Sophia & Mike - My First Wedding Ever!

I can't even believe those are your first wedding. INCREDIBLE JOB!

I can only hope to be half as good as you are some day!

great pics. can't believe it's your first time. keep shootin :]

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone! I owe a good chunk of my success to learning on POTN from all you fantastic people! Seriously, it's nice to hear feedback from the forum I learned so much on.

tutumon wrote in post #5981919
Just fantastic!!! How long have you been shooting? I don't mean weddings. Your pictures are framed perfectly and exposure/lighting is perfect. You have a very bright future ahead of you.

Chris, I've been shooting more seriously for just under a year now but I picked up my first d-SLR just over 3 years ago! Before then, it was really just P&S and playing around with a film SLR in green box mode.

mrsblondie wrote in post #5983159
I can't even believe those are your first wedding. INCREDIBLE JOB!

I can only hope to be half as good as you are some day!

LOL... It wasn't too long ago that I was saying (or thinking) the same thing on here! This forum helped me come a long way! Thanks for taking a look!

Your compositions are stunning! I love them all...especially the autographed shoes shot

Hard to believe, your first? Really? Well, very professional job.

first? damn... I'm now shaking at what I might be doing in a few months... haha

Wowzers! You did an amazing job for your first wedding. I will also be shooting my first wedding in a couple of weeks. I like to hear what you've learned from your first wedding and if you have any advice? Also, which camera/lens did you use? TIA and keep up the inspiring work!

Really great first wedding, nice clean exposures, 4 and 5 are my favs

slava-slavik wrote in post #5985785
Hard to believe, your first? Really? Well, very professional job.

Thanks. Believe me, I took heed to what was being said on this forum and I didn't run into it without a whole lot of preparation!

I spent countless hours blogstalking fantastic wedding photogs like Jasmine Star (she's definitely my inspiration), Mike Colon, [B]ecker, bobbi+mike, Jamie Wexler, Jessica Claire, Ray Santana, the Boutwells and a whole lot more... you should see my RSS subscription list... it takes me a good couple of hours to check all the blogs every few days! Checking the metadata on some of the photos really helped to give me an idea of what they were shooting with, at which apertures and shutter speeds... you get the idea!

Then the books and technical sites... yikes, I read everything I could get my hands on related to wedding photography, portrait photography, lighting (still need to work on off-camera lighting!), Photoshop, Lightroom... the list goes on.

I took advice from other experienced members on this forum (not necessarily directed at my work as I lurked a lot on other people's posts/threads), people like Tim, Jamie, Jeff (Toogy), Don (cdifoto), Petra, and countless others who critiqued and gave suggestions on improving photos... thanks guys!

I also took some time in bringing my gear up to snuff. I wouldn't have been satisfied if I didn't have the glass to give the top notch quality that they've given other photographers, time and time again. I spent a little more than I could afford at times, I rented the 85 1.2L for this wedding (sweet lens btw... will be purchasing in the future!), and it also helped that my boyfriend likes to invest in top notch equipment and lets me use it from time to time!

Oh, and I went out there and shot everything and anything I could... school events, charity events, maternity/baby session, random shots of friends at school, engagement sessions, family functions... no one was safe from my camera!!

The only thing I hadn't actually shot was a wedding... but that was all in preparation for this first one! In hindsight, I think if I could do it all again, I would've tried harder to 2nd shoot with a more seasoned wedding photographer to get a more mature perspective on the flow of the wedding day (books did help with this somewhat). In fact, I'm still interested in the possibility of 2nd shooting with another photog... it's just a matter of finding someone who will have me! (If you're an experienced wedding photog in the Toronto/Southern Ontario area and need a secondary to shoot with... let me know!)

mamacha wrote in post #5985847
Wowzers! You did an amazing job for your first wedding. I will also be shooting my first wedding in a couple of weeks. I like to hear what you've learned from your first wedding and if you have any advice? Also, which camera/lens did you use? TIA and keep up the inspiring work!

Equipment used:
- Pre-ceremony prep shots: 5D (85 1.2L, 50 1.4, 28-70 2.8L);
- Ceremony shots: 5D (70-200 2.8L non-IS); 30D (28.70 2.8L);
- Portraits and pre-reception: 5D (85 1.2L, 28-70 2.8L); 30D (17-40 4.0L);
- Reception: 5D mainly (28-70 2.8L, 85 1.2L, 430EX); 30D (17-40 4.0L, 430EX)

Things I learned and will definitely check myself next time:

- ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your settings when you change locations... in fact, if there's time, I'd just reset everything back to baseline ISO100, f/4.0, 1/250... or something like that so you have a fresh start at the next locale. There are some shots I took at ISO1600/3200 when I should have been shooting at ISO200. Doh!

- The histogram is your friend! Check the histogram with the first few shots you take in a new setting. This saved my arse from ruining an entire batch of photos.

- I made a list of what lenses I wanted on which cameras (esp. b/c I had a 5D and 30D bodies) during the different parts of the day and tried to have them ready to go before I left for the next venue. At one point, I had to jump out of my car and go, especially at the church before the ceremony started and I was lucky that I didn't have to do too much switching.

- Lots of back-up batteries! The battery in my 5D was down to the little bar in only 3 hours of shooting.

- Keep in mind that there are some shots you can get later on in the day so don't sweat it if you don't get more minor shots like the bouquet, rings or a shot of the mother and the bride earlier on in the day.

- On that note, keep in mind that there are shots that cannot be re-staged such as the bride and her father walking down the aisle! It helped for me to set up a mock walk down the aisle at the venue before the day of the wedding (if you can) with my boyfriend walking down the aisle towards me. (I found AIServo worked well for me... some like to prefocus on a specific spot.)

- Be assertive. When you're walking around with oodles of camera equipment, people usually move... but on the off-chance that Uncle Bob is still in your way, kick him!... no, kidding!... ask him to move nicely and usually they're cool.

- Fluids and protein bars. It was a ridiculously hot and humid day that day so I brought along a little cooler in my trunk with packs of coconut water (unsweetened kind... great source of minerals), lots of water, protein/raw fruit and nut bars, and packets of electrolyte supplements, just in case. I didn't really get a chance to eat a whole lot throughout the day until the reception... and even then, I barely had time to eat, so these snacks were a life saver.

- Smile! It's good to have a smile on your face whilst shooting... people see your smile and then they tend to smile a bit more naturally (smile and the world smiles with you... or something like that )

- Be ready.... for anything! You are the bride and groom's shadow for the day, or at least I was for mine and it worked out for me!

Oh boy... this turned out to be an excruciatingly long post and I apologize! I hope this was all helpful or at least somewhat of an entertaining read! Cheers!

Wow ... they are so lucky to have you shoot their wedding. I'd take a "first timer" with your preparation and skill any day. I enjoyed the blog and slide show as well.

BRAVO!!!!

What a way to start out..Looks like you've been doing it for years!

Make sure you get paid for your talent...

Gorgeous!!!

NICE!!! you did a great job! congratulations! cant wait to see your next wedding!

Great job! I am doing my first in less than 2 weeks! yikes!

Great job! It looks like you had a really fun bride and groom to work with, too.