Some shots from a wedding in Africa...

My brother-in-law's wife's brother got married. Following so far? I'll give you a moment....

Okay then. Knowing that I have a passion for photography, they asked if I'd like to take pictures of the ceremony. Local professionals were already hired for the gig, but I said what the hell. It'll be a great opportunity for me to get more practice. Weddings in Ethiopia on this scale is a pretty big deal. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the way of the pros. Between the two tribes, the various ceremonies and dinner parties spanned over a course of a week. Funny story: When I showed up for the wedding (wedding night part I), the local pros were in total awe of my gear and invited me to shoot along side with them. I told them I didn't want to get in their way, but they absolutely had no issues with shooting side by side with me (and this relationship continued throughout the week). Whenever I chimped to check the exposure and WB, they gathered around and gawked at the images with me. Lots of "Ooohs" and "Aaahs" going on. LOL

Anyway, I started feeling bad because I didn't want to distract them from doing the job they were paid to do, so I just drifted away and shot from perspectives I was sure they weren't getting. These guys were really nice, and I was amazed at how inviting and respectful they were towards me. But then I remembered that I wasn't in America dealing with a bunch of anal-retentive wedding photographers (sorry if that offended anyone, but if the shoe fits wear it). At any rate, I'm sure I shot well over a thousand frames during the course of the week. I put off processing them for the most part, mainly because I'm still not used to dealing with such a large batch of RAW images and I'm trying to streamline a workflow best suited for this type of work. Here are just a few I picked out and played around with. I quick processed these for the bride and groom to check out (they live near me in VA), just to give them a small taste of what I'll be giving them. I'm saving the absolute best stuff for them to review when I'm completely finished weeding out the throw-aways and running them through the process. I posted these randomly in other forums, but decided to collect them all up and post them in the wedding forum where they belong. When I start processing more images, I'll post samples on my web site I'm in the process of starting up. Just thought I'd get some feedback from you guys and gals. The bride and groom were extremely happy, but I know they don't have that critical eye you guys possess. Thanks for looking.

These shots were taken during the second day of the wedding ceremonies...

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Well I am not a wedding snob... I like almost everything
It sounds like you had an awesome experience in Ethiopia....the photos are beautiful.
I am sure the B&G will be thrilled.

wow, number 3 is really strong.

Last one is lol, good job!

love the last photo

Great pictures Sounds like you had so fun in Ethiopia , what sort of gear were the local pros using ??

Gary

what a beautiful bride. i love the one of the grooms neice too.

Great shots...Beautiful family...I Liked 2 and 3, I wonder what the mom was thinking at that time....intense

The picture of the brides mother is really phenomenal! These are all nice captures. The only thing that I would say is that the glow effect in the post processing on some makes for completely blown out highlights in the white dresses. I use this glow effect in my stuff but very sparingly because of this reason. That would really be my only advice as you go through these, because these are really strong images. The fact that it is such an exotic location really adds to all of these pictures. Nice job

motogeno wrote in post #2591665
The picture of the brides mother is really phenomenal! These are all nice captures. The only thing that I would say is that the glow effect in the post processing on some makes for completely blown out highlights in the white dresses. I use this glow effect in my stuff but very sparingly because of this reason. That would really be my only advice as you go through these, because these are really strong images. The fact that it is such an exotic location really adds to all of these pictures. Nice job

Noted! Thanks! I was worried if I added a little too much diffusion, brightness and saturation in those images, but the white dresses seems to have an almost heavenly glow, and that was the exact effect I was gunning for. I'll try to tone it down a little next time.

I'm glad you all like the pictures. That makes me happy.

The leader of the local photographers was using a Nikon D70 and a 35mm Canon EOS-1. His assistant carried another Nikon (D70 I think) and a Sigma SD9. They also had a videographer and a couple of guys that just worked the lighting. I saw some of their studio shots and they turned out really well. But they absolutely loved the stuff I was showing them on my LCD, and likewise, they really enjoyed sharing their images with me as well. I found it strange that they would often ask my opinion on whether or not I thought their exposures were correct, or if their WB was off, and then ask me what settings I was using to get the exposure, etc... I convinced the lead photographer that he should shoot RAW over .jpeg and he switched over that very day! I often caught his assistant watching me and studying my technique. That's why I started to feel bad and just tried to stay out of their way for the most part. I guess they were just genuinely excited to meet an American who shared their enthusiam for their work, and it didn't matter that I was just an amateur passing through. All in all, I had a great time and it was a great experience.

Great Looking Captures! I was just at a seminar where they discussed the latest in RAW processing software and seemed rather enthusiastic about a couple of them. I'll look at my notes and share them with you when I get home. It may help our workflow.

mcs550 wrote in post #2592742
Great Looking Captures! I was just at a seminar where they discussed the latest in RAW processing software and seemed rather enthusiastic about a couple of them. I'll look at my notes and share them with you when I get home. It may help our workflow.

Thank you. I'd really appreciate that.

My friend, you are far from an amateur, unless you define it strictly as "unpaid." You are every bit a pro, from your atitude to your vision to your story-telling ability with the camera.

Now on to the photos. Hope you don't mind some criticism.

Number 1. It would be a great candid except for the fact it's quite obvious they are posing for another photographer. That detracts a bit, IMO.

Number 2 is an excellent shot, but on my monitor there is some overdone reddish cast across one side of her face. I'll chalk that up to my monitor.

Number 3 is awesome in every way.

Number 4 is precious. I can't tell if the dress is blown out; almost looks like the use of a lens baby. Me likey.

As to the last shot, it's an excellent capture of the bride. Not sure about the crop of the groom. May be just the way you grabbed it, in which case it's fine. If you cropped out half his face intentionally, I'd like to see the before.

mark

As to workflow, as you may know I recently took a four day workshop in workflow, not worksloow.

It's not the software end of things that counts as much as the way you approach it. As to the software, though, I don't think anything really beats ACR, at least in my opinion. If you've got Adobe, there's no need to spend money on one of the other raw converters.

mark

Lord_Malone wrote in post #2590727
My brother-in-law's wife's brother got married. Following so far? I'll give you a moment....

Haha...had me going there for a while. I kept thinking it was really your sisters brother (which would be your brother)...but it's really not...completely different person -- so, I finally get it.

As for the pics, I concur about the picture about the mother. Fantastic. That's the one that stands out most, to me. Good job, and hope you had a great time.

Yup,
Malone, your status as an amature is is serious jeopardy. It was cool how you worked with the local pros, good job Dude. I love the SF, I can't tell you how difficult that used to be with filters.

take care

Les