20070908 Wedding

removed.

Congratulation on your 3rd wedding and on photographing such a beautiful bride!

1 & 2 don't really do anything for me, but are okay shots, possibly try cropping in a bit closer to really show the detail of the hair and tiara.
On 3, 4, 5, & 6 the expressions are good but the bride and groom are too centered, which is leading to the dress being cut off. Taking a couple steps to your right would have placed them on the right most "third" line and allowed for the dress to not be cut off. Also, these could use just a bit more fill to lessen the shadows around the eyes.
7 & 8, I like the balance of ambient and flash. Nice shots, but again watch the centering.

I also checked out your gallery, you took some very nice photos, I especially like the one of the bride that shows her tattoo. Keep up the good work!

I love the outdoor shots, Jeff. The blue sky, green grass and white dress are just so pleasing to the eye!

They're not rocking my world, but for a 3rd wedding they are safe and solid - which is a good place to be.

Neither of the first two really tell a story at all, there is no facial expression from the bride and the crops are two close to really put it in context.

The outdoor posed portraits are 'nice'. Crisp and clear but lacking any real creativity or spark. Grandma will love them, though.

The kiss is ruined by an untinteresting background and poor framing. Way too much room above the heads to admire the previously mentioned uninteresting background.

The last shot is the pick for mine. Great expressions from both bride and father, but the exit sign is a little distracting. Perhaps it could be cloned out?

Well done getting that 3rd wedding under the belt, it looks like you have a good grasp on exposure and focus, now push yourself with regard to posing, framing and anticipation of the key moments.

I agree that I can work on the cropping. I used AF for this wedding. The pictures that were taken outside were done in literally 5-10 minutes because they were running late, not my problem lol. So the creativity side couldnt really come out when the mother was stressing and yelling at everyone.

Thanks for the comments. My next wedding is of a good friend of mine, in December. I'll push the creativity with her .

The outdoor shots are pretty sweet as far as exposure and colors go. Those images really "pop". For the first shot I would've liked to have seen the brides face in focus in the mirror. For #2 did you try maybe shooting at a different angle to get the bride's face and her hairdresser? I think she would be very pleased to see a picture of herself getting her hair done rather than the side of her own head. I like the last two. Good WB there.

Lord_Malone wrote in post #3923094
The outdoor shots are pretty sweet as far as exposure and colors go. Those images really "pop". For the first shot I would've liked to have seen the brides face in focus in the mirror. For #2 did you try maybe shooting at a different angle to get the bride's face and her hairdresser? I think she would be very pleased to see a picture of herself getting her hair done rather than the side of her own head. I like the last two. Good WB there.

I do have many more images than I posted. I do have her face in focus in the mirror. And I do have one of both of them looking at me as well.

I was just going through and posting what I liked the best out of the lot... There are more but obviously I limited it to about 20.

Really enjoy the wedding photos! However I'm in agreement on 1st two hair shots, should'nt have been shot, but the 1st would have been good, if you had the mirror in focus (client's emotion showing).

sky looks fake

I agree with the critique given so far. Few thoughts on how to improve:
- Direct sunlight is generally bad.
- Shoot from about chest height, otherwise the head looks strange. Doesn't matter so much if legs look strange.
- Keep your camera parallel with any walls behind you.
- If there's no wedding coordinator, like it or not, you're it. You have to do whatever it takes to get the photos. Pop out during the reception if you need to - some of my best photos are taken at sunset.

Bobster wrote in post #3937568
sky looks fake

That's called a 5D with a brick my friend, and not even with a polarizer. Those are straight from the camera.

tim wrote in post #3937909
I agree with the critique given so far. Few thoughts on how to improve:
- Direct sunlight is generally bad.
- Shoot from about chest height, otherwise the head looks strange. Doesn't matter so much if legs look strange.
- Keep your camera parallel with any walls behind you.
- If there's no wedding coordinator, like it or not, you're it. You have to do whatever it takes to get the photos. Pop out during the reception if you need to - some of my best photos are taken at sunset.

Direct sunlight, is bad, I agree Tim. But that's what ya deal with given my situation.

I went for some different angles for fun... Too much of life is viewed at head high.

Now you sound like my architecture instructor, parallel.... lol.

Blah for wedding coordinator on this one.... It was ME, and I didnt much like it.

SoaringUSAEagle wrote in post #3939150
That's called a 5D with a brick my friend, and not even with a polarizer. Those are straight from the camera.

i can attest to this: 5D, 17-40:

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The biggest hurdle i had to overcome was composition and allowing for frames and overlays etc..
You will struggle to make some of those outdoor shots look good in an album because you have the dress cut off. In number 3 it is so tight that you would also be struggling to frame it.
Next time try to leave plenty of space all around the subject and then crop for best fit.. With a 5D you are going to have plenty of pixels and you will be able to loose a few in the crop.

Colours look great.

The smoke from the curling iron actually freaked me out for a second!