae (the girl in my glamour shots) is getting married next September. That would be a great one for you to shoot 2nd. I'll hold that spot. She will be getting married at a beautiful outdoor chapel about 1/2 from the house. The location also has an old western town that will start to show up in some of my shots. I'm sure we will do some of her bridal shots at that location. Let me know when you would like to come and I'll try and get credentials for a big local concert and we could shoot that at the same time. Maybe Rick Barker knows of something around that time.

#3 & #6 were taken with the ABR800 Ringflash. With respect to the color in #4 that is pretty much out of camera so maybe I need to tweak the white balance in the RAW file. I did not "edit" the sky.

With respect to the crop in #5 this was as good as we could get due to the bank on my side of the pond...I could have gotten more room for her head in the pond but then there would have been less dress.

song4themoon wrote in post #2330086
they look nice, I can see why she likes it. One big think that I noticed... in pic 4 you need to turn her around.. never pose someone on the side of the frame and let them look away..t hey have to look into the picture to make it work, otherwise the composition doesn't make sense.

I am not a huge fan of the effect in number 3, maybe tone it down just a bit.

Number 2 is beautiful, but would benefit from some more contrast

Thanks song4themoon,

The "idea" was like mentioned above of the where she has came from and the unknown to some extent of where she is headed.

Since my previous PM communication....
It was in photo # 1 that I wonder if a little more height above her head, by raising the tree portion of the photo further up, will give her more headroom room...cause she has plenty of room in the lower half of the photo...

#2. still looks good to me, although the contrast might be something that could be considered...

#3. Three is still pleasant and the softness is pleasing to the eye...the forearm is something they might have to decide on...If it's about the ring, cool...

#4. There is a lot of space in photo # 4...if her image is real sharp, better than what we see, at this low resolution than it would look great...More about #4...I know another master artist (mainly my older Sister with a Masters in Fine Arts) who loves to include landscapes and backgrounds, similar to this photo...I prefer, the in your face type of photography...

#5. Again, the sharpness...her entire image would have to be very sharp to stand away from the background, which is nice, but this is about her...

#6. Is very pretty, possibly some more skin tone and less yellow to take away any possibility of a pale look...The wall color is just fine...it has that cool (less than hot) southern look...

#7. She looks great, especially if you have another shot, with possibly the left eye more open...The branch above her head doesn't show a lot of recent new growth and looks old and less alive than the rest of the background, I'd consider cropping it out...

Peace out,

John

i dont understand this? Do people generally have these bridal shoots, its NEVER done in Australia as far as i know, do brides actually dress up BEFORE the day and get their shots? I have been doing this for 18mths now, and never been asked to do this type of thing...

Del

PIXI_666 wrote in post #2331213
i dont understand this? Do people generally have these bridal shoots, its NEVER done in Australia as far as i know, do brides actually dress up BEFORE the day and get their shots? I have been doing this for 18mths now, and never been asked to do this type of thing...

Del

Yes it is popular. What we will do is have a 20x30 print on canvas and display it at the reception.

It is a good thing, it is one more thing you can do to create revenue.

PIXI_666 wrote in post #2331213
i dont understand this? Do people generally have these bridal shoots, its NEVER done in Australia as far as i know, do brides actually dress up BEFORE the day and get their shots? I have been doing this for 18mths now, and never been asked to do this type of thing...

Del

its not done in the UK either :S